Page 1 of BT Cellnet for life, is there a catch?

OK, for £199.00 you get a Nokia 3330, no monthly fee, and 50 minutes free call time a month for the rest of your life. So for less than a years line rental on the 60 free minutes a month tariff I`m paying Vodafone, you get 50 minutes a month for ever, a new phone and no more charges? Am I missing something anyone?

Dave

Nope, it is as good as sounds!

But I don`t think u`ll be able to buy them when they change to O2!

This item was edited on Thursday, 21st March 2002, 23:12

BT are big time in debt and still on the look for ways to raise cash to clear their debts. For a long time it`s looked like they have been on the verge of selling Cellnet.

I suspect BT are going for one last big influx of cash to go towards their debt clearance program before they sell off Cellnet.

So, if the tariff suits you get it before the next owners yank it away - or wave the details under Vodafone`s nose and see what they can come up with.

Few weeks ago Currys were selling at £149.
You can also buy the sim cards on its own for £60 on the net.
I bought one for £199 & selected 200 mins off peak & then purchased a sim card for £60 &selected 50 mins anytime on it.I also bought a twin sim card adaptor for £ 10 & use the same phone with the 2 sim cards.I normally leave the 200mins off peak sim card active (this is the number which I dish out).
When I want to make a call before 7pm, I switch over to the 50mins anytime sim card,otherwise its left in the 200mins off peak sim card mode.

Hi Shock,
I notice you post on a lot of phone related threads, could you elaborate?
I wasn`t sure whether you were recomending it as a good deal or having a laugh...
ie: Is the O2 changover going to kill this lifetime deal?

Dave

Edit: two posts came in while I wrote this, so do I get in quick for lifetime freebies, or run away before the pack of cards falls down?

D

This item was edited on Thursday, 21st March 2002, 23:02

sorry... had to run off while I was typing the initial reply.

No it is a very good deal, its a idea brought in by BT to get some money into the system, in the hope people spend more than the alocated amount to make them profit, but its not a very clever buissiness model.

With the O2 change over, there are likely to be quite a few changes at cellnet, and I belive this will be one of the projects that will be axed, but excisting customers will be able to keep using it.

The any time 50 deal is possibly the better of the 4.

Where have you seen the sim available on the net?
Cheers

I guess the only downer is that you won`t be eligible for free phone upgrades after 12 months (as you are on a contract phone), so after about 3 years or so, you may find the phone dies and you need to buy a contract free (i.e. expensive) phone.

I`m convinced... so where`s the best place to buy this SIM then?

I have mentioned this on here before but...
You may also want to consider this option:
You sign up to a normal monthly contract with BT Cellnet and pick a nice new shiny free/cheap phone of your choice.
After a few weeks you phone up and say you want to Pay your line rental in advance. Last time I checked you pay £70 for 12 months line rental for the OffPeak 600 minute tariff and £90 for the 12 months AnyTime 75 tariff.

Okay its not as cheap as the life one but you get more minutes , get to change tariff every twelve months and buy upgrades at a reasonable price. I got a Siemens S45 upgrade for £90 a few months ago when I renewed my Advance payment.

Probably worth phoning BT Cellnet to make sure they are still doing this ( they were about 2/3 months ago)

This item was edited on Friday, 22nd March 2002, 09:17