Now you can get hands on iPhone 4G 16GB version for free if you upgrade to 24 months Flext 60 contract for £60 per month (£30 after discount). Sounds expensive, but this is top tariff which gives you unlimited calls, you can select flexible booster and 1GB internet usage. iPhone will cost you £720 over 2 years, but you will get mobile service as well, so deal is not bad. The only downside is you are tied with this operator for 2 years.

If you have been waiting for Apple’s latest toy and on T-Mobile, call them now and see what options you have.

I have compiled few tips for you to try to minimize your outgoings on mobile spend.

1. Downgrade your priceplan

Many of do not use all of our monthly allowances. Look at your invoices for past 2-3 months, are you using all your voice and text allowances? If you don’t, maybe it is a good idea to phone up your operator and ask if you can downgrade to a cheaper priceplan. My wife used to be with T-Mobile Flext 30, but she never used up all of her allowances in a month. We have downgraded her priceplan to Flext 25, giving us saving of £5 a month, £60 a year!

You have to be eligible to downgrade, some operators impose minimum term before you can downgrade your priceplan, so if you had your mobile contract signed just 2 or 3 months ago, you may not be eligible. Check with your operator. You can always upgrade if you notice that current allowance is not enough.

2. Get SIM only contract

If you are deciding to get a mobile contract, and you are happy with your current mobile phone, go for SIM only deals. You can get decent amount of minutes and texts for as low as £10 a month. Remember that operators incorporate price of new handset into your monthly payments over your term of contract. Cheapest SIM only deal you can get is £10 Vodafone, for which you will get 75 minutes and 500 texts, cheap but may not be enough if you make a lot of voice calls. Best deal in my opinion is Virgin Mobile’s Liberty SIM, which gives you anytime any network 300 minutes and 300 texts, calls to voicemail are free and you can cancel your contract anytime you wish.

T-Mobile gives you slightly more for the same money, 350 minutes and 500 texts for £15 a month, but calls to voicemail are charged at 12p a minute and calls to customer services are chargeable as well. Please be aware that you might need to unlock your phone if you buy SIM from different operator.

3.  Make the most of your renewal deal

When it is time to renew your contract, consider all possible options. You can compare offers from competition and tell your current provider to match it or ask for price reduction on your current priceplan. Many people get new handset during their renewal and sell it off on auctions like Ebay or Amazon. You can get a decent lump sum by keep using your old phone and selling new one.

4. Sell your old mobile phones

If you have old mobile phones that are just lying there in the cupboard and collecting dust, sell them! You won’t make a fortune but you can use money that you get for something more useful. There are a lot of websites that pay top money for your old mobile phone like http://www.mazumamobile.com or http://www.mopay.co.uk. They will usually send you envelope, which you use to send your phone to them freepost. After they have checked your phone is working, they will usually send you a cheque. Of course there is always Ebay or Amazon where you can turn your trash to cash.

5. Don’t call 08* numbers

Recently most of mobile operators increased prices for calls to 08* numbers, some priceplans as much as 400%! Unless it is absolutely necessary, don’t call 08* numbers from your mobile phones, try to use fixed line instead.

Writing 70-290 and 70-270 is easier for a 220-601 candidate who has certifications like 70-291 and 646-204 as well as 640-816 to his credit.

I thought it might be a mistake in the system so I called Customer Services and yes they said I can do early upgrade after I told them I can see eligibility on their website.

If you are with T-Mobile and use their MyT-Mobile portal, login and check, you might be surprised too! This might be a technical glitch, so while it is not fixed, you can take advantage and do an early upgrade!

Let us know if your experience if you upgrade early by commenting here.

I have tried contacting T-Mobile customer services but they said that this is a known issue and there is no resolution in near future.

After googling and looking around in forums I cam across youtubeplay player in xda-developers.com website. I decided to try it out and it works perfectly! You can search YouTube for videos or watch .flv files stored on your phone. You need to install .net runtime which can be downloaded from Microsoft website. Check here for more details.

Playback is smooth and clear, sound is excellent as well. My device doesn’t have Wi Fi support, but downloads via T-Mobile HSDPA are fast enough for playback.

