Phone phone phone phone....aaaaarhhhh!
Sunday, 7. October 2007, 09:53:58
No, I've not sorted out my mobile phone situation yet. Since my Sony Ericsson W850i committed ritual sepuku two weeks ago - suspiciously losing the battery and the memory card in the space of one week (that you up to your old tricks, Sony?) - I've had a devil of a job trying to find a handset and tariff that will meet my requirements.
The good news is that the £150 I was promised as cashback was actually a big fat lie/error on the part of the sales-bod who sold me the package...but to apologise for being told whoppers the Carphone Warehouse's Loyalty team have generously sent me a cheque for the total amount as an apology
. It only took ten minutes to sort out, too, which is always appreciated when dealing with helpdesks and their associated horrors.
So, what next? Well, the policy change meaning I have to select a new Tariff was, unfortunately, absolutely correct. So I've decided this time to shop around myself, looking at all the various suppliers - Virgin, O2, Orange, Vodafone, T-mobile - to see what Tariffs I can expect, and I've also been into their stores to sample some of the handsets on offer.
I've decided this time round to plump for a Samsung (thanks for your recommendation, misschristie
). I had one before and it was a decent little phone; it looks like there are some good models available right now too. I've become enamoured with the u600 and the E900 - both seem to offer what I'm looking for in terms of features, size and whatever else I seem to think is important, although the u600 has just that added bit of extra funk ahead of its older sister.
As for contracts I've basically ignored 02, unhappy with having to go through all this due to their change of policy, and have found Tarrifs around the £15-20 mark with both Virgin and Orange. The last time I checked, which was admittedly a few years ago, most of my friends were 02 - I have no idea what they're all on nowadays, but I'm pretty impressed with the Virgin deal so might just plump for them. But here's the rub: I'm what you'd call a very low volume user. I don't make many calls, nor am I a big texter, maybe 100 or so a month. In which case would it be better for me to go Pay-As-You-Go, rather than chain myself to an 18-month contract? This is where the E900 comes in handy - I can get that on PAYG for £50. If I choose the u600 then it means a long contract or hundreds of £££'s, and I really don't want to pay much taking into account the usage the phone will get....which is about the point in my deliberations where my brain gives up, pumps me full of endorphins and makes me go look at the pretty clouds for half an hour.
I hate shopping, I really do.
The good news is that the £150 I was promised as cashback was actually a big fat lie/error on the part of the sales-bod who sold me the package...but to apologise for being told whoppers the Carphone Warehouse's Loyalty team have generously sent me a cheque for the total amount as an apology
. It only took ten minutes to sort out, too, which is always appreciated when dealing with helpdesks and their associated horrors.So, what next? Well, the policy change meaning I have to select a new Tariff was, unfortunately, absolutely correct. So I've decided this time to shop around myself, looking at all the various suppliers - Virgin, O2, Orange, Vodafone, T-mobile - to see what Tariffs I can expect, and I've also been into their stores to sample some of the handsets on offer.
I've decided this time round to plump for a Samsung (thanks for your recommendation, misschristie
). I had one before and it was a decent little phone; it looks like there are some good models available right now too. I've become enamoured with the u600 and the E900 - both seem to offer what I'm looking for in terms of features, size and whatever else I seem to think is important, although the u600 has just that added bit of extra funk ahead of its older sister. As for contracts I've basically ignored 02, unhappy with having to go through all this due to their change of policy, and have found Tarrifs around the £15-20 mark with both Virgin and Orange. The last time I checked, which was admittedly a few years ago, most of my friends were 02 - I have no idea what they're all on nowadays, but I'm pretty impressed with the Virgin deal so might just plump for them. But here's the rub: I'm what you'd call a very low volume user. I don't make many calls, nor am I a big texter, maybe 100 or so a month. In which case would it be better for me to go Pay-As-You-Go, rather than chain myself to an 18-month contract? This is where the E900 comes in handy - I can get that on PAYG for £50. If I choose the u600 then it means a long contract or hundreds of £££'s, and I really don't want to pay much taking into account the usage the phone will get....which is about the point in my deliberations where my brain gives up, pumps me full of endorphins and makes me go look at the pretty clouds for half an hour.
I hate shopping, I really do.
WIDGETIZE