stupid question alert: can I put BB simcard into iPhone?

[BoringTheBuilder]

My BB got wet and isn't working, thinking about getting an iPhone but than I will lose all my photos and contacts if I can't use the same simcard, won't I?
It was a 9700, is it worth sticking with BB but another model?

[Blu]

OP - don't worry about your image - the £zillion salary CEO that I know uses a BB because it is better for e mailing.

Your image is safe

[BoringTheBuilder]

Thanks, I will digest all the info and do it.

[NetworkGuy]

And someone else posted :-

Vodafone retentions would only go to 300 mins, unlim texts and 1.25 GB data for £8.50 a month / 12 months.

Customer for over 5 years.

[NetworkGuy]

Here's what someone posted today on another forum (poster had been with T-Mobile for several years):


Finally got my T-Mobile contract renewed.

Got this for £7.50: 600 mins 5000 texts 500 T-Mobile mins
+ 1 gb data with unlimited browsing and 3 GB wifi

(considering the low cost, and that T-Mobile doesn't block browsing after you reach your allowance, but just blocks video clips and streaming audio, that seems a very good deal).

His previous experience a couple of weeks or more ago was rather different:

Called T-Mobile, got offered rubbish deals.

Asked for PAC code. Got a call from retentions 10 mins later and got offered the same £16 pm Full Monty for 12 months.

I told them this is available online, what special they are offering me? He said they can not offer anything else.

[NetworkGuy]

While it's sometimes better to switch network at end of your contract, it really does depend how long you've been with the network you are on, and whether they'll offer a good deal to keep you.

I have only started using O2 in the last week (but have used Orange and Virgin for 10 to 15 years on PAYG, had a contract in 19998 with T-Mobile and have only just started using them again, and have never used Vodafone). So don't know what policies there are for upgrades, and feel it's something of a lottery.

Near the end of contract, if you ask for your PAC (code to allow porting your mobile number to another network) they may start ringing you with offers as they know they have the potential to tempt you back if they can match the best deal you have found. It's certainly worth running some checks for phones (and monthly charge you would be willing to pay) to see how the minutes/ texts/ data compares with what you get and what you are paying, and then doing similar for a SIM Only deal (so you are ready for offers which include or exclude a phone, from your existing network)... Then when you have about 30 days left of your contract, ring and ask for the PAC, and if they start ringing you, aim to get them to match the package you have found elsewhere. Sometimes they will, or may drop the price of what you have been getting a lot, or a little. Other times they may not budge. Might be worth waiting until contract has 3 or 2 weeks remaining (if the day when you ring is close to the end of the month) to see if they have any targets to meet, and keeping you happy by giving you a good deal might be to your advantage and help them towards their target.

If you have some other deal lined up, you have the upper hand as you can say "Sorry, I can get better deal with XXX and will use my PAC in the next 48 hours" (which allows them a final chance to match the best alternative you've found).

[NetworkGuy]

Ahhh, don't worry - teenagers certainly seemed to want the BB phones (but that was definitely a 2012 phenomenon, I think, and primarily because wile the BB services may cost extra, they were presumably unlimited for texting and instant messaging, a great boon if you send 200 short messages a day!)

Glad you found a phone that meets your needs, and can continue with the SIM and package that is in budget and offers you sufficient resources for now.

[BoringTheBuilder]

I have been researching phones but doesn't work. I am slave to blackberry and now I even feel embarrassed because it seems from the reviews that blackberries are now for teenagers or chavs.
Anyway tomorrow I will have to go and buy another one as my phone is misbehaving too much.

I chose the BlackBerry Curve 9320 Red for £99 - handset only

My current plan is: O2 simplicity 300 12 month, £10.83 per month, 300 any-network mins, unlimited texts

The best upgrade deal would be:

Monthly cost £14
Phone cost £0
Minutes 100
Texts unlimited
Data 250 MB

So I will buy the handset only and keep my sim that is working fine. I am receiving calls, txts, emails and browsing the net, the only problem is the keyboard that freezes and don't let me access anything.

Is that right?

[Blu]

And I missed a week of Broadchurch because I couldn't get iPlayer

British Telecon.

[Blu]

Nope - not fixed at all.

We are trying to change from TalkTalk slow internet to whizzy fibreoptic Broadband on an EE contract. EE set up a day for BT to come and do whatever they need to do, they notified TalkTalk and cut off our old broadband, saying BT would come and connect us that day. DP took the day off work.....BT didn't turn up. This has happened THREE TIMES now. BT don't communicate with EE, or if they do they lie to EE, EE don't communicate with us... so we've cancelled the whole thing and are going back to TalkTalk while we decide what to do next.

Sorry - boring tale, but be warned!

[NetworkGuy]

Yuk (about having broadband cut off for 2 weeks - rotten for you - hope all fixed now) !

[Blu]

The ohone was £29 and the package is £26pcm.
£16 is good!

