Moments like these are the worst. This afternoon I felt a terrible urge to buy another SIM card, this time from the T-Mobile network, so that I could send texts for free from the web to T-Mobile numbers. I found out that the virtual operator Mobil.cz runs on the T-Mobile network, so I called the T-Mobile hotline to make sure, before buying the SIM card, that this would actually work. However, I got a negative answer: texts to the T-Mobile network can be sent through the SMS gateway only if I own a T-Mobile number.
Fine, I told myself, and I started looking further for a suitable virtual operator. The one I liked most was Tesco Mobile, which runs on the Telefonica O2 network, and since my parents were heading straight to Cesky Tesin, I went with them. Somewhere on the internet I had read that calls cost 1.5 CZK/minute and texts 0.75 CZK, so I was really looking forward to it, and I was a bit disappointed to learn that calls cost 1.5 CZK only within the Tesco Mobile network (to all other networks, including O2, it’s 2.9 CZK), texts cost 1.9 CZK to anywhere and an MMS costs 5 CZK.
The text message price in particular didn’t make me very happy. That’s what I already pay per text with Vodafone, and that’s expensive when elsewhere they charge 1.5 CZK or even 1 CZK – and I’m talking about regular plans from non-virtual operators. But another surprise was waiting for me at home: when I wanted to reset my phone to factory settings, it froze and got stuck on this:
and it never booted again. I tried recovery, but even that wouldn’t start, it just kept throwing errors. Damn. I guess the phone is dead; “luckily” it’s just a Samsung Galaxy S5363 Young. I should have sold it long ago, like I meant to, and now it has come back to bite me.
All right, so I started thinking about what to do next. Up to now I had these phones:
The Nokia 101 (the plain red one) is Dual SIM. I used it whenever I wanted to take a phone somewhere I needed long battery life for my main VF number. The second SIM was “variable” – depending on what I needed, I had a prepaid card or a plan with credit in it (I have an awful lot of SIM cards).
I hadn’t used the Samsung Galaxy Young at all lately, and before that only occasionally for GC. The Samsung Galaxy S+ – that one has my mobile internet with a 66% discount, so instead of 300 CZK I pay 100 CZK a month, and my FUP is 1GB. I’ll keep using it the same way I have so far.
The old Samsung in the top right is for special purposes, which leaves only the SE Xperia Mini Pro. I’ll sell that one to my sister or through an ad. My sister would be better, because I could also throw in my old but still mostly fully working camera, which she wanted so badly, just like this phone. Until now she has had only dumb phones, and it would definitely be a good change for her to have a smartphone. But she doesn’t have the money for it herself, so now we’re both turning our eyes to her boyfriend.
One more summary of my plans – so far I’ve been paying 100 CZK a month for O2 + 30 CZK for Vodafone Nabito 119 with a 75% discount + 134 CZK to Vodafone for mobile internet with a 150MB FUP and a 25% discount = 264 CZK. From now on I’ll pay 100 CZK for O2 + 30 CZK for Vodafone + roughly every 180 days (the period after which credit expires) I’ll top up 200 in credit at Tesco Mobile, i.e. on average 34 CZK a month, which I plan to use up on calls at most each month = 164 CZK.
All in all, I’ll save at least 100 CZK every month, but I’ll have to do without a hardware keyboard on my phone and without one phone with internet. I think it will be better this way.
More photos here – The link is deader than Flash Player.