Mobile Phones

[jaywhat]

This is plea for some common sense advice etc...........

I am pig sick of my mobile supplier. This month's bill is double and I hardly use it and I do not want it and I am told to phone them back in 30 days - exactly 30 days - the bossy bastards.

I (and Nin) are seriously wondering why I need a mobile. We are almost always together and if one is out he/she would take the mobile and if we are both out not together too bad we have to sink or swim. My mother is still surviving in her 98th year without ever having used a mobile.

We have house phone and email. If we collapse in the street or get run over by a bus or fall in the canal - what bloody use is a mobile anyway.

See, I have convinced myself, so any advice anyone gives me will be ignored.

Mind you if you know of a mobile that only cost £5 a month and is free at the outset, you might let me know about it. Cheers

[Alan C.]

I have never had a mobile phone and I manage quite well, Mary has a cheap pay as you go thing, a £10 card lasts her around four months.

[Fia]

It seems to me that it's only worth having a contract mobile if you actually make a lot of calls on it.

Even though I need my mobile for work, 99% of the time it's for texts, and £10 on pay as you go lasts around 2 months.

Your contract supplier won't want your fones back, so why not just change to a pay-as-you-go sim card - zillions available free on t'interweb

[jaywhat]

Thanks for the advice guys.
All I have to do now is get out of my Vodaphone contract!

[jaywhat]

I am well into my fourth week of being on pay-as-you-go and I cannot believe the saving. Of course, now I am on PAYG I try not to use the phone much, but my balance stands at £5.43 and I only paid £5 to start with. Thanks Fia et al.

Can I do the same with my gas and electricity?

[Hundovir]

I find my mobile quite useful.

I'll echo advice above - get a Pay As You Go setup. I "top up" mine with about £10 every 6 weeks or so. Of course, if you use it a LOT it's more expensive than a contract, but I don't and it isn't.

[Marian]

Can I do the same with my gas and electricity?

I wish!

I do have a mobile (we call it a cell phone) but it's really for emergencies what with the wheelchair and all. We didn't sign any contracts but pay one amount per month. All calls between spouses are free based on our plan.
I am allergic to all contracts.

[Fia]

So far the best name for a mobile/cell is the German one I reckon:

they call them handies
Beats the UK/US hands down

[Marian]

That's a great name! Handies, although if we were playing the word association game, my next thought was the word: undies (as in underwear) My mind is an odd assortment of mis-matched bizarre connections

[getreal]

I am well into my fourth week of being on pay-as-you-go and I cannot believe the saving. Of course, now I am on PAYG I try not to use the phone much, but my balance stands at £5.43 and I only paid £5 to start with. Thanks Fia et al.

Can I do the same with my gas and electricity?

We use LPG for central heating and I was moaning to a friend about the cost and he asked me when my contract was up. Well, to cut a long (and probably rambling) story short, on his advice I phoned BP and renegotiated the price I pay per litre. I achieved a saving of around 5p per litre, got them to agree to fix it for 2 years and with a little more pressure they agreed to knock off £50 from our next bill!
I couldn't believe it-I thought everyone payed the same price.

This may or may not be useful to you, jaywhat.

[jaywhat]

I cannot see npower being so generous.

[Ken H]

In the US, mobile phones are expensive compared to Europe. We pay for sending and receiving calls. Plus taxes and fees almost double the monthly charges. The lowest contract rate, including fees, turns out to be around $60. We have prepaid (pay-as-you-go) phones. My wife has Virgin Mobile and pays $15 every 3 months for 100 minutes and I have T-Mobile, I pay $100 a year for 1000 minutes. That is more than enough minutes for us, especially as we don't text.

[Fia]

That is more than enough minutes for us, especially as we don't text.

Having the brick I do means I can only text anyway... do you pay for receiving texts too?

One of the reasons I won't relinquish my brick is because of fat thumb syndrome - I have large hands, the beginnings of arthritis and poor eyesight. Tiny buttons are useless for me. It was suggested that I should get an iphone as I'd find it much easier. It seems a large expense for a lot of stuff I don't need, but does anyone use one? Is it easier than tiny buttons?

[Lord Muck oGentry]

That is more than enough minutes for us, especially as we don't text.

Having the brick I do means I can only text anyway... do you pay for receiving texts too?

One of the reasons I won't relinquish my brick is because of fat thumb syndrome - I have large hands, the beginnings of arthritis and poor eyesight. Tiny buttons are useless for me. It was suggested that I should get an iphone as I'd find it much easier. It seems a large expense for a lot of stuff I don't need, but does anyone use one? Is it easier than tiny buttons?

I got an iphone for Christmas, so I haven't really learned to drive it. However, my impression is that you need to tap the buttons with a pencil unless you're very neat-handed.

[Alan C.]

Hmph! Bloody mobile phones, never had one, will never have one.
What is it with all this txting and shite? Wasn't the phone invented so folk could talk to each other?
If you want to msge folk you can use twitter, facebook, bebo, or forums like this, the phone should be for speaking to folk!

I always get like this just before a new year. Sorry

[Marian]

Hmph! Bloody mobile phones, never had one, will never have one.
What is it with all this txting and shite? Wasn't the phone invented so folk could talk to each other?
If you want to msge folk you can use twitter, facebook, bebo, or forums like this, the phone should be for speaking to folk!

I always get like this just before a new year. Sorry

You sound like me when I go on a rant about cell/mobile phones. I have one but I don't know how to use it except to speak to someone and dial out. I would prefer not to have one at all but they have saved my skin a few times with Jr when we've been out.

[Alan H]

I got an iphone for Christmas, so I haven't really learned to drive it. However, my impression is that you need to tap the buttons with a pencil unless you're very neat-handed.

Nah! I don't have a problem at all. The autocorrect sorts most things out when I'm writing texts or emails.

[Ken H]

Having the brick I do means I can only text anyway... do you pay for receiving texts too?

Yep.

[Alan H]

Over here, you generally don't pay for receiving texts. There are many text companies who do charge you for receiving texts in payment for some service or other, but you have to sign up to them.

[philbo]

So far the best name for a mobile/cell is the German one I reckon:

they call them handies

Ah.. so *that* is what she was talking about. Talk about embarrassing