...is it to switch?

Reason I ask is I took out an old sim only online contract, direct with O2 off the website, over 6 years ago and have had my phone upgraded from them every year since then but they have this year refused to do so.

Am willing to take out a new contract and wish to stay with O2 as most of my family and friends are on the same network but the site does not have the phone I would like. But Phones 4u (and various other sites) have the phone I like, also with O2. Do I have to stil get a PAC(?) code to be able to transfer my number over, even though I will be staying with O2?

Hope this makes sense?

Anyone?

You will need a pac code!

More fool you should you decide to take out a contract with P4U or CPW though.

I've been with P4U before on Vodafone before O2 and had no problems. O2 don't have the greatest range of phones anymore and P4U and Dial-a-Phone do, including the one I like the look of (SE W902) plus their tariffs/deals are better than the ones I've been given in the O2 store and online. Could go with Orange, as they seem to be fairly reasonable, but as previously said, most people I contact are on O2.

Would being on O2 really matter? Most tariffs have plenty of cross network minutes. In fact, most minutes on tariffs are to any network whether it be the same or a different network. I'm on orange and my free minutes include calls to not only orange and landlines but to all other networks too.

They aren't really FREE, you pay a monthly fee for them. O2 offer some tariffs that include unlimited calls to other O2 customers as well as your inclusive minutes. So it could be an advantage to staying on O2.