Baffled man needs help with phone and plan

Cavehill Red

It turns out Meteor have been ripping me off on an old plan, so I want to get a new phone and plan.
I am entitled to an upgrade with Meteor but am p1ssed at them and disinclined to give them any more business unless they were spectacularly the best deal.
I am likely to emigrate in the next 12-18 months, so do not want a 24 month contract at all, and would significantly prefer 12 to 18 months.
I don't want to pay more than 50 euro per month and ideally as little as possible. I don't have huge data needs currently (as my phone is rubbish), but I do call internationally quite a bit, and roam in the UK too (NI and Britain.)
My current phone is an antique on its last legs, so I do need to purchase a phone. Sim-only deals aren't an option.
I don't have hundreds of euro to spend, and while I'd like a smartphone that was intuitive to use and had a decent phone, I'm not a gadget junkie who must have a new iphone at all cost. In fact, unless it was the best available deal, I'd rather not go with Apple at all. I'd prefer an Android phone.
Given these criteria, I have been on all the service provider's websites and am now thoroughly bewildered and lost. Can anyone recommend a phone/plan deal that would suit?

Mezcita

Probably 3 given the fact that you make international calls and roam in the UK. They get a lot of abuse on here about their coverage so get a free SIM off them first and test what it's like where you live.

They offer the option on using your call units while you are in the UK and do "add on's" for international options.

keredern

Mezcita wrote: »

Probably 3 given the fact that you make international calls and roam in the UK. They get a lot of abuse on here about their coverage so get a free SIM off them first and test what it's like where you live.

They offer the option on using your call units while you are in the UK and do "add on's" for international options.

If Three have good coverage where you are, then they are most likely the best value alright.

However, their call centre is based in India which has been heavily criticised on Boards.

I'm a former customer of 8 years with three accounts & it was often an ordeal to get any issues sorted BUT when things were going well, it is a great service!

There is an excellent 'cheap' android smartphone available from Vodafone which I can personally recommend...Huawei Ascend G510.

It can be bought in store for €130 if you use a free sim from Tesco to port a number over to Vodafone.

http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phonesAndPlans/phones/mobileDetails/mobileDetailsMain.jsp?returnURL=/shop/phonesAndPlans/phonesAndPlansHome.jsp%3FsubPage%3Dphones%26view_Toggler%3Dgrid%26planFilter%3Dprepay&planFilter=prepay&selectionKey=mobile&voucherCode=&planType=prepay&hardwareSkuId=sku1570063&skuId=sku1570064&subPage=&planSkuId=&menuKey=

It's very easily unlocked using this site;

http://nckserver.com/imei/6/168/Huawei-Ascend-G500-G600-Unlock

They're very reliable...I've bought three codes from them with no probs!

Hope that helps!

Stormington

There is an excellent 'cheap' android smartphone available from Vodafone which I can personally recommend...Huawei Ascend G510.

That phone's little brother the Huawei Ascend Y300 is €79.99 with Meteor. It too is easy to unlock, fwiw.

Cavehill Red

Thanks for the replies, guys, but I'm not much the wiser.

What I'm looking for are recommendations for a phone/12 month plan.

IE try X phone with Y supplier - it's 100 euro and 24 a month after that for the year and you get this amount of texts and minutes and data.

I don't understand about unlocking and all the rest. If you could dumb this down like you would for your granny, that would be fantastic.

Cavehill Red

Anyone?

My crappy phone just crapped out so I need to get a new phone and plan ASAP.

Could really do with a walkthrough recommendation here.

DUBLIN_person

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Anyone?

My crappy phone just crapped out so I need to get a new phone and plan ASAP.

Could really do with a walkthrough recommendation here.

O2 do a range of competitive plans for 6,12,18,24 months. I think I saw on here a while ago that if you go on the €55 plan for 6 months you get a HTC one for €199. More info here: http://www.o2online.ie/o2/shop/plans/billpay.php
Can't comment any further on the plans as I'm not with them, just saw them on here a while ago.
I'm on Vodafone, and the norm these days seems to be 24 months if you want a phone

Cavehill Red

DUBLIN_person wrote: »

the norm these days seems to be 24 months if you want a phone

Yeh, this is the problem. I really like Tesco mobile's rates, but you can't get anything for 12 months except sim only.
Three do seem to have some 12 month options, but I'm finding it hard to make sense of them. There's stuff about flexi units I don't get at all.

keredern

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Yeh, this is the problem. I really like Tesco mobile's rates, but you can't get anything for 12 months except sim only.
Three do seem to have some 12 month options, but I'm finding it hard to make sense of them. There's stuff about flexi units I don't get at all.

Tesco sim only would suit you from what you said in your original post.

http://www.tescomobile.ie/priceplans/pay-monthly-plans.aspx

They have cheap international calls too.

