Can someone tell me about SIM only deals please?!

[ItWasJustifiedHeWasACunt]

Been with my phone company for ages... but a year left in contract and the phone is knackered. Barely works at all. I now have to pay them £300 to get out of the contract and get a new phone 😡 they won't fix it as not insured.

Whole thing is too expensive anyway, so I want a SIM only deal and I'll just buy a handset for £100 ish. But where do I need to buy the handset? Can it just be anything? I only use watsapp, download a few apps and browse the Internet from time to time I'm not bothered about cameras or all the other things smartphones do.

Can anyone help? If I have a Virgin SIM only deal can I buy a Vodafone handset etc? Nokia? Tesco?! Help!!

I've always had SIM only contracts. I pay about £10 a month for 30Gb data and unlimited calls on Tesco Mobile for my kids.

They previously had a £9 a month deal with Sky Mobile that let them stream Sky tv on their phones without using any data (good if you're a sports fan).

If anyone is buying 2nd hand mobiles, or switching to a spare phone from a relative, just make sure that they support 4G Calling - nearly all the UK networks are switching off their 3G coverage in the next couple of years.

Older phones like iPhone 5S and older will lose their 3G signal.
If you're on any network other than 3 you'll be ok as your calls and texts will drop to the even older 2G network (the quality won't be as good but calls should work fine)
But 3 doesn't have any 2G coverage so if you don't have a phone that does 4G Calling you won't be able to call or text from your mobile without using an app (e.g. WhatsApp)

Vodafone have some info here: www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/3g-switch-off
and Three: support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,Case=obj(32407)

And before anyone pays someone to unlock their phone for them, check whether your network will unlock it for free
EE does, not sure about the others: ee.co.uk/help/help-new/getting-started-and-upgrading/unlock-your-phone/unlock-a-ee-device-to-use-with-another-network