Best mobile phone plans and/or companies?

I am searching for a mobile phone plan and have no idea where to start! I have seen different phone deals because some places offer gifts or money back, but I am concerned I would get ripped off.

I am just looking for a nice phone, easy to use, internet access and possibly a 12 or 18 month contract.

Any suggestions on what company is reliable and fair or who has good deals would be helpful!

I would think about good coverage in your main places-- home and work. I have 3 and really like them, have a great deal that lets me call other 3 customers for free...and since my dh and dd are both on 3- I rarely use my monthly minutes.

When I first moved here I was on Virgin-- couldnt get a signal at my work at all. If you are working, I would talk to colleagues to see who they are with--and ask about their signal quality. If you go in stores they can usually bring up a coverage map to look at the coverage in your area.

If you like the movies-- I think think Orange is great with their 3 for 1 wednesday movie deals.

I am with O2 and I think I got a kick butt deal...I am pay as you BUT I bought my iphone outright and it came with free internet for a year...I also get 300 text a month some reason I got 500 this month - dont know why...

I do top up randomly maybe £10 every 2 months for minutes used but I text more then I call ;-)

Sometimes the contract isnt worth it since with a contract I would have gotten the phone cheaper but paid more monthly - weight both options

Yeah, you should figure out which phones you are interested in and figure out if it's cheaper to buy a phone outright than do a contract.  I think there are sites that can calculate it for you.

We have Orange, and we have had a mostly good experience.  I've heard of people who have had problems with them, but I've heard of problems with almost every company.  Orange has an added bonus because you get "Orange Wednesdays" (2 for 1 cinema tickets).  You can get them either with plans or sim only.

If you're just looking for a basic phone which is cheap, you might want to go with Virgin.  Although, it seemed my husband was *constantly* topping his up when he had payg on it.

As for phones, before you take a plunge for something like an iPhone, consider all your options.  There are alternatives which can work out to be cheaper and/or have better options.  I ended up being so glad I went with an android based phone instead of an iPhone.  We saved money, and it had features (expandable storage, customization, mostly free apps) that I wouldn't have gotten with an iPhone.

If you just want internet phone and aren't too fussed about touch screens, you might want to consider a Blackberry or a Nokia E71.  Problem is a lot of companies consider them premium phones because they are smart phones, and even older models can sometimes (but not always) being costly.

The major phone companies I can think of off the top of my head are Orange, O2, Vodafone, Virgin, 3, TMobile... Most of them have ways on their sites to narrow down phone choices by features, and usually you can do it both for contract phones and payg.

First, as other mentioned the best thing to do is check your network availability for where you live, work or play the most.  This covers you best to avoid disappointment and some providers will allow you to nullify your contract with them if you don't actually get coverage if you check with them prior to taking a contract.

Personally, I have a contract with T-Mobile and have for the past 2 years and can highly recommend them.  I got my latest contract on retention, so it wouldn't be listed if I mentioned it. 

However, at the minute contracts £25+ (for 24 months) you can get 300 min, 300 texts, unlimited internet (1GB) and a "flexible booster" which you can choose from a few, but I opted for the 200 international minutes so I can call the USA while I'm out and about.  Alternatively all their contracts come with the free "flexible booster" so you could always take up the inernet as your booster instead if you want a cheaper contract.

Here's a list of their price plans:  http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-monthly/.  Just change the price ticker to see what the tariffs would be.  Otherwise, select "Pay Montly Phones" on the left and search out a contract from there.  T-Mobile have also started advertising that they'll be getting the iPhone 4 in soon, so you may want to wait for a contract (will probably be priced stupidly as T-Mobile don't tend to allow you to buy the high-end phones outright when they're first out).

Good luck whatever you decide!

hiya,

I have an 18 month contract with 3 and pay £25 per month for 300 anytime minutes or texts, free 3 to 3 calls, 90 video minutes, free skype, and 'unlimited' internet. I have never used my allowance for either calls or internet and I am online with chat programs, checking email and on the web through the phone from 7 am to At least 7 pm, usually later.

Both my husband and I have nokia e71s and I would recommend it highly, the keyboard is a full qwerty and easy to use.

Through work, I have an hd touch diamond 2 with t-mobile and while it is flasher, it's also less reliable, and I don't find it as easy to use, especially when typing emails as it is a touch screen instead of a proper keyboard. 

There are places I have trouble getting service with both phones and providers, so I would definitely look at who has good coverage where you will use it the most.

All of that said, 3 has horrible customer service and the 2 times I have had to deal with their customer service I have made complaints to the managers. The store staff is fine and helpful, it's just the call centre.

Oh, we also got 3 mobile internet dongle, but you can use you phone's internet through your computer if you are in a pinch (works in linux, not sure about windows)

Good luck!

I pay £25 per month on my O2 plan, but I recently downgraded to 300 from 500 minutes (at which time I was only paying £40 per month).  I use a Blackberry Bold, which I was able to purchase with 18-month plan at Carphone Warehouse ( newcomer link: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ [nonactive] ) for less than £50.  On recently renewing my contract, they were automatically going to issue me an upgraded Blackberry, which I declined because, honestly, my old one's fine!  So they issued me a check for £150 instead.

For calling home to the States, I simply swap my O2 SIM card for a TalkMobile pay-as-you-go one that gives me a rate of 4p per minute.  Lately, I've been preferring to use Skype, however, which is free when calling other Skype users and around $7.00 for unlimited calls to landlines of non-Skype users.

