Develop Bugs

Buying a TP2 in the UK

Guys any suggestions, the ones I have narrowed down are:
mobilephonesdirect, vodaphone (bus tariff) or mobiles.co.uk - all offer good mins, free handset, but i was looking for a cheaper tariff (i.e. £25 ish)

I got mine from mobilephonesdirect. I bought the PAY2GO version as it was cheaper than sim free. Then I haggle with my service provider and got a decent monthly rate so in the long run it works out cheaper.

obsydian said:
Guys any suggestions, the ones I have narrowed down are:
mobilephonesdirect, vodaphone (bus tariff) or mobiles.co.uk - all offer good mins, free handset, but i was looking for a cheaper tariff (i.e. £25 ish)
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Ive just got one from mobilephonesdirect... ordered yesterday at lunchtime.. arrived this morning @ 10am.. its at home waiting to be played with now!!
i did origionaly try Vodafone business contract, credit checked ok, but then final check failed - which ive jst found out was a glitch in the system! as that happened, i then went to mobilephonesdirect to get it!
howver - Vodafone business if it works is better - click via quidco and you can get £100 cash back! (feel free to share it for the tip!) - which is why im abit peeved now as if the vodafone one worked i'd be £100 CB better off..... i could sent it back and get the VF one.. but cant be botherd now... it needs to be played with! and would only resuly in more delay if i change now!

Thanks guys.
Did you fail the credit check as your not a business user or do they not check that

obsydian said:
Thanks guys.
Did you fail the credit check as your not a business user or do they not check that
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Credit check was OK - just got an email yesterday - the day i was expecting the phone to arrive.. saying they were unable to complete the order - had a call this morning from Vodafone asking if everything was OK with the new phone! - obviously they dont talk to each other! so was annoyed to here that actualy it was a system glitch and it should have gone through... they said i could cancel the order i have and do it with them.... but when they heard it was a vodafone contract anyway they werent so bothered about me canceling it and switching!
im also porting my number - so didnt want that to get lost in a system some where.
saying that - if you order in the next 50 mins from mobilephonesdirect you will have it to play with all long weekend!
i cant fault the service i recieved from them - it arrived this morning as promised!

I like the quidco and want to get a way from T Mobile.

Sorry does the quicdo only apply from vodaphone direct or can i do this from mobilephoendirect ?

direct as it has to track on their website.

Thanks just ordered the TP2 from Vodaphone with Quidco, so in theory i save £190 (£90 from Vodaphone and £100 from Quidco) nice, now just need to pursuade the Mrs to take on my TD2

£90 from Voda on the 3 monthsfree thing ? on a 24month ?

They are doing the first 3 month line rental from (so thats £90). i took out a 24mth contract (750mins, 250 text and 500MB data). Then hopefully the quidco on top of this (£100).

I set up a wiki with a HUGE list of vendors all over the place including most in the UK. Its got a price comparison list so you can see who's cheapest too. Hope it helps
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=rhodium_vendors

obsydian said:
all offer good mins, free handset, but i was looking for a cheaper tariff (i.e. £25 ish)
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Then you are being hopelessly unrealistic, I'm afraid.
Any SIM-only contract that includes "unlimited Internet" will cost you £20 a month right there. Vodafone give you the phone for free on a £30 a month, 24-month contract, which also included unlimited Interne. That means you are effectively only paying £10 a month for the phone, which means you get the phone for just £240, and that includes two years' interest-free credit thrown in for free. Compare that to the approximately £450 you'd be paying to buy the phone SIM-free. Or, for that matter, compare it to what you would pay if you got an iPhone 3GS on contract from O2. It's actually a very, very good deal. The only reason I didn't opt for that option myself is that Vodafone has an explicit 500MB a month data limit on their "unlimited" Internet deal (and even that isn't bad - Orange is also 500 MB a month, T-mobile is 1GB a month).

Bugger! Didn't know about the Quidco thing
Anyhoo, got mine on the Voda business 30 quid deal. I'm still pleased - unlimited landline is very important to me, and the 500mb data limit is fine for my needs. Plus the 3 month rebate meant I could end my contract with Orange early, without losing the money (still hadx three months to run).
Plus, I've got to say, Voda is a damn fine network. Three times this week I've been with friends on other networks who've lost signal, and Voda;s been rock steady.
The TouchFlo branding's ugly, but that's what XDA's for...

