GB Phone Networks & Banks

[Bluebeard]

I'm moving to London soon and I thought that I'd tap the collective intelligence of the London contingent for advice on what bank you'd recommend opening up with (or, alternatively, what one should I avoid), and which phone ks are better - I'm planning on starting up with a pay as you go, but I want to move to a monthly pay plan as soon as possible.

Any ideas folks?

[sligoman]

Ah Bluebeard, don't leave us for the English!

[drinkfeckarse]

Not sure about the banking but go to Vodafone or Orange online and you'll get some great monthly deals.

i.e I have a Sony Eriksson W810i which I got free as part of my deal. I also get 125 free minutes which carry over if you have not used them all within the month as well as free internet and 250 text messages. This costs me £18 per month and my average bill is about £25.

Can't get much better than that really.

[paul_oshea]

drink you dont live in london, so i think that rules you out to post here

i think the cheapest pay as you go is stellios' easymobile, but in terms of contract i would go with orange. At the moment I am with t-mobile ( i got a free psp with 1 gig card to join them, that I might add I have never used ), I find them quite expensive, some of my bills have been over £120 and when I was on holliers and roaming they were £170 for the month. Orange do some very good tariffs with free weekend and evening calls to any network. It really depends on what you are looking for specifically. Another thing to note is if you dont know people over here initially, then you aren't going to make many calls to people and pay as you go is fine.

In terms of banks, if you are a recent graduate ( last 2 years ) HSBC offer a great package with free overdraft of up to £2000, which is great if you are moving over as the initial few months are expensive when moving. I found it very difficult to open a bank accound at first when I moved over. LLoyds were hte only one who would offer me an account and it was an "offshore" account. So i didnt have the same benefits and easy access as standard.

A mate of mine went to liverpool for 6 months during college and for 3 months he wasnt able to open up an account and unable to cash his cheques from work. It was mad, so keep an eye out, and if you can't open an account with anyone, then try LLoyds.

[Pauro 76]

whatever you phone wise, dont go contract with 3. regretting it and pay as you go should do the job at first. As for banks, NatWest have been grand for me, wasnt hugely difficult to open an account but have some utiility bills when you move in handy...

[paul_oshea]

but have some utiility bills when you move in handy...

ya, but if you dont thats where the problem comes in, and its hard to get one without the other, its a cache 22/knock on effect, a phone requires a bank statement/utility a bank requires utility. trust me it can be tricky.

Also heard 3 were crap.

[grounded]

You could go with a "cashflow" account. You wont get any of the benefits a current account would offer but they are easier to open. I used to have one of them with Bank of Scotland but I'm sure other Banks have them too.

Regarding the phone I would go with Vodafone. Had them in Ireland, the UK, Holland and Germany and never had any problems. You probably have to go with pay as you go first but their card only costs five pound if I remember correctly. You also get credit if you register with them.

[beautifulrock]

Unfortunately with the introduction of the Money Laundering Act that requires the banks to prove who you are it is quite difficult to open an account in any bank account unless you have proof of address (your UK one) together with a passport or driving licence. Of course the easiest might be to open a UK account with your current Irish bank as AIB and BOI have offices over here (assuming you use one of them).

[Pauro 76]

ya, but if you dont thats where the problem comes in, and its hard to get one without the other, its a cache 22/knock on effect, a phone requires a bank statement/utility a bank requires utility. trust me it can be tricky.

Also heard 3 were crap.

Id recommend anyone to steer well clear of 3 over here. 18 month contracts are so difficult to get out of. and steer clear of mobile phone sellers in the likes of Phones 4 U. Too persuasive by half sometimes. you need to live somewhere to have utility bills. But you may need a bank account to deal with househunting too. Oh and try and get a National Insurance number as soon as. You'll get whupped with tax. the phonecalls to them can take forever too. know theres a quicker way, email them at a certain address, if i find it ill put it up...

[SÓC]

Unfortunately with the introduction of the Money Laundering Act that requires the banks to prove who you are it is quite difficult to open an account in any bank account unless you have proof of address (your UK one) together with a passport or driving licence. Of course the easiest might be to open a UK account with your current Irish bank as AIB and BOI have offices over here (assuming you use one of them).

Think both those banks only do business banking in UK. I was able to open a hsbc account with my lease agreement and a passport.

Virgin pay as you go sim will cost you €5 and are the cheapest of all for calling and texting Ireland.

[paul_oshea]

Of course the easiest might be to open a UK account with your current Irish bank as AIB and BOI have offices over here (assuming you use one of them).

Business Banking only, you have to have over £50K sterling or they wont deal with ye, and they wont deal with anyone that walks in off the street anymore.

[paul_oshea]

Virgin pay as you go sim will cost you €5 and are the cheapest of all for calling and texting Ireland

i think i have 2 of their sims from a free offer ages ago!

[lofty9]

Stay away from the contract phones. Get yourself a pay as you go 02 phone and get hold of a genie sim card. If you need one of these sims PM me and I'll post you one. With a £10 top up they give you 300 free texts or 100 free minutes.

[paul_oshea]

lofty what are these genie sim cards? I think I remember someone telling me about one of these but i didnt beleive them.

[lofty9]

Paul, they are normally advertised online on sites such as MSN's homepage. You get them free from 02 to give to friends and family, quite handy as you can get up to 4 at a time on their offers. You just gotta look out for them. There are sites that sell them for up to £5 though. But that is still good value. The free texts/calls end at the end of each top up month then you can dip into your credit - when that expires top up again.

If I see any again I'll post the link here.

[Pauro 76]

Think both those banks only do business banking in UK. I was able to open a hsbc account with my lease agreement and a passport.

Virgin pay as you go sim will cost you €5 and are the cheapest of all for calling and texting Ireland.

Shame I didnt do this thread before moving here. Ringing on 3 to Ireland costs a bomb, and had a Virgin pay as you go before and never had a problem. Thinking of going pay as you go on Virgin, is that the best PAYG phone option for ringing Ireland?

[paul_oshea]

its something like 20p a min.

i should use it really, especially considering i pay 50 - 70 p at the moment, ah well only for laziness!!

[SÓC]

Thinking of going pay as you go on Virgin, is that the best PAYG phone option for ringing Ireland?

Seems to be alright. There is another one called mobile world AFAIK thats fairly cheap but you have to go to car phone warehouse to get credit for it.

I keep my Irish phone on me at all times though too, a pay as you go Meteor one, they abolished roaming charges in the UK.

For landline rates I find by far the best deal to get is vonage.co.uk. £8 a month for unlimited calls to Ireland and UK. Voip service using an ata. No difference to a normal phone really in opperation or quality if you have broadband. Get NTL broadband and TV for £20 a month so no need for a BT line either.

[Pauro 76]

or landline rates I find by far the best deal to get is vonage.co.uk. £8 a month for unlimited calls to Ireland and UK. Voip service using an ata. No difference to a normal phone really in opperation or quality if you have broadband. Get NTL broadband and TV for £20 a month so no need for a BT line either.

Great idea. I buy phonecards and they either never work or last very long. What's voip and ata though?

[Bluebeard]

Thanks for all the advice folks, and don't stop it coming - it's making it a hell of a lot easier than it might have been a few years ago, before I hooked into foot.ie.

Sounds like PAYG is the way to go. A quick questions for lofty9 about these genie sims: do the 100 mins or texts work for Ireland or other networks, or are you tied into O2 (not that this is a bad thing - 100 mins is great)?