A Soap Challenge

[goodgoalie]

I challenge any of the very many writers on the main soaps to write ONE episode in which none of the characters uses a smartphone. Bet they can't!

Please let us know if you see such an episode....

[Buenchico]

Wouldn't you then complain about a lack of realism though, GG?

I can't think of anyone I know (above the age of about 10) who doesn't use a smartphone.

[goodgoalie]

Well, I've never owned a mobile phone of any kind. I have heard, though, that people exist who own neither a fridge nor a washing machine :)

[Buenchico]

Hmmm

That sounds like me, GG ;-)

I didn't actually buy a smartphone until January (and I didn't take it out of its box until last month) but I admit that I'm becoming addicted. Most of my friends are older than me (I'm 65) and they've all got smartphones. One of them (a lady of 72) spends more time checking her emails, Whatsapp messages, etc than most teenagers do!

[goodgoalie]

Assuming I'd bought my fab smartphone - how much would I expect to pay per month to be able to make calls, text, and use the internet on it? I genuinely could not make a guess.

[Buenchico]

>>> how much would I expect to pay per month . . .

I'm still getting to grips with how much I need to pay but precisely because of that (i.e. because I've been monitoring my data usage etc) I might be quite well-placed to advise you, GG.

I bought a SIM-free phone (allowing me to choose my own provider) and put an Asda Mobile SIM into it (because they offer one of the cheapest services around).

I then used the calculator here
https://mobile.asda.com/bundles/calculator
to work out which 'bundle' might be best for me.

I opted to pay £12 per month (or, more accurately, 'per 30 day period'), which gives me 800 minutes of calls [which I'll never need], totally unlimited texts and 3GB of data. (See here for all of the available options: https://mobile.asda.com/bundles ).

I also set things up so that the £12 comes out of my bank account automatically every month. Further, I configured the wifi connection on the phone to use my home wifi, rather than a phone signal, whenever I'm at home (so it doesn't cut into my Asda Mobile data allowance).

I've been deliberately using the internet quite a lot while out and about (e.g. watching Youtube videos on train journeys) in order to see just how much data I might need. As I approach the end of my first month with Asda Mobile, I see that I'll have used less a half a GB of data for the entire month, meaning that I could switch to paying £10 per month (or probably even just £7 per month) simply by making a phone call to change my regular payment. (There's no contract. I can change the arrangement month-by-month if I wish).

So using my phone certainly isn't mega-expensive.

[Buenchico]

PS: If you've seen many of my posts on AB you;ll know that researching things on the web is my hobby. So you can be sure that I spent a GREAT deal of time finding the best phone for me. Here's what I chose
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7362332
(and it's now £20 cheaper than I paid for it in January, which was still around £20 to £40 cheaper than in many shops then). It's fantastic!

[Tuvok]

I don'r have a mobile phone - just my computers and my ipad.

[goodgoalie]

Thanks for all that info, Chris. Seems a lot cheaper than I'd have guessed, but then I know you've done your homework till the pips squeak! £70 for the phone is great - but I'm still not tempted. If I ever am, I'll look up this post......