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Buying a mobile phone? Start here!
Before buying a mobile phone, please read the
following advice. It is intended to help you make the
choice that is right for you.
Existing
User?
If you already have a mobile phone, you can switch to a
different network and take your phone number with you,
although you may need a different handset.
You could get a sim-only connection with a new number,
using your existing handset.
O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-mobile and Three are networks.
They supply the service, not the phone. Each network is
basically a collection of radio towers all over the
country, linked together and transmitting people's
conversations.
There are also "virtual networks", which use one of the
existing networks infrastructure, but sell under a
different brand. For example, Virgin mobile and Value
Telecom use T-mobile, OneTel uses Vodafone, NTL Mobile
uses Orange and Sainsbury's uses O2. 3 has its own UMTS
network, but until that has full coverage, they "borrow"
from O2 to fill in coverage holes.
Strictly speaking, you don't have "a Vodafone". You have
a Nokia or Motorola or Ericsson (or whatever) connected
to Vodafone, O2 etc. Similar models are available on
each network, sometimes under the network's brand name.
Who does what?
You buy your phone from the retailer (MobileShop.com,
of course!) and have a contract with a Service Provider,
who does the billing and customer service on behalf of
the network (but doesn't provide the service!).
You can "sign up" direct with a network, and this is the
only way that some networks work. You don't put pen to
paper for most mobile phone contracts nowadays, but they
are still legally binding.
Choose your
network
The network should be the first thing you choose when
you're starting out. Your choice of network will decide
where you get good coverage, and how good the customer
service is. Some networks have better coverage in
particular areas than others, but customer service
varies from day to day, depending on demand.
The networks all offer different features, and although
none are vital, some are nice to have.
Prepay or Contract?
Next, decide whether you want a pay as you go phone or a
traditional contract arrangement:
Pre-pay,
where you pay (usually by buying vouchers) before you
make calls. No risk of a bill, but sometimes this is an
expensive option, and adding vouchers can be
inconvenient.
Contract
- where you get a bill each month, but the call
charges are usually lower, and there are more facilities
offered.
But it isn't as easy as that! Some Pay As You Go have
monthly line rental to pay or topups that only last a
month, even if you don't use the minutes you paid for.
Some contract tariffs have no standing charges, and some
offer free calls with no line rental for an up-front
payment.
T-mobile offer 'Mix-it' where you pay the normal monthly
line rental and get inclusive calls, but any additional
(non-inclusive) calls have to come out of pre-paid
top-ups. This is a rather good idea!
Choose your
tariff
Generally, paying higher line rental gets you cheaper
call charges.
Before you commit yourself, check whether you can change
tariffs later. Your usage may change. At first you may
make many calls checking out the phone and its
capabilities (or you may take time to get used to using
it). You may find it far more useful than you expected.
When you buy a phone, it is subsidised by the network or
service provider. The higher the tariff, the bigger the
subsidy. If you switch to a lower tariff within 3 or 4
months, the dealer may suffer a "clawback" where that
subsidy is withdrawn. The dealer will probably recover
this loss from you. This means that although you can
switch tariffs early on, it may not be in your financial
interests to do it!
Choosing the phone
There are lots of different phones to choose between.
Some users are far more interested in gadgets than
others. If you enjoy programming your video recorder and
your address book is a computer, don't choose a phone
that uses the older analogue technology or one of the
basic GSM models.
Some phones are very small and light, and others are
more robust and weighty. Don't assume that a smaller
phone is a better phone, particularly if you have aged
eyes or large fingers.
You should also be careful before opting for some of the
pay-as-you go deals. Some use phones that skimp on
features for the sake of cost cutting.
Features more technologically informed users will look
out for in a mobile handset include:
Address Book Lookup,
which shows the name of your caller before you answer
the phone if that caller is in your phone's address
book. All mobile phones have this, but some make it
easier to find entries than others, and some can only
store information in the SIM card. The phone may also be
capable of different ringing tones so you are aware of
who is calling without looking at your phone.
Text messaging,
which lets you send and receive pager-type messages to
and from the screens of other mobile phones. This is
available on all modern handsets, but how easy it is to
enter messages or to read them on the display varies a
lot.
Roaming.
All the networks allow this to some extent. It's not a
handset feature, but may depend on the deal you buy, and
if you need a phone that will work in America, it has to
be a "tri-band" handset.
Fax and data
support. Some handsets can simply connect
to a computer. Others need special software running on
the computer, and some can't do it at all.
Wireless
Application Protocol support. This allows
you to access internet information services on the move.
GPRS support.
GPRS gives an "always on" data connection that can
operate at speeds similar to fixed line modems. GPRS
data is charged by the kilobyte, not by how long you are
connected.
Infra-red and
Bluetooth communication with other
devices. This is useful for data connections, and
Bluetooth can also be used to connect to personal
headsets or car kits, provided their bluetooth abilities
are comprehensive.
Voice dialling
- some mobiles will let you press one button and say
"Joe Bloggs" instead of dialling the number.
Call logs.
Detailed records of your last calls made and received,
preferably with time and date stamps.
Bits and pieces
- clocks, calculators, programmable ring tones and games
are some of the recent extra features added to the
latest phones.
FM radios and
mp3 players. These can turn your mobile
phone into something even more useful, especially if you
are a commuter!
Colour screen.
