Moving to London, need phone contract

Jafin

Hi guys,

I'll be moving to London in September for university, and I was wondering if anyone could help me on getting info on how to get a mobile phone contract there. I have an iPhone 4 so I'll be needing a micro sim. I have checked loads of network websites and would prefer to go with Orange or maybe Tesco mobile, the only problem being I can't find any info on their websites about what criteria people need to fit if they have just moved to the UK.

I asked 3 what the deal was with them and was told that you needed to be living in the UK for 3 years in order to get a contract, which I find a bit silly. The contract I want is just one of those rolling month-long contracts so that when I come home for the summer next year I can just cancel the contract without any hassle and not have to pay for 3 months usage that I don't need. I can't find any email address to send Tesco an email to ask them. There is a form you can submit questions with but you need 2 British numbers on the form just to send it. Orange's website is down for maintenance at the moment now so I can't get an email to them...

Any info greatly appreciated.


Jafin.

shannon_tek

Why not go pre pay . London has serious competition so things are normally cheap. I know myself i wouldnt go bill. i have a prepay card and does the job. But thoses smartphones require a lot . but yes generally you do have to be living in england for some time before your allowed to sign to bills and stuff. or have a place of residence with a utility bill. I Dont know the full story as i have this done for me many moons ago.

Jafin

Thanks shannon_tek. Normally I would go pay as you go, as that's what I am at the moment here in Ireland, it's just that the bill pay deals look so much better as I use data on my phone quite a lot and so will need that to be part of whatever my deal is. The minutes aren't as big a deal for me as I prefer texting to talking, but I can't find anything on prepay that allows for, just as an example, 500MB of data and 300 texts for £X, whereas there are quite a lot of good deals on bill pay for data, minutes and texts.

I'll be going to my Uni open day on the 25th of June anyway so if I have time I can pop into a phone shop and see what the deal is. If worst comes to worst, I can go prepay for whatever the required amount of time is before I'm entitled to a contract.

Thanks again.

shannon_tek

Jafin wrote: »

Thanks shannon_tek. Normally I would go pay as you go, as that's what I am at the moment here in Ireland, it's just that the bill pay deals look so much better as I use data on my phone quite a lot and so will need that to be part of whatever my deal is. The minutes aren't as big a deal for me as I prefer texting to talking, but I can't find anything on prepay that allows for, just as an example, 500MB of data and 300 texts for £X, whereas there are quite a lot of good deals on bill pay for data, minutes and texts.

I'll be going to my Uni open day on the 25th of June anyway so if I have time I can pop into a phone shop and see what the deal is. If worst comes to worst, I can go prepay for whatever the required amount of time is before I'm entitled to a contract.

Thanks again.

Ya do shop around. its actually amazing that a shop meters away from another can have better deals. example in my area there are 4 carfones. i went to each one of them two in the same building and one across the road from another and each one gave me a different deal for the exact same product. my aunt just thought was mad how one can charge xyz and the one opposite can give a total different deal and there the exact same shop . we even had the same shop assistant joke with us how we were stalking him ha ha. Orange do seem to have the better of the deals from what i noticed. but i stayed on O2

harney

My gf is using an o2 sim card and it is costing her £35 per month.

It is £15 for the calls and data plan (500mb I think), and 20 for the international favourites. That allows 3000 outbound minutes to 5 international pre-determined numbers, including mobiles (200 mins to mobile), and 3000 inbound minutes to 1 call me number in a country of your choosing (i.e. they provide, for example, an Dublin number for you that friends and family can call).

There is a 3 friends option that does not include outbound mobile phone calls for £10 and the quality is a lot better than VoIP.

International Favourites

Edit, it looks like the prices have gone up, but I would imagine if you call them and say you are going to be a new customer looking for a sim only they will drop the prices slightly as they are not providing a phone for you

http://www.o2.co.uk/tariffs/simplicity

eth0_

Jafin wrote: »

The minutes aren't as big a deal for me as I prefer texting to talking, but I can't find anything on prepay that allows for, just as an example, 500MB of data and 300 texts for £X, whereas there are quite a lot of good deals on bill pay for data, minutes and texts.

You're not looking hard enough. I am with Virgin and for £15 per month on a 30 day rolling contract I get: 500 minutes, Unlimited texts, 1GB Mobile Web.

You won't get a normal contract as (I presume you are) an 18 year old with no credit history in the UK.