Advice needed on new phone and contract

Gedalia_w · 2 May 2006 at 15:01

My contract with 3 ends in June and I just had a call from 3 offering me any phone they have to renew my contract and move over to their existing tarriffs so being used to 3 tariffs being pretty much better than anyone else I agreed to move on to a £25 tarriff which gives me 200 voice 100 txt, 25min video calls and £5 worth of download a month....and a nokia 6280.

Then I started looking online and firstly saw that most people hate the 6280 and that its a bit crap and that this new 3 tarriff is not really any better than other networks. So I will probably be returning the phone once it comes after having a quick play with it.

So, I could do with some advice on what my best options are. I currently have a 6630 which I am happy with and would want a phone that is better than it and hopefully less chunky with a tarriff of max £25 with more voice than txt.

Any help would be much appriciated. Its been a year since ive looked at phones and network tarriffs and no idea whats a good deal anymore.

Yas786 · 2 May 2006 at 15:20

How about Tmobiles new flext tariffs??, ive just today signed up for the flext50 with web n walk tariff and they are giving me the Sony Ericsson W810 free of charge.

The flext tariffs seem to be pretty good compared to other networks, ive been with 02 for 4 yrs and they couldnt even get close to offering me a similar deal to the one i got today. Plus i get unlimited web and email access, so thats a bonus.

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

Have a look at that link and see if it appeals to you, i did it and it instantly appealed to me so i rung up o2 to ask for my PAC code

.

Gedalia_w · 2 May 2006 at 16:00

Thats not too bad really.

I could get 260min and 75txt for £25 a month on flext25 but im confused about what the "allowance £60" means?

Also the fact that its an 18month contract doesnt sit too well with me. I like getting a new phone every year. Also they dont really have much in the way of a decent phone and its £40 for the w810.

Yas786 · 2 May 2006 at 16:23

Gedalia_w said:
Thats not too bad really.

I could get 260min and 75txt for £25 a month on flext25 but im confused about what the "allowance £60" means?

Also the fact that its an 18month contract doesnt sit too well with me. I like getting a new phone every year. Also they dont really have much in the way of a decent phone and its £40 for the w810.

Basically they give u up to £60 and within that £60 you have so many mins/texts/mms bundled in etc. If you go over the £60 allowance then they will charge you extra. Ultimately you are paying for voice calls, texts and mms messages but you get up to £60 to use as you wish.

The one i went for is the flext50 with web'n'walk and with that tariff i get £255 worth of call/text/mms allowance...anything above the £255 allowance i will be charged for. With that i get the W810 free of charge.

Yes the 18 month contract doesnt sit with me too well but at the moment its a hell of a lot better than what o2 are offering me with a 12mth or 18mth contract. Plus you have 7 days in which to return the phone and cancel should you not be happy etc.

Mind you im not so fussed about upgrading with them in later months as i tend to buy most of my phones sim free and unlocked...although its expensive but i really do hate all the network branding crap that these networks put on the phone. If i do decide to keep the 810 then ill be looking at getting it unbranded asap and unlocked, if its locked to tmobile that is.

geeza · 2 May 2006 at 16:26

ive just gone onto orange contract. £19 a month 50anytime and 500text

my mates been with orange for 3 years and is on £25 a month, 120anytime and 1000text

another mate has been with o2 for 5 years and is now on a £15 month contract getting 1000anytime and 50text! I think he has spent some SERIOUS coin with them in the past though.

Gedalia_w · 2 May 2006 at 16:51

Im still confused, sorry :confused:

the tarriff is £25 a month but you get the equivilant of £60 worth of usage? How does that work?

Ive been reading up more on the 6280 and apprently there is a 3.60 firmware that is meant to be stable and error free, so will have to check the phone when it comes and might just keep it.

And as for geeza, im a caller more than a txter and I dont call that much anyway. 100txt a month would be more than enough for me and would like to have more than 100 voice especially at £25 a month.

VIRII · 2 May 2006 at 17:08

Gedalia_w said:
Im still confused, sorry the tarriff is £25 a month but you get the equivilant of £60 worth of usage? How does that work?

Ive been reading up more on the 6280 and apprently there is a 3.60 firmware that is meant to be stable and error free, so will have to check the phone when it comes and might just keep it.

And as for geeza, im a caller more than a txter and I dont call that much anyway. 100txt a month would be more than enough for me and would like to have more than 100 voice especially at £25 a month.

You pay £25 per month. Imagine that you now have 60 credits to use.
A text is 0.1 credits, a phone call is 0.1 credits and so on.
If you exceed your credit limit then additional texts are 10p each.

Basically for your monthly fee you are allowed £60 worth of calls and texts instead of a set number of minutes and so on. If you think about your old 200 any time X-net minutes for £25 a month it is much the same thing. 200 x-net peak minutes could have cost you a lot more than £25.

Gedalia_w · 2 May 2006 at 19:51

Got it, thanks.

hyper_piper45 · 2 May 2006 at 23:38

the best deals are usually on 3. Also new customers get the better deals. I normally buy from CarPhoneWarehouse and in the clearance sections they have some really good deals.

At the moment im paying £20 a month with a free N70, 400mins, 250 texts, 25 video minutes, 25 picture messages and £5 free downloads.

Gedalia_w · 3 May 2006 at 09:35

Well the 6280 just arrived and first impression is that it looks nice and the screen is better quality than my 6630.

The sliding mechanism feels a bit flimsy and when its closed the top bit does feel flimsy.

I checked the firmware version and its 3.70 so thats got to be good and I would think that at least this should be a stable phone. Will have to do some serious playing with it over the next few days to see whether its worth keeping.