I'm not sure why you specifically want to have a 12 month contract?

Would it not be better to go month to month & be free to leave whenever it suits you?

Just buy a cheap smart phone & pop in your new sim!


Three flexi units => one unit equals either one minute of talk or two text messages.

So 350 flexi units means 350 minutes of talk per month or 700 texts or any combination.

If you opt for that Huawei G510 phone, it's incredibly simple to buy a code from that link, enter it & unlock your phone to any network.

You will have a code emailed to you within a few hours.

Best of luck!

Cavehill Red

I don't need a 12 month contract, but presumably phones are cheaper on billpay than pay as you go? Also no nonsense of running out of credit late at night, etc.

I don't really understand all this unlocking, codes stuff at all.

I'd be inclined to just get a phone and plan for no more than 12 months if possible.

keredern

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I don't need a 12 month contract, but presumably phones are cheaper on billpay than pay as you go? Also no nonsense of running out of credit late at night, etc.

I don't really understand all this unlocking, codes stuff at all.

I'd be inclined to just get a phone and plan for no more than 12 months if possible.

TBH buying a phone on any plan isn't really cheap...you just spread the cost!

Sorry I can't give you more help with a suitable plan.

As for unlocking, it's no problem to do but I understand your reluctance if you're not that gadgety!

The Boardies on here will give you loads of help, whatever you choose!

Cavehill Red

I appreciate your efforts to help. I'm not a total luddite. I know my way around computers no problem. But I haven't updated my phone or plan in over five years and hence completely missed the smartphone era. I'm the equivalent of someone who was just about familiar with betamax hearing about digital storage and streaming TV.
If I'd the time to learn and read my way into what's current, I would, but I expect I'll have enough to do just working out how any new phone will work.
That's why I'm just looking for a headache-free way to get either a PAYG phone or a billpay phone on an Irish network for no more than 12 months, that won't cost a mortgage if I'm in Britain for a couple of days or if I need to ring America for half an hour.

Riesen_Meal

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I appreciate your efforts to help. I'm not a total luddite. I know my way around computers no problem. But I haven't updated my phone or plan in over five years and hence completely missed the smartphone era. I'm the equivalent of someone who was just about familiar with betamax hearing about digital storage and streaming TV.
If I'd the time to learn and read my way into what's current, I would, but I expect I'll have enough to do just working out how any new phone will work.
That's why I'm just looking for a headache-free way to get either a PAYG phone or a billpay phone on an Irish network for no more than 12 months, that won't cost a mortgage if I'm in Britain for a couple of days or if I need to ring America for half an hour.

Maybe check out the Chinese phone thread on the android devices section, get a great phone relatively cheap and sim free, no contract needed, your dollars would be probably be put to better use there, I got a Jiayu G3S phone for my gf birthday 2 months ago, cracking phone for the money....

Cavehill Red

I'm currently without a phone. It packed in finally yesterday. So I need to go and buy one ASAP. Not sure how confident I'd be about a Chinese brand or indeed about ordering online from China anyway.
So I really need to get this sorted in the next day or two. If there's a straightforward way to buy a decent phone and use it on a PAYG deal or a 12 month Tesco sim-only contract, I'm happy to do that.
Otherwise, I'm looking for a recommendation for a phone and contract deal.

Kristopherus

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I'm currently without a phone. It packed in finally yesterday. So I need to go and buy one ASAP. Not sure how confident I'd be about a Chinese brand or indeed about ordering online from China anyway.
So I really need to get this sorted in the next day or two. If there's a straightforward way to buy a decent phone and use it on a PAYG deal or a 12 month Tesco sim-only contract, I'm happy to do that.
Otherwise, I'm looking for a recommendation for a phone and contract deal.

Tesco have by far the best offers as of today. I see the Huawei Y201 is €50 and the Samsung Galaxy Ace & Y are both €60 on payg plans. For €20 a month you can have unlimited call & texts nationally and still have money left to call Uk numbers. Have a look at the Talk to Tesco forum and in particular to the Thread started by Darren last Thursday http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2057047947.

Porting your number is a doddle. Their CS is based in Ireland and really are very good & helpful.

Cavehill Red

That looks like the way forward alright.
Last remaining question: which Tesco shops in Dublin sell mobile phones on a Sunday?

Cavehill Red

Apparently it all needs to be done online. I've ordered a Galaxy Ace anyhow for 60 euro which seems a decent phone for the price. Hopefully transferring the number across and cancelling the Meteor account won't be too much hassle.

peckerhead

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Hopefully transferring the number across and cancelling the Meteor account won't be too much hassle.

I think you'll find that buried in Meteor's small print is a requirement to give 30 days' written notice to terminate a billpay acount. Best do this straight away, if you haven't already.