Recommendation sought

I've just completed a year on an Orange contract, purchased through
OSPS, and requested my PAC. Am now looking for a new contract, and
wanted to ask for recommendations.

I don't need many minutes per month - 30 would probably be
sufficient. A few texts would be nice, but not essential. I'm not
particularly bothered about the actual phone either.

I know that Orange reception around where I live isn't great - I can
use my mobile upstairs but not downstairs - so would prefer to try
another network (also easier to port to another network than to port
out and back in). Vodafone reception isn't much better. I don't know
about the other networks - and am thinking it might be best to try
payg on other networks until we establish which has the better
coverage here.

My main concerns are: keeping my mobile number, cheap (preferably
free) contract, and decent reception. I'd simply switch to payg, but
if I can get a contract for less, I figure why not.

My partner is currently on payg and is also looking for a contract.
His needs (minutes, texts) are the same as mine, but he's more
bothered about bells and whistles on a phone than I am. He wants a
camera and games etc (not that he ever uses them, but he wants
them...)

OSPS are, imo, far more bother than they should be when it comes to
cashbacks - I've had to chase every one of mine (am now waiting for
the final one) and they've all taken weeks longer than promised, so
I'd prefer to use a different merchant - but obviously want one that
isn't going to disappear or be otherwise problematic with cashbacks.

Any suggestions?

TIA

--
KVL

K wrote:
> I've just completed a year on an Orange contract, purchased through
> OSPS, and requested my PAC. Am now looking for a new contract, and
> wanted to ask for recommendations.
>
> I don't need many minutes per month - 30 would probably be
> sufficient. A few texts would be nice, but not essential. I'm not
> particularly bothered about the actual phone either.
>


Hi K,

I'll be frank with you...While my website earns its keep by selling
cashback contracts, as your maximum requirement is 30 minutes/month and
you aren't really bothered about a new phone, it would be irresponsible
of me (or anyone else for that matter) not to point out that it probably
isn't worth the hassle of running a contract and claiming cashback.

Afterall, 30 minutes of UK mobile calls would cost you a maximum of
£4.50/month. This would be cheaper if you make any same network/landline
calls among your 30 minutes or simply do not use as amny as 30 minutes
in any month.

Similar PAYG tariff structures exist with Easy Mobile, Carphone
Warehouse's Fresh tariff and Tesco Mobile's standard PAYG tariff, all of
which have a standard 15p/min xnet call charge WITHOUT any onerous
preconditions (such as regular top-ups).

You could do a lot worse than trial one or more of these virtual
networks on PAYG for a while to see how it goes.

IIRC, the networks that carry the traffic for these virtual networks are
TMobile (Easy & Fresh) and O2 (Tesco).

HtH
RM
--
www.reestitmutton.co.uk

Bringing you the best-value mobile phone contract deals in the UK
Presented the way it should be...in plain English

In article <4444e883$0$2534$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>,
not@this.address says...
> I'll be frank with you...While my website earns its keep by selling
> cashback contracts, as your maximum requirement is 30 minutes/month and
> you aren't really bothered about a new phone, it would be irresponsible
> of me (or anyone else for that matter) not to point out that it probably
> isn't worth the hassle of running a contract and claiming cashback.

Oh I dunno - I mean, a 100% cashback means a net cost of nothing,
plus a new phone. Still cheaper than payg :-)

And if I do end up with lots of extra minutes (as I have in the last
couple of years, with 200 or 400 mins/month), I use them for calls
that wouldn't have been free from my landline.

> Afterall, 30 minutes of UK mobile calls would cost you a maximum of
> £4.50/month. This would be cheaper if you make any same network/landline
> calls among your 30 minutes or simply do not use as amny as 30 minutes
> in any month.

Yep, I know. But as long as a cashback deal works, it's not a lot of
hassle to put the claim in the post. The only real downside is the
possibility that the cashback might go wrong. And actually I had a
contract purchased through Forward Cellular when they went down, but
Vodafone allowed me to end the contract early, and I got a cheque
from the liquidators, so in the end the whole thing cost me something
like £18 and for that I'd had a few months of calls plus a new phone,
so I didn't feel too hurt ;-)

I appreciate you saying it, and it wouldn't be too bothersome to go
to payg, but if there's a suitable free contract to be had, I figure
I might as well go for it :-)

What's The Mobile Outlet like? Reliable? My partner's looking at a
couple of their deals just now (Sony Ericsson W550i and Nokia 6630).