What I love about the flexibility with SIM cards on a non-U.S. mobile that isn't locked into one phone service is that I can use the same phone when I'm visiting the States as well.  I simply swap my SIM for an AT&T pay-as-you-go one that I purchased at home and that gives me a local number.  iPhones, unfortunately, cannot do this.

Hiya

I just sae this!  - Findingaway, you're post is too vague as there are literally hundreds of potential deals. How much do you want to pay per month? £30, 40, 50, 60+ per month? how many minutes do you think you'll need? will you require plenty of text messages bundled in?

To help you start, nip into the carphone warehouse, as they deal with all the UK's companies and can help narrow down your choices/options.

Which is best? all open to debate! depending on your wants and needs! I think my deal is the 'best' ! and it is! for me!   

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Thank you all for your suggestions. I found myself a great phone and great deal from 3!!

I am with O2 and I think I got a kick butt deal...I am pay as you BUT I bought my iphone outright and it came with free internet for a year...I also get 300 text a month some reason I got 500 this month - dont know why...

I do top up randomly maybe £10 every 2 months for minutes used but I text more then I call ;-)

Sometimes the contract isnt worth it since with a contract I would have gotten the phone cheaper but paid more monthly - weight both options

I am in the exact same situation as you - PAYG iPhone on O2, and their service is just so utterly horrible that I really want to switch to Orange (but I'm not seeing any options on Orange's site for doing iPhone PAYG without buying the phone from them!). I'd estimate that at least 80% of received calls either don't work (I can hear them but they can't hear me) or go straight to voicemail without ever ringing. Texts regularly come in hours after they were sent, and it's the same way with my fiance, who's also got an iPhone on O2, but his is a monthly contract. For a while I'd need to contact him on a daily basis for him to come and pick me up from hospital, and sending his an email was actually much, much more reliable than either ringing or texting him!!

I joked recently that I used to have a phone that made calls and texts but nothing else - now I have an awesome internet & email machine that doesn't make calls or texts.

It's really ridiculous, I've rung up O2 and they don't seem concerned in fixing it, and we live and work in central London, so the signal strength isn't an issue, either!

Do you have problems like this with O2, or are we just the unlucky ones?

I have O₂ PAYG but I have an old Samsung phone not an iPhone. It was a previously locked phone that I had with Virgin and I had it unlocked so I could go to O₂ as that was the carrier that my husband has. I found that when I was still on Virgin there were delays in getting texts through to my husband, but when it was unlocked and I went to O₂ I've not had any problems.

I'd be more tending to think that it may be an iPhone issue rather than an O₂ issue. I have a friend that has an O₂ iPhone she got last year and has had no complaints like what you're describing.

We live in Derbyshire so the coverage areas can be hit & miss (especially in the Peaks) but not had any problems and I often have signal & coverage on my phone when others on other networks have no signal.

I really want to switch to Orange (but I'm not seeing any options on Orange's site for doing iPhone PAYG without buying the phone from them!).

Is your phone unlocked? I went with a SIM only plan from Orange that works really well with my iPhone (much better signal than O2, from what I can tell, I was only on O2 for a month before I switched). I occasionally have internet problems with my iPhone, but that's the iPhone being dumb and not realizing it's unlocked/has signal from Orange, not Orange.

I'm not on PAYG, I only have my cell phone so I'm on a 30-day rolling contract with Orange. In theory it's £15 for 400min/unlimited texts/unlimited internet, but my bills seem to hover around £18/mo, thanks to me having to call 08xx numbers. (Compared to $80 for AT&T in the states, though, I'm a super happy camper!)

The only differences I can tell from my Orange plan (non-iPhone specific) and my AT&T one (iPhone only) is that visual voicemail doesn't work. Not a huge deal for me.

Is your phone unlocked?

Not at the moment, but that's not an issue...

I'm not on PAYG, I only have my cell phone so I'm on a 30-day rolling contract with Orange. In theory it's £15 for 400min/unlimited texts/unlimited internet, but my bills seem to hover around £18/mo, thanks to me having to call 08xx numbers. (Compared to $80 for AT&T in the states, though, I'm a super happy camper!)

Ahh that's the cheapest monthly plan I've seen yet, but still more than I currently spend on PAYG - I'm topping up a tenner almost exactly a month after my last one, so I doubt any non-PAYG plan is going to beat that. But I don't want to go on Orange's generic PAYG because there's no concessions for 3G data, and that adds up (and frankly, I use the data way more than texts or calls, but maybe that's more to do with texts and calls not working properly on O2!).

The only differences I can tell from my Orange plan (non-iPhone specific) and my AT&T one (iPhone only) is that visual voicemail doesn't work. Not a huge deal for me.

Yeah, visual voicemail isn't supported on O2 PAYG iPhones either, so I wouldn't feel bad!

Ahh that's the cheapest monthly plan I've seen yet, but still more than I currently spend on PAYG - I'm topping up a tenner almost exactly a month after my last one, so I doubt any non-PAYG plan is going to beat that.

Orange apparently has a PAYG option that includes free internet (note that their "unlimited" internet is actually 500mb/mo, but apparently I use 50mb/mo on average, and I use my 3G connection a fair amount). I don't know if their PAYG internet is 3G, but I'm on the 30-day contract Dolphin plan, and 3G works great. Worth a call, anyway.

I have O2 on my Blackberry, and have had no problems with texts or calls.  I live in Dorchester and work in Bournemouth, and there's only one spot on my commute where I don't have service.  O2 is the only carrier I've found that actually works in Dorchester at all.