Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello.

So, my mobile has been in an 'un-working' state for a month or so. I shall need to replace the thing but I know nothing about mobile phones, however I do have some tooting requirements for ye' to ponder.

I want a Pay As You Go phone because I am a chav I spend about £2.50 a month and can't justify a contact.

I am currently on T-mobile, but have had the number for a donkey's aeon and have started to accrue a generous number of calls from people trying to flog me magic beans by asking for my bank details and mother's maiden name, so I am not adverse to jumping ship and aquiring a new sim if it's on a decent PAYG tarriff.

I will probably not be playing games on my mobile, so that isn't a consideration. Obviously, if they are already on it or it has that capability, then that's all fair and well.

I do not mind if the phone masquerades as a camera or not. I have a camera, but again, if there is one then it's all gravy and I will probably use the camera at some point if it is a decent one.

Maybe most importantly I'd really like a nice interface that works and doesn't hang up or freeze and for it to sound clear.

You'd have to guage if it's the sort of thing you want but I have the O2 PAYG tarriff.

Every time I top up £10 I get 300 free texts which are valid for a month after topping up. You don't have to top up straight away to keep the offer going.

I also joined O2 rewards*, which means every three months they give me an extra 10% back of all my top ups.

I also bought a ringtone one time from them, and as a thank you they give me another 10% every time I top up.

PLUS I'm on O2 treats* and every month you can ring up for a new treat (usually an option from either 15% off calls; 1mb of free internet browsing; free calls to voicemail; or free texts between 7pm and 8pm)

*free to join, you just text off to a number and you're in

Exactly 02 are great for people who don't top up a lot and they have great offers and bundles and such like. This is probably your best bet Mimi

I've had no problems with O₂ in the five years I've been with them.

What Mr. Russ said sounds good! As for a phone.. I've always liked the Sony Ericson interface for ease of use and simplicity which sounds to me, what you're after.

You only posted that to show off typing O₂.

Geek.

Yep, Sony Ericsson's are what I had for two phones before my JesusPhone and they were really good.

I also had a Sony-very reliable and nice

My Sony Errrriccccsssson K750i that I flashed in to a W800i (they're the same phone, y'see) is really nice to use, I must say.

I also have a Sony Ericsson

We should form a facebook group.

Do not buy a P1i. They are shockers.

I'm on a similar PAYG plan with Orange which includes the 300 texts plus 1mb of Orangeworld er, stuff and something like free evening and weekend calls to Orange mobiles. Something like that anyway - the texts are the main reason I'm on the plan.

Can't really advise on handsets though as I've got a lowly Nokia 5100 purely because I keep wearing out the casing of other phones whereas I could probably throw mine around the room without causing it any problems.

I have a Sony Ericsson W910i it's noice and has an inbuilt walkman that changes track when you shake it-yeah shake it baby!

Is that one of those PDA type ones? They're shit at those.

Yes, the Orange plan does do something like that, but I don't use them enough to get that benefit (I have a 2nd phone on Orange PAYG to take advantage of Orange Wednesday tickets).

I will say though, that based on my own personal experience only, the customer support for Orange is FUCKING SHIT. I used to be on contract with them as well, but since changing to PAYG I have had no end of problems topping up the phone. Every time I need to register a debit card or voucher I end up having to speak to customer service because it isn't automated enough.

It's usually someone with a thick accent I cannot understand, and they want to know the number of the phone I am ringing off. I DON'T KNOW IT. I'M RINGING YOU FROM IT. IF I LOOK IT UP I HAVE TO DISCONNECT THE CALL. HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF SYSTEMS WITH CALER ID? DO YOU NOT WORK FOR A TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY? It's a bloody chore with Orange, I know that.

I agree with Mr.Russ, O2 (I can't do the 2! Screw you Myp heh) are better in that respect-I have an orange and an 02 phone

sounds like you just want a phone, Im sure asda do them with their own sim card for about 20 quid.

Oooooh! AND if you go to Tesco's shopping normally and spend 40.00 squids then you can have a phone cheaper than normal!

I my K800i

Nice phone with a decent quality camera (handy to have around).

Yup, as do Tesco and so on. Cheap and cheerful.

Ah, OK, that was going to be my next question.

I live somewhere where I can get to Asda, the various mobile phone shops as well as Carphone warsehouse, Argos, Woolworths, etc. Would Asda be the best place to look then, and do they have the various companies (02, T-Mobile, Orange, etc) or do they only have Tesco mobile/Asda mobile, etc as it looks like I might go for an 02.

All I wanted was web access. It's shit for that. Totally shit. Waste of space. Will get a Jesusphone to replace it.

