Now I have finally managed to get a job for at least the next 18 months, I have decided to get myself a new phone. As I already have an iPad and loads of iOS apps, I'm thinking along the lines of an iPhone (hopefully the new one due soon) but am getting really confused over the types of contracts available.

I'm currently on Orange Pay as you go and as I've never had any trouble with them, I'd like to stick with them, especially as I'll be able to keep the same number too.

I don't make a lot of phone calls or texts but would use the 3G Internet quite a lot through the phone and tethering to my iPad, so am looking for a contract that focuses more on data than voice or text.

I'm not sure whether to buy a phone outright and get a cheaper 12 month contract or go for a 24 month contract with discounted phone.

The biggest confusion though is whether 'tethering' is actually included or not, I can't seem to find anywhere on Orange's website that says 'tethering included' and how much data usage is allowed through it for each plan.

The one I was looking at was the 'iPhone 31 SIM' with 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data but it doesn't say whether tethering is included or not.

Can anyone advise?

It would seem tethering on Orange is only available on the Panther Pay Monthly tariff as standard. The other Pay Monthly tariffs appear to have a £1 a day charge to use it. It is not on PAYG.

http://help.orange.co.uk/orangeuk/su...sonal/633003/2

Chrisjr is right. Orange only offer tethering on their Panther plans. This might be more helpful than Orange's website.

http://www.store-orange.co.uk/panther-tariff.html

Don't worry about losing your number - you can transfer it easily between operators by asking for your PAC code from Orange.

Thanks for you replies.

It doesn't look like the Panther contracts are available on iPhones, only on Blackberries and other mobiles for ome reason.

As peteb23 said you can transfer numbers between operators, I've been looking at 'Three' as they seem to do a good del with their 'One Plan' for £25 a month SIM only on a one month rolling contract.

I don't fancy having a 24 month contract as I've only got a 18 month contract in work at the moment and while I'll hopefully still be in work in 2 years time, it's not certain.

Can anyone advise whether 'Three' is a good network? They seem to offer the best deal for what I want but have never had any dealings with them before.

The network coverage in our area is stated as 'Good outdoors but may struggle to get a signal indoors'. That's pretty much any network near where we live though. My current network, Orange is quite patchy in our house. My brother is on O2 that is patchy indoors too.

Indeed, peterb23, and there are a couple of links below on this very subject:

http://cow.neondragon.net/index.php/...ching-networks
http://www.paccodes.co.uk/

i went on 3 a few months ago and the signal not been good. internet forever losing signal as is the phone.

I've been on 3 for about 30 months now and apart from my house it's generally good. As my company phone on Vodafone is also poor here the problem might be my location rather than the 3 network.