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Upgrading a mobile phone

13:56 / 18.02.04

Just as old skool mobile phones become de rigeur, the battery on my trusty Nokia is giving up the ghost. I've had it for about 4 years so I'm sure I'm due a decent upgrade. Thing is, whenever I mention this to anyone they insist that I make sure I don't get fobbed off with the cheapest alternative; that I need to demand to speak to a supervisor, threaten to cancel my subscription, kidnap their loved ones, etc. To be honest, I don't really like behaving like that, and while I'll go through the motions if it really is necessary, I'm hoping there might be a less gauche way of getting what they're ultimately prepared to give.
Anyone here feel they can advise?

16:37 / 18.02.04

I don't know about threatening to cancel your subscription, but sounding indifferent about it is a good approach. Maybe just phone up and say "I was thinking about cancelling it, what's the procedure if I do decide to". They'll probably ask you why, just say "Oh, I don't know, just kinda bored with it" or something like that. They'll be more likely to offer you something good if they think you need to be persuaded, rather than saying "I want an upgrade", cos then they'll think you're more likely to settle for whatever's going.

You don't have to be underhanded, just put the onus on them to impress you. I've never really cared much about mobile phones, but at the same time, I'm not easily impressed, so the salespeople work harder to please me. Make them work. The pressure will ultimately be on them to make sales. Not only that, but a lot of them will thrive on the challenge to win over a skeptic.

If this feels like hard work to you, dude, you're going wrong somewhere! It's a buyer's market! They're fighting over your business - don't forget that!

16:56 / 18.02.04

That makes sense, 40%. Sounds like a sensible strategy.
Someone told me that if I do cancel, I'm legally entitled to keep my number. Is that so?

17:08 / 18.02.04

yes.

you need a PAC. its a code that *is* your number, and they have tyo release it. the PAC will last for thirty days, and if you dont get a new phone in that time i think you a new one.

whothehell@where?

17:13 / 18.02.04

it took me hours to find a phone on the web that didn't have: color screen, games, high fidelity sound, built in text messaging keyboard or built in digital camera. finally ran across the Nokia 2260. just a plain old fucking phone. 3 little dickwad, bit-mappy games that no idiot would play, and an actual annoying alarm type ring selection without any bastardized top 40 melodies. beauty in simplicity

17:23 / 18.02.04

I got a color screen, games, high fidelity sound, text messaging, digital camera "world phone" (so that I can still use it if I'm in Australia or Europe). I wish it had a decent keyboard, but there really aren't many occasions that I'll text message or send e-mail on my phone.

I think the digital camera is very handy. It means I always have a camera with me. I'd like to be able to download the pictures direct to my PC, but that doesn't seem to be possible. I'd have to settle with e-mailing them to myself.

whothehell@where?

17:31 / 18.02.04

didn't opt for the next step up with cheese grader and potato peeler?

18:24 / 18.02.04

infrared should be the easiest way to transfer them to your PC. it shouldnt require any new software either. well, if you have an infrared doofer.

Wth@w is right though. why carry all that excess cutlery and those bulky kitchen utensils when your phone can do the job? my isnt that flash, but i can stir tea with it. and eat pudding.

20:02 / 18.02.04

I don't know about that. I've got an Sony Ericsson T610 and it does lots of quirky weird things, but the most especially cool is that you can assign photos to numbers so when a person rings or texts you, you get a specific picture showing. Which is silly, yet immensely satisfying.

Its camera isn't as good as the Vodafone Sharp phones but it is good enough, it has a sent text messages facility (and you can also archive them) and also a really good old fashioned Bakelite phone ring option.

Which is better than having The Sugarbabes. Or whatever.

It's my favourite phone so far, I like it better than any Nokia phone I have had and I was a bit of a Nokia freak before.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

20:23 / 18.02.04

I'm a t610'er, too, oulabelle - must admit they're a pretty cool phone. Loads of features (most quite useful, too) but very intuitive to operate.

I like the bluetooth capability - great for zapping pics, games, ringtones, etc to and from my PC, synchronizing my contacts list with Outlook and great for looking like a total wanker in my car with the bluetooth headset on.

Was great on New Year's Eve, when a bloke bluetooth-ed a piccy he'd just taken of me and a friend from his phone to mine. Behold:

I'm the daft looking one.

whothehell@where?

20:25 / 18.02.04

that helps. that's like saying: "i'm the ugly one"

20:54 / 18.02.04

i hate my phone ( a nokia d00d.vi or whatever) and was fobbed off with it when it came to upgrading my last phone, what it basicly boiled down to was that its sides lit up when i made a call, which as a function is probly the lamest ever, and i cant even blame the booze cos i normally half cut when shopping and never normally fuck up as much.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

21:17 / 18.02.04

The T610 is a great phone, I got it to replace my (dearly missed) 760 when it got too knacked up to work anymore. Nokias have shitty quality standards so it's more likely to break.

21:17 / 18.02.04

I am not understanding.

its sides lit up when i made a call? Why would anyone think this was a relevant and useful function? You know when you're making a call. Why would you need the phone to tell you that?

Being drunk is not an excuse. That's worse, infinitely worse even than falling for the spiel of the man who sells perfume/shrink wrapped alcohol out of a suitcase on Oxford Street.

21:21 / 18.02.04

I think I’m supposed to upgrade my phone sometime soon, actually. I really should check. Buggered if I even know what make my phone is, but I love my ringtone more than anything else, captured it with the lo-fi-multiplied-by-lo-fi method of playing a record and holding the handset next to the speaker at the right moment. So now when I’m on a crowded train, a fab weirdy harmonica riff from 1929 blares out, starts off sounding just like a baby crying, then starts to sound vaguely musical. And then wails again, around and around. And the tunes’s called ‘Whisky-headed Woman’ which itself fucking rocks..

I want my next phone to do pictures. I’d like that. Armed with the valuable information in this thread I’ll get all assertive and insistent.

23:08 / 18.02.04

Make sure the magazine has at least six bullets. My phone only carries three bullets, which simply isn't macho enough. Fortunately it has a pretty good flick knife for when I'm out of ammo, but with six bullets I wouldn't need the flick knife so often.

23:23 / 18.02.04

Perhaps we could combine our powers and double-team them, Bed Head.

You know I did rather fancy the T610, but now that olulabelle informs me that it can emulate the classic bakerlite Bring Bring!, something I've gone on about wanting since Carphone Warehouse sold car phones, my heart is set.
However, now that I know what I want, I'll almost certainly cave under questioning when pursuing the upgrade and end up buying the fucker outright.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

00:02 / 19.02.04

If you're on a monthly contract you'll probably be better off cancelling your current service and starting a new one. Case in point: I rang Vodafone, asking about an upgrade to the t610, and they quoted me a £50 upgrade fee from my Nokia 7650.

After a bit of searching online, I found the same phone on a better VFM tariff with more freebies and £80 cash-back to boot. The only minus was that I had to change my number, which wasn't exactly the end of the world.