Evening,

I'm nearing the end of my T-Mobile contract (Flext 20 + WnW £22.50) and
don't want a new 'phone just yet, so I'm looking to reduce my monthly costs,
while keeping 'unlimited' internet.  I have one of the old WnW basic 
contracts
which includes HSDPA and I've got used to it now, so I don't particularly
want to give it up....

T-Mobile's Solo isn't any cheaper (although Solo 15 + WnW would be the
same price and give me masses more minutes than I have now - but I don't
need them and I think I would lose the HSDPA as it is a new contract).

The O2 Simplicity tariff is £15pcm for 200 mins and 200 texts, which is
plenty for me, and includes one free bolt-on if I buy online, although I 
can't
see if I can choose the unlimited Web bolt-on instead of the unlimited O2 to
O2 calls.  The chap in the O2 store said I could, but that I would need to
do it on the web-site.  I think it's still going to cost me £22.50 for the 
tariff
+ unlimited Web because of the mish-mash between the store/online offers.

O2 give me a better signal, so I would still switch even if I can't save 
money,
as long as I would still get HSDPA.  Does anyone know if you get this as
standard on O2?

Any other ideas on how to reduce my costs?  I need about 150 mins / 20 texts
but I need up to 500 megabytes of data some months.

Thanks,
Al Reynolds

.

"Al Reynolds"  wrote in message 
news:632kk.75728$Eo3.48651@newsfe14.ams2...
> Evening,
>
> I'm nearing the end of my T-Mobile contract (Flext 20 + WnW £22.50) and
> don't want a new 'phone just yet, so I'm looking to reduce my monthly 
> costs,
> while keeping 'unlimited' internet.  I have one of the old WnW basic 
> contracts
> which includes HSDPA and I've got used to it now, so I don't particularly
> want to give it up....
>
> T-Mobile's Solo isn't any cheaper (although Solo 15 + WnW would be the
> same price and give me masses more minutes than I have now - but I don't
> need them and I think I would lose the HSDPA as it is a new contract).

surely you should just negotiate with retentions for the same package but 
cheaper as you arent having a phone.


>
> The O2 Simplicity tariff is £15pcm for 200 mins and 200 texts, which is
> plenty for me, and includes one free bolt-on if I buy online, although I 
> can't
> see if I can choose the unlimited Web bolt-on instead of the unlimited O2 
> to
> O2 calls.  The chap in the O2 store said I could, but that I would need to
> do it on the web-site.  I think it's still going to cost me £22.50 for the 
> tariff
> + unlimited Web because of the mish-mash between the store/online offers.
>
> O2 give me a better signal, so I would still switch even if I can't save 
> money,
> as long as I would still get HSDPA.  Does anyone know if you get this as
> standard on O2?
>
> Any other ideas on how to reduce my costs?  I need about 150 mins / 20 
> texts
> but I need up to 500 megabytes of data some months.
>
o2 online simplicity £15 is 200 mins + 400 texts and a fixed bolt-on of free 
o2 to o2 calls.

HSDPA is standard if available.

"Al Reynolds"  wrote in message 
news:632kk.75728$Eo3.48651@newsfe14.ams2...
> Evening,
> The O2 Simplicity tariff is £15pcm for 200 mins and 200 texts, which is
> plenty for me, and includes one free bolt-on if I buy online, although I 
> can't
> see if I can choose the unlimited Web bolt-on instead of the unlimited O2 
> to
> O2 calls.  The chap in the O2 store said I could, but that I would need to
> do it on the web-site.  I think it's still going to cost me £22.50 for the 
> tariff
> + unlimited Web because of the mish-mash between the store/online offers.
>
> O2 give me a better signal, so I would still switch even if I can't save 
> money,
> as long as I would still get HSDPA.  Does anyone know if you get this as
> standard on O2?
>
> Any other ideas on how to reduce my costs?  I need about 150 mins / 20 
> texts
> but I need up to 500 megabytes of data some months.


Not according to the website you can't.
Online 15 gives you 200 mins and *400* texts and one free bolt on which you 
can't choose "free o2 to o2 calls"

"IanM" wrote:
> "Al Reynolds" wrote:
>> I'm nearing the end of my T-Mobile contract (Flext 20 + WnW £22.50) and
>> don't want a new 'phone just yet, so I'm looking to reduce my monthly 
>> costs, while keeping 'unlimited' internet.  I have one of the old WnW 
>> basic contracts which includes HSDPA and I've got used to it now, so I 
>> don't
>> particularly want to give it up....
>>
>> T-Mobile's Solo isn't any cheaper (although Solo 15 + WnW would be the
>> same price and give me masses more minutes than I have now - but I don't
>> need them and I think I would lose the HSDPA as it is a new contract).
>
> surely you should just negotiate with retentions for the same package but 
> cheaper as you arent having a phone.

Ah, but wouldn't that mean I would need to sign up for another 18 months
in order to get the reduced price?  I can see myself wanting an upgrade in 
6-8
months time, so a monthly rolling contract, or just carrying on my current 
one,
make more sense.

Thanks for the HSDPA confirmation.