You can download it here.

If you like this player, you can donate to developer here.

29 May 2008 UPDATE:

After using this player for a few days, I found a problem where if your video plays untill the end, whole program freezes and you can’t do anything. You cannot go back to the list of videos, you have to kill program and start again. Controls are not very responsive as well, like Pause or Stop buttons.

If you know any other better .flv player, share with us!

You will be asked to activate your phone through iTunes, but if you are not intended to use it on O2 network, then you don’t need to do that. Just unlock your phone and use it on the network that you are on. There are plenty of resourses on the net on how to unlock your iPhone, check this site for example: http://iphone.unlock.no/

Following price slash on iPhone last week, I guess Carphone Warehouse doesn’t mind giving them away without contract, they need to get rid of them as many as possible before new version comes out this summer.

If you have bought this phone without contract, share your experience with us!

T-Mobile:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-advice/phone-support/

You can configure your phone for picture messaging, internet and email. Configuration settings are sent to your phone directly and you can save and activate them.

On the same page there is a tab for software updates as well as links to phone manuals. Manuals contain text instructions as well as animated images to help you understand better.

Vodafone:

http://www.vodafonehelp.co.uk/DeviceHelp.php?e=0

After selecting your phone’s manufacturer and model, you can either view handset animated help or send configurations to your phone. Configurations sent are internet and picture messaging.

Orange:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=OUKPersonal&c=OUKPage&cid=1095152477564&t=HelpAndSupport

You can view your phone’s services, features and personalise your ringtone, display or profile. Under your Orange services, you can configure your phone for picture messaging, internet and other services. There are many other links to help you with your phone, also there is a link to a downloadable PDF version of phone user guide.

O2:

http://www.o2.co.uk/services/ota4/select

On this page you can configure your phone for O2 internet service. Settings sent via sms, save and activate settings once received.

1. Don’t do upgrade online!
Many mobile operators nowadays allow you to upgrade online, it is easy, they display mobile phones that you can get for free or if you have to pay then amount that you need to add to get that particular phone. If mobile phone that you like is not free, it is worth a try calling customer services and push them to give you that phone for free, they can give it to you! I did that last time I upgraded and I got my phone (Nokia 6300) free, eventhough online I had to pay for it. Of course there are limits, you can’t ask for phone that you have to pay £150 for free, but if it is relatively small amount (£20-£30), you might get that extra discount!

2. Compare competition
Check what other operators offer for similar monthly charge that you are paying. Check number of inclusive minutes, text and mobile phone that they give. Make a list and call customer services. Tell them that you are due to an upgrade, tell them that other operators offer better phones/more minutes or texts and ask if they can match the offer. You can give them details of rival offers, most probably your current operator at least will match rival offers and may even give you something extra! Don’t be afraid to ask, if you don’t ask, you won’t get!

4. Ask for freebies
If you are upgrading in store, you might bargain for a freebie! I wasn’t sure myself about this before, but last year I asked store staff if they can give me anything with my upgrade, I was surprised that they offered me either bluetooth hands free or 512MB memory card!

I hope these tips will help you get that dream phone you always wanted or anything extra that might cheer you up! You have been paying your provider a lot of money for past year, so you deserve the best out of them.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/simoffer?WT.mc_id=ConFreShFre_0415

Just fill in your details and SIM card will be posted to your address. These are features that you will have if you use it:

• up to 1000 free texts every month when you top-up
• call anyone, anytime, for 15p a minute
• free evening mobile Internet browsing when you top-up with £20 a month

• a Reserve Tank of £2.50 extra credit in case you forget to top-up
• gigsandtours – hear about your favourite artist’s gigs before everyone else
• enjoy Orange Wednesdays – 2-for-1 cinema tickets every Wednesday

I think it is worth getting this SIM card at least for Orange Wednesdays, you don’t have to use this SIM as your primary phone, but everytime you want to go to cinema with your friend or partner, you can use it.

You can order up to 4 SIM cards in one go. I have ordered SIM card from Orange before and it does arrive within 2 weeks.