mobile phone advice please
 

I have an ancient mobile phone which is the size of quarter of a brick, and is about 8 years old.
It is seldom used - Tmobile pay as you go - I top it up when it gets below a tenner (about every 18 months).
I have about £13 left on it at present.
It is succumbing to 'old age' - the ON button is dodgy and I struggle to get it to stay 'on'.
I am reluctant to splash out on something fancy and/or expensive since I only need the reassurance of having it with me when I am out and about -ie- for emergencies only (eg.car breakdown), and for the occasional text message.
I am a complete ignoramus concerning mobile phone technology.
I post here to ask---
Is it possible to buy a cheap replacement (no fancy photo facility needed), and to transfer my £13 credit to it, and keep the same phone number?

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

yep go to Asda they do a nokia for £19:97 then take it to the shop on the market and ask him to unlock it and put your card from the old one in the new phone.
it will cost you £5 to have it unlocked.
benipete a member on here has just done this and its a nice phone too
have a look at the link:


Asda-phones.co.uk: Nokia Pre-pay Mobile Phones

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Thanks Mick - that looks ideal answer for me - already have a home charger and car charger for Nokia

(ps - wont let me give you karma again yet sorry)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Thanks Willow - but if it isnt nokia I will have to pay out for chargers. I didnt realise that I could buy one that cheap nowadays , and it has photos too (amazed)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Thats a thought - will have to check whether the nokia chargers I have will work with it - more googling is needed:rolleyes:
Now I know that prices have come down dramatically in last 8 years, I might get a fancy one :D
Thanks folks - just glad to know that my £13 and number can be shifted to it

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

You can then donate your old phone to charity. My kids school was doing something a while back where they collected old phones.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Buy Orange Alcatel OT-E207 - mobile phone from Woolworths.co.uk online shop

Found one for under a tenner - wow!!

(hope it comes with charger - should do - will look in Woolies Friday :D)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

You'll need to check that Alcatel phones can be unlocked if you want to use your old sim.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Crikey that's cheap! http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/i...milies/eek.gif

Do you know where to take them to donate them Gayle? When I've had a bit of a sort out I can do that with the ones we don't need.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Thanks Dave- will google a bit more to find out

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

i doubt you'll actually be able to get that in the shop Margaret, you may only be able to buy it online £4.95 delivery, plus whatever it costs to have it unlocked

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

I got that one last year Margaret no problem getting it unlocked. My daughter took it on Blackburn Road because the ones on the market said they needed a few days to do it. If you want the name of the shop I can get it for you.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

this is where i usually go

PC Cellular

178 Blackburn Road

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

I found out more here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...l+mobile+phone
I hope I can buy instore - this forum link doesn't mention 'buy on line only'

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Margaret look at the date on it, it was bank holiday only 23-08-2007


''Just thought I would let you all know that this bank holliday weekend Woolworths are reducing the price of their pay as you go Orange Alcatel OT-E201 Mobile phone down to £8 from £14.99''

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

You do know when you buy a new phone you get the charger too??

So you don't necessarily need a nokia just cos you already have a charger

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

It was £19:99 when I bought it, so reckon your getting a bargain.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

As Slinky just said you get the charger as well:D

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

There are 2 new on ebay which include chargers so it probably does. I want to avoid waiting for postal delivery due to current post chaos

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

This todays Woolies website
Buy Orange Alcatel OT-E207 - mobile phone from Woolworths.co.uk online shop
That forum site gave me info re 'unlockability' and whether it would serve my purpose.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

lol i know, but i was only saying the other was from bank holiday

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

You folks are posting help faster than I can Google :D

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

I got one on Woolies on Friday. I took it to the phone shop in Ossie (because I can park nearer to it than the ones in Accy). He said that Alcatel are more difficult to unlock and that all the cheap phones usually are so.
It was after 5pm when I left it with them and he said it would be ready Sunday (would have been Saturday but shop closed all day Saturday)
Charge - £8 pay on collection, and he will put my old sim card in it for me.
So I am sorted out for £17.99 :D
Thanks for the help folks - now I am going to search to see if I can get Tesco Rewards points for my old one ( I'm just an old meany :D)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Thrifty is the word I would have used Margaret, that phone is okay for what you want.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Clubcard - Partners - Tesco.com
:D:D:D