--
KVL

Reestit Mutton <not@this.address> wrote:

> K wrote:
> > I've just completed a year on an Orange contract, purchased through
> > OSPS, and requested my PAC. Am now looking for a new contract, and
> > wanted to ask for recommendations.
> >
> > I don't need many minutes per month - 30 would probably be
> > sufficient. A few texts would be nice, but not essential. I'm not
> > particularly bothered about the actual phone either.
> >
>
>
> Hi K,
>
> I'll be frank with you...While my website earns its keep by selling
> cashback contracts, as your maximum requirement is 30 minutes/month and
> you aren't really bothered about a new phone, it would be irresponsible
> of me (or anyone else for that matter) not to point out that it probably
> isn't worth the hassle of running a contract and claiming cashback.
>
> Afterall, 30 minutes of UK mobile calls would cost you a maximum of
> £4.50/month. This would be cheaper if you make any same network/landline
> calls among your 30 minutes or simply do not use as amny as 30 minutes
> in any month.
>
> Similar PAYG tariff structures exist with Easy Mobile, Carphone
> Warehouse's Fresh tariff and Tesco Mobile's standard PAYG tariff, all of
> which have a standard 15p/min xnet call charge WITHOUT any onerous
> preconditions (such as regular top-ups).

Tesco Mobile's standard tariff is actually more than that- 20p to
mobiles and landlines, 10p to three 'favourite' numbers. The 'value'
tarrif is 15p, but as of yet doesn't have gprs. However, you can buy
bundles as cheap as £2.50 which works out at 10p per minute. They only
last for 30 days, but it's still good value if someone thinks they'll
only make a few calls.

http://www.tescomobile.com/help/bundles.aspx

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

"K" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1eaeee0ce95aedcd98983e@nntp.dsl.pipex.com ...
> I've just completed a year on an Orange contract, purchased through
> OSPS, and requested my PAC. Am now looking for a new contract, and
> wanted to ask for recommendations.
>
> I don't need many minutes per month - 30 would probably be
> sufficient. A few texts would be nice, but not essential. I'm not
> particularly bothered about the actual phone either.
>
> I know that Orange reception around where I live isn't great - I can
> use my mobile upstairs but not downstairs - so would prefer to try
> another network (also easier to port to another network than to port
> out and back in). Vodafone reception isn't much better. I don't know
> about the other networks - and am thinking it might be best to try
> payg on other networks until we establish which has the better
> coverage here.
>
> My main concerns are: keeping my mobile number, cheap (preferably
> free) contract, and decent reception. I'd simply switch to payg, but
> if I can get a contract for less, I figure why not.
>
> My partner is currently on payg and is also looking for a contract.
> His needs (minutes, texts) are the same as mine, but he's more
> bothered about bells and whistles on a phone than I am. He wants a
> camera and games etc (not that he ever uses them, but he wants
> them...)
>
> OSPS are, imo, far more bother than they should be when it comes to
> cashbacks - I've had to chase every one of mine (am now waiting for
> the final one) and they've all taken weeks longer than promised, so
> I'd prefer to use a different merchant - but obviously want one that
> isn't going to disappear or be otherwise problematic with cashbacks.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> TIA
>
Well I have a t-mobile and a voda. The gf has a orange. I never lose
reception with my t-mobile but we do witht the others. Have you looked at
the t-mobile flex?

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy" >> I'll be frank with >> Similar PAYG tariff
structures exist with Easy Mobile, Carphone
>> Warehouse's Fresh tariff and Tesco Mobile's standard PAYG tariff, all of
>> which have a standard 15p/min xnet call charge WITHOUT any onerous
>> preconditions (such as regular top-ups).
>
> Tesco Mobile's standard tariff is actually more than that- 20p to
> mobiles and landlines, 10p to three 'favourite' numbers. The 'value'
> tarrif is 15p, but as of yet doesn't have gprs. However, you can buy
> bundles as cheap as £2.50 which works out at 10p per minute. They only
> last for 30 days, but it's still good value if someone thinks they'll
> only make a few calls.
>
> http://www.tescomobile.com/help/bundles.aspx

The way you worded tha tmakes it look like you can get a GPRS bundle for
£2.50; GPRS isn't charged for the amount of time you use it, so I don't know
where 10p per minute figure comes from.

I'm guessing you can buy extra minutes for £2.50 instead.