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ok, i need some advice on my contract.

Discussion in 'Mobile Phones & Tablets' started by james.miller, 6 Jun 2006.

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    6 Jun 2006 at 17:47
      #1
  1. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    Right, well. currently im stuck in an orange contract for another 12 months, and ive had nothing but trouble with them. for various reasons, its costing me too much. I lost my phone (6630) and they wanted £100 to replace it - its only £109 on PAYG :mad:

    anyway, im stuck on a talk time 120 (£22) and currently have a 360txt message bundle (£20). I do txt a lot, and its costing me ~£65-£75 a month, which just isnt on when im stuck with an old phone (my c500).


    The plan is to drop this to the bare contract (talk time 120) and take a new contract with somebody else. I've just found the xda mini s on o2 for £25 (100 minutes/500txts) p/month if i pay £50 for the phone. that looks pretty tasty. That would mean im paying £45-50 a month for the basic contracts, but id have more minuts more txt's AND a new phone. I cant go wrong, can i?


    Two questions:
    1) am i making the right desicison?
    2) can i do better than the o2/xda mini s deal?


    thanks for the help guys,
    James
     
    Last edited: 6 Jun 2006
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    2. 6 Jun 2006 at 20:55
      #2
  2. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    anybody got any suggestions?
     
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    3. 6 Jun 2006 at 21:33
      #3
  3. georges

    Mobster

    Joined: 5 Apr 2006

    Posts: 3,083

    Go into O2 and ask for the pay and go online card (I did work experience there and I have one).

    Basically you top up a tenner/month and you get the tenner and also 300free texts automatically for that month, and since you're paying a lot anyway this seems a cheap work around.

    (You can top up more, but you only get the 300 texts. Once over the 300 texts that month, it eats into your credit (the tenner you added). Calls are using the credit).

    Pretty cheap stuff, and I found it the best option.

    Although, fair enough you won't get the XDA mini, but this would save the money and you could use your old phone. :p

    Ask to try it also if you do want one, as you may not like it and it's a large amount of money :p. They had a couple backstage which they could bring out for people to try.


    If you do get one, please please please for the sake of the staff, read the instruction manual instead of asking for a step by step guide from the person(got lumped onto me as I was work experience).. basically had me reading it out to him :/
     
    Last edited: 6 Jun 2006
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    4. 6 Jun 2006 at 22:08
      #4
  4. MeatLoaf

    Capodecina

    Joined: 1 Dec 2005

    Posts: 14,201

    Location: Stoke on Trent

    Or if you top up £15 you get 300 text and 150 any network mins, top uo £30 and get 300 txts and 300 any network mins :)
     
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    5. 6 Jun 2006 at 22:25
      #5
  5. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    That's ok, but im not gonna spend £30 a month on a PAYG sim when i can get a Mini S for £25p/month (100m/500t) or £30p/month (200m/500t). seems Silly to go payg and keep the battered phone ive had for the last 2 years:(


    I'm concidering the w810i on contract as well. Nowhere near as flexable, but id get the phone free if i went for a £35p/month contract (750minutes+750txts). That makes a the payg option null and void imo.
     
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    6. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:00
      #6
  6. csmager

    Soldato

    Joined: 30 Dec 2003

    Posts: 5,770

    Location: London

    I'm sure you've ended up on rather a duff orange contract there. On their new range, I was offered something along the lines of 600mins 1000texts for ~£45 on one of the Panther contracts (it's one only available to existing customers and isn't on the website, apparently). Seems like a slightly better deal than your £42 for 120mins 360texts!

    Unfortunately, the replacement on smartphones is indeed £100. Bit of bad luck there, I suppose - although some of the Panther deals include insurance(!).

    On another unfortunately, I don't think they'll let you move to one of their new deals unless you're in the last 3 months of your existing contract, so it probably renders most of the above fairly useless.

    Ah well...
     
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    7. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:02
      #7
  7. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    Yeah that's exactly where im at. no insurance at the time (i've learnt from that, dont worry lol) and a loooong time left on the contract. You also right that i cant change it to one of the new deals. even if i could - i wouldnt get a new phone. O2 are looking better by the day tbh. Id end up spending the same, getting more and getting a phone as well.
     
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    8. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:04
      #8
  8. csmager

    Soldato

    Joined: 30 Dec 2003

    Posts: 5,770

    Location: London

    I rang in April when they were launched, and I was coincidentally in the last 3 months. They wouldn't let me have any extras (magic number, 250eve/we mins) unless i had a new phone. I didn't even want one! Bizarre.
     
