The amount some people are prepared to spend on a mobile phone (judging by this thread) is mind boggling.
Paying BT around £250 for a landline a year is bad enough for me and most of that is line rental.
My last mobile cost me £15 and that was including £10 of credit.
As for free texts. Texts are virtually free to send anyway, so any money made from text messaging/SMSs is virtually 100% profit for mobile phone companies.
And lets not talk about termination charges, charging to phone 0800 and even paying to receive phone calls.
The whole mobile phone industry in this country is essentially a big rip off. I briefly phoned mobile to landline from here to Sweden on PAYG (the call must have lasted 3 minutes at most) and was charged £2-50 for the privilege.
I have a land line which comes free with my broadband but have not used it for a couple of years and only get the occasional incoming call on it.
My mobile costs me nothing per month at the moment. Happy days.
I understand why people get contracts. I note though that the majority seem to be going for the 24 month contracts and only comparing those with PAYG.
I do not want to be tied into any company for anything more than a max 12 months so all the figures in the world would not move me away.
When I bought my SGS2, I sold my iPhone for £200 so that came off the upfront payment. When I change again I will do the same.
It's nice to have the freedoms that PAYG give you. For me that is the driving force for not having a contract.
The amount some people are prepared to spend on a mobile phone (judging by this thread) is mind boggling.
Paying BT around £250 for a landline a year is bad enough for me and most of that is line rental.
That you are prepared to pay that much money for a pointless landline is mind boggling. I don't have a land line since it's useless to me. So you can knock your £250 off the cost of my mobile phone for a start.
I only pay the lowest tariff available because I don't need huge numbers of minute or texts. I hardly use my phone for calls, and I don't send many texts. I do however use the internet on my phone a hell of a lot, not only for personal use but also for SSH'ing into my servers at work
I find the cameras are sufficiently good enough now for general day to day use so it saves me the cost of buying a point-and-shoot camera and carrying it around. Knock that off your bill. I still have a dSLR for "proper" photography, but I'd still need to have that whether I had a phone or not.
Not to mention it's also my car SatNav. So knock the cost of one of those off your bill too. Plus I use apps for Geocaching and other location based games.
It stores all my business contacts and addresses, all my calendar and scheduled appointments. It's basically essential and the number of hours use I get out of it for less than £1 per day is staggering. It probably gets used for more hours per week than my laptop.
Compared with some people paying £30-40 per month for subscription television and yet still not being able to find anything to watch, I think the value for money I get from my "phone" is excellent. Of course I put "phone" in quotes because really that is the ability I use it for the least so to me it's not even primarily a phone.
If you're the sort of person who only uses a mobile phone for the odd call or text, then I can fully understand why you think they are poor value. But most people use smartphones as they are intended and so get much more value from them than you would.
That you are prepared to pay that much money for a pointless landline is mind boggling. I don't have a land line since it's useless to me. So you can knock your £250 off the cost of my mobile phone for a start.
I only pay the lowest tariff available because I don't need huge numbers of minute or texts. I hardly use my phone for calls, and I don't send many texts. I do however use the internet on my phone a hell of a lot, not only for personal use but also for SSH'ing into my servers at work
I find the cameras are sufficiently good enough now for general day to day use so it saves me the cost of buying a point-and-shoot camera and carrying it around. Knock that off your bill. I still have a dSLR for "proper" photography, but I'd still need to have that whether I had a phone or not.
Not to mention it's also my car SatNav. So knock the cost of one of those off your bill too. Plus I use apps for Geocaching and other location based games.
It stores all my business contacts and addresses, all my calendar and scheduled appointments. It's basically essential and the number of hours use I get out of it for less than £1 per day is staggering. It probably gets used for more hours per week than my laptop.
Compared with some people paying £30-40 per month for subscription television and yet still not being able to find anything to watch, I think the value for money I get from my "phone" is excellent. Of course I put "phone" in quotes because really that is the ability I use it for the least so to me it's not even primarily a phone.
If you're the sort of person who only uses a mobile phone for the odd call or text, then I can fully understand why you think they are poor value. But most people use smartphones as they are intended and so get much more value from them than you would.
You can knock the cost of running a car off my bill, as I don't have one and let's face it, that will dwarf the charges for any phone bills you and I might have to pay.
I don't particularly want to surf the net with only a small mobile screen to look at and like you, if I wanted a camera, I would get a dSLR.
Again, with TV, Freeview will do for me. And you're right the amount some people spend on TV subscriptions is ridiculous.
If I got rid of the landline, I'd need a mobile, which includes a lot of free minutes. I'd need 300, just to phone dad every month, let alone the number of other free phone calls I make to 01 and 02 numbers (evenings and weekends).
I have a land line which comes free with my broadband but have not used it for a couple of years and only get the occasional incoming call on it.
My mobile costs me nothing per month at the moment. Happy days.
I understand why people get contracts. I note though that the majority seem to be going for the 24 month contracts and only comparing those with PAYG.
I do not want to be tied into any company for anything more than a max 12 months so all the figures in the world would not move me away.
When I bought my SGS2, I sold my iPhone for £200 so that came off the upfront payment. When I change again I will do the same.
