Recommend me a Mobile Phone

[eFestivals]

Orange and T-Mobile are now combined into one company called 'EE'.

[windy_miller]

I got my phone nicked so will be buying a handset for about £40 or so and getting one of those rolling months contracts. I've always been with T Mobile, is there any provider who anyone would recommend as I was thinking Orange (I know they are the same company as T Mobile but you don't get things like orange Wednesdays, etc)

I'm on Giff Gaff who are pretty good. £10 a month gives you 250 minutes, unlimited texts and 1Gb of data. £12 a month gives you the same but with unlimited data (you are not allowed to tether the unlimited data package though).

Also, 0800 numbers are actually free to call on Giff Gaff. As are other Giff Gaff numbers.

Edited January 3, 2013 by windy_miller

[Paul ™]

Yeah I recently dumped O2 after about 5 years as they were not willing to give me a decent package that could compete with Giff Gaff (I use a lot of Data), joined up on Giff Gaff and very happy with just paying £12 per month.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Paul ™

[nightcrawler13]

I'm on Giff Gaff who are pretty good. £10 a month gives you 250 minutes, unlimited texts and 1Gb of data. £12 a month gives you the same but with unlimited data (you are not allowed to tether the unlimited data package though).

Also, 0800 numbers are actually free to call on Giff Gaff. As are other Giff Gaff numbers.

what's the coverage like? I've stuck with o2 for a while now just because i get signal pretty much everywhere, where as friends on 3 and vodafone were always complaining if we were anywhere that wasnt a city....

i like the sound of Giff Gaff's pricing a lot

[windy_miller]

what's the coverage like? I've stuck with o2 for a while now just because i get signal pretty much everywhere, where as friends on 3 and vodafone were always complaining if we were anywhere that wasnt a city....

i like the sound of Giff Gaff's pricing a lot

Giff Gaff uses O2's network, so you will have exactly the same coverage.

[eFestivals]

i've just told Orange bye-bye cos they won't give me a phone upgrade.<br /><br />I've been with them on contract for nearly twenty years, and don't use my phone much at all. But when I do want to use it I can't get a frigging signal in my house in the centre of a city, so what's the bleeding point anyway?<br /><br />Not only that, I could buy myself a top-of-the-range sim-free phone every year and use pay-as-you-go and still be quids in.<br /><br />It's seven months till my contract expires, so i'll still have to pay that - but that'll give me the chance to ensure that everyone gets my new number in the meantime.<br /><br />They really do have some very stupid people setting these rules at Orange. They'd rather lose a customer than use the braincells to think about the consequences of their rules.

[Pogues Mcgogues]

i've just told Orange bye-bye cos they won't give me a phone upgrade.<br /><br />I've been with them on contract for nearly twenty years, and don't use my phone much at all. But when I do want to use it I can't get a frigging signal in my house in the centre of a city, so what's the bleeding point anyway?<br /><br />Not only that, I could buy myself a top-of-the-range sim-free phone every year and use pay-as-you-go and still be quids in.<br /><br />It's seven months till my contract expires, so i'll still have to pay that - but that'll give me the chance to ensure that everyone gets my new number in the meantime.<br /><br />They really do have some very stupid people setting these rules at Orange. They'd rather lose a customer than use the braincells to think about the consequences of their rules.

I was kind of the same at T Mobile. They just seem to throw up barriers when it comes to changing things and people in the stores (sales) seem to be told different things to those on the phone (cust service). They seem to make it complicated so you're in the whole 'why bother' or 'lump it' mode. I wasn't getting 3g signal anywhere for months and it took a lot of phonecalls before someone realised they had accidently turned it off on my contract. After that they didn't even acknowledge it to keep me on a lower contract when it ends in a few days time.

[t8yman]

i've just told Orange bye-bye cos they won't give me a phone upgrade.<br /><br />I've been with them on contract for nearly twenty years, and don't use my phone much at all. But when I do want to use it I can't get a frigging signal in my house in the centre of a city, so what's the bleeding point anyway?<br /><br />Not only that, I could buy myself a top-of-the-range sim-free phone every year and use pay-as-you-go and still be quids in.<br /><br />It's seven months till my contract expires, so i'll still have to pay that - but that'll give me the chance to ensure that everyone gets my new number in the meantime.<br /><br />They really do have some very stupid people setting these rules at Orange. They'd rather lose a customer than use the braincells to think about the consequences of their rules.

you dont have to get a new number, you just ask orange for A PAC code (port access code) and your old number will be ported over to your new service provider.

