*is technological whizzkid*

[girlyswot]

I think I just got a bargain.

I needed a new mobile phone (for the last couple of years I've just had a cheap and nasty pay-as-you-go phone to use in the UK) and I also wanted to get mobile broadband so that I can use it here, in Scotland and in the Old Shed. After a certain amount of searching online for good deals, I've just signed up with 3-mobile for a £30/month package that gives me 300 minutes and/or texts, and 15GB broadband download, with a posh new phone and a USB modem. This seems to me to compare pretty well with, say, BT broadband and phone at £25/month with a 10GB limit. And it means that when I move, I'll have internet already without having to depend on the whim of the BT tech people. Yay!

I was amazed at the number of people who came into the 3-Mobile shop just to ogle the phones. I like window shopping more than most, but phones? When the guy was serving me, he asked what I'd like the phone to do. Um, make phone calls? Send texts? Right. Do I care what it looks like? Not really. Anyway, this is what I've ended up with:



*pats shiny phone*

If you turn it over, it looks like a proper camera. Dunno how good the pictures are, though.

I was almost tempted by the deal that came with an HP mini laptop but for another £20/month it really wasn't worth it. Especially since I already have a more than adequate laptop. The little one is very cute, though.

ETA Do go and check out nineveh_uk's poll about the opening ceremony for the London Olympics.

Comments

[amamama.livejournal.com]

Never understood that need to windowshop for mobiles just for fun. Do you have a lens cover on your mobile? My mobile has a small sliding cover, and a good camera. I love using it. Just need to find the download cable...

[helenprev.livejournal.com]

I am a self confessed mobile phone window shopper, though I do most of my window shopping on the internet - and phones are all I do that with, in general I hate window shopping!

Sounds like you got a good package there, and I like the look of the phone - I recently got a Nokia 6300 and I absolutely love it.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Oddly, the thing I like most about the phone is that it's about twice the size of my last two phones. I lost them so many times because they were just ridiculously tiny. But this is a nice size.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the new purchase. Mayit bring you many happy phone calls and whatever other clever tricks it does.

That poll was hilarious. She missed out the possibility of massed accordion marching bands (a truly horrific experience), much beloved of the Northern Irish marching season. Mind you, it seems to be the done thing to ignore NI's contribution to the Olympics so maybe it was deliberate. I particularly liked the idea of Jane Austen dancing.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to say, I just want to show off my new icon.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I had never heard of massed accordian marching bands, or I should certainly have included them! (Along with my enjoyment of bagpipes, goes an enjoyment of accordians). But the news coverage of the marching season never seemed to give much prominence to them...

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

My husband is from Belfast and we were over during the Marching Season one summer. I went to see one of the Orangemen marches and there were all these marching accordion bands, maybe with a drum or two to keep them in time. It was bizarre really. I've never seen them anywhere else, although I'm sure at least one of them had come from Scotland specially. They are definitely right up there with bagpipes!

Congratulations on your poll. It was excellent. I've just watched a recording of the Beijing closing ceremony and my 13 year old daughter loved the London section, so maybe they really were just looking for the "youth" audience.

[nacbrie.livejournal.com]

I have to say, your phone does look quite shiny. Although the package is shinier: 15GB is sweet.

I go into O2 shops, covertly pet the iPhones for twenty minutes or so, and then try in vain to sign out of my email account. I know it's an overpriced regular phone with a touchscreen - do I care? No.

*does that surreptitious waving thing done by people who haven't really been on their flists for six months and hope nobody's noticed*

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

15GB is sweet.

I agree. Though the usage monitor is currently trying to tell me that in 4 hours I've managed to use 8GB. Um, no.

*waves back* I thought you'd disappeared forever...

[nacbrie.livejournal.com]

*feels loved*

I did *try*, but then there were fake exams, and then the big run up to the real exams, and then the actual exams, and then studying and going away to do competitive exams that had nothing to do with anything apart from saying Ha, random Mongolian person, I know more chemistry than you do! (not true, it turns out), and then stress about the actual exam results and last minute change-of-mind college applications, and . . . yeah. It went alright in the end, and so despite my best efforts I actually am going to uni in a month or so. I can rejoin LJ without waking up in the middle of the night going, "Can't sleep, exams will eat me."

So, did I miss anything? You didn't breed or take up tile painting or anything while I was away?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Let me know how the 3 mobile broadband goes. I have been thinking of getting it, because I am proper broadband less for complicated rental reasons and fed up of not having the internet at home.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

At the moment it's working well. My deal is an 18 month contract which normally costs £30/month just for the mobile broadband, but because I have my phone with them too, that's reduced to £15/month. You can get a 12 month contract but then you only have (I think) 3GB download/month.

I'm in my parents house which has slightly dodgy coverage, but on the whole I haven't noticed any slowness on the internet. Yesterday I watched an episode of Project Runway on Youtube without any problem.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think I shall go for pay as you go, because I'm hoping to get a Real House with Telephone Line I Can Alter at some point in the next year,but it is encouraging to know it works.

(Watching Project Runway may explain your sudden alleged high use -doesn't streaming use considerable amounts?)