Orange Contract representing...


i have an LG Viewty... not overly impressed, but will be able to swap it next year... for what ever Nokia takes my fancy

Orange and Nokia? Get out.

O₂* is win


*Yeah, check that out!lol

It takes surprisingly nice photos when I can keep my hands steady (so not the ones I took at the Nottingham meet).

For what it's worth, Asda Mobile (which uses the Vodafone network) seems to be pretty cheap -- 8p/min to any number (including voicemail, if that bothers you), 4p/text, and the SIM's only 50p. Then buy a SIM-unlocked or Vodafone PAYG phone and you're sorted.

Another happy K750i owner here, by the way!

While O2's PHONE service was generally good*, their CUSTOMER service was absolutely, unbelievably horrifically shit. I won't go into it all again, but suffice it to say that I was their customer for over five years and yet they managed to make me so furious that I was driven away and am now a happy 3 customer instead.

I have an old T610 if you want it.

*it's worth saying that prior to O2, Network Rail used Vodafone. Since switching to O2, all the mobile managers and such are complaining about poor reception and terrible call quality while they're out and about performing their duties, so be warned.

I found 02's customer service to be the worst I had ever experienced by far. Even worse than NTL. I was a PAYG customer with them for just a few months (between Orange and T-Mobile contracts) but they managed to piss me off so much they put a permanent stain on my brain and I would never go back.

Sorry. Probably not want you want to hear after all of the above. If you never have to speak to them then it'll probably work out fine.

Both my wife's organisation and mine have found the opposite to be true. Maybe Vodafone tend to have aerials near train stations and far from the homeless.

Actually, that'd be impossible, wouldn't it?

My advice: Avoid Vodafone like the plague. They've generally ignored my requests to stop my contract, long after it expired, and as such have stolen about £500 from me. Customer service is _terrible_.

To say I'm not impressed is an understatement.

I hate O2, because they couldn't set up a Direct Debit with me to save their lives, contacted me 18 months later after finally realising I hadn't paid them a penny, couldn't process my card when I tried to pay (without fuss, I might add. I knew they'd contact me eventually, so I had many moneys sitting in my savings account accruing interest), then instead of trying to fix the problem, sold my debt on to a collection agency.

But I wanted an iPhone, so I'm back with them. I disgust myself

what is wrong with nokia..... I have a dislike for samsung.... and not a fan of sony... does not leave a lot of choice really

I'm sure you can just do a signal/reception check anyway Mimi so you'd be able to see what's best for your area, then go from there

I really wanted an iPhone too, but not enough to continue giving those fucking cunts my money.

Not a big fan of 02 either... nor the iphone, yes it looks good, but it is way to locked down

We use vodaphone, and our engineers have to use the site's (these would be petrol stations and corner shops) phone to call us half the time as they have no signal!

Malc

The only negative about my mobli is it freezes sometimes-but that's mainly because I go like the bloodt clappers on it when texting

That 160 character limit must be quite a stumbling block.

Ooooh 'ark at you this morning-had your ready brek have you?

Didn't get to the dentist, then?

//edit: Bugger, this should have been the Blibs and blobs tab.

No darling, because the stupid bitch said that they'd have to re-examine me (see facebook status rage) in DECEMBER-my head will have come off by then. So now Si (who I have just wailed to paffetically) is now finding another one for me that can get me in-otherwise I may have to bite something metal and wrench the bugger out myself

So stop checking up on me, you bloody nitpicking thing you

EDIT: Also replied there aswell.
Gaz...you pillock

Yeah, it's poor. Their web portal has been completely screwed for years, as well.
However, once you actually get things set up, it's fairly painless to use the '150' menus to do everything you need. Hint: do not speak to the machine, just press 1 for yes and 2 for no at all the prompts.

I'm still using them for my iPhone, mainly so I'd keep the number, but it's not all bad.

That and using a mobile in a petrol station is illegal, of course.

Not actually illegal, I thought, just not allowed by the owner. And they can do nothing except ask you to leave their premises?

The stickers in my local Tesco say "it is against the law to use a mobile telephone on these premises" or something.
Doesn't mean jack, of course.

Those really annoy me, given that (as far as I know) there is no proven link whatsoever between mobile phone use and fuel ignition on forecourts. It's never happened.

That would be applicable if they were pump engineers, but they are not. I'm talking inside the store/office/shop/cabin/whatever.

Malc

I used to have to go out and bollock people for using their phone on my forecourt-this gave me much joy

Brainiac, those bastions of unquestionable testing, put a bunch of phones in a caravan filled with petrol and, surprise, nothing happened.