mobile phone- HELP!

[indian]

I want to get a new phone as I've had mine for the past 5 years but I don't know where to start. I don't want to ask the sales assistants cuz I'll just get ripped off. Most of my friends are on Orange, I text quite abit but also would be useful to have cheap minutes. Could anyone recommend any deal?

[natty23]

of you have pay as you go, i've found O2 to be the best option for me at the minute. you can register for 50% off all calls and texts to three favourite numbers for �4.99 a month, and the numbers can be any network. also you can register free to get 10% back on all your top ups every three months.

i was a loyal vodaphoner for years, but have to say i'm impressed with O2's service, i'd never change back!

[flipflop104]

Firstly, do you want a new phone or anew tarif/service provider?If it's a new phone you want, do you want PAYG (pay as you go) or contract?What do you want from your phone? Justthe basics - making calls, or fancyphone for WAP and camera, etc.�

[indian]

Thankyou natty23, I'll look into it.

flipflop104 (love the name by the way) I want a new phone and everything. It would be useful to have a camera but wouldn't use all the other bits like WAP.

[flipflop104]

Well there are several options available. If you want a reasonably decent phone (with a cam) then you're probably best looking at a contract phone as with most deals you'll get the phone for free and then get a tarif with free minutes and a text messaging bundle (free texts).

As mentioned above, o2 have some pretty good deals. For instance I am on the "online 100" tarif which gives me 100 free cross-network (calls to other other service providers as well as o2) anytime (ie. no limits on when you phone in peak or non-peak time) minues per month and 500 free text messages per month - all for �25 per month. If you want more talktime minutes you can have the "online 200" which is the same texts but 200 cross-network anytime minutes for �30 per month.

If you prefer to be with Orange, then they will usually price match other tariffs but with cross-network minutes it doesn't matter to you as you can phone other providers as part of your bundle. If your mates are on Orange though and don't have x-network minutes then it's better for you to be on the same service provider as them as it will cost them a lot to phone o2, say, if they are on Orange and don';t have x-network calls.

T-mobile do a service call u fix (i think it is) where you pay a certain amount for a tariff per month and once you reach that limit the phone becomes a "pay as you go" (PAYG) phone, so over and above the tariff you would have to top the phone up with credit (this works if you're likely to go mad texting/phoning and don';t want to end up with a massive bill as you just add credit as and when you need it once you've reached the tariff limit.

[flipflop104]

The other thing to bear in mind is that if you're unlikely to use the phone for calls during the day, then you might be best with a tariff where you get free text messages and only free off-peak calls. For instance, o2 do a package with 500 free text messages and 500 free off-peak minutes (which gives you more minutes but you can only use them at off-peak times - 7pm thru to 7am, ie not during the day) so if you're likely to chat to your mates a lot in the evening but never during the day, this would be a better tariff (if you do ever make calls on this sort of tariff during the day, though, they will be expensive, eg. 40p per minute)

And now onto phones... is there any particular make or model you like? If not, then I would recommend a Nokia. They're easy to get to grips with and reliable; and if you're into downloading ringtones, etc. they're the easist to get stuff like this for as they're generally the most popular make.

[flipflop104]

As you're not after anything fancy, then I would recommend a Nokia 6230 or a 6230i. This phone is free on most packages now (especially if you're a new customer) and although not a basic phone, you don't have to use all the faetures if you don't want to.
It has a camera and a video capture feature (fun when you're out with mates and stuff). It also has an MP3 player and can browse the web, but like I say, you don't have to use these features, but it' is always best to get the best phone you can for free as when it comes to upgrade you can sell it on and get some money back for it.

Finally, don't get blinded by companies who seem to offer a great package, ie. phone, minutes, texts, bluetooth headset, handsfree kits, cases, etc as you don';t get nothing for free in this world. If you're not sure about exactly what to ask for you're better going to an actual service provider shop (ie. Vodafone shop or o2 shop and even better if you can do it online as you get better deals) - the only place that I would recommend that isn't a service provider is The Carphone Warehouse. Like I say, unless you know excatly what you're talking about, I would avoid places, like phones for u, link, etc. and especially the deals you see in newspapers (if it sounds too good to be true, it's because it is too good to be true)

Hope this helps a bit, get back to me if you have any more questions.

[indian]

Thank you flipflop104! You are a diamond!