My employer and I appear to have agreed that I should spend more time with my family.
Accordingly I will have to hand back the obsolete Blackberry, and if gainful activities are to continue I'll need a smartphone. I still have my beloved Nokia 6310i on PAYG with Orange, and I'm also wondering if I can transfer that number.
400- 600 minutes a month would be a reasonable place to start.
I know it's a simple problem and a bit of googling will provide a lot of options, but I'd like to hear about favourite phones, Apple vs. Android, or from anybody who has recently got a new one they especially like/dislike.
Are there any important differences between networks? Any stunning deals you've noticed? Or recommended retailers - a pal of mine swears by Carphone Warehouse but he does like shiny new things!
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Whichever one you go for, before clicking the 'buy' button it might be worth checking out the cashback sites eg. www.quidco.com/ to see if you can get the same deal through one of their retailers (includes Carphone Warehouse).
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In addition to the Apple, I suggest you go and try out these phones at CPW:
Windows: Nokia Lumia 800 or 900 series
Android: Samsung Galaxy SII, SIII, and Note (the Note is a phone/tablet compromise)
Blackberry (as you have an old one now): Bold 9900/9780/9790
For good deals, keep an eye on HotUKdeals. Check Tesco offers too.
They have their own Vodafone rebranded network
phone-shop.tesco.com/tesco-mobile/
as well as all the other networks
phone-shop.tesco.com/
In addition to Quidco, look at Topcashback as "exclusive" deals vary between the two.
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I'd be tempted to stick to the Blackberry - I loved mine !!
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The vital question its, to work at home WHY do you need a smartphone, and WHAT feature is going to be key to home use?
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Yes I wondered about that too. If access to a corporate network is a requirement this might also define what setup you can use
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>> If access to a corporate network is a requirement this might also define what setup you can use
>>
>>
"My employer and I appear to have agreed that I should spend more time with my family."
Doesn't that imply -- no need for corporate access ?
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Apologies Pezzer and Zero - I should have been so oblique.
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ahhh ........ I think its me who should apologise !
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>> The vital question its, to work at home WHY do you need a smartphone, and
>> WHAT feature is going to be key to home use?
Good questions. Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I'm hoping to be out and about earning. I suppose I'm making the assumption that it will more likely be contract or "consulting" than a regular job - so a good question. If I end up back with a corporate I'd probably get one anyway.
I would like to be able to deal with email easily on the move though while I'm job hunting. But if I don't get something, in 4 weeks time I'll probably only have the PAYG phone.
As far as features are concerned, easy to use email, and a battery that lasts at least a day with an hour or two's calls.
I suppose I can bump along for a bit and see how it goes.
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Your existing number can be transferred to any network you finish up on with about a 2 day delay but no fee SFAIK
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Ah, I see, you are losing your job. Commiserations.
>> I'll probably only have the PAYG phone. >>
Look at the SIM only 1-month-notice rolling deals at Tesco, and also at giffgaff, which, as it says "on the tin", you can cancel at one months notice.
shop.tescomobile.com/sim-only
p.s. your earlier question - yes, you can transfer your PAYG number to any of the new providers you go for (including the Tesco SIM only contracts).
>> Your existing number can be transferred to any network you finish up on with about a 2 day delay but no fee SFAIK >>
Most will transfer on a nominated day a few days after you give notice, and you may not have a connection for a few hours on that nominated day, and you will lose your credit on the old SIM.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 10 May 12 at 20:45
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>> Ah, I see, you are losing your job. Commiserations.
Thank you - worse things happen at sea! The world is now my lobster.
When I had a mortgage, and children at university, I would have struggled to be happy with an irregular or unpredictable income. Now, it doesn't matter so much and my objective is to earn what I need to live on at a reasonable level so I don't burn through my retirement savings before I get there. Perhaps I'm still a little too sanguine, but worst case I hope is that the house gets improved a lot and I "earn" some money that way!
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When I was all but laid up before and after the hip op, I was surprised at how little money I spent.
That's about the only positive thing I can say about being crippled and in constant pain.
But the experience means my attitude to job loss would be similar to yours - no need to press the panic button.
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>> When I was all but laid up before and after the hip op, I was
>> surprised at how little money I spent.
>>
>> That's about the only positive thing I can say about being crippled and in constant
>> pain.
>>
>> But the experience means my attitude to job loss would be similar to yours -
>> no need to press the panic button.
