[Schnuffi]

Hi can I realistically use a android smart phone on a prepaid.
I not interested in face book or email just occasionally quickly looking up something. Most of the time I can use it with wifi at home. I only text or use the phone I now have one or two times a week to make a call and text. I now only spend about 10€ every 4 or 5 mouth´s.

[111roy111]

I'm in the same place as you but i have a iphone 4, i'm on payasugo so no contract my iphone works fine on wifi at home which i mostly am. I don't make many text or calls really, i can count on one hand how many i make each month so, its not worth me being on contract. So yes its very realistically to use a repaid.

[Schnuffi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 111roy111

I'm in the same place as you but i have a iphone 4, i'm on payasugo so no contract my iphone works fine on wifi at home which i mostly am. I don't make many text or calls really, i can count on one hand how many i make each month so, its not worth me being on contract. So yes its very realistically to use a repaid.

Thanks I just heard that these phones are data hungry but
I guess it all depends on what aps you are running.

[alanwarwic]

Just turn the Android mobile data off and just use normal wifi as and when needed.
Thus your PAYG costs stay the same.

If wanting to use the 'mobile data', check your payg contract for costs.

[tonysidaway]

Most of the drivel I write on this board comes from my phone over Wi-Fi. The tosh comes from the same phone over my data connection. That leaves the odd festering heap of balderdash to be delivered over cable modem from a PC.

Try it, I think you'll find it works very well.

[Schnuffi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Just turn the Android mobile data off and just use normal wifi as and when needed.
Thus your PAYG costs stay the same.

If wanting to use the 'mobile data', check your payg contract for costs.

Thanks for that I will just have to figure out how to that once I get my new phone.

[Awshum-Yawn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schnuffi

Thanks for that I will just have to figure out how to that once I get my new phone.

Don't need to figure it out... Android will ask you the first time you turn your phone on.

Android on PAYG here... don't listen to the sales guys "data hungry" nonsense that's just to scare you onto a contract.

[andyhurley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schnuffi

Thanks I just heard that these phones are data hungry but
I guess it all depends on what aps you are running.

Some of the prepaid packages can have data added for a very reasonable amount. I am currently in the process of ditching my O2 contract with my Palm Pre in favour of a PAYG sim.

I currently have a GiffGaff sim for which I can buy 'unlimited' data for £10 a month and I have a T-Mobile one on order that gives data for £20 for 6 months.

The GiffGaff one is limited to 1GB (per month) of downloads and streaming per month but all app data, email and browsing are unlimited (quite how they determine what is what I don't know).

The T-Mobile one is limited to 512MB (per month) but when I read the small print it seems this is also only for dowloads and streaming, normal traffic should not come off that.

I'm going to give the T-Mobile one a try and see how I get on.

[tonysidaway]

3 UK Pay as you Go has an all-you-can-eat data add-on for £15. You also get 300 minutes and an absurd 3000 texts.

[andyhurley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonysidaway

3 UK Pay as you Go has an all-you-can-eat data add-on for £15. You also get 300 minutes and an absurd 3000 texts.

Yeah, and useless coverage. No signal in my office in central London, no signal at home either. I don't think I'll be going there!

[tonysidaway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhurley

Yeah, and useless coverage. No signal in my office in central London, no signal at home either. I don't think I'll be going there!

I used to have trouble with the Orange signal in the Heath row area in the mid-1990s, but seriously does anybody ever have signal problems these days?

[andyhurley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonysidaway

I used to have trouble with the Orange signal in the Heath row area in the mid-1990s, but seriously does anybody ever have signal problems these days?

You don't travel much do you?

In my office (ground floor) in the City there is O2 and a tiny bit of T-mobile signal, no Orange (that doesn't matter these days with the TM deal), no 3 and no Vodafone.

At home, less than a mile from the M11 we get Orange (upstairs only), T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone. No 3.

Where we regularly go on holiday in Cornwall we get nothing at all on any network but Orange and T-Mobile are available if you travel a mile inland. O2 needs a 10 mile drive.

