[stevieboy]

Simple question really...(just wanted to make you look)

What would you suggest about my mobile phone?

Buy It Here, Unlock and Bring It
OR
Dump It and Buy Out There

I need to change it now anyway as my current mobile is on it's last legs so what is the mobile phone market like in NZ. Is there the variety of handsets that we have in the UK plus all the extras available (i.e. bluetooth headsets etc. for use in the car particuarly)? so I may aswell wait until I get there to get a new phone. Or, should I spend the time getting a decent one here plus the extras I want, get it unlocked, and bring it with me?

Thanks in advance

[GeorgeM]

If you go down the buy it in the UK, unlock it and take it with you route, make sure that there isn't any restriction on when they will unlock it for you.

We had a fairly newish UK vodafone when we got here which they would only unlock a year after the purchase date. Only meant waiting a couple of months, but as it was for one of the kids WE didn't find it much of a hardship :laugh . But in the mobile comms world things change from week to week, so this restriction may not be here any more. Probably depends on the type of plan you buy it on.

Either the Telecom, Vodafone NZ or Noel Leeming websites should give you some idea of the types of phone/accessories available plus their prices.

Only Vodafone use SIM cards here - Telecom phones have to be registered with Telecom and are activated that way (which means that they're far less likely to end up as Liverpool Goods (qv). :mrgreen: ).

If u do a lotta txtin Telecom have the best deal at the moment - 500 texts within a month for $10 as opposed to $0.20 per text with Vodafone (although Vodafone texting is free at weekends). If you're with Telecom you can also sign up with Boost which has an even better deal (for some) - 1000 texts in a month for $10 and then $0.02 per text thereafter. But with boost you can only text to other NZ Telecom phones. I also think that there are problems texting to UK phones from Telecom mobiles, but not from NZ Vodafone ones. (All this gleaned from my kids who seem to think that it is important...)

[xanctus]

I would take the BIHUBI route, just for the sake of saving a little bit money on something else. :D

[Nic in NZ]

hi
We had a telecom mobile an if you txt alot they are great but telecom uses a different system to vodafone and people cant initiate txt to you from the uk, they can only relpy to a txt you have sent them, very very annoying. so we ended up getting a vodafone for me and sending hubby's uk phone to his parent to get unlocked in the Uk as they dont do that here.
nic

[StevieD]

George, get an updated joke book mate, the Liverpool jokes are tiresome and oh so wrong. Take a look at the crime figures, see how far up the crime league Manchester is! Everywhere has it's problems, Liverpool is no different. It is all so bloody boring, same old tiresome drivel. I suppose everybody in Scotland is mean, and all the Irish are thick?
Just don't trot out the same old stereotypical claptrap. It really does wear a bit thin..... and no we aren't all comedians, or wear shell suits, or say "lar" (although I do have curly hair but no moustache!)

Steve

[GeorgeM]

George,

... blah blah...

... whinge whinge ...

... bristle bristle...


Steve

Let it be, my friend! Man grows to a certain point and then descends

It was a joke mate. A high percentage of jokes rely on stereotypes but that doesn't mean that the butt of them is necessarily being 'dissed'. If you don't build stereotypes into humour then you have to explain why things are funny - and by that time people have shut up shop and gone home.

As a student I used to listen to program on Radio Moscow (don't tell Winston) called 'Just for Fun' which was half and hour of 'riotous' humour officially sanctioned by the regime at the time. The humour to most listeners, I think, would have been in just how awful the jokes (presumably written and then passed by bureaucrats) were. I remember one joke which was about the police which rapped up with 'but seriously, we find that in the Soviet Union most people have a high regard for the Peoples' Militia'. Ho, ho, ho.

As a Brit I'm the object of fun for some. Also as a man. And as a midlander (just put on a brummie accent and try to get someone to take your character seriously). As JFK said - 'We are all Jews and Germans'.

Get over it, wack...

[K1W1]

I have unlocked all of our UK bought phones myself. There are plenty of web sites that give you the codes and instructions for free.