Interesting point Iffers, reflects my thinking and that of colleagues who've taken 'the deal'.
My own redundancy, originally predicted for 'summer 2011' now seems unlikely before the end of 2012. Either I'll be at home doing nowt; no season, no parking, less car miles, no sandwich bar lunches and no need for smart clothes or I'll be earning at a rate enough to at least close the gap between early retirement and my current earnings less travel to London.
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A warm welcome to my world !
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Are you sure you want a smartphone?
Use a telephone for telephoning, and a computer for doing emails with a mobile dongle.
IMO smartphones aren't even as good at doing text messages as a 'proper' mobile phone, let alone emails etc.
Depends where you're going to be going, but I cannot recommend enough a little netbook combined with a 3 PAYG mobile dongle. 12GB for 12 months' use for about £80. Zero will tell you their coverage is rubbish; so it may be if you're going into the back of beyond, but if you're sticking to cities then I'm sure it'll be fine.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Fri 11 May 12 at 16:42
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I quite agree on the netbook and dongle if you're settled for a while in an office or hotel, or even Starbucks (though constant coffee buying puts the cost way beyond £80 a year!).
I already have a netbook* and Mifi (better than the dongle which I also found to be more trouble than it's worth, because it can be moved near a window if you can trust yourself not to leave it behind). But it's a pain to fire up just for a quick check of emails, or to look something up on t'internet. I actually find the BBerry OK for email provided there are no serious attachments, and with a full titchy keyboard better even for texting than a number pad.
You might still have a point though - I have my eye on one of those Asus Transformer thingies - a tablet with a keyboard. Virtually instant start up because of the SSD, and I had a play with a sample TF300 last week and was very impressed.
www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/reviews/9255523/Asus-Transformer-Pad-TF300-review.html
*at least I did until I knocked it off the desk while reimaging it last night. The screen's bust, but it works with a monitor so I've ordered a screen for £42 to see if I can fix it :-(
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I bought an unlocked HTC Wildfire S from Carphone Warehouse for £150 which included a £20 O2 minutes, texts and data voucher and SIM.
However, I use GiffGaff which is owned by O2 yet vastly cheaper all round and which offers Goodybags; a £10 Goodybag, valid for a month, offers 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data - a real bargain. Paying a bit more adds extra minutes. O2 vouchers may also be used.
See:
giffgaff.com/
PS
You can port your current mobile number if you wish and GiffGaff's website also has advice on how to unlock most mobile phones if necessary.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Mon 14 May 12 at 15:39
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Interesting, thanks. It looks as if I might get a PAC for my work mobile so that might be a good solution. I like to keep regular outgoings down so unless it works out cheaper to get the handset on a contract I am happy to buy one.
I had the netbook in bits tonight, but they've sent me the wrong screen.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 14 May 12 at 21:42
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If you have a Blackberry on PAYG, Giffgaff also recently started selling the blackberry data add-on for £3 a month, including a free overseas BB data allowance of 10GB a day.
That may be the cheapest deal for overseas data, unless you know different!
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>> I like to keep regular outgoings down so unless it works out cheaper to get the handset on a contract I am happy to buy one.>>
Apart from the Goodybag bargain prices, it definitely worked out cheaper to buy the Wildfire S. It is, of course, PAYG, but not as most people know it....:-)) I just renew the Goodybag each month via the website.
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The two Asus tablets seem to be a class act...:-))
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Update.
I ended up with an iPhone 4S 16GB on O2, unlimited minutes and texts, 1GB data, for £99.99 down and £36/month for 24m.
A condition of taking my old work number transpired to be to have an O2 contract to port it to. I wanted to cap my call costs, not knowing what my usage will be, hence the unlimited minutes. On this contract even a basic android phone was 'free' but still £36/month, so the iPhone looked a no brainer, given it will still be worth proper money in two years as well.
As a non-Apple person, I'm very impressed with it for the most part.
Thanks for the input. It helped me consider alternatives.
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Just caught up with all this Manatee. First off, sorry to hear your news, always assuming it wasn't your choice of course !
If you want to work, my advice is to network. None of my beeswax of course but you could start here. Tell us a wee bit more about your preferred options maybe? Plenty on here would refer you I'm sure.
I've just spent a few weeks recruiting for an expansion programme at work. Loads of applicants as you might expect but in the end it was those who came recommended we felt most comfortable in making offers to...
Alternatively, buy a hammock.
:-)
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Best contract smartphone and provider? - Focusless
