Mobile phone airtime provider question.....

[NDA]

Someone here will know the answer.

I know fik all about mobile phones, I've always had one and my company sorted it out. I've stopped working (yipeee) and now need to transfer my old company number to me personally.

I have been given a PAC code (which is operational until Jan 20th I'm told). Two questions if I may:

1. Is it now simply a question of choosing the best provider, giving them that code and off I go?

2. Who is the best airtime provider/tariff? The phone (blackberry) is currently with Vodafone and it works fine, are all Vodafone tariffs the same through any sales company?

Help/advice appreciated, I'm a bit lost on what to do next. Ta!

N

[R360]

Once you start a new contract you can give the service provider the pac code and they will port your number over.
As for which service provider to go for, you will need to find out who has the best coverage in the area.
You mentioned vodaphone and blackberry, if your looking at the blackberry storm have a play with it, it did not get particularly high marks on the gadget show last night.

[Slagathore]

Could be worth sticking with Vodafone if you haven't had any problems with them or the coverage in the past?

3G are probably the cheapest network. They usually offer loads more minutes for the price, but their customer service is appalling.

http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/sim-only-plans/pay...

They seem quite cheap. I pay around £10 a month more for similar minutes, but I had a new phone with the contract.

You should just be able to go to a Vodafone shop and ask for one of those sims and then give them the PAC code, they can do it all on the computer in the shop.

[welshbikerduck]

I agree 3 are probably the cheapest provider, i have been with them for around 4 years now. Their customer service is fine, you dial 333 and you speak to someone in India granted but they have always been very helpful and polite. Unlike BT who i wouldn't use for free, which is exactly what i told their canvasser when she called me this week to offer me an "amazing deal" to get me back.

[NDA]

Very handy info - thanks.....

I will keep my existing Blackberry, do you happen to know if I need a special SIM facility on my number to continue receiving emails etc? GSM?

[Fats25]

NDA said:

Very handy info - thanks.....

I will keep my existing Blackberry, do you happen to know if I need a special SIM facility on my number to continue receiving emails etc? GSM?

Nothing to do with the SIM, that will be provided by whoever your new provider is.

Depends on what you want from our phone! I went through this earlier this year, had my existing Vodafone blackberry, and my PAC code.

If you are looking for full e-mail services, i.e. you are using Exchange/Notes etc for your e-mail account, then you will need the Blackberry Enterprise contract. If you just want to use this for POP3/IMAP & SMTP like Hotmail/Google/Yahoo mail type stuff, then you can get away with the standard Blackberry contract.

In my case I wanted the full service as I run my own Exchange Server, and when I ended up pricing it all up for what I wanted, the Blackberry with BES enabled was more than I wanted to spend.

So I went for the IPhone from O2 instead, and using this I can use Exchange Active Sync for what I needed.

As I say it really depends on what you want. If you want to drop me a PM - I am having a quiet day today (til I get out of here at 13:00) and am happy to help you out!

[NDA]

Great - will do, thanks....

[deex]

In my experience I would definately not go with 3 if you wish to continue using a blackberry.

Vodafone or o2 would be first choice in my opinion

[NDA]

Trying to sign up with Vodafone at the moment.... Because I moved house in March this year, it's proving rather difficult. Whilst your average hoodie can pick up a Vodafone contract quicker than he can nick your car stereo, I, it would seem, cannot!