Reply to: New Smartphone time...

[Uncle Albert]

Which is why I will never be leaving my unlimited tethering unlimited data £15 a month three contract...

+1 I also like their "feel at home" roaming. Just need them to add a few more countries.

[MicrosoftBob]

Which is why I will never be leaving my unlimited tethering unlimited data £15 a month three contract...

Virgin do that as well, contract and sim only

[blacjac]

Dunno about Android, but iPhones have 2 internet connectors in them, one for tethering and one for the phone.

As for using allowance on T-Mobile - I am on EE and when I tether my iPhone it comes out of my allowance, as T-Mobile are now pushing everyone to EE, that might have changed.

[BigTime]

I've always wondered how do they determine if the data used has been via tethering

Someone said it was by checking how many more hops the packets had to travel. Could be bollocks.

[VectraMan]

I've always wondered how do they determine if the data used has been via tethering

Maybe they can tell the use of Network Address Translation from HTTP headers or something. I don't know either.

I've used tethering a couple of times on T-Mobile when it wasn't allowed, so obviously at that stage they had nothing to block it, which may have changed. Now I'm on Three PAYG and they don't allow it either but I haven't needed to try. It typically costs me 80p per month at 1p per MB..

[eek]

Sorry - I meant no tethering with the ability of your devices to use your data allowance - my phone is on an unlimited data tariff but that is for the phone only. I specifically asked if I was allowed to tether devices to it and was told that it would be chargeable.

Which is why I will never be leaving my unlimited tethering unlimited data £15 a month three contract...

[The Spartan]

Sorry - I meant no tethering with the ability of your devices to use your data allowance - my phone is on an unlimited data tariff but that is for the phone only. I specifically asked if I was allowed to tether devices to it and was told that it would be chargeable.

I've always wondered how do they determine if the data used has been via tethering

[BoredBloke]

No tethering on t mobile? Must be the phone OS because I can still tether using my S3 on t mobile.

Sorry - I meant no tethering with the ability of your devices to use your data allowance - my phone is on an unlimited data tariff but that is for the phone only. I specifically asked if I was allowed to tether devices to it and was told that it would be chargeable.

[CheeseSlice]

I've got a S4 - the battery life is rubbish, but then I leave it plugged to my PC all day in the office. I got it on the t mobile business tariff for £36 a month and it has unlimited everything - calls, texts and 3g data, although they don't allow tethering like 3 do. I'm not really fussed about 4g at the moment. If you are prepared to wait for the phone to be delivered then use Quidco as they often have fairly hefty cashback deals on offer.

No tethering on t mobile? Must be the phone OS because I can still tether using my S3 on t mobile.

[SteelyDan]

Any recommendations for an Android with good battery life?
I've got the S3 which drinks battery too quickly. I make like one call per day, and browse web for about 1 hr in total. Also have all of the sync settings disabled.
I just want to have at least some battery left when I plug it in again for the night.

Yep, get the galaxy S5. I've just changed from S3 to S5 and there's a big difference in speed and battery life. Used to have to charge S3 daily; with the S5 I get 2 days at least...I've not let it run down fully without charging it, so it could be 3 days...depends on how much you're using it of course.

[RetSet]

Do you really need unlimited texts and 10GB of data?

An app like Whatsapp is free for a year then 59p per annum. You can use that to send most texts and mms messages if you want to.

10GB of data seems an outrageous amount for someone who's wondering whether they 'need' a smartphone.

Well, it looks like the customer services bob I spoke to cocked up. It's 5GB data. I know a smartphone uses more data than my 'berry' does. I omitted to say I will also get a free broadband sharing device so I don't tie up the 'phone while surfing.

In terms of data use, I have a 1GB dongle, and I have found that when I give it some serious use, I can burn through the full allowance in just a few days.

Oh, and the data is 4G (where available).

[MicrosoftBob]

Do you really need unlimited texts and 10GB of data?

An app like Whatsapp is free for a year then 59p per annum. You can use that to send most texts and mms messages if you want to.

10GB of data seems an outrageous amount for someone who's wondering whether they 'need' a smartphone.

Depends, if you're out in the sticks, and stuck with horrible adsl it's quite easy to hit 10gb once you start tethering your phone, and patching PC's and servers, downloading films to watch etc

It all depends on what you use your phone for, for some 1Gb is going to be overkill

[JRCT]

I've had my Blackbery 9300 for a number of years now, and have decided it's time to get a touchscreen thingly.

I'm currently toying with the idea of an S4 or S5. Now I know the S5 is newer model, but the upfront cost/ monthly premium over an S4 does seem rather steep.

I'm currently with T-Mobile. The deal on the table is: Free S4 (£6.00 p&p), Unlimited voice/ text, 10Gb data (4G where available) for £29.99 pcm.

Is this as good as it gets? How much more should I pay for an S5 with the equivalent service?

And, yes, I do know this is General...

Do you really need unlimited texts and 10GB of data?

An app like Whatsapp is free for a year then 59p per annum. You can use that to send most texts and mms messages if you want to.

10GB of data seems an outrageous amount for someone who's wondering whether they 'need' a smartphone.

[BoredBloke]

I've got a S4 - the battery life is rubbish, but then I leave it plugged to my PC all day in the office. I got it on the t mobile business tariff for £36 a month and it has unlimited everything - calls, texts and 3g data, although they don't allow tethering like 3 do. I'm not really fussed about 4g at the moment. If you are prepared to wait for the phone to be delivered then use Quidco as they often have fairly hefty cashback deals on offer.

[northernladyuk]

Phones aren't progressing much now. Bought Nexus 5 from Google and downgraded the business mobile to s SIM only contract. Get one of the residential deals and it is cheap as chips. I am office based and use Skype more than phone so did not make sense for me to have the £360 a year contract. Over £100 better off a year through doing that. Not a huge amount I know but better in my pocket than theirs

This toilet trading business has moved on since my day.