Half-Dead Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Hello guys. First of all, I am looking for a new mobile phone but dont want to go on contract or pay more than £200. This is where it gets tricky, i want GPS & Wi-Fi as well as a reasonably good camera. I walked into the o2 shop and asked if they had any phones on pay as you go with these features. He said oh... no, if you want wi-fi you have to go on contact. I thought a bit... oh well . I appreciated it because of the rip off prices of mobile phones at the moment with this type of features. Then i asked him if in the future he knows if any of these will be on pay as you go... he said no because if you want your wi-fi to work you have to get a special sim (contract). I said why, i mean if it was one of these BT cloud networks where you have to pay then i get yer but what abouts when i connect to my own wi-fi router running in my house. He said ohh.... no... on a normal pay as you go sim your wi-fi will not work... Period! I said why and he said.... well.... o2 needs money too you know. you dont think you can get internet on your phone free do you? (even if its your own router/connection) I looked at the guy a little strange as if to say... thats shit! you dont know what the heck you are on about! haha. But... thinking about it now, i have realised that 02 may have one of their own stupid locks to disable your wi-fi transciever if you are not on contract. Is this true? if i get a sim free or 02 pay as you go phone will i still be able to use my Wi-fi feature on my phone free of charge, even if its in a pub that offers internet access 100% free from their connection without having the damn thing unlocked??? (as it may be a problem at the moment because these phones are quite new... like the C905 or experia etc). Cheers for your feedback guys, i know this may sound like a really noob question. If it is true, 02 are shits & if it isnt true then that guy dont know what hes talking about and shouldnt be a salesman! :lol:
localzuk Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 I'd recommend one of these: HTC Touch Diamond Unlocked SIM FREE 4GB Smartphone Pay As You Go PAYG Mobile Phone RRP £389.95 - Our Price REDUCED TO Just £269.95 Just turn off the HTC software on it. And to comment on the other question, about whether they turn off wifi for payg customers... this sounds very much like nonsense being spouted by a sales rep who is a) trying to make a sale, and b) they don't have a clue.
jamesb Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Cheap pay as you go mobile, maybe £20. Cheap GPS unit, £40. Nintendo DS plus internet browser cartridge (not DS lite) which can connect to Wi-Fi, £100. Total about £160.
powdarrmonkey Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Cheap pay as you go mobile, maybe £20. Cheap GPS unit, £40. Nintendo DS plus internet browser cartridge (not DS lite) which can connect to Wi-Fi, £100. Total about £160. ...being able to facebook from the beach: priceless. 1
somabc Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) it isnt true then that guy dont know what hes talking about and shouldnt be a salesman! :lol: You have not met many mobile phone salesmen have you, i think its a prerequisite to not know any technical details Get an unlocked iphone, you know you want one! Edited February 27, 2009 by somabc
jamesb Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 ...being able to facebook from the beach: priceless. But then he'd be relying on mobile internet. Besides, there's better things to do on the beach. Sheltering from the rain in the nearest pub being a prime one.
Ric_ Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 /me bought HTC Touch Pro off flea-bay for £250 delivered... plus it came with a PAYT SIM (which I don't use)!
pscott Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sony Erricsson C905 Use one here and can't fault it! Excellent camera as well
plexer Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 If a phone has wifi it should work wether it's on a contract or pay and go it's not down to the sim therefore yes you could have one and use it to connect to your wifi internet at home. What about something like the INQ1 on three £89 on pay and go, don't think it's got gps though. Ben
Half-Dead Posted February 27, 2009 Author Posted February 27, 2009 If a phone has wifi it should work wether it's on a contract or pay and go it's not down to the sim therefore yes you could have one and use it to connect to your wifi internet at home. What about something like the INQ1 on three £89 on pay and go, don't think it's got gps though. Ben Yeah, thats what one would think. I still think he is babbling on but doesnt know what hes on about. Although it wouldnt at all suprise me if 02 was to deliberatly disable wi-fi on their firmware to prevent internet access through your own or any free services so you have to connect to this cloud thing.
broc Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 If a phone has wifi it should work wether it's on a contract or pay and go it's not down to the sim therefore yes you could have one and use it to connect to your wifi internet at home. What about something like the INQ1 on three £89 on pay and go, don't think it's got gps though. Ben A lot of 'smartphones' will happily talk 'bluetooth' to an external GPS receiver, you can pick these up for <£50.
EduTech Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 The Blackberry Perl 8120 is only 150.00, that has wifi etc James.
browolf Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 mobile providers tend to disable wifi on phones when they offer them as their own, to guarantee wifi with windows mobile you need a 3rd party mobile, thats HTC, I-mate or the new Benq E72 phone (all are sold off the shelf unlocked) I've got an I-mate sp5, i got off ebay a few years ago for £60 which has wifi.
plexer Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Or the HP ipaqs, my 514 may be for sale now I've got my new nokia 5800. Ben
wesleyw Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 I think he was getting confused with 3G which does need an updated SIM I believe my Wife recently got a new Blackberry (she's got a better phone than me at present ) the 3G wouldn't work with her old sim card. Wes
Half-Dead Posted February 27, 2009 Author Posted February 27, 2009 mobile providers tend to disable wifi on phones when they offer them as their own, to guarantee wifi with windows mobile you need a 3rd party mobile, thats HTC, I-mate or the new Benq E72 phone (all are sold off the shelf unlocked) I've got an I-mate sp5, i got off ebay a few years ago for £60 which has wifi. How is that even legal? what they appear to be doing is taking an important feature off the phone and charging normal cost for it. They should at least offer it at £150 cheaper if they are going do shite like that.
EduTech Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 She may have a better phone than you, but you have a better laptop James I think he was getting confused with 3G which does need an updated SIM I believe my Wife recently got a new Blackberry (she's got a better phone than me at present ) the 3G wouldn't work with her old sim card. Wes
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now