I obviously dont know your circumstances, but your contract is based upon your usage and your handset options, if you still have 7 months left, no provider will give you a free upgrade. if you are going to pay off the remaining contract, why not stay with them, buy a handset elsewhere and have a "sim only" contract with orange? you could run a smartphone on a sim only contract for around £15 p/m, the extra 15-20 that you would normally pay for a smartphone contract covers the cost of the phone.

I wouldnt say orange are being unreasonable based upon what little information you have given in your post..... :0)

[eFestivals]

thanks for the info, that's useful.

While Orange are sticking to their contract terms - so from that point of view it's not unreasonable, because I agreed to them - they're still being very stupid about this. My normal mobile usage is perhaps 5 calls and 5 texts in most months (perhaps 10 times that for 3 summer months) - which I'm sure you'll agree is not something I should be paying £40+ for most months and nearly £80 some months, no matter what phone I might have got out of them (and in my case it's not a good or expensive one).

As I say, combined with the fact that my phone is as good as useless where I live anyway, because I can't get a signal without going and standing in front of the window (despite living in a city centre), there's no way I'm sticking with the contract I have any longer.

I gave Orange the choice: cut me a deal or lose me as a customer. They've made their choice, it's their loss. I get to lose nothing at all (not even my number thanks to your info ).

[t8yman]

I'm genuinely surprised about your coverage issues, do you have anyone else in the house or neighbourhood that are on orange? because orange have the best coverage in the UK, since their takeover of t-mobile. i live in a semi rural area, and having struggled with o2 for years |I switched to orange and its easily better where I live. are you sure your phones antenna isnt dodgy?

your usage sounds very small, and I'm not doubting it, and you are right - £40 a month sounds very steep. My brand new galaxy s3 with a good usage contract costs me that on a business tariff. and I'm sure you will have seen various smartphone contracts for far less.

what handset are you using at the mo?

[hot_ice]

slightly off topic, Has anyone had any experience of using phones recycling sites (envirophone), ive tried to use the o2 recycling site (if anyone thinks of using them dont!)

[eFestivals]

I'm genuinely surprised about your coverage issues, do you have anyone else in the house or neighbourhood that are on orange?

yup, my missus is on orange and still has a dumbphone (which supposedly get better signals than smartphones) and she has worse issues than I do.

We had the same problem when we lived a mile up the road and a mile further away from the city centre, but not quite to the same extent (where we are now is in a dip, before we were half way up a hill).

It's quite amusing, because Orange are based in bristol and they can't even give decent coverage here. I spoke to them about it when I first moved to bristol (so 9-ish years ago) and they said they knew it was poor but they had no plans to make improvements, and as far as i've noticed there's been no improvements.

because orange have the best coverage in the UK, since their takeover of t-mobile. i live in a semi rural area, and having struggled with o2 for years |I switched to orange and its easily better where I live. are you sure your phones antenna isnt dodgy?

I've no reason to think the phone is dodgy, it's been the same on the 4 (or more?) phones I've used since I've lived in Bristol.

I'm not surprised your coverage is good in a rural area. As far as i'm aware Orange have the best rural coverage by a long shot (it's why i went with orange in the first place).

what handset are you using at the mo?

it's a 'Orange Barcalona' - a rebranded Huawei. It runs android 2.2, and since I got a Nexus 7 tablet I can't stand how deathly slow it is.

[t8yman]

slightly off topic, Has anyone had any experience of using phones recycling sites (envirophone), ive tried to use the o2 recycling site (if anyone thinks of using them dont!)

Ive used a few, and never had any problems, the last one I used - for my iphone 4 - I was worried about, because my home button was dodgy as fook, but they paid up straight away.

[dondo]

slightly off topic, Has anyone had any experience of using phones recycling sites (envirophone), ive tried to use the o2 recycling site (if anyone thinks of using them dont!)

I recently upgraded from an iphone 4 so wanted to sell that. Originally was going to go into CEX but heard a few horror stories. Also heard some about various ones where you post it off but one I heard OK things about was Fonebank and they were excellent. Posted the phone Thursday via Royal Mail Special Delivery- got an email Friday about 11am saying they'd received phone and would be paying me the full price I'd been quoted on the website. Money arrived in my bank account a few days later so well happy. I got my phone unlocked beforehand as they paid an extra £20 for an unlocked phone. It didn't cost me anything to get in unlocked- i just phoned up Vodafone and they did it for free as I'd upgraded with them

[thegremlin_1999]

slightly off topic, Has anyone had any experience of using phones recycling sites (envirophone), ive tried to use the o2 recycling site (if anyone thinks of using them dont!)

i used o2 recycling and agree! they were a week late (so had my phone for 2 and a bit weeks after assessing it before paying out) in sending my money (so had to borrow from folks for xmas pressies). They also ignored totally every email I sent for the whole of that week.

