Finance thread 2022.

[PistoldPete]

2 hours ago, Gaspode said:

When you have a phone contract, a large proportion of the amount you pay is effectively paying for the phone itself - so once your contracted period is complete, that element of the monthly charge is effectively just profit for the phone company. You then have a choice of:

1. calling your phone company and asking for a better deal (either a new phone deal or else a SIM only deal for a lot better price - both keeping your exisiting number);

2. Look around for another phone deal from any other supplier;

3. Look for a SIM only deal.

With 2 or 3 you can certainly keep your exisiting number - you normally sign up for the new deal (which includes a brand new SIM card), ask your old supplier for a PAC code and then request that your new supplier ports your exisiting number over by telling them the code (they contact the old supplier on your behalf and tell them you're moving) - dead easy - normally via a page on the website or else you can even trigger it via a text message in most cases - normally only takes a couple of days.

Only thing to watch out for is that some phones are 'locked' to the original provider, so if you keep your exisiting phone it may not let you use a SIM from another supplier - they used to be able to charge you to make the phone SIM-free  (i.e. let you insert a SIM from another supplier), but I think the law has changed recently - I don't think there should be a cost if you're now out of contract but it's good to look into it before you say goodbye to the old supplier....

Thanks for the tips Gaspode.

[Rev]

Sky are good, the ability to group the families phones together and share unused data to whoever needs it is great. 

Roaming is £2 a day though, so if you use the phone abroad that's worth bearing in mind. 

I've got 3 phones on it, plenty of data to spare normally, £18 a month rolling contract.

[AndyinLiverpool]

7 hours ago, Gaspode said:

I don't post  politics on here (as we all know it's against the rules), but I suggested to someone this morning that this has all the signs of being a long game played by the Tory party:

1. Elect a thoroughly incompetent PM (that unlike Boris, no one likes either) and watch them royaly screw up (which she appears to be doing with indecent speed);

2. Get the Labour party confident enough to push for a vote of no confidence in the government thereby forcing a general election; and then

3. Sit back for the next couple of years while the new Labour government has to try and dig us out of the huge hole the country is currently in while not being able to deliver on most of their traditional promises.

4. The Tories then come back at the following election with a nice big majority (possibly with Boris back in charge by then)....

It may sound far fetched, but there's no easy way out of the mess following Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine war - far better from their perspective to let Labour do the donkey work and then pick up the pieces...

 

They are not clever enough to pull that off

[Ram-a-lama fa fa fa]

15 hours ago, PistoldPete said:

Anyways, any idea on mobile phone contracts, mine has expired. Should I go sim only?  

if u go sim only mate. make sure youve got software updates switched to manual. not automatic. 

i had an iphone i really looked after so i could go sim only. left it on automatic software updates and after 1 update it didnt work again. couldnt txt or nothing

my guess is the phone couldnt handle the update. i may be wrong but it could save u having to get a contract 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Ram-a-lama fa fa fa

[ThePrisoner]

1 hour ago, Ram-a-lama fa fa fa said:

if u go sim only mate. make sure youve got software updates switched to manual. not automatic. 

i had an iphone i really looked after so i could go sim only. left it on automatic software updates and after 1 update it didnt work again. couldnt txt or nothing

my guess is the phone couldnt handle the update. i may be wrong but it could save u having to get a contract 

That doesn’t sound like a SIM only issue. I’ve been SIM only on my iPhone’s since 2010 and never had an issue.

The phone doesn’t know whether you’re on a SIM only plan or a contract. A contract is the same but just includes the device credit payments. 

Sounds like something else was afoot with the update. Reset network settings in the iPhone settings would usually fix an issue like that.  

[Ram-a-lama fa fa fa]

7 minutes ago, ThePrisoner said:

That doesn’t sound like a SIM only issue. I’ve been SIM only on my iPhone’s since 2010 and never had an issue.

The phone doesn’t know whether you’re on a SIM only plan or a contract. A contract is the same but just includes the device credit payments. 

Sounds like something else was afoot with the update. Reset network settings in the iPhone settings would usually fix an issue like that.  

probably just a coincidence then. i did contact both ee and apple about it tho and none of them could help me.

luckily for me tho not long after i had a chance of buying my old works samsung for £100.  so just transferred the sim to that

quick question. do u do all the updates or just leave it how it is?

[PistoldPete]

1 hour ago, Ram-a-lama fa fa fa said:

if u go sim only mate. make sure youve got software updates switched to manual. not automatic. 

i had an iphone i really looked after so i could go sim only. left it on automatic software updates and after 1 update it didnt work again. couldnt txt or nothing

my guess is the phone couldnt handle the update. i may be wrong but it could save u having to get a contract 

Updates can be a killer, but if you leave it too long without any updates the phone stops working anyway I found this once. 

[Ram-a-lama fa fa fa]

3 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

Updates can be a killer, but if you leave it too long without any updates the phone stops working anyway I found this once. 

does it? i didnt know. 

im still using my sim only samsung i mentioned earlier. had it about 4 years now with updates switched off. but ill bear that in mind ?

[RoyMac5]

Is it not like not updating a pc, updates keep the phone more secure from hacking/viruses and also mean that newer apps that use the newer software work? But I suppose on the flipside older apps might not continue to function.

[PistoldPete]

1 hour ago, Ram-a-lama fa fa fa said:

does it? i didnt know. 

im still using my sim only samsung i mentioned earlier. had it about 4 years now with updates switched off. but ill bear that in mind ?

I tried not updating my apple phone for a long time and then it stopped working , took it to the apple shop and they said aha you haven't updated your phone, and they fixed it by downloading the latest update. Maybe it's an apple thing, but I got similar from the IT people at work ... "what's this you haven't updated your PC in months and you still expect your PC to work"?   

[Stive Pesley]

If anyone is looking to cut expenditure on kindle books, this library site has (or claims to have) 81 million free ebooks.

https://www.pdfdrive.com/

You don't have to sign up and everything I've found on there downloaded fine. 

Epub and PDF file formats - easy to get on to your kindle using Calibre 

I suspect it's not 100% copyright compliant, but then it's never going to be over that many