Internet Access on Mobile

kirkie_2

My mobile phone contract is due for renewal on the 2 July and I am thinking of going for a phone that has good internet access. I am currently on T-Mobile on a Flext package paying £20 a month.

So can anyone recommend the following:

1. What network/package is best for internet with a rough value of £20 a month?
2. What is the best phone for use with the internet & a good camera would be a bonus too?

Thanks in advance.

charbles2

I'm on a contract with 3 - the basic contract is £15 and then I pay a further £5 for unlimited mobile internet (including free skype calls and msn etc).

They offer even cheaper/more flexible contracts now so it might be worth taking a look. Unfortunately I've got another 5 months left on my 18 month contract with them before I can change tarrif or upgrade...

The thing I have found with 3 is that the mobile internet coverage is good (not excellent) but as they are expanding it's getting better. Plus I think it's cheaper then pretty much anyone else for unlimited internet (?)

Hope this helps.

kirkie_2

charbles2 wrote: »

I'm on a contract with 3 - the basic contract is £15 and then I pay a further £5 for unlimited mobile internet (including free skype calls and msn etc).

They offer even cheaper/more flexible contracts now so it might be worth taking a look. Unfortunately I've got another 5 months left on my 18 month contract with them before I can change tarrif or upgrade...

The thing I have found with 3 is that the mobile internet coverage is good (not excellent) but as they are expanding it's getting better. Plus I think it's cheaper then pretty much anyone else for unlimited internet (?)

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that. What about the phone. What do you recommend for browsing the net?

charbles2

My current phone is a Sony W950i which is good for the net and has a 4GB hard drive but doesn't have a camera... plus it keeps crashing now so I'm looking for a new one (I think I finally dropped it one time too many!).

How much are you looking to spend? Are you looking to get the phone separately from the contract? As my contract doesn't end for a while I'm going to have to buy a phone to keep me going (probably from eBay) and I'm looking at a Samsung F700 or similar, as the internet is fantastic on this thing.

If you're looking for a good camera/smart phone I think the Nokia N95 is supposed to be good (I don't know personally, I don't like it) but these are very expensive. Once you start looking at 3G phones the range narrows quite considerably... but there are quite a few out there still.

Have a look what phones are available on the contracts that are being offered, and if you want to do some research on what's available do an eBay search for '3G' to get an idea of what's around. If you set your heart on a phone you really like you'll probably be able to find a contract that offers it, albeit possibly for a higher monthly cost (depending on the phone you want).

If you find a phone you like and want more technical details I use gsmarena.com to look at the tech sheets. Pretty much every mobile phone available is listed on the site.

Hope this helps...

kirkie_2

charbles2 wrote: »

My current phone is a Sony W950i which is good for the net and has a 4GB hard drive but doesn't have a camera... plus it keeps crashing now so I'm looking for a new one (I think I finally dropped it one time too many!).

How much are you looking to spend? Are you looking to get the phone separately from the contract? As my contract doesn't end for a while I'm going to have to buy a phone to keep me going (probably from eBay) and I'm looking at a Samsung F700 or similar, as the internet is fantastic on this thing.

If you're looking for a good camera/smart phone I think the Nokia N95 is supposed to be good (I don't know personally, I don't like it) but these are very expensive. Once you start looking at 3G phones the range narrows quite considerably... but there are quite a few out there still.

Have a look what phones are available on the contracts that are being offered, and if you want to do some research on what's available do an eBay search for '3G' to get an idea of what's around. If you set your heart on a phone you really like you'll probably be able to find a contract that offers it, albeit possibly for a higher monthly cost (depending on the phone you want).

If you find a phone you like and want more technical details I use gsmarena.com to look at the tech sheets. Pretty much every mobile phone available is listed on the site.

Hope this helps...

Thanks for all that. I like the K850i, but not sure if that would be any good for the net. I would like to get the phone free with the contract.

charbles2

Cool - if you're getting a new contract then yeah it's probably best to get the phone with it!

Personally I've found a touchscreen makes browsing the internet easier, and the screens are also bigger. I've never used internet on a phone without a touchscreen, but I have used them for email.

If you live near a phone shop or network dealer etc I'm sure they'll let you try one out if you want to, or have a look on youtube - there are usually videos of most phones showing demos of them being used (again, I did this for the F700 before realising I can't really afford one right now).

I think that Sony one has a good camera, but I'm not really a camera person I'm afraid (I don't get out much...)

Leopard

The decision you really have to make, if you want to use it for Internet browsing, is whether you can live with a 12-button keypad for entering stuff with your thumbs or whether you need a proper QWERTY keyboard.

I've got a K850i. It's great for phoning people, taking photographs and all the other stuff (radio, MP3, etc.) but I wouldn't want to use it for web browsing, myself.

Great for getting your laptop on to the Internet via Bluetooth where there's no WiFi or fixed Ethernet, though.

For Internet, email and anything else that involves writing text it's best to have another 'phone or mobile device that has a proper QWERTY keyboard (e.g. a Nokia E90).

That's been my own experience. Hope it helps!

diamonds

if you teach yourself predictable text on your phone you can surf & send emails quicker than on a computer !

deano27_2

for internet browsing...it has to be Nokia N95 or the i phone.. any smaller screens are a pain if you want to view a full page.

allthatmularky

It might be worth trying the Nokia 6120 on 3.

They have a deal on at present for a minimum 6 month contract (300mins/300txts) for £15pcm - use Quidco and you'll get £32.50 and refer a friend £30 so a cheap £5pcm for a phone with HSPDA - if you decide you don't like it sell it and you'll more than cover the thirty quid of costs.

geoffW

I have a Nokia E61 on T mobile flext and web&walk. It works well on the web and for e-mails, good bright screen and a qwerty board. I'd recommend using Opera for the web as it's easier and faster than Nokia's system.
However for me O2 would be better, as coverage is limited in Lincs,can you get web on O2 for a reasonable price?