Shasarak said:
Then you are being hopelessly unrealistic, I'm afraid.
Any SIM-only contract that includes "unlimited Internet" will cost you £20 a month right there. Vodafone give you the phone for free on a £30 a month, 24-month contract, which also included unlimited Interne. That means you are effectively only paying £10 a month for the phone, which means you get the phone for just £240, and that includes two years' interest-free credit thrown in for free. Compare that to the approximately £450 you'd be paying to buy the phone SIM-free. Or, for that matter, compare it to what you would pay if you got an iPhone 3GS on contract from O2. It's actually a very, very good deal. The only reason I didn't opt for that option myself is that Vodafone has an explicit 500MB a month data limit on their "unlimited" Internet deal (and even that isn't bad - Orange is also 500 MB a month, T-mobile is 1GB a month).
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Ermm not quite Mr the package in mentioned works out at £26.60 (averaged with discounts), that said the buggers declined my on the credit history

Desire + Orange?

Hi, im currently up for renewal on my vodafone contract, but with them not being able to offer a decent tarrif or give me an actual date for when they think they will be getting stock (been told approx 2weeks but nothing confirmed) ive been forced to shop around, ive been offered 500mins 3000texts and internet (500mb, is that enough for the desire?) and a free phone tomorrow so to speak from orange. I know from past experience with orange that back in the day they would fill there phones of junk, i was wondering if the Desire was full of the old orange stuff? or is it unbranded so to speak?
Cheers, Joe
Oh, i can however get a nexus one with vodafone on a contract that i could live with, is it worth jsut going for a nexus over the desire? is there any major differences between the two other than the sense ui? which is the main reason i prefer the desire over the nexus tbh.

I think it all depends where you get the phone from. Orange, Phones4U and most Orange stockists will sell you their crapware filled, branded, crippled Desire that really is an awful experience in comparison to stock Desire. Thankfully this branding is pretty easily removed.
The Carphone Warehouse will sell you an unlocked, branding free Desire on contract from Orange etc. and they may give you quite a good deal.
As for the Nexus, it has pros and cons. It has Froyo, gets updates seemingly quicker than other Android phones, and has a uni-body design (honestly, it's not that much different). The Desire IMHO is better due to HTC Sense, more RAM and physical buttons which are more responsive than the touch buttons on the Nexus One.
It's your choice but I'd go with the Desire -- preferably NOT on Orange (they even give you a measly 500mb data plan [I've had the phone three months and gone over twice due to Spotify and podcast streaming] unless you pay another tenner and their customer service sucks) or via The Carphone Warehouse. Look around for the best deals

Cheap Desire offer!
Ive just bought one via mobiles.co.uk, it comes from them and it is a stock desire rather than an orange.
They have an offer on half price line rental for 12 months on one of them cash back thingys. Only had the phone a couple of days but pretty happy with it!!

The Orange phone is filled with rubbish you can't rid of.
I've just unbranded mine.
As above. Mobiles.co.uk i found were offering the best deals.
The Orange Network i've found to be very good, and the customer service again has been excellent
I came from O2 with an iffy data network and rubbish customer service

Rickalicious said:
The Orange phone is filled with rubbish you can't rid of.
I've just unbranded mine.
As above. Mobiles.co.uk i found were offering the best deals.
The Orange Network i've found to be very good, and the customer service again has been excellent
I came from O2 with an iffy data network and rubbish customer service
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Orange have been terrible to me. They even got my name wrong on a bloody direct debit when my name is on the account!

steve228uk said:
Orange have been terrible to me. They even got my name wrong on a bloody direct debit when my name is on the account!
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I guess they can't get it right all of the time, I can testify to that on O2's behalf, they were crap for me.

Yea whatever you do dont go on 02, had a 30 day rolling contract with them.. took me 3months to get that canceled.
Im on orange now 500mb of internet is fine for me, i just do general internet browsing facebook etc. Ive worked out 500mb will get you 16mb a day. Mines from phones4u had no problem with them, just make sure you cancel all the insurance addons they give you (unless you want them)
Cheers

Sorry to sound like I'm fighting the tide but I've always found O2 to be decent, both for customer service and network. I've always managed to negotiate a deal with retentions that is comparable to the best competitor tariff. I'm kind of limited because O2 are the only network that get a signal inside my house. Voda, Orange and T-Mob are all low signal but that's because I'm in a semi-rural location.
In fact my local mast must have been upgraded recently because I started getting a strong H signal inside the house a few days ago when I ALWAYS had plain G before.
As for data plans, ALL the main networks in the UK are going to tiered data plans. There's no such thing as unlimited data any more, it's 500MB for starters and then increasing cost for more MBs (750,1000 etc).

