Recommend me a new mobile

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Contract is nearly up. Have had a Blackberry curve for two years and am bored of it. Don't really use BBM much. At the moment I pay £25 for unlimited texts and internet, blackberry services and 600 mins.

At the moment I am with Virgin and have been very happy with them- Don't want to pay i-phone prices so a cheaper version or other smart phone is what I want.

Any suggestions gratefully recieved.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Bump

[niceguy2]

You can get the Samsung Galaxy S3 from Dialaphone for £26 per month on a 2 year contract. It is on Orange so you'd have to change suppliers but it is an utterly amazing phone.

Link

Not sure if 200 mins is enough though.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Thanks for the link- the Samsung Galaxy is one I have been looking at but I am afraid I won't touch orange with a ten foot barge pole their customer services are diabolical!
I only use about 50 mins a month so 200 would be more than enough. (the deal I have has far more mins than I use)

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Anyone else?

[MikeLitoris]

S3 or note 2.

Best phones around imo.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Thanks Mike-Sorry by S3 do you mean Samsung galaxy 3?

[MikeLitoris]

Yes. Its great. The note was just a bit too big for me.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Yeah- The note looks much too big for me too- I want a phone not a tablet- Thanks I will have a look at deals.

[BettySuarez]

I have an iPhone contract with 02, similar package to yours for £27 a month.

[NetworkGuy]

Does your Virgin answerphone get charged or do they provide it free ? If free, (and it gets used often in a month,) then it may be worth phoning when you have found a deal you like, and see if they will provide a new phone and similar deal at same price as elsewhere, while you retain your number and free vocemail rather than having the hassle of moving the number and then be forced to pay for future voicemail messages.

(Obviously helps if it is a phone they have listed online as being 'in stock' just in case they have not updated website to remove some they have no plans to stock again in future.)

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

I wouldn't be put off the iPhone just yet. There must be a cheaper contract out there for the 4 or 4s. It really is a brilliant phone. I wouldn't use anything else. Love the sheer ease of it. Just lovely to use.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Bettsuarez The cheaper i phone tariffs on 02 (similar to what I pay now) do not include a free phone so dividing thathe cost of that by 24 puts the tariff up to more than I want to pay. Just looked at the samsung Galaxy S3- not too sure if it might be too big.

[BettySuarez]

Actually that's true it was £100 for the phone upfront - apologies

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

iPhone 4 for £29 a month with a free phone here. Is that any help?

[BrigitBigKnickers]

That's a good deal- thanks- might consider that one!

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

"Virgin Media does not have its own network, so when it emerged in the UK in 1999 it became the world?s first ever Mobile Virtual Network Operator, meaning that it utilises, or piggybacks, another network for the service. UK Virgin Media customers use the Orange or T-Mobile networks, which are operated by Everything Everywhere."

Just found this on the Virgin Mobile website. Is that right?

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Yes I know Virgin don't have their own network. I like them because they are very cheap and the customer service is really good IME.

They are quite flexible with their tariffs and seem to really value their customers. I contacted O2 the other day to ask them what sort of deals they could do (bearing in mind I need a new sim only i-phone deal for DD1 and a new blackberry contract for DD2 besides my new phone) and was told they don't price match and the number on contracts made no difference.

When I set up DD2 with virgin on her last Blackberry they gave a discount on her contract, a free spare PAYG phone and a discount on the contract I had set up a month or so before.

When my Blackberry went wrong and they couldn't fix it (14 months into an 18 month contract) they replaced it with a new one.

I am pretty sure that they will price match the orange deal and I will get the Samsung for £26 a month- it's such a shame they don't do the i-phone...

[NetworkGuy]

Another benefit since merger is coverage boost as a Virgin mobile can use both sets of cell towers.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Yes-I think they use both T mobile and orange networks
-another reason I like Virgin- the signal is always really good- I used to be with 02 and there seemed to be lots of places (home/ work) where the signal was either weak or non -existent.

[PedroPonyLikesCrisps]

T mobile have the most flexible tariffs in my experience. Especially as every deal comes with a flexible booster which you can use to increase allowances. For example, my current tariff is £26 per month for 100 mins, 500 texts and 1.5GB data and I have the booster to give me unlimited texts. Could also use it to increase talk time or reduce cost of international calls, etc. (Can be changed every month). I don't worry about their customer service either as never had any problems and always upgrade through carphone warehouse!

[BrigitBigKnickers]

What about the HTC one X- I can get this one from Virgin with my discounts for £20 a month- 300 mins 500mb and unlimited texts. They tell me it is all but the same as the Samsung. Any opinions?

[PedroPonyLikesCrisps]

One X is a great phone. Quite similar in spec to the Galaxy S3. DW has one and is very happy with it.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Thanks Pedro that's good to know- it does look very similar to the Samsung.