New phone time!

[cushyno]

I'm using a Moto G5+ for the last 3 years and on Giffgaff SIM. I don't do contracts. Battery life and speed more than adequate.
Why pay more?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Between £25/£30...I know it's not a lot but I pay 4 X contracts...

39 a month iphone 12 on virgin unlimited calls and text 100gig of data top phone and camera

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Two things:

1. the best deals for phone contracts are on Uswitch.com - far better than the networks put on their own sites
2. if possible, buy the handset separately and just get a SIM-only contract as it will save you money

Personally I like the Apple iPhone 6s handsets because they do everything I need (notably 4G, fingerprint recognition and ApplePay), fit easily in my pocket and have a decent battery life. Whenever we need another one I just go and buy a second hand one - you can get an absolutely perfect example for less than £100.

I just switched my son‘s airtime contract from Three to O2 this week as they have a very good offer of 9GB a month plus unlimited text and calls for £8 - Voda also have a similar offer, but watch out as it doesn’t support WiFi calling or roaming.

 

[Covrich]

Cheapest way to do it if possible I'd buy the handset and then have a sum only deal.

I would highly recommend OnePlus. Flagship quality phones cheaper than Samsung and hand vanilla android not Samsung's bloatware.

 

[gavp1979]

I recently switched from a pixel 2 XL to a Huawei p30 pro and would switch back to the pixel in a heartbeat, best phone I have ever had, really wish I would have got a pixel 4 when I upgraded

 

[Crappyfish]

Between £25/£30...I know it's not a lot but I pay 4 X contracts...

Look at ID mobile tariffs I pay 5 quid a month

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

I've never had a problem with Giffgaff pay monthly. Apple I'm not that impressed with. I had two iPhone 4's, both of which were given to me when people upgraded their phones. The fact Apple are so controlling and iTunes made me want to shove them up Steve Job's ar*e.

When the last one got too slow to use, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S8. It was about a year old, but brand new ( I bought it from someone who had won it, but was an Apple user). I have to say it's better than the iPhone by a country mile. The battery seems to be as good as it was when I first charged it, it doesn't appear to have slowed down in the couple of years on so that I've had it, I don't have to use crappy iTunes. There are only a couple of niggly things (such as it's size).

However, I have heard that if the screen breaks, being curved glass, they are very expensive to replace (more then the phone cost me) and only Samsung supply them.

Overall, I'd recommend Samsung to anyone.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

If you’re out of contract have a look at Giffgaff for SIM only deals

Or Smarty mobile. I get Unlimited text, calls and data for a tenner a month with Smarty (Three Network). Go through Quidco for anything mobile phone related to earn cash back.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

I'd forgotten about Quidco. I've never used it (I think you have to pay), but I can recommend Top Cashback

 

[kelper]

I have an Ulefone Armour 5 with a massive battery, waterproof for £80 and pay £5 a month for 1GB and 600 minutes on Three. It's all I need. At bedtime battery is on 70 to 80%

 

[BrewMeHappy]

Na, just get a Chinese phone. I'm sure all manufacturers can spy and track anyhow. As for tariffs, there are black Friday deals aplenty for SIM only. Lebara which runs on Vodafone £5.00/ month for 2GB data unlimited texts and calls and 100 international minutes. They have some other decent ones too I think £10 for 10GB. All half price for 6 months and if you port your number to them they'll give you £10 credit too.

 

[Pezza24]

Don't know if you've bought a phone yet Clint but the Money Saving Expert sent a mail round last night with a tool to find the cheapest phones at the best deals etc. Just answer a few questions about what you want and it reccomends some to you.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/

 

[johncrobinson]

I got given a new alcatel phone by the local Council for use during the corona-virus first wave.
It came preloaded with built in google apps which use the network in the background.
This meant when i topped up with £25 credit it was using sneaky data.It actually used the FULL £25 within two weeks,So when i came to make my first call (to the doctors) there was no credit left to make the call.!!!

As these apps are built in i cannot delete them nor can i stop them using data.
I checked all that out,There seemed no way to stop it.

I gave the phone a new home in DUSTY BIN.!!!

 

[Pezza24]

John, you could have just turned the mobile data off which would stop it using data. You would lose all other online functions but it would solve your problem. But as it's now filed under B I wouldn't worry haha.

 

[Graz]

Well the Black Friday offers got a bit too tempting.... I decided to replace my aging Xiaomi Mi A1 which has been a great phone for the 3+ years I've been using it and I'd probably have carried on with it but the battery is starting to lose its capacity, I cracked the screen over a year ago (but still works), and they've stopped software updates for it.

Took delivery of a Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite yesterday, first impression are wow £230 buys a lot of phone these days and they're even bigger now. Screen is fantastic, it's very fast, has 128GB on board storage, and does 5G which is no use to me right now but I guess might be in future. The Chinese can spy on my dull uninteresting life all they like in exchange for this bargain phone

Been on a SIM only deal with IDMobile for quite a while and never had any issues there £6 for unlimited calls, texts and 2GB data a month if I remember correctly, not a heavy user so does for me.

 

[johncrobinson]

Re Pezza24

Tried that.!! Turned of all system updates as well nothing helped.
The OS was Android a form of Linux and I use Linux all the time.
The google apps seemed tightly integrated with the OS
Probably a commercial tie up between Google and Alcatel

Unfortunately I have no idea of what the "root" password was nor could i find it online

It would have been fine I suppose on an unlimited data contract,But on PAYGO it was a disaster.

Makes me wonder just what exactly was the phone reporting back to its masters.

Whatever it was reporting it was a LOT of data.

 

[Pezza24]

Seems an unreasonable amount of data to rob off you though. I've got the Honor 10 Chinese spyphone plus edition and it's got all that integrated Google stuff and I never go over 4gb of data in a month.

 

[Clint]

On my Hoowarway I used to get "unknown" blank texts that I couldn't block or reply to...phone shop didn't have a clue...then they stopped suddenly.

 

[Nidger]

I got given a new alcatel phone by the local Council for use during the corona-virus first wave.
It came preloaded with built in google apps which use the network in the background.
This meant when i topped up with £25 credit it was using sneaky data.It actually used the FULL £25 within two weeks,So when i came to make my first call (to the doctors) there was no credit left to make the call.!!!

As these apps are built in i cannot delete them nor can i stop them using data.
I checked all that out,There seemed no way to stop it.

I gave the phone a new home in DUSTY BIN.!!!

Sounds like typical council.
The local council here gave out tablets re Corona, these were deemed unfit for purpose so laptops were then given out.
It's ok though as us mugs give these idiots a constant stream of money to waste.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It's ok though as us mugs give these idiots a constant stream of money to waste.

If they are so bad why haven't "us mugs " voted them out