I spoke to O2 about the data and they told me it was only going tiered on the iPhone. I didn't think it was true but it was kinda interesting to hear.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

If that's true then fair enough, but it would be sensible to keep an eye open in case O2 do change the data plans across the board. I took out a new contract on 22-June with "unlimited data". My understanding is that O2 are looking to review "unlimited" sometime in October. It doesn't afect me as such anyway because I tend to run at 200-300MB per month.

Im on the same tariff and I got the phone from carphone warehouse for 2 reasons, Orange weren't selling it at the time, and it was unbranded.
The tarrif works fine for me (Managed to go over the 3000 texts , I know not to do to much with the phone on 3G, So it only gets used for emails using the net and stuff, I don't watch videos on it or stream or anything for to keep myself covered
Install at 3G Usage monitor for good measure

I am on the same tariff too. Mine is locked and a pain, just wondering whether to root it or not. Is it actually worth it? I am only wanting to do it because I want to change how many apps boot up to save battery life since all the apps take up 60%+ of battery power?
Anyway, 500mb is fine for internet usage, so far. I have 3g.Watchdog app so it tells me when I go over 75% and warns me when I get close to my quota. Just don't stream and use it for MSN and browsing when your out. When I am in I use the WiFi

I'm on a similar tariff, only with 300 minutes but with a free phone at £25/mth on an 18-month contract I'm not complaining
I just use the 'Your Orange' app from the market to keep track of it all. Seems to work a treat.

steve228uk said:
I'm on a similar tariff, only with 300 minutes but with a free phone at £25/mth on an 18-month contract I'm not complaining
I just use the 'Your Orange' app from the market to keep track of it all. Seems to work a treat.
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It does, but it doesn't give you a up-to date usage all the time, Im sure it states in the app minutes and data may be up-to 48 hours old

well due to the first few posts i decided to go against orange, just got off the phone from vodafone they hae stock but im on the end of the waiting list though it wont be soon before the phone is in the post, got the phone for free on £35 a month over 18months with 600mins unlimited texts + unlimited internet cant really complain!

i'm on orange and upgraded through them. i got
1100 mins
unlimited landline
unlimited internet
600 texts
£25 a month for 18 Months

I got my desire on orange, i have debranded mine & got it unlocked.
orange have been good to me never had any probs with customer service.

By the sounds of it some of you still run the stock Orange app, any chance someone could back the stock Rom up an send me a copy, would be mucho appreciated.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Decision Time!

Hi,
I am still in two minds whether to go with either t-mobile or car phone warehouse (orange) when i get my desire. The deals are as follows:
carphone warehouse orange
online (300 mins, unlmtd txts, 500mb internet) at 25pcm - i could get a 5 pound bolt-on should i need more internet.
in store (500mins, unlmtd txts, unlmtd internet) at 30pcm
t-mobile
in store (500mins, 500 txts, 1gb internet) at 25pcm business
can someone advise as to what t-mobile do to their handsets in the way of software/bloatware?
obviously carphone warehouse looks slightly more appealing on account of the fact that their handsets are unbranded.
secondly, i have recently moved to a new home and as an existing orange customer have found that every once in a while my gsm signal drops out - no signal, no operator name.
i have no idea what this would be like 3g, and am therefore, in two minds as to whether i should make the jump from gsm to 3g with orange as my provider.
both t-mobile and orange have told me that 3g coverage is very good in my area, but i'm not so sure as the proof is in the pudding as some might say!
i have looked on ofcom and found that there is a orange gsm mast half a mile to the east of where i live at 14.4 metres, and half a mile to the west a cluster of other masts belonging to o2, orange, and three at 30 metres providing both gsm and umts. i've heard that t-mobile do not provide ofcom information in regards to where their masts are located.
if there's anyone that could give some useful advice it would be much appreciated.