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    9. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:10
      #9
  9. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    LOL. it's alright for some:p

    [​IMG]

    There must be a catch, surely
     
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    10. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:12
      #10
  10. csmager

    Soldato

    Joined: 30 Dec 2003

    Posts: 5,770

    Location: London

    The only one is you have to pay orange £22 a month for a phone you're not going to be using. Other than that, good deal!
     
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    11. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:12
      #11
  11. Scrutinize

    Sgarrista

    Joined: 4 Apr 2003

    Posts: 7,516

    have a look at www.dialaphone.co.uk for some crazy deals Best value tarrif atm is the T-Mobile Flex with £180pm credit to use for £35 pm (£200 pm credit from tmobile direct)

    O2 is also pretty good, decent customer service. I am on o2 and 3 and 3's customer service sucks big time.
     
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    12. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:13
      #12
  12. csmager

    Soldato

    Joined: 30 Dec 2003

    Posts: 5,770

    Location: London

    I haven't heard many good things about T-Mobile's CS either.
     
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    13. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:24
      #13
  13. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    no, me neither. flex 35 sounds interesting. £180 of credit per month for text's and calls. that's 1800 txt's lol,900 minutes of calls or a combination of both. Again the phone is £50, insurnce would take that up to £40p/month.


    MDA vario on t-mobile: flex 35 - £180 flexible credit - £35p/month/£40 with insurance (free sat-nav)
    XDA mini s: online200 - 200minutes / 500 texts - £30p/month/£35 with insurance.


    The t-mobile looks stupidly good. the only catch? 18month contract. what to do lol
     
    Last edited: 6 Jun 2006
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    14. 6 Jun 2006 at 23:27
      #14
  14. Scrutinize

    Sgarrista

    Joined: 4 Apr 2003

    Posts: 7,516

    Never had to deal with them. Vodafone online has been my worst experience followed by 3.

    O2 the way forward, be worth phoning O2 direct as they may cut a better deal as well.
     
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    15. 7 Jun 2006 at 00:03
      #15
  15. VIRII

    PermaBanned

    Joined: 24 Jul 2003

    Posts: 30,259

    I've had no problems with T-Mobile, I have 2 contracts with them, 2 with 02 and 1 with Orange.
    Value for money I'd say go with T-Mobile on the Flext tariffs.
    Perhaps ring Orange and tell them what you are thinking of doing and see if they can do something for you.
    I never ever go with phone insurance, are you sure you aren't covered on house insurance?
     
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    16. 7 Jun 2006 at 17:12
      #16
  16. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    thanks for the advice virii. SO there are no hidden costs with the flext tarrifs then? apart from the 18 months obviously? £180 credit a month is seriously tempting
     
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    17. 7 Jun 2006 at 17:35
      #17
  17. VIRII

    PermaBanned

    Joined: 24 Jul 2003

    Posts: 30,259

    Nope nothing is hidden although if you abuse the free net access they might cut you off from it. Abuses constitute downloading from peer to peer and using the phone as a modem etc.

    The downside to T-Mobile is that they do not have a great selection of phones to choose from if you use T-Mob directly and some people take issue with their reception. On the whole I would say my 02 reception is marginally better for my area.

    The web n walk and flext tariffs aren't the same thing, but are similar. Do you use web based stuff on your phone, surf much etc?

    Flext + Web n Walk : http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=plans_webnwalk_flextplans&chosenPricePlan=pmt

    Flext only: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=plans_flext_get&chosenPricePlan=pmt

    Buy online now and get £20 EXTRA value per month on Flext 25 and Flext 35 and a FREE Bluetooth™ headset with all phones

    I don't know how T-Mobile are doing it but the value is pretty amazing. I assume that airtime costs are a tiny fraction of the cost of having a user on your network.
     
    Last edited: 7 Jun 2006
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    18. 7 Jun 2006 at 17:38
      #18
  18. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    not much, no. Surfing on my phone is limited to a little msn on the move and searching google for words i dont know the meaning of :p though i probably will take advantage of the wifi at every given opertunity, obviously lol.
     
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    19. 7 Jun 2006 at 17:40
      #19
  19. VIRII

    PermaBanned

    Joined: 24 Jul 2003

    Posts: 30,259

    Do you have a specific phone in mind that you'd like?
     
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    20. 7 Jun 2006 at 17:42
      #20
  20. james.miller

    Capodecina

    Joined: 17 Aug 2003

    Posts: 19,033

    Location: Woburn Sand Dunes

    i definately like the look of the htc wizzard/mda vario/xda compact. It looks like the vario on flext 35 is the best option by far. The only other phone id consider is the w810i, but tbh id get board very quickly of it. I Like big screen and feature packed phones. The camera doesnt bother me at all, Ive got a fuji5500 for taking photos.
     
    Last edited: 7 Jun 2006
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