Since posting I also looked at Vodafone, and they do a rolling 30-day 
SIM-only
for £15 giving you 250 mins + 100 texts.  According to the chap on the phone
you can add the £7.50 'unlimited' mobile internet pack, but he had no idea 
what
HSDPA was.  He did say that his Nokia on Vodafone showed the 3.5G icon
when he connected, so I suppose they must have HSDPA in some places.

Orange were hilarious.  They couldn't sell garlic to a Frenchman.

It still doesn't look like I'm going to get my 150 mins / 20 texts / 
unlimited internet
for less than £22.50 unless I sign up for a new contract with T-Mobile but 
don't
get an upgrade phone.

I suppose the other option is to take an upgrade phone and then sell it on 
ebay
to offset against the contract cost.  Which are good phones to sell on ebay 
at
the moment?

Al Reynolds

"Al Reynolds"  wrote in message 
news:HBBkk.161146$oo.113247@newsfe09.ams2...
>
> "IanM" wrote:
>> "Al Reynolds" wrote:
>>> I'm nearing the end of my T-Mobile contract (Flext 20 + WnW £22.50) and
>>> don't want a new 'phone just yet, so I'm looking to reduce my monthly 
>>> costs, while keeping 'unlimited' internet.  I have one of the old WnW 
>>> basic contracts which includes HSDPA and I've got used to it now, so I 
>>> don't
>>> particularly want to give it up....
>>>
>>> T-Mobile's Solo isn't any cheaper (although Solo 15 + WnW would be the
>>> same price and give me masses more minutes than I have now - but I don't
>>> need them and I think I would lose the HSDPA as it is a new contract).
>>
>> surely you should just negotiate with retentions for the same package but 
>> cheaper as you arent having a phone.
>
> Ah, but wouldn't that mean I would need to sign up for another 18 months
> in order to get the reduced price?  I can see myself wanting an upgrade in 
> 6-8
> months time, so a monthly rolling contract, or just carrying on my current 
> one,
> make more sense.

I certainly wouldn't sign up for 18 months with no phone - at the end of my 
o2 contract last month they automatically moved me to Simplicity - so I am 
currently on a one month contract.

I would be very suprised if you could not make a deal with them

"IanM"  wrote:
> I certainly wouldn't sign up for 18 months with no phone - at the end of 
> my o2 contract last month they automatically moved me to Simplicity - so I 
> am currently on a one month contract.
>
> I would be very suprised if you could not make a deal with them

Fair enough, I'll give it a try.

Al

"Al Reynolds"  wrote in message 
news:nUGkk.30751$x66.19499@newsfe25.ams2...
> "IanM"  wrote:
>> I certainly wouldn't sign up for 18 months with no phone - at the end of 
>> my o2 contract last month they automatically moved me to Simplicity - so 
>> I am currently on a one month contract.
>>
>> I would be very suprised if you could not make a deal with them
>
> Fair enough, I'll give it a try.
>
> Al
>

Just seen an August only offer on Simplicity

http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/sim_only

Its cheaper than your current £22.50 anyway

I still think you will do better (as in cheaper) with t-mobile, you may have 
to ask for your PAC to get the best deal.

"IanM"  wrote:
> Just seen an August only offer on Simplicity
>
> http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/sim_only
>
> Its cheaper than your current £22.50 anyway
>
> I still think you will do better (as in cheaper) with t-mobile, you may 
> have to ask for your PAC to get the best deal.

That's definitely a good price - 600 mins / 1000 texts / unlimited web
for £20.  I'll never use all the texts but I get a better signal inside my
house with O2, so I could replace quite a few of my landline calls with
mobile calls.

The timing works OK as my contract is due to finish mid-September
so I can ask for T-Mobile for my PAC mid-August and see what they
offer - if they can't beat this deal then I'll be off to O2.

Thanks,
Al

"IanM"  wrote in message 
news:0057207c$0$4163$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
>
> "Al Reynolds"  wrote in message 
> news:HBBkk.161146$oo.113247@newsfe09.ams2...
>>
>> "IanM" wrote:
>>> surely you should just negotiate with retentions for the same package 
>>> but cheaper as you arent having a phone.
>>
>> Ah, but wouldn't that mean I would need to sign up for another 18 months
>> in order to get the reduced price?  I can see myself wanting an upgrade 
>> in 6-8
>> months time, so a monthly rolling contract, or just carrying on my 
>> current one,
>> make more sense.
>
> I certainly wouldn't sign up for 18 months with no phone - at the end of 
> my o2 contract last month they automatically moved me to Simplicity - so I 
> am currently on a one month contract.
>
> I would be very suprised if you could not make a deal with them

I would happily have made a deal with them, but they couldn't beat O2.

They offered me my current tariff (Flext 20 + WnW) for £17.50 (keeping the
HSDPA) if I signed up for 18 months with no upgrade phone.  I told them
about the O2 Simplicity 600 mins / 1000 texts / unlimited web / 30 day
contract for £20 and they said the closest they could get was £27.50 for a
one month rolling contract or £22.50 for an 18 month contract with no phone.
Neither of these other options would have included HSDPA.

I politely asked for my PAC and ordered a Nokia E66 from Play.com.

Al Reynolds