But then I am impressed with lots of deals - just got a £5pcm for DS for 250mins, 2.5k texts and 500mb data, free calls to virgin mobiles or landlines, and free BB services. Just right for an 11 yo, and I could probably manage on that too. Except for the current tethering because between them EE and BT have cut off our broadband for over 2 weeks...

[NetworkGuy]

(NB unfortunately the SIM Only deal does not include Tethering but then again, for what I'm paying, I cannot complain too much !)

[NetworkGuy]

I got the SIM Only (ie no phone included) version of that Full Monty deal when it was reduced to £16/month (and have been given £101 as cashback) so its effectively costing me under £8/month.

I've recently bought the Sony Xperia Tipo for £50 (a budget mobile running Android v4) and they provide 50 GB of online storage for free (offer to new users up to December this year, originally started this deal in 2011 or 2012), so can upload/backup a lot of items downloaded to the phone.

Your deal getting the iPhone v4 at £29/month looks pretty good, when one sees the price of almost any recent iPhone packages.

[Blu]

I like the 'Full Monty' deal with EE that is 2000 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data for £26 a month, iPhone4 for £29.

It's the data limits that scare me because I have no idea what the amounts add up to, for a little light MN-ing, for example. Unlimited data also useful for tethering.

[NetworkGuy]

If you cut the simcard will it still work???????

There are some sellers on Ebay or Amazon for a suitable cutting device, I've seen mention on Hot UK Deals. Obviously a DIY job needs some care.

I've not needed to try this myself (my SIMs come as 'mini-SIM as standard, but have been marked and you can 'pop out' the 'micro-SIM' if needed)...

The latest nano-SIMs (for iPhone 5, and a few others) are best coming from the mobile network, however, rather than attempting to cut a SIM down to the right size.

[NetworkGuy]

Probably worth looking for a mobile deal where you also get online storage, so you can copy all the photos away (on home Wi-Fi not mobile network, unless you get an 'unlimited' data plan). That way this nightmare should not be repeated so easily...

You don't mention what network you use, or give any idea how much you spend, and those things might influence what the network will offer in the choice of phones.

Although my sister, her husband, and a number of friends have iPhones, and I'd very much like one, the cost would definitely put me off.

Android offers a very large range of phones from £50 to £500 (PAYG prices) and from maybe £10 to £30+ on 24 month contract for a new phone. At £25, you might get an older iPhone model or a new model but with a minutes/ texts/ data plan that means you end up paying lots more for going over the included allowances.

What model BB have you been using, please? Only asking so it is possible to find some phone choices where you can see it as an 'upgrade' rather than a cheaper phone that's not in the same league...

[PedroPonyLikesCrisps]

It's about future proofing. Everyone with BBs right now has a phone for which support is dropping and the company is going under rapidly. If that happens to Apple (and there's no reason to think it wouldn't) , it would actually be even worse than it is for BB users because the ecosystem is so tight.

Android, on the other hand, doesn't rely on one manufacturer, so Samsung could collapse, HTC could go under, etc. and the Android platform would survive.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

I have a Samsung s2 and v happy with it. The androids do all the things the iPhones do. What clinched it for me was asking why the iPhones went up so much in price, for each memory increase. The man at Vodafone said 'that's because it's got the apple logo on it'. I got the s2,and put the additional 16g memory card in that I had bought for my little htc, for about £6 from a amazon.

With apple you are locked in to products from their app store and they only make one phone. With android there are ooooodles of phones to choose from.

[Blu]

I changed from a BB to an iPhone and the helpful youth in the shop plugged it into something and sold me my new phone (£29) with it all loaded up with my contacts etc.

[BoringTheBuilder]

Thanks
my sim is working now and the photos are back
I figure I can just transfer the photos to the computer and transfer my number to the iPhone than give my purple blackberry to my spoiled brat dear dd...

good idea?

[imtheonlyone]

I have an iPhone 4S and I love it! DP has the 5 and he loves his too!! If you do opt for one you can buy cutting devices for chopping your sim to size! I don't think they're very expensive! Good luck! Fwiw I hate choosing phones too

[BoringTheBuilder]

Or convince me to get anything BUT an iPhone
or convince me to buy an iPhone anyway
in other words
choose a phone for me

[BoringTheBuilder]

Oh ad I will transfer my stuff to computer before phone gives up

[BoringTheBuilder]

So
I could hear people calling/texting me and also email alerts, so I took the battery, simcard and the other small card (clueless) and decided to dry the phone with my hair drier as obviously dh didn't dry it well enough (as soon as I rescued the phone I had to run as I was late and asked dh to dry it for me)
Anyway
Phone now is working however is misbehaving
Checking my provider's website I see I am due to an upgrade so now I am choosing phones
Any suggestions please?
I like taking photos, browsing on the net and texting
Convince me to get a samsung....

[BertieBotts]

Yes as long as you don't cut the actual chip it will be fine.

I don't think they sell iPhone 3GSs new any more, but you might be able to get a second hand one.