Hello, I got my new Nokia N900 on PAYG with Orange last week.

I went with them because I did not want to pay monthly and wanted free/good value for money internet access (£5 for 250MB) Just 1 problem though - nearly every single website I visit on my phone (including Digital Spy) is blocked and it just comes up with the 'adult filter - orange safeguard' even though I'm not trying to access such sites.

Now I have phoned up Orange and have been told I need to visit my local shop (which is a good hour drive away) and need to take three documents to prove I'm over 18 to disable it for a start I don't really fancy driving miles for this and secondly I could really do without the embarrassment of asking 'can you please enable adult content on my phone' in front of a shop full of people!

So which UK operator is best for mobile internet? I'm not too bothered about speed just low cost - Three seems to be the best, anyone else have any suggestions?

I'm pretty happy with O2. On the "text and web" PAYG tariff you top up £10 pcm in return for 300 texts and 500mb of internet, and then the £10 is yours to spend how you wish (I have a couple of bolt-ons that cover all the calls I make). I believe public wifi is going to be included in that too in the near future although I could be wrong.

Giffgaff is the best (apart from the fact it runs on the O2 network). The only operator left who does truly unlimited internet.

You can even get 100MB/day free with them until end 2010!

Second that, not the quickest though, but still acceptable

OP is your phone locked to the Orange network though ?

No, thankfully I purchased sim free direct from Nokia

Virgin Mobile's PAYG data bundle is £5 for 1GB per month.

3 do a £5 add on for phones, used to be 1GB but the last time I spoke to Customer Services they said the limit was increased to 2GB.

I use it in my iPad and never seem to struggle for signal.

t-mobile do 6 months internet booster for £20 but only 500mb a month, not bad though price wise.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobil...u-go/boosters/

Got a text today confirming that the tariff does now includes wifi.

Three is the fastest and best coverage in the uk for 3g.

Neil

Another vote for giffgaff.....

Have you tried accessing your account settings through your phone on Orange, there should be a way where you enter card details to verify your 18. Access the WAP Orange homepage on your phone and look for it there.

Giffgaff is the best for Internet.

Call costs are cheap also.

Most Definitely giffgaff,

If it runs on the 02 network does that mean any phone locked to other networks than 02 need unlocking or do 02 phones need unlocking to accept the GiffGaff sim ?

Unlocked phones and phones locked to O2 should work. Others will need unlocking.

Similarly for Virgin Mobile, unlocked phones, phones locked to virgin or to t-mobile will work. (But phones locked to virgin won't work with t-mobile sims).

Thanks,the top up for the goodybags @ £10 for unlimited texts,unlimited internet and 300 minutes , is that £10 top up every month or once every 3 months

every month

but they did a special offer of half price goodbags through summer expect something similar after 31st october to cover christmas etc

free text and phone calls to other giffgaff users three months from activation of the goodbag even if you didn't buy a goodbag every month. Add in free internet until 1st december. You'd find it difficult to find better.

Depends if you value 3G coverage - if you do, O2 and GiffGaff are really a bad choice. Poor coverage, poor speeds (even when you do get a 3G signal), and that's assuming the data network hasn't collapsed again.

3/T-Mobile aren't bad. 3 especially - you can buy the £5 internet addon and get a 2GB FUP. Excellent 3G coverage, pretty good speeds, and they don't seem to care if you tether on that addon (even if it says you can't).

It can't be stressed enough how poor GPRS is - EDGE is much more bearable, but O2/Orange have patchy rollouts. Vodafone is apparently rolling it out nationwide.

Ive used O2 and Tesco and giffgaff who all run of the same network,and ive never had any trouble getting a connection to 3G/HSPDA and i live in a village where your lucky if you can get a workable connection for most other 3G networks,infact 3 is none existant,all networks have blackspots

Good for you - but nationwide it is 3/T-Mobile and Orange who lead in terms of 3G coverage (in terms of population % covered). O2 and Vodafone are very much bringing up the rear.

Vodafone seems to be trying to make their 2G network work well, with all sorts of tweaks (nationwide EDGE, being able to get incoming calls during an active GPRS session). O2 just can't be bothered, instead choosing to lurch from data network failure to data network failure.

As you say, all networks have blackspots. But because you get an O2 signal, it is not representative of the entire country.

I've been around the country and it really varies, people and networks claim so and so coverage and I have found it to be quite random, it just depends on where you live and the common places you go.

What are the chances of after the 1st December a NEW offer of free internet is offered , a bit like the MFI sale ?

Extended till Feb 2011,................bah