Phone Provider Switch Question

[Backdrifter]

Last summer, luddite that I am, I finally entered the realms of smartphone users and became a PAYG Vodafone customer. 7 months on, I am now ready to abandon Vodafone, as they have proved themselves to be useless on the customer services front. Having been deluged with promotional text messages and finding that their 'STOP' function doesn't actually work, and then having started receiving unending texts of the same last half-sentence of a promo text - sometimes several times a day or even several per minute - and despite attempting via phone, online chat and twitter to get this resolved, in the process explaining the problem about 6 or 7 times - I have decided that Vodafone are of no possible use to me. So I wondered if there are providers who are, you know, actually any good and don't do stuff like this.

The only thing is I'm terrified it will mean again having to go into a phone shop, which I vowed never to do again, as they are soul-sapping circles of Hell.

[Gromit]

There is usually a way of blocking calls and texts on your phone device.
When I was with O2 they were very mithersome, and I ended up blocking them.

[emmie]

i have been with EE for some while now, and by an large they are a reasonable service provider.

[gingejbee]

Do you really NEED a smartphone? I ask because I don't have one and have never felt that I need one, either. Simple Nokia does all I require of it....

[Backdrifter]

Thanks for these answers so far. gingejbee, your suggestion is the closest to my thinking so far. I was fine with my seemingly indestructible vintage Nokia until 2016. The smartphone has had its advantages though. I just feel sick at the idea of giving Vodafone any more of my money. I also feel a bit sick at the notion of going in another *** shop, EE or otherwise. I do like Kevin Bacon though.

I have tried blacklisting the number the half-sentence text comes from, I'll see if that works. Has no-one else had similar experiences? Gromit sounds closest - good use of 'mithersome', I like it.

[Buenchico]

If your phone is locked to Vodafone (i.e. it came with a Vodafone SIM pre-installed) it won't work on any other network unless you pay to get it unlocked. (Almost every market seems to have a stall with a guy who can do the job for you at a reasonable price).

If you purchased your phone 'SIM free', and then put a Vodafone SIM into it, it will already be unlocked and you can insert any other provider's SIM into it straight away.

Once you're in possession of an unlocked phone, simply call in at any large branch of Asda and speak to the guy on the sales desk where they sell phones, CDs, DVDs, memory cards,etc. He will know all about switching your phone across to Asda's own network (which is probably the cheapest PAYG service and uses EE's network). However he won't be as arrogant as the staff in mobile phone shops nearly always seem to be. (Before I get accused of sexism, by the way, I'll point out that I'm using the male gender simply because it always seems to be a man behind the technology counter in every branch of Asda. Similarly mobile phone shops seem to be staffed almost exclusively by men. I've no idea why that is!)

He'll be able to explain about the savings you can make by purchasing 30-day bundles and things like how to get your Vodafone number transferred across to Asda's service or, of course, you can find all of the information here:
https://mobile.asda.com/

[Backdrifter]

The *** above was, in effect, an s-word equivalent to turf-ing.

[Backdrifter]

Thanks Buenchico, that's really helpful.

[Jackdaw33]

You can say sod on here but not s.o.d.d.i.n.g.

[Maydup]

I have been into the mobile phone shops a few times and walked out again. Like you i detest them. Buy on the odd occaision when i have needed to actually do something about my connectivity, as they say, I have found Carphone Warehouse to be the most sympathetic. The girl in there sorted me out when I bought my first smartphone and moved me from Vodafone to O2. She set the phone up for me and made sure I was opted out of all marketing. It seems to have worked and I'm happy as Larry. I did switch from PAYG as I wanted the option to use the internet, I now pay £24 per month for basic broadband, texts and calls, and never go over.

[gingejbee]

I'd point out to Chris that not every branch of Asda has a technology counter...my nearest branches are 15 miles east and about the same distance west of me....neither has a tech counter (or optician, pharmacy, dry cleaners etc etc)

[hc4361]

I just ordered a new SIM card online from EE. No hassle at all and I'm satisfied with the price. I also kept my number

[Backdrifter]

Thanks for the further responses above. The only thing about Carphone Warehouse is that they were my first port of call the previous year, and so completely messed up a click and collect order and and in trying to sort it out dealt with it so badly, they too went on the blacklist. But thanks for the additional notes on Asda and EE. I'll sort something out; boy is it going to feel good to be away from Vodafone! I recently read they are the most complained-about provider in the UK.