28 replies to this topic

[Audioboxer]

Debating whether to change my HTC One X pre-order from Orange over to Three to get unlimited data for the next 2 years.

I have a feeling streaming services are going to boom and the current £10 price tag for music services for mobiles should come down.

Differences in contracts are

Orange
600 mins
Unlimited Texts
1GB Data
Free HTC Media Link from Dialaphone
Free monthly sub to Deezer, music streaming service

£28.50 p/m
£59.99 for phone (I have quidco cashback at £65, but will have to wait on it)

Three
500 mins
5000 texts (basically unlimited for me)
Unlimited data

£29 p/m
Free phone

Orange is good in that I have a music service to use for 'free', but it's through Orange swappables and I have no idea if they'll keep swappables or Deezer around for 2 years.

What other sort of stuff will I benefit from having unlimited data with on a mobile? Tethering? TVCatchup? Podcasts? Videos? Any specific apps?

[metallithrax]

Better check the coverage you will get with three. A couple of friends have had problems

[sharpy2k4]

Im on O2 900 with my iPhone 4. That came with no data and had to buy a bolt on for £6 for 500mb.

I really wish i never upgraded from my 3g as i was on a better contract, cheaper, and had unlimited data. (lost my phone so decided to upgrade).

They've recently changed their iPhone tarriffs to now have 1gb data as standard and i cannot up or downgrade without losing a loyalty discount i have.

As soon as my contract is up i am switching to a provider that offers me unlimited data.

I have jailbroken my iPhone so i'd like to watch freeview through tvcatchup.com when im on the train and i also stream skygo through my phone and through an app called SkyFire (which is a web browser app like Safari but can play embedded videos). At the moment cause of the data limit i only do this when i'm connected to Wifi.

In two weeks i've already used 300mb and thats from light use; emails, facebook, twitter and whatsapp.

Also, if i had unlimited data, i would use my phone to tether to my laptop if i didn't have a wireless access point.

Only down side is that 3 dont have very good coverage and haven't had so for the past few years and that seems to be peoples main gripe with 3.

[Amarok]

I mostly use my phone as a phone, and for Twitter/browsing, and I listen to about 2 hours of streaming music (through Spotify) each day, although that's done from home and might be using my home network. I'm not really sure, it seems kind of random what does and what doesn't use WiFi when available. Either way I'm day 26 out of my 30 day billing cycle and I've used 862MB of data. I'm on an unlimited plan currently and aside from the first month or so when I was downloading a lot of apps I've never gone over 1GB of data.

[Ently]

I use Orange in Austria and I only pay 7.50 euro per month for 1000 calls/txt's and unlimited data (shaped after 1 gb) but I don't think I have ever gone over it. But still it's nice to not be charged if I do.

[InsaneNutter]

In regards to Three's coverage it honestly depends on where you live. Three are fantastic here, i get a full signal in my house, where as o2 and Orange struggle to get one bar here unless you go outside.

You will also not find a better network for mobile internet, i'm able to get 7mbps download speeds over 3g at work (hspa+) and I usually get around 4mbps at home.

I dont think coverage will be a problem, maybe get a free pay and go sim and see how three are in your area if its a concern? I would personally go for the deal on Three, its a much better network in my opinion, especially for data.

As for data intensive apps besides tethering i use Dropbox to upload / download stuff to my phone (photos / video), streaming internet radio, BBC iplayer and TV Catchup. That totals a couple of gigs a month for me, i would expect that to rise within the net couple of years as apps become more data intensive.

[Manish]

Will this be your first smartphone with a data plan?

[thealexweb]

Look in to buying your phone sim-free then going on Giffgaff, yes it costs you more upfront but it saves hundreds later on

[metallithrax]

InsaneNutter, on 03 April 2012 - 19:29, said:

In regards to Three's coverage it honestly depends on where you live. Three are fantastic here, i get a full signal in my house, where as o2 and Orange struggle to get one bar here unless you go outside.

My brother struggled to get a signal in Wakefield, and the other weekend I was in Manchester and a friend couldn't get a signal (we were next door to the Trafford Centre), while I had a full signal (on vodafone).

[Audioboxer]

Manish, on 03 April 2012 - 19:35, said:

Will this be your first smartphone with a data plan?

I used my Desire on GiffGaff for last year and a half with unlimited data. Can't really say I ever done anything intensive, but this phone has much more powerful hardware (HD screen for example), and streaming services really are starting to kick off.

[LightShadow]

It really depends. I have an iPhone on an unlimited (or so so) and never really go above 2GB a month and I use online radio and YouTube then the casual apps.
You'd only need unlimited if you do heavy video watching and streaming regularly.

[Audioboxer]

thealexweb, on 03 April 2012 - 19:39, said:

Look in to buying your phone sim-free then going on Giffgaff, yes it costs you more upfront but it saves hundreds later on

Not really. The HTC One X is around £460+ sim free, nearer £480+ I think most places. GiffGaff at £10 for 2 years is £240. £480 + 240 is £720.

£29 x 24 is £696.

It has all the pluses of not being tied in and what not, but I don't really fancy paying £480 up front right now.

[tsupersonic]

I am in the US, and have Verizon. They got rid of unlimited data, but luckily I had the unlimited data plan on my previous phone, so I'm grandfathered in to the plan. I now have a Galaxy Nexus, and I just eat through unlimited data. Before on my Droid Incredible, I would use 1-2 GB a month, but with the Galaxy Nexus, I've been averaging 5-6 GB a month. 4G is really fast, so I see no point being connected to WiFi when I'm at work or at home. Ultimately it depends on your use case, but I tether a lot, watch many youtube videos, stream music (through slacker, pandora), browse, etc.

[Manish]

Audioboxer, on 03 April 2012 - 19:40, said:

I used my Desire on GiffGaff for last year and a half with unlimited data.

Have you checked the phone or with GiffGaff as to how much data you used per month? It'll provide a baseline at least. For example, if you discover that you've only been using 100-200MB/month up to now, then an upgrade to 1GB should be plenty. If you've been using 600-700MB, then the Orange plan won't suffice.

[thealexweb]

Audioboxer, on 03 April 2012 - 19:46, said:

Not really. The HTC One X is around £460+ sim free, nearer £480+ I think most places. GiffGaff at £10 for 2 years is £240. £480 + 240 is £720.

£29 x 24 is £696.

It has all the pluses of not being tied in and what not, but I don't really fancy paying £480 up front right now.

For most phones it does work out cheaper by quite a bit, also your unlocked phone is worth more than one shackled to a network.