You don't need a colour screen on a mobile phone, but it
looks pretty, and makes them easier to use.
Built-in camera.
Although the quality may not be wonderful, having a
camera to hand can be a real boon in everyday
situations.
Vibrating alert,
so that you know your phone is "ringing" in noisy or
quiet environments.
Signal
indicators (as fitted to some Ericsson and
Motorola handsets) which flash to show that the phone
has suitable service. However, in a dark room, this can
be an irritating distraction.
Note that you probably won't find all these features in
any one handset. You have to decide what matters most to
you, and how much money you want to pay for them.
No matter how many attached gadgets a phone has, it's no
good to you when it runs out of steam. So look for a
decent battery life. At the very least the phone should
get you reliably through a full day, with the sort of
use you expect to make of it.
Remember to judge by talktime as well as standby time;
some phones can sit on standby for a week or two but
still give up the ghost after an hour or two of calls.
Cheap phones once used NiCad batteries, middle ranking
ones NiMh and good ones lithium ion. The last is by far
the best because it can be topped up. NiCad and NiMh
batteries can be damaged if you charge them before
they've gone completely flat, or if you fail to charge
them fully.
Insuring it
Because it is subsidised by the service Provider when
you sign a contract, the phone is worth more than you
paid for it: if it is damaged, lost or stolen, the
replacement cost will be higher. Consider the insurance
position carefully.
Buying
Once you have seen all the information here, and decided
what you want, find a good retailer. Here's a hint:
MobileShop.com
offers excellent value, superb service, and provided you
with this information!
Number Portability
If you already have a mobile phone, the inconvenience of
changing your mobile number can be a real deterrent to
switching to a different mobile network, and if you have
advertising or business cards or letterheads with your
mobile number, a considerable cost.
Luckily, you can take your mobile number with you to
another network.
Pitfalls
Hidden costs
Some contracts require you to pay every month for
itemised billing or insurance whether you want it or
not.
Some call charges are far higher than you'd expect
especially to mobiles on other networks or calls to
other countries. Some networks (particularly the
"Virtual networks") have few users, so almost all calls
to mobiles are to other networks.
Calls to 0845 numbers are not normally included in
"inclusive" airtime. Ringing Customer Services is a
chargeable call on some networks. Apart from Orange
contract phones, you pay for calls to "freephone" 0800
numbers. For an overview of call charges, see the Costs
page of this section. For full details, see the main
Costs section of this site.
Pushy sales
methods
Some high street dealers will try to sell you expensive
(and unnecessary) extended warranties, even though they
offer very poor value.
There are companies using pushy telesales methods to get
you to buy, but the deals they are selling don't match
the promises. If it sounds too good to be true, it
probably is too good to be true!
Price matching
Some dealers offer to match any competitor's price. They
present this as evidence that they offer good value, but
the opposite is the truth! Price matching is a means of
selling at the highest price they can get away with, and
only offering competitive prices to people who know
about good deals. Help keep prices down for everyone, by
shopping from dealers offering consistent good value to
everyone.
Split packs
Many dealers selling sim-only deals are splitting
"handset and sim" packages, and selling the handset
separately, often overseas. The Service Providers do not
allow this, and buyers may run the risk of being
disconnected if the SP finds out what has happened.
Insecure transactions
Not all e-commerce web sites use proper secure servers,
so your details are passed over an insecure link. This
is probably no riskier than letting a waiter take your
credit card to a restaurant till, but to be safe, use a
dealer (MobileShop.com,
for instance) with a proper secure server. A secure
server is indicated at the time of purchase by seeing a
small golden padlock in the bottom right hand side of
your web browser.
Postal
charges
Some mail order companies make more profit from the Post
& Packing than they do from the sale. Beware the postage
charges!
Ignorance
Some shops selling mobile phones really specialise in
records, dishwashers, TVs, groceries or HiFi's. Their
knowledge of mobile phones is not all it could be. Buy
from a good specialist mobile phone dealer and you'll be
buying from people who know what they're talking about.
Buyers Guide : Special Needs
Do you have a particular requirement?
People don't all want or need the same thing.
If you have difficulties with your eyesight, you may be
best with a handset with a particularly clear display,
and well marked buttons on the keypad. Note that a big
display doesn't always mean larger text: some squeeze
more, smaller, text on instead.
If you have large (or not so nimble) fingers, you may
find that a small handset has buttons too small to be
easy to use.
If you have hearing loss, a loud ringer and a vibrating
alert, as well as a loud earpiece, are vital.
If you use a hearing aid, you will probably find that a
GSM phone makes it buzz unbearably. The alternative of
an analogue phone is less and less practical, so you may
find that the inductive coupler loop attachment for your
mobile phone your only practical solution.
A profoundly deaf person will want a phone designed for
text messaging. Choose a handset that makes it easy to
type and read text messages. The handsets with proper
keypads, the Ericsson SmartBoard keypad attachment, or a
handset with Predictive Text input would help with this.
You may have particular requirements because of what you
want the phone for. If you plan to keep it solely for
emergencies, you may need a model that can take (or be
recharged from) "ordinary" batteries, in case you forget
to recharge the one in the phone.
Some people solely want mobile fax facilities. The
common solution is to link the mobile handset to a
portable computer, but there are also PCMCIA card slot
phones designed for the purpose, and new models of these
give better fax and data speeds.
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