Don't buy a contract.
Pay cash for the phone and get it sim free.
If you haven't got the cash get a small loan over a year or 2.
Then buy a sim only contract from who ever for £15 a month.
And save yourself shed loads of money like I didn't.
Get out a calculator and see how much the contract will cost you over 2 years.
Then see how much the sim only contract is for 2 years plus the cost of the phone.
Its not cheaper to buy phones on contract any more. Pay cash and get a sim only contract.

a fellow brummy!
not sure what you mean - could you clarify?
15 x 24 = 360
htc desire = 380
360 + 380 = 740...20 pounds more than a 30pcm 24 month contract.
more to the point, what £15 pcm plan can you get for smartphones...simplicity starts from £20 pcm on a 12 month contract, and £25 pcm on a monthly rolling basis...adding more to the expense.
i'm not saying that you're wrong, but if you know of how to get a cheap handset and tariff, then i'd very much appreciate the sharing of knowledge!
ta.

Buy it sim free. There are a few good sim only deals out at the min. You will not be tied into a 18 or 24 month contract and you can change your handset at anytime. I will never again be tied into such a long term agreement especially the way android and other phones are evolving. You will save money but most importantly it wont be too long until there is a new phone that you like the look of and you can sell the Desire and shouldnt have too much to put towards it.

Sorry mate, I didn't realise the desire cost that much. Plus I worked it out from the cost of my rip off contract. Impulse buy
I'd say it depends if your into flashing roms.
If you are go with T-Mobile and debrand it.
If your not go with orange from carphone warehouse and it will allready be debranded.
All the contracts you suggest look pretty good.

it does look as though you can get sim only from t-mobile for £15, 500mins, 500txts, a month with unlimited internet boost, which over a 24 month period would amount to £360 plus the handset...
htc desire around £390, totals £750 (30 pounds more than a 30pcm tariff over 24 months, but freedom!)
htc legend around £350, totals £700...less, but you can get this on voda for £25pcm over 24month, total £600.
htc hero refurb at three £169, total £529...if you don't mind an older handset with less storage.
I think if i can get the t-mobile business tariff, i'll be happy...if not, i might just spend the extra 30 pounds so that i will only have to put up with network coverage problems for 12 months and not 24.

Sim free is not cheaper per se. My Desire costs me €539 total. That's with internet (3.6 Mbps) and 150 minutes or 300 sms, mixed. A sim free Desire is €410 and 120 minutes (150 not available in sim only) or 240 sms mixed is €240 for two years. There possibly are some sim only's that are a bit cheaper, but certainly not over €100 cheaper.

yes, but 30 pounds difference...
htc desire around £390, totals £750 (30 pounds more than a 30pcm tariff over 24 months, but freedom!)
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£30 cheapest tariff x 24 = 720
i think anyone is going to be hard pushed to get the total cost of running the phone over a 24 month period below 720 unless it is on a business contract OR with one of those online companies like beepy who i would perhaps rather pay a little bit extra then do business with them.

[UK] Need advice on operator choice!

Hi,
next month i'll move to London for work and i'm starting to look around for a good phone operator with convenient internet data plans.
Since i still don't know how long i'll stay, but i still need a UK phone number, i'd like to buy a sim without contract and pay an extra each month for a data plan.
Any advice is welcome, i was looking on orange and t-mobile sites but i'm sure there're other carriers around the uk.
Thanks in advance

3 are looking good with the One Plan but no idea on what they're like as a company

Sim only contracts can be cancelled at any time with one months notice. They start from £10-15 and you get much more for your money over payg with an internet add on.
I used to be with 3 on a sim only £15 contract, 300 minutes, a gig of internet, and unlimited texts.

I am on the o2 pay as you go network and I top-up £15.00 each month which gives me unlimited internet access and virtually unlimited text messaging. I signed up to this offer some time ago but certain that even now the plan is the same. On the whole I have been with o2 for many years and not encountered any major problems.
Regards
Scott

Three are good but their customer service is horrible. Your best bet is probably O2 as you can get pay and go offers or a month contract.

Orange and T-Mobile have merged and you will be able to use either network. For 3G, Three have the best network, followed by Orange/T-mobile, Vodafone then O2. I have no idea about deals, but whatever deal you go for, you will need a decent signal

Thanks guys
Ok, i'll start looking on Three site then, but if sim contracts can be cancelled with one month notice i'll probably look for one of those then.
EDIT:
T-Mobile plans are interesting, with 10£/month you get a sim with 100 minutes and 100 sms included each month plus one "booster" for free, since i need a data plan with them i can get one for "free".
Looks interesting, atleast i got a base price.

[Q] European Prepaid plans - Which is the Best?