Having said that, they did cough up eventually!

[kaosmark2]

Orange signal is really quite pants in lots of areas of Bristol. When I moved to my current flat 6 months ago it was near non-existant.

[TalkShow Bob]

OK this is slightly off topic but I didnt fancy starting a new thread for it and this seemed most appropriate. If you have an android phone give this a go: Go into Settings, scroll down to about phone and open that menu. Find Android Version and tap it several times quickly and see what happens. Promise it wont screw up your phone.

[the_hedge]

OK this is slightly off topic but I didnt fancy starting a new thread for it and this seemed most appropriate. If you have an android phone give this a go: Go into Settings, scroll down to about phone and open that menu. Find Android Version and tap it several times quickly and see what happens. Promise it wont screw up your phone.

Jelly Bean :-)

[Essex_George]

Finally time for me to upgrade my trusty old HTC Desire, gone for the Nexus 4. Just got to wait for it to be delivered now!

[Paul ™]

Ok I think a couple people have mentioned tablets in this thread, so not going to start a new one but am 99% sure am going to get the Nexus 7 next week.

Don't do Apple products, so not interested in the iPad, other halfs daughter has the iPad Mini and it's a nice size for me.

Had a play about with the 10" tablets, and are just too big for me anyway.

So before I buy the Nexus, has anyone on here got one and any issues with it? Or is there a newer one coming out or another make I should look at.

Also not interested in 3G model, not planning on using it out and about much anyway.

Will also be looking for a decent case for the Nexus (if I get that one)

I've seen on HUKD I can get the tablet from Currys/PC World for £180 as they are price matching Carphone Warehouse semingly, which is ideal as just about to get £180 worth of vouchers anyway for those shops.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Paul ™

[t8yman]

just bear in mind the nexus doesnt have a slot for memory card (iirc) so the 32Gb is a must, and may even be too little if you intend to install much music or apps.

[Paul ™]

just bear in mind the nexus doesnt have a slot for memory card (iirc) so the 32Gb is a must, and may even be too little if you intend to install much music or apps.

Yeah its the 32GB am going for, no worries on the music as will just use Google Music and pull them off that if I want to use it for tunes.

I read you can add memory by using a USB GTO cable? and an adapter though if you wanted too

[eFestivals]

am 99% sure am going to get the Nexus 7 next week.

I've had one for about 6 weeks or so - I like it a lot. It's very fast (compared to my old android phone, anyway ), and seems to do everything I might want ... tho I sometimes wish it was a phone with texting and stuff.

Will also be looking for a decent case for the Nexus (if I get that one)

I've not bothered with one, and despite being carried around at least twice a day under a small wooden box (my fags box) the screen remains scratch free.

I've seen on HUKD I can get the tablet from Currys/PC World for £180

if it's the same as when I bought mine at6 PC world it was shelf-marked as £180 but not possible to buy for £180 - it was really £200, with twenty quid off if you spent £30+ on a case.

[Paul ™]

if it's the same as when I bought mine at6 PC world it was shelf-marked as £180 but not possible to buy for £180 - it was really £200, with twenty quid off if you spent £30+ on a case.

It's a deal Carphone Warehouse are selling it at, and Currys/PC World should price match it.

Anyway I have just sent off for £180 worth of vouchers for those stores from my Consumer Pulse account (basically get them free anyway) so if I've to put £20 to it then I aint gonna be too fussed

[LondonTom]

I've had one for about 6 weeks or so - I like it a lot. It's very fast (compared to my old android phone, anyway ), and seems to do everything I might want ... tho I sometimes wish it was a phone with texting and stuff.

MightyText App! (Also works in a browser/chrome app to!). I got a galaxy note 10.1 a couple of weeks after christmas (£280 after £50 cashback ) as I really wanted a 10" for home use, with mighty text, my phone just stays on the desk being charged all the time at home, untouched (Don't really do that many phonecalls and it does alert you to them anyway.)

Nice one Paul, an almost free Nexus! (Shame they didn't get big enough stock of the 10 really!)