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Not so excellent - when I collected it they said that they hadn't managed to unlock it. I know it is possible (from comments on Moneysaver forums) so I will have to venture into town again to get it done (GRRR hate parking and walking in Accy) Meanwhile my old phone now seems to behaving better - perhaps I have just wasted £9.99 :mad:

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

The shop on Blackburn Road will unlock it while you are there. They did mine, if you go to the stall on the market they will want to keep it for a few days.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Is that the shop near the arches at bottom of Eagle St?

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

More towards Wllows Lane

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

The one that Flashy mentioned earlier
PC Cellular at 178 Bbn Rd ?
Fine :)- can park nearer because it is away from town centre
(I have pinpointed it because Platts club is 174a)
Thanks again :)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Today - I feel like chucking both phones OUT THE WINDOW!!!!!!!
Yesterday a friend said -' why dont you try putting your old sim card in the new phone'

After he had told me what a sim card looked like I felt confident enough to try.
result:-
The new phone will not switch on (it IS charged up)
The old phone (which was 'sort of' usable) now wont work at all after removing and then replacing the sim card - keeps telling me 'insert sim'

I have repacked the new one, found the receipt, and will try for a refund (after I regain my composure):mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

You sure you've put it in teh right way chuck ? :D

I probably have an old (to me) phone knocking around, I'll see what I can dig out.

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Thanks for the offer Entwisti (Willow offered too )
Dont go out of your way - might get another new one with camera from son as a combined birthday/xmas pressie.

The sim is right way round :D

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

This miserable saga continues :(
I didnt get a refund at Woolies because the girl on the counter opened it up, jiggled the battery and got it going "this model is a bit temperamental that way".
I would have gone straight to the shop that unlocks but I didn't have my old 'brick' with me (well it doesnt work so why carry it about -doh)
At least I am getting out and about more than usual :)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

I was tempted by the fancy ones (with cameras) My son usually asks me what I want for bithday and xmas so was thinking of saying a phone.

But, thinking rationally I dont need a fancy one - just this cheapo one to work with my old sim card (with its £13 credit), which is what I set out to do when I started this thread.

Hopefully my plan is back on track, but I didn't think it would take this much effort. During the 8 years I have carried the 'quarter brick' in my handbag, I have only ever topped it up 3 times (it was always too big to fit in the special 'phone pockets' in my handbags)- a fancy phone would be wasted on me:o.

Hopefully this saga of my incompentance will end soon:o

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

That cheapo Woolies phone was UNLOCKABLE :mad:
A waste of £9.99 - the Blackburn Rd shop needed to keep it from Friday till the following Thursday because the young man takes such difficult phones to Manchester on Wednesdays only. When I phoned Thursday they said 'unlockable' - no charge - can collect the useless little ******** at my leisure.
I thought well if I buy a phone that is locked to my Tmobile sim card (with its £13) I will just be able to put in my old sim card (now I have learnt what one looks like and how to do that). So I went onto the Tmobile website and bought their cheapo at £14.99 - it arrived today - put my sim card in and waahey! it works.:D
It is more complicated to use than my old half brick so I have spent the last couple of hours trying to fathom it out - not been entirely successful yet, but at least the date and time are set :). In error I sent 2 blank messages and a very brief call to a person I was trying to add to my list, so my £13 credit is down a bit :(.

So if anyone wants the cheapo with its Orange sim (no money on it) - I will sell it for the knockdown price of £4 - otherwise it will go to Tesco for 50p worth of vouchers (along with the half brick)

Re: mobile phone advice please
 

what dose it matter as long as it work,s i have a pal who would make is loo roll last if it,s two ply he would make another roll out of it,so you keep your phone its always there.