I am planning a trip to England this summer and possibly France as well. One of the main reasons I purchased the GSM Galaxy Nexus was the pentaband radio and it's ability to work everywhere.
What I would like to know is what plans are you guys (and I think I have seen one lady here as well) who are in Europe are using. I will be looking for a plan that would be good for up to 2 weeks, I don't really care about having too many minutes or text messages but Data is a must. I estimate 2GB of data use when traveling, knowing I will be able to use a lot of hot spots too. Not living there I do not know what the regional carriers reputations are, who has the fastest network etc.
I have been doing a little research and it looks like most carriers offer good prepaid sim only plans, I could just use some local knowledge for this.
Thanks in advance...

bmolloy said:
I am planning a trip to England this summer and possibly France as well. One of the main reasons I purchased the GSM Galaxy Nexus was the pentaband radio and it's ability to work everywhere.
What I would like to know is what plans are you guys (and I think I have seen one lady here as well) who are in Europe are using. I will be looking for a plan that would be good for up to 2 weeks, I don't really care about having too many minutes or text messages but Data is a must. I estimate 2GB of data use when traveling, knowing I will be able to use a lot of hot spots too. Not living there I do not know what the regional carriers reputations are, who has the fastest network etc.
I have been doing a little research and it looks like most carriers offer good prepaid sim only plans, I could just use some local knowledge for this.
Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm from Texas and just moved to the UK... I'm sure you will find many great pay&go sim cards..... I prefer o2.... just go to the web site or shop and get a sim... you can bolt on as much data as you need and the calling/sms start around 15 pounds.....

I would recommend Three whilst in the UK if you need lots of data. Their coverage is excellent in most places for 3g/HSPA+ I get 5-7meg in most places I go. Other UK networks aren't that great for data speed.
Go to https://www.three.co.uk/Support/Free_SIM/Order for a free pay and go SIM.
A £15 add on gets you UNLIMITED DATA, 300mins to UK landlines and any UK mobile network, and 3000 texts for 30 days.
They have other add ons too(make sure to select pay as you go phone). http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Get_better_value_with_an_Add_on
It's free to receive incoming calls on any UK mobile network by the way. If you go to France you would be best off finding a SIM card for a french network too as it will cost you to receive calls to a UK SIM card whilst outside the UK.
Hope this helps.
Rik.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

My €0.02...
It also depends on where you're going... 'Europe' is a mish-mash of different countries with different carriers, plans and systems.
If you're travelling to multiple European countries on your visit, and especially if you don't want to change your phone number all of the time, it may just make sense to get a Vodafone pre paid SIM.
Whilst Vodafone aren't the least expensive, they are the most expansive across Europe. Dealing with one company can often just be simpler.
If you get a Vodafone pre paid SIM and load on the "Passport" service you can then buy a data bundle that will work pretty much across Europe at a lower rate (but still somewhat expensive - expect around €10 for 25MB). Casual roaming data rates can be as high as €10 per *single* MB.
I don't think you'll get this flexibility on another carrier but I could be wrong.
Finally... price also depends on where you get your SIM card from in the first instance. With this approach you only buy one SIM and the country where you buy it establishes the price you pay across Europe. If you purchase in Turkey or Greece (for example), you will pay less than if you purchase in the UK or Netherlands (per min and per MB typically).
Edit: Here's an old article... http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/cheaper-data-roaming-with-vodafone

Thanks for the replies. It is surprisingly overwhelming looking at how many prepaid options there actually are in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. In the States prepaid sims are almost non existant, and when you do find some service that offers it Data is super expensive.
Here is another question. I saw that the 3 Mobile prepaid sims do not allow for tethering. Has anyone with a GN been able to get this to work, or will I have to pay for hotel wifi the whole time? I haven't seen if O2 blocks this, I will have to look into that as well.

Most don't seem to allow tethering on pre pay but they don't disable the option on your phone either(they just stick it in their terms). I think you'll be OK. The worst they can probably do is take off pre paid credit if they found out.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Hi bmolloy, how was your trip?
like u, im planing a trip cross european, basicly france, london, budapest and barcelona; so i have de same cuestion, what is de best option for me?
here in mexico i have an option to contract traveler plan but the cost is huge, is 20MB for 52USD, if i cant find an option y will buy this one.
i will loking into the vodafone options and i imagine i will have to buy that there in europe.
tnks for all guys