I use this one mostly http://www.trycktill.com/eng/

[StevieD]

George, now that I have stopped bristling, I'll just inform you that "Wackers" are from Birkenhead :laugh
As for getting over it, it has gone on for years, with everybody from the press to the government. Throw enough mud and some sticks. God knows, PB takes the mickey out of me all the time about robbing his petrol and it doesn't bother me a jot, in fact I even join in.
I know that stereotypes are the basis of jokes, but you start calling the blacks and pakistanis and anyone else, and you watch what happens to you! Anyway, end of, just the wrong place for it in my book ( and the wife was a bit miffed too!)

[GeorgeM]

I know that stereotypes are the basis of jokes, but you start calling the blacks and pakistanis and anyone else, and you watch what happens to you!

Being criticised by the PC stazi for making jokes is something most people won't lose any sleep about.

Just because someone has a different skin colour doesn't mean that they can't belong to groups which often/sometimes exhibit behavours which some/many find amusing. And if this is the case the humour shouldn't be artificially surpressed. If it's amusing to some to make jokes about the obsessions of anoraks/trainspotters then it is equally valid to make jokes about the obsessive way in which every NZ event these days has to start off with a Haka. Or to parody it by doing a morris dance before an event, followed by a long and pointless rambling monologue in the broadest and most unintelligable regional dialect you can muster giving details of your ancestry since the Industrial Revolution.

'Goodness Gracious Me' often hits the spot by parodying sterotypical behavious amongst the British south asian communities. As a european I also see many of these sterotypical behaviours, find them just as amusing, and have every right to make the same fun of them.

One of their sketches had two indian families going out for 'An English' in the way that Brits go out for 'An Indian'. One of the people was asking the waiter - 'What is your blandest food? Go on, make it really bland for me'. He was obviously taking the rise out of the sterotypical Brit who goes into the local tandoori at closing time and goes on and on very loudly about how hot he wants his curry. This was a person of one colour taking the micky out of a person of another race based solely on sterotypical behaviour. But not offensive to anyone, eh? Or should the sketch have been accompanied by the footnote - 'Actually not all English cuisine is bland these days, in fact herbs and spices have been used by the English in cooking for many centuries'?

Anyway, we seem to have gotten away from the subject of mobile phones...

Any idea where I can get hold of one cheap? (Only a joke...)

[stevieboy]

Back on the subject in hand...I'm still not sure.

Having looked at Vodafone.co.nz (http://www.vodafone.co.nz) and a couple of other seemingly popular mobile phone sites such as First mobile.co.nz (http://www.firstmobile.co.nz) and Mobile city.co.nz (http://www.mobilecity.co.nz). Those that are selling the same phone as we have in the UK are substantially over priced compared to the prices in say the Carphone Warehouse for just the hand set - even allowing for a likely unlocking charge.
And that's just looking at the current exchange rate. Let alone once you're on an NZ salary.

Are you sure it's not worth buying here and bringing it with me ?

If we could stay on subject it would help please !

cheers
Steve

[xanctus]

Stevie,
if u think that your phone is overpriced in NZ, then I guess unlocking the phone and bring it over to NZ is not a bad idea, don't u think? at least you know well about your own phone...or maybe get a newer one and unlock it.

[FlyingDutchman]

I have unlocked all of our UK bought phones myself. There are plenty of web sites that give you the codes and instructions for free.

I use this one mostly http://www.trycktill.com/eng/
Hi K1W1, do you know any other sites, because my phone (Sony Ericsson) isn't in the list there.

[xanctus]

I have unlocked all of our UK bought phones myself. There are plenty of web sites that give you the codes and instructions for free.

I use this one mostly http://www.trycktill.com/eng/

bummer, nothing for USA based... :? :(

[GeorgeM]

From various websites over here and over there you can get a good idea of the prices.

If there's a big difference in favour of buying in the UK it would be worth putting in more effort and getting a definitive statement on whether you could unlock the equipment you buy within the timescale you want and at what price. Add in the costs if any.

If it's still substantially better to buy in the UK then do so, if not don't bother.

If you're only going to be a bit better off you need to factor in a possible hassle factor if something goes wrong and you need to get a repair/replacement - NZ companies might not be as interested if they didn't sell the handset, or the product spec might not be exactly the same down here as up there.

Also you may need to factor in the cost of buying a charger locally also - yes, you could use the UK one with an adapter, but how many more applicances do you intend to use adapters for vs how many do you have - from our experience you can run out pretty quickly!

[K1W1]

Most of the others charge a fiver but a good search engine will bring them up.