New Contract questions

[Guest spangelsaregreat]

Hi,

My present T-Mobile Relax 100 contract (with 50 text bundle and 6mb data) ends in February so I am looking at replacements.

I currently have an MDA Compact but I want to change it for either a Atom, Prophet or a JAM 128. I am looking for the best deal on a MDA Vario/o2 MiniS which I would then sell along with my existing JAM on eBay to fund the purchase of one of the above phones.

My main contract choices at present are either a

Web n Walk 100 - 100 minutes with 40mb data with 50 text bundle (half price line rental for 12 months) - 18 month contract £31.50/£16.50pm with free Vario

or

o2 online texter - 50 mins free - 100texts with a 5mb data bundle - 12 month contract £24pm - MiniS £49.99.

I can get the Vario free on the Web n Walk (from Mobilefun) but this would need to be a new connection which would mean losing my number.

I have heard of people buying a pay as you go SIM transferring from the contract onto it then buying the new connection and transferring the number back.

Has anyone tried this and does it work?

Thanks

[Guest brykins]

My present T-Mobile Relax 100 contract (with 50 text bundle and 6mb data) ends in February so I am looking at replacements........I can get the Vario free on the Web n Walk (from Mobilefun) but this would need to be a new connection which would mean losing my number.

I have heard of people buying a pay as you go SIM transferring from the contract onto it then buying the new connection and transferring the number back.

I've never tried it, but apparently the easiest way is to buy a Virgin sim and get your pAC code from T-Mobile to transfer the number to the Virgin one. Then when you get a new contract you just get a PAC code from Virgin to transfer the number to the new contract.

Have you looked into getting the Vario on Web'n'Walk on upgrade? Haggle enough and you may get the same deal as new customers.....

[Guest spangelsaregreat]

I've never tried it, but apparently the easiest way is to buy a Virgin sim and get your pAC code from T-Mobile to transfer the number to the Virgin one. Then when you get a new contract you just get a PAC code from Virgin to transfer the number to the new contract.

Have you looked into getting the Vario on Web'n'Walk on upgrade? Haggle enough and you may get the same deal as new customers.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tried that, all they would offer was a free Vario on WnW but with no discount on line rental.

Regards

[Guest Swampie]

My main contract choices at present are either a

Web n Walk 100 - 100 minutes with 40mb data with 50 text bundle (half price line rental for 12 months) - 18 month contract £31.50/£16.50pm with free Vario

or

o2 online texter - 50 mins free - 100texts with a 5mb data bundle - 12 month contract £24pm - MiniS £49.99.

I can get the Vario free on the Web n Walk (from Mobilefun) but this would need to be a new connection which would mean losing my number.

I have heard of people buying a pay as you go SIM transferring from the contract onto it then buying the new connection and transferring the number back.

Has anyone tried this and does it work?

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've not yet heard any good comments about Mobilefun, and actually heard bad things (regarding their promises that things are in stock, and their handling of cashbacks). The offer at Mobilefun for the free Vario is actually 6 months 1/2 price from network, and 6 months half price rental via cashback.

I've been looking at similar deals and whilst Mobilefun appear to be the cheapest, I'm quite concerned over their handling of cashbacks.

I understand though that T-Mobile shops will give you 12 months half price on W'n'W 100 with handset being £69.99 - but possibly dropped to £9.99 if you take out insurance (which the guy in the shop pointed out to the guy that he's allowed to cancel the insurance within 14 days - wink wink, nudge nudge).

As for porting to a PAYG SIM to retain your number. It's possible, but can take a while. Remember, you'll probably have a contract with requires 30 days notice before ending the contract. PAC codes to transfer numbers are valid for 30 days and you'll need to plan for around 7 days to actually transfer the number. This means you can have around a week's network charges without service. Also, because a number can only have one PAC every 30 days, you'll only be able to request the PAC from the new network on day 31, and the process starts again. The fastest I've heard it transferred in and out was 38 days from inital PAC request.

Basically, if you're going to port a number somewhere, you're going to have to allow 40 days, and expect to waste some line rental on your current contract.

D

[Guest chucky.egg]

I'm not 100%, but I'm fairly sure all that's not necessary

Porting should take no more than 5 days, during which time you DO get service. Your new network should send you a new SIM in advance of the port taking place - so you use T-Mob until it stops working, then put the new SIM in (is your handset unlocked?) and use that one.

You will be billed pro rata for the service from each network. So T-Mob might bill you part of the month and your new network will bill you for the other part.

You can ask your network "if I port to Vodafone and don't like it how soon can I port back to T-Mob?", but from what I've seen there's no reason why you can't port, wait 1 day, port back.

[Guest Samsonite]

I am probably gonna port out to Virgin PAYG and then use that as a netwrok coverage checking session.

Virgin is a virtual network on T-mobile right? So if Virgin works where i want it, T-mobile should be equal or better yeah?

even if its 30 days between each port, thats a benefit to me!

Now if i can just hang-on for T-mobile to bring in the Prophet variant....

[Guest spangelsaregreat]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I am erring towards the o2 deal at the mo as I really don't need the 40 mb of data. I really on surf on occaision when away from home. The reduced minutes and increased texts on the texter 50 contract is probably about right for my usage.

I may try to haggle o2 for a free phone.

I had kinda decided to go for the 128mb JAM (suits my needs as I don't really need Wifi) but I have just read that Expansys are intending to have the Jamin available in 3 days!! I may hold off to see if that actually happens.

My only concern is software incompatibilities with WM5 but I guess we have to move on at some point.

I will make a final decision by the weekend on Contract/Phone and bite the bullet at that point.

Regards