Cheapest way to run a decent mobile phone...

[aamia]

Thoughts? For various reasons I need internet, calls and texts, and have always thought it'd be cheaper to have a contract than pay as you go. But all the contracts now seem to be 24 months - I've never had a phone last that long! Would it be better to buy the phone and have sim-only contract, or buy phone and PAYG? What do other people do?

My internet is slow and I don't use it much except to check emails and basic things every now and then, but I use Tesco Pay Monthly which costs about £11 a month including lots of free talktime and texts (or even unlimited?) and lots of internet time. Kept my old phone for it and it's been great (and I'm not generally a tesco fan, so shhhhhhhh!) :)

If you have a phone giff gaff are the best

I have a tesco mobile 250 minutes (plus extra 150 family perk minutes), 5000 texts and 500mb data 24 months contract came with a free handset (suppose you could buy a different handset) for £7.50 per month for 24 months.

Wow Caerlaverock, giffgaff have amazing prices! Thanks!

2nd giffgaff, prices are fab. dh just signed up to them last month, it appears to be if someone calls you, you get bonus mins ie if someone calls you for 17mins you then get another 17mins call time.

i am so impressed that i am away to sign up and am trying to get friends/family to do the same.

DH has a £13/month contract with Vodaphone for his iPhone, one year only. He's pleased. He uses the phone mostly for T'internet, & almost constantly (work phone). Only ever uses tiny fraction of the text-talk quota. He looked at Giffgaff but we were quite concerned about reliable coverage. Rural area, and my phone on Tesco (like Giffgaff, also piggybacks onto O2) has flakey coverage compared to Vodaphone, we find.

I'm on 3
£13 a month (new customers get it for £10)
100 mins (I never call)
3000 texts
Unlimited data

I think Three has reception issues, too(?), though, because they switch around between networks but are low priority on all of them. That was DH's concern, anyway.

My two nokia phones have always lasted 24 months At the moment for £10 a month I get unlimited textx & internet usage (no unfaur usage charges) & 100 mins of calls.

I got one from the carphone warehouse, its on talk mobile which uses the vodafone network for its coverage.

Sony xperia smart phone with unlimited text, 250minutes and 500mb of internet for £7.50 a month. I went through topcashback to buy it and got £35 cashback. So it should work out at £5 a month with the cash back.

I was going to sell my iphone but I love it and it's mine. .

I'm really pleased with it, the screens smaller but I can still get mumsnet so I'm good with it.

Got to say j was dubious when I moved from O2 to 3 but their 3G network is fantastic and I've never had any problems and stayed with them after 2 years

Definately Giffgaff,if you ring or text other giffgaff users its free.Also if you help other users in the forums,you get payback,which you can use to top up your phone or paid into a paypal account,its worth it as well ,over the last 3 months I have received £30 in payback.

Hope this isn't a stupid question, does unlimited internet include skpe and other aps?

Yes it does. Giffgaff here too although they have changed their data allowance recently. Still great as only one month contract.

Thanks, phone contract up for renewal, hardly use the minutes, have free calls with landline, and could use skype to call overseas either at home or on my mobile. any ideas for a cheap skype friendly phone. Also want to get out of the comparing phones culture at work!

Our giff gaff has got more expensive. not sure it's competitive anymore.

You need a contract phone!

lemonpuff - there is a Skype app for Android, and probably (but I cannot guarantee!) for iPhone. If you plan to use GiffGaff then an O2 phone should work (probably need to double check with GiffGaff users) so if you can see a budget O2 Android phone, your Skype solution should work well.

Three has a SIM Only deal at 6.90/month (and if you go to them via Quidco or TopCashBack get some cash back to you for signup with Three). You get 100 minutes (bare min), lots of texts and limited internet for 6.90 on the 'Essential internet 100' SIM. Then when you have the SIM in a 3G phone, use the web site and add the 'all you can eat' data add-on for a further 3 quid a month.

You may need to get your existing phone unlocked to be able to use a Three SIM.

Has anyone tried Family Mobile (www.familymobile.co.uk). I just got a sim from them for my daughter. There's no contract and when you register and get a SIM you can choose from £10, £20 or £30. But unlike Tesco and Giffgaff you don't have to use it up within a month, so it'll last for however long.
Voice mins are 8p and text 4p.
I used to have a Tesco pay as you go for her at £10 /month, but she never used it. I think its a much better idea for kids who don't spend too much time on their phones.
Service seems good too.

yes, we like Family Mobile too, the really good thing as you point out, that makes it unique compared to GiffGaff et al, is you don't need to keep topping it up every month, you spend as little or as much of your credit, and when it runs out, which could be 2 months or 2 years, then just go to their website and top up with 10 quid or so

they use the EE network, so the coverage is good where we are !