Non - Mobile phone providers

blandford_cherry

blandford_cherry

UTC Legend
Just wondered if anyone could recommend a new mobile phone provider? I have been with o2 for decades but, if you google o2 and trust pilot you’ll see why I want to leave. I thought about sky mobile but they look equally as bad.
 
If you want a new phone, think about buying it outright. I think you can get 0% interest over 12 months at a few stores.
Then get a sim from Lebara. 20GB data, 100 international minutes. Unlimited minutes etc.
Around £8 a month on a one month contract.
You obviously can keep your old number.
 
The new PAC code system has made it easy to switch without going through a retention team. You get a code that you pass on to your new provider and your old contract (assuming it's done its term) is automatically terminated and you're refunded pro rata for the current month. No sitting on hold for 20 minutes, no crappy last-ditch offers.

As mentioned in a lot of cases buying a phone separately is the way to go (but not always) and my advice would be to take advantage of the rolling monthly contracts that a lot of the smaller providers (Lebra/Voxi/Giffgaff/ID/etc) have to see how you find them for a couple of months before committing to a longer contract. I've found I've received slower speeds than I did being on the main providers but that might not be a deal breaker for others, especially for the right price.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/ is a generally good resource and was founded by Martin Lewis
 
I'm with 3 and have to say I was a little sceptical when I switched from O2 but it was a good deal at the time.
I've personally found the overall coverage better than o2 in the almost two years I've been with them
 
If you want a new phone and are willing to take out a contract then buying a bundled deal will almost always work out cheaper if you want one of the big names. If you are happy with something from the lower end but still very good like a OnePlus or Honor, then buy the phone outright and pick up a monthly no contract sim like the one mentioned above or Smarty (Three's "budget brand") which gives you peace of mind of being with one of the big names with their own network.

to be honest, its very difficult to offer advice on here without knowing your exact position but if you want to DM me I can help. I'm not in the trade but due to work and also organising for myself the wider family, I've used almost every phone and network there is going. Hardly a month goes by without me looking to order a new sim or phone.

Apart from the Apple fans in the family most have gone to Pixel phones over the last couple of years and you can get some good contract deals on them.
 
blandford_cherry said:
Just wondered if anyone could recommend a new mobile phone provider? I have been with o2 for decades but, if you google o2 and trust pilot you’ll see why I want to leave. I thought about sky mobile but they look equally as bad.
Click to expand...

Forgot to ask, what is it you are worried about? Coverage, customer service, cost?
 
If I lived in the UK I'd use Lebara. As I don't, Giffgaff (O2 network) suits me perfectly being able to just buy a goody bag when there and be able to keep my number, but the signal around the SOBO area is woeful compared to the Vodafone network.
 
I'm still with 1p Mobile pay as you go. https://www.1pmobile.com/

The phone doesn't get hammered with costs as these days you're never too far from free wifi, thus the potential of big data costs is minimal.

If I suddenly feel the need to re-watch the 90 minutes from Everton on my phone, I find somebody's wifi.

So far the only data hungry apps that show up on the account are things like Ordinance Survey and other walking apps when the phone is used for data and you're in the middle of nowhere away from wifi
 
borisatha said:
If you want a new phone, think about buying it outright. I think you can get 0% interest over 12 months at a few stores.
Then get a sim from Lebara. 20GB data, 100 international minutes. Unlimited minutes etc.
Around £8 a month on a one month contract.
You obviously can keep your old number.
Click to expand...
Think about buying it outright, and spread those payments over 12 months.

That's not buying outright is it?

You get fcked sideways with the monthly 'add ons'
 
Druss_the_Legend said:
So looking for a phone too? Is the phone on a bad way or would a monthly cheap contract be good for a while?
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new phone, coming to the end of a 36 month contract, happy to try anything really. Like iPhones, maybe the 14, need good coverage was work all over the county. Aside from that I’m easy.

This iPhone is 3 years old now and battery health and life is very poor.
 
Agree with all above but also remember that most providers no longer give free roaming abroad so if you do travel check,im with tesco and was free until end of year but then you have to pay.I looked and 02 are still free and a couple of others but some get bad customer service scores.Agree about buying your own phone i have for years and then just get a sim card deal.
 
I'm with 3 and have found them pretty good for many years.

However since deciding my current mid-range Android Samsung was perfectly good beyond the initial contract lifetime, I switched to a sim only plan so I can run my current device into the ground on a cheaper bill. Great, only hardly a week goes by without 3 phoning me trying to sell me the latest and greatest iPhone or suchlike which I just don't need.

I gather there's a merger afoot between 3 and Vodafone which would presumably reduce choice if it goes ahead.
 
As others said, despite a fair few people over the years irl saying its cheaper to buy phone outright, tgen get contract seperately, ive never found that to be tge case when looking at total cost of ownership over 24 months or whatever length youre looking at. Or it's been so marginal, I'm happy to just buy it all through the carrier (Vodafone in my case...)

Perhaps as other have said, if happy to use a carrier/supplier outside the big few companies, the saving becomes more lucrative. I now tend to buy latest Galaxy + phones, used to get previous version 10 years or so back, and didn't notice any real saving when buying phone and contract together or seperately...perhaps if buying older non 'flagship' model there is more of a difference.i don't race out to buy each new model, but being a bit of an idiot, I tend to break it within 18 months to 2 years on a night out when smashed :D so I never seem to get to end of the 2 year contract to look for cheaper sim only deal!

If you go down smaller supplier route, it's worth checking which carrier they use and if they are using the carriers full infra capabilities. I can recall in past looking at potentially bundling in Virgin as already use their broadband and was thinking of also getting their TV packages (the more products you take, the better the 'value'.)

Upon looking into it and discovering Virgin used Vodafone as carrier (I think), it also transpired they weren't using Vodafone 5g infra or may have even been 4g... can't recall now. So I abandoned that idea... this was a few years ago, so virgin may have uograded the tech they offer now. Depends what's important to you when taking out a deal.
 
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MB1980 said:
As others said, despite a fair few people over the years irl saying its cheaper to buy phone outright, tgen get contract seperately, ive never found that to be tge case when looking at total cost of ownership over 24 months or whatever length youre looking at. Or it's been so marginal, I'm happy to just buy it all through the carrier (Vodafone in my case...)

Perhaps as other have said, if happy to use a carrier/supplier outside the big few companies, the saving becomes more lucrative. I now tend to buy latest Galaxy + phones, used to get previous version 10 years or so back, and didn't notice any real saving when buying phone and contract together or seperately...perhaps if buying older non 'flagship' model there is more of a difference.

If you go down smaller supplier route, it's worth checking which carrier they use and if they are using the carriers full infra capabilities. I can recall in past looking at potentially bundling in Virgin as already use their broadband and was thinking of also getting their TV packages (the more products you take, the better the 'value'.)

Upon looking into it and discovering Virgin used Vodafone as carrier (I think), it also transpired they weren't using Vodafone 5g infra or may have even been 4g... can't recall now. So I abandoned that idea... this was a few years ago, so virgin may have uograded the tech they offer now. Depends what's important to you when taking out a deal.
Click to expand...

Virgin was with EE now o2.
 
List of suppliers with their backbone supplier..

Giff Gaff - O2

Tesco - O2

BT - EE

Sky - o2

Virgin - a mix of EE and O2 as they move accounts over

ID - Three

Smarty - Three

Lebara - Vodafone
 
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