Cheap android phone

Computers & Tech
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A good mate of mine has recently split up with his partner and moved into a flat (in Cornwall) He’s looking at broadband costs and it looks like it will cost him ~£67/mth which he can’t afford (he’s basically potless) But, he “needs” internet access.

I suggested he might consider buying a cheap smartphone (he’s never owned one) and setting it up as a hotspot to enable him to access the internet at home on his PC laptop.

Only needs it for casual web browsing duties + some minor tweaks to his website and isn’t looking to stream or download huge files. Apparently the 4g signal in his flat is pretty decent.

He’s considering a Motorola moto g04 for £80 (Amazon) and taking out a sim-only contract (£12-ish/mth) for data/calls.

Any advice regarding the choice of phone appreciated.

Alternatively if anyone has an old, (and cheap) android phone in decent nick that they want to shift he might be interested in a 2nd hand one.

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I appreciate it’s not the question you are asking, but I feel it’s worth asking about the premise, is he seriously not able to get broadband internet for less than £67 per month?! That seems astronomical. We’re paying about half that for a fibre connection in a similarly rural level of location (Bala)

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He’s in St Just and said it would be £200/quarter

I’ll be speaking to him tonight so I’ll investigate further.

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Get on something like Envirofone and check out refurbished options.

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Yeah, I’d definitely investigate that further, St Just doesn’t look any smaller than Bala and even if you’re properly remote you should be able to get a 2-8Mbps line for bugger all, certainly no more than £20 per month I’d have thought.

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Wildanet came round the other day and offered me broadband for £19 a month as I’m on universal credit. No idea there normal rates,but I’m struggling to justify BT’s £60 a month

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I really rate the Motorola I have, I couldn’t find anything better anywhere near the price. Suspect the G4 will be all he needs.

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I have a G30 and it’s great. The only reason for me to change would be to get a better camera.

We are rural and get fibre @ 100mb/s for £19 a month.

There are plenty of decent deals out there. He needs to look around more, me thinks.

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9

ID mobile works well here
I started with them 13 years ago.
£5 a month and they have never put up the price🤞

Got the wife on to ID 11 years ago at £6 a month, they never put that up either.
Works well uses Vodafone network.

Phones Moto or other…
I’d buy a Fairphone next time.

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10

I use lebara £10 a month sim plan no contract just rollover
unlimited call and text - 25gig data

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Smarty are doing similar but with 40gb for £10 a month.

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Phone contract is with Lebara (Vodafone) - 15Gb for £6.
I have unlimited Data on my work iPad, so this plenty for me.

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Thanks for all of the suggestions and kind (pm) offers of help. He’s decided to live without broadband and stick with his non-smart, ancient Nokia (which he only uses for texting anyway) He reckons he can walk to the library once a week to get free wifi and check his emails.

Apparently, even £10/month is beyond his means now, I didn’t realise how severe his impecuniosity was. Until now.

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