As for 3G coverage, it's a joke. I sometimes get it when I'm out shopping but that's about it.

[cavemanjames]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhurley

The GiffGaff one is limited to 1GB (per month) of downloads and streaming per month but all app data, email and browsing are unlimited (quite how they determine what is what I don't know).

Where did you read that? I've been on Giffgaff for months and it's never had a 1GB limit...

[TheBigM]

Sounds like Virgin Mobile would be more ideal, you pay 30p on the day you want to use internet and that gets you 25MB. Anything over that amount costs more. But if you only want to look things up now and again, it's the way to go IMO.

[andyhurley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavemanjames

Where did you read that? I've been on Giffgaff for months and it's never had a 1GB limit...

It's in the fair use policy small print. 1GB only applies to downloads and streaming though, all web, email and app data are not limited.

I thought this sounded good and bought a giffgaff sim but I have decided to go with t-mobile for the better network coverage in places that matter to me. Also, £20 for 6 months is considerably cheaper than £10 a month.

[TheBigM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhurley

It's in the fair use policy small print. 1GB only applies to downloads and streaming though, all web, email and app data are not limited.

I thought this sounded good and bought a giffgaff sim but I have decided to go with t-mobile for the better network coverage in places that matter to me. Also, £20 for 6 months is considerably cheaper than £10 a month.

Could you provide a link and the clause number please as I'm sure that's not right (I've read the T&Cs before).

Especially as their T&Cs say you can't use the SIM for continuous streaming of audio/video, it would then contradict to say can use upto 1GB.

[Redcoat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonysidaway

I used to have trouble with the Orange signal in the Heath row area in the mid-1990s, but seriously does anybody ever have signal problems these days?

Still common. At home here there is no official 3G coverage from any network - you can get a signal from 3 in a part of my back garden, O2 also though it doesn't allow me to connect to it. Vodafone and O2 are good for 2G (GPRS only), Orange is OK but is notably patchy and loses signal in parts of the house (unlike Voda and O2 which are rock solid) and T-Mobile is pretty useless. There's a place I go to at weekends in the Sperrins that is pretty isolated, and the terrain makes mobile reception tricky. Only Vodafone (with EDGE) and Orange (GPRS) provide any reliability due to having base stations on top of a local mountain that can be seen over a wide area. With O2, I have to leave my phone at the edge of a window to get any signal (usually 1 bar, around -100dbm). Move it away from the window and reception is lost. T-Mobile is even more hopeless. The only chance of getting 3G reception is to be on a hiking trip high up a mountain.

Because of their (2G) coverage, O2 have a large amount of customers in Northern Ireland followed by Vodafone who in my experience have the best rural coverage and can often be found where others are not and Orange also have a loyal base. T-Mobile only has a 2% share of the market here.

[cavemanjames]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhurley

It's in the fair use policy small print. 1GB only applies to downloads and streaming though, all web, email and app data are not limited.

I thought this sounded good and bought a giffgaff sim but I have decided to go with t-mobile for the better network coverage in places that matter to me. Also, £20 for 6 months is considerably cheaper than £10 a month.

I want a link to said fair use policy.

Just read the Terms and Conditions, there's nothing about a 1GB limit.
Even this link says that it's unlimited, with no limit on anything. Unlimited is unlimited.

[andyhurley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavemanjames

I want a link to said fair use policy.

Just read the Terms and Conditions, there's nothing about a 1GB limit.
Even this link says that it's unlimited, with no limit on anything. Unlimited is unlimited.

You're right. Wierd, it was only a few days ago I was searching their site before ordering my SIM and I read the bit about a 1GB fair use limit for streaming but it clearly says now that there is no fair use limits so either they removed it or I am going mad which is distinctly possible.

[TheBigM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhurley

You're right. Wierd, it was only a few days ago I was searching their site before ordering my SIM and I read the bit about a 1GB fair use limit for streaming but it clearly says now that there is no fair use limits so either they removed it or I am going mad which is distinctly possible.

I think you probably looked at a different network's offer and got confused in your memory. There's a couple doing things like 1GB mobile data, 2GB WiFi type of thing.