UK Mobile Phone FAQ

A common question - what should you go for... Pay-as-you-go, or Contract, for your next phone?

Well, pay-monthly contracts works for some people, pay-as-you-go works for others. It depends on your usage, finances and comfort-level. The best way to control your spending is pay-as-you-go, but the charges are generally a little higher, and there are less special offers, as the network operator would rather tie you in for the long term.

We recommend that the first thing to do, is to look at your current or proposed spending (voice calls and text messages), and compare against a tariff. Let's give you a real-world example. Prices were correct when we wrote this section (March 2007):

Let's say you're comparing an HTC P3300 on pay-as-you-go, versus on 12 month contact. For demonstration, we'll use the example of the Vodafone 200 12 month contract:

• Pay-as-you-go: Let's assume you spend £20 a month topping up and making calls. That's £240 a year, plus £348 for the SIM-free handset. Total for one year = £588.
• Contract: For the Vodafone 200 tariff, that's £30 a month you pay in rental. You're tied to a contract for 12 months. You get 200 free minutes and 100 free text messages a month. That's £360 for 12 months of rental, plus £119.99 for the phone. Total for the first year is £480, plus whatever calls and texts you use over and above the 200 minutes/100 texts that you get free with the contract.
  
  

PUK stands for 'Pin Unlock Code', and has to be entered if you've locked your SIM by repeatedly entering the wrong PIN code. If you're asked for a PUK code, you've had more goes at guessing your SIM card PIN code than you're allowed.
You'll need to phone your network provider Customer Services for your PUK code to unlock the SIM. For security reasons, it's only the network operator that can legally provide you with a PUK code to unlock your SIM.
See below for UK Customer Services numbers.

How can I identify someone from their mobile number?

If you've got an old mobile phone handset that you're no longer using... do your bit for the environment, and recycle it safely. Don't leave it in the back of a drawer - see if it can find a new lease of life.

You may even be able to make some money for getting rid of your old phone safely. For cashback, go to envirofone.com, or to donate it to charity, try Fonebak.com.

If you want to use your handset overseas, there are two things you need to bear in mind:

1. You must have your phone set to "International roaming". You need to contact your mobile phone network provider to ensure that this service is enabled for your phone
2. Your handset must work on the frequencies in use in the country you'll be travelling to. UK users should look for a tri-band phone - these operate on EGSM900/1800 (Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific), and GSM1900 (USA, Canada, South America), or for better global coverage, a quad-band phone

Scared by the thought of losing your mobile and all of your important phone numbers? the answer is at hand with Mobyko. This is a free service that lets you keep a copy of your contacts information securely online. It's a free service, and works well on a wide range of phones.
For details of how it works and how to get your data backed up, go to www.mobyko.com.

Many phone handsets now come with infrared (IrDA) built-in. By lining up the infrared 'eye' with other devices, you can send data. here are some examples of its use:

• Connecting to the Internet from a laptop or PDA via your mobile
• Beaming a contact / business card to another mobile
• Installing software or backing up your data to/from a PC

If you're looking for a USB infrared adapter for your PC, consider the 'USB-IRDA Adaptor' from Maplin Electronics (Cat no: RV88V),

Want to get some cash from your Smartphone?

Mobile phone network operators are desperate for information on how you use your smartphone, and will pay for that info. Get £15 for signing up with this on-device survey, then a further £5 a month. Check www.mobilepanel.co.uk for the details.

Below is a list of the main Customer Services numbers for the UK network operators:

• Orange: 150 from your mobile, or 07973 100 150
• o2: 08702 410 202 (contract customers) or 08705 678 678 (prepay). (More o2 contact info). You can also retrieve your o2 PUK online
• Vodafone: 191 from your mobile phone or 07836 191 191
• T-mobile: 150 from your mobile, or 0845 412 5000
• Virgin Mobile: 789 from your mobile, or 0845 6000 789
• 3 / Three: 08707-330330
• Tesco Mobile: 0870 900 4455

• Any UK network: 08701 123 123
• Vodafone: 08701 600096 or 07836 191191
• O2: 08701 600096 or 0870 421 4000

If you're keen on being able to surf the web on your mobile, you'll be pleased to know that this has got much easier and cheaper than the early days of WAP.

Many smartphones and medium-spec handsets offer full 'mobile Internet' access, commonly using GPRS, or in some cases, using 3G.

If you're paying too much for mobile Internet access, we're currently recommending T-Mobile Web 'n' Walk for fast and cheap GPRS data access. They're offering unlimited mobile surfing for only £7.50 a month

But what about the rest of the Internet? As well as accessing WAP, there are ways to access the Internet from your mobile. Here are some of the options:

• Many phones now have a built-in web browser, as opposed to a WAP browser. As an example, Symbian Series 60 phones such as the Nokia 6680, Nokia 7610, and the Siemens SX1 come with a basic, but functional HTML web browser, as do some other phones including the Sony Ericsson P900 and various Pocket PC and Palm OS powered devices. Pictured on the right is a screenshot of this site on a Nokia 6600. For help getting connected with a Series 60 phone, see our dedicated page.
• If you're familiar with Google, you can use your WAP phone to search and display web content on a WAP phone - details on our WAP page
• If your mobile has Bluetooth or Infrared, you may be able to use it as a modem, and connect to the Internet with a PDA or laptop.

We rather like the snazzy little SIM reader pictured to the right. Insert your SIM, and it'll back up the contents of your card, and let you copy the information to another SIM card. Under £10 from online retailer I Want One of Those

As an alternative, take a look at the two SIM manager products on the Maplin website. A little more expensive, but more fully featured, they're worth a look if you want to have control over what's on your SIM.

• Many phones support connection to a PC, either via a cable or Bluetooth, so you may want to consider backing up your phone data to your PC and 'sync'ing your address book to a desktop computer for safekeeping. Windows Mobile devices sync very well to Outlook.
• If you have a Symbian phone, one option for keeping a copy of your Contacts safe, is to look at the Smart Backup solution, which backs up data to the Internet.
• If you have a Psion, Palm or Pocket PC handheld computer, consider PhoneMan Pro, a shareware package that allows transfer of SMS and phone numbers between phones and PDAs over Infrared.

This depends on what phone you have and what facilities it offers. Commonly you can beam a business card between two phones using either infrared or Bluetooth. Both phones must have the same technology (infrared or Bluetooth).

• For Infrared, you need to line the two phones infrared windows up so that they are in line-of-sight, turn infrared on on both handsets, and send the card using the appropriate menu item in Contacts
• For Bluetooth, you'll need to switch Bluetooth on on both phones, and get one to search for the other. You'll then need to pair (see our Bluetooth page), and send the card using the appropriate menu item in Contacts

If you need specific help for your handset, best bet is to ask in our forum.

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