It's nice to have the freedoms that PAYG give you. For me that is the driving force for not having a contract.
I don't particularly want to surf the net with only a small mobile screen to look at and like you, if I wanted a camera, I would get a dSLR.
The thing is, none of those things are mutually exclusive.
I don't use the internet on my phone because I want to. I do it because I need to and it's convenient at the time. I don't want to carry a laptop around with me everywhere I go.
Likewise sometimes I just want to take a photo of something, whether it's to remember something to save writing it down, or just for fun. I don't always care about the quality so I don't need my dSLR with me all the time.
Crikey if I carried my laptop and my dSLR backpack with me everywhere I go rather than my smartphone I'd have a knackered back by now lol.
It's all about using the right tool for the job.
If I got rid of the landline, I'd need a mobile, which includes a lot of free minutes. I'd need 300, just to phone dad every month, let alone the number of other free phone calls I make to 01 and 02 numbers (evenings and weekends).
So, a landline works for you and you don't need the functions of a smartphone. Fair enough. I don't need a landline and I do use all the functions of a smartphone. That's fair enough too.
If I added up the cost of a cheap PAYG phone and top ups, plus a small P&S camera, plus a car sat nav with updated maps, plus a hiking GPS, plus a home landline, I reckon it would easily come to more than what I've spent on phones over the last few years.
I've got a bit of a thing about mobiles and the way people use them inconsiderately.
Well, that's true regardless of whether someone spends £50 a year on a mobile phone, or £500. You should rant about the people, not the device.
Comments
My mobile costs me nothing per month at the moment. Happy days.
I understand why people get contracts. I note though that the majority seem to be going for the 24 month contracts and only comparing those with PAYG.
I do not want to be tied into any company for anything more than a max 12 months so all the figures in the world would not move me away.
When I bought my SGS2, I sold my iPhone for £200 so that came off the upfront payment. When I change again I will do the same.
It's nice to have the freedoms that PAYG give you. For me that is the driving force for not having a contract.
That you are prepared to pay that much money for a pointless landline is mind boggling. I don't have a land line since it's useless to me. So you can knock your £250 off the cost of my mobile phone for a start.
I only pay the lowest tariff available because I don't need huge numbers of minute or texts. I hardly use my phone for calls, and I don't send many texts. I do however use the internet on my phone a hell of a lot, not only for personal use but also for SSH'ing into my servers at work
I find the cameras are sufficiently good enough now for general day to day use so it saves me the cost of buying a point-and-shoot camera and carrying it around. Knock that off your bill. I still have a dSLR for "proper" photography, but I'd still need to have that whether I had a phone or not.
Not to mention it's also my car SatNav. So knock the cost of one of those off your bill too. Plus I use apps for Geocaching and other location based games.
It stores all my business contacts and addresses, all my calendar and scheduled appointments. It's basically essential and the number of hours use I get out of it for less than £1 per day is staggering. It probably gets used for more hours per week than my laptop.
Compared with some people paying £30-40 per month for subscription television and yet still not being able to find anything to watch, I think the value for money I get from my "phone" is excellent. Of course I put "phone" in quotes because really that is the ability I use it for the least so to me it's not even primarily a phone.
If you're the sort of person who only uses a mobile phone for the odd call or text, then I can fully understand why you think they are poor value. But most people use smartphones as they are intended and so get much more value from them than you would.
You can knock the cost of running a car off my bill, as I don't have one and let's face it, that will dwarf the charges for any phone bills you and I might have to pay.
I don't particularly want to surf the net with only a small mobile screen to look at and like you, if I wanted a camera, I would get a dSLR.
Again, with TV, Freeview will do for me. And you're right the amount some people spend on TV subscriptions is ridiculous.
If I got rid of the landline, I'd need a mobile, which includes a lot of free minutes. I'd need 300, just to phone dad every month, let alone the number of other free phone calls I make to 01 and 02 numbers (evenings and weekends).
Some links would be nice please, so I can look for myself.
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Anyway, sorry about the rant above, I've got a bit of a thing about mobiles and the way people use them inconsiderately.
The thing is, none of those things are mutually exclusive.
I don't use the internet on my phone because I want to. I do it because I need to and it's convenient at the time. I don't want to carry a laptop around with me everywhere I go.
Likewise sometimes I just want to take a photo of something, whether it's to remember something to save writing it down, or just for fun. I don't always care about the quality so I don't need my dSLR with me all the time.
Crikey if I carried my laptop and my dSLR backpack with me everywhere I go rather than my smartphone I'd have a knackered back by now lol.
It's all about using the right tool for the job.
So, a landline works for you and you don't need the functions of a smartphone. Fair enough. I don't need a landline and I do use all the functions of a smartphone. That's fair enough too.
If I added up the cost of a cheap PAYG phone and top ups, plus a small P&S camera, plus a car sat nav with updated maps, plus a hiking GPS, plus a home landline, I reckon it would easily come to more than what I've spent on phones over the last few years.
Well, that's true regardless of whether someone spends £50 a year on a mobile phone, or £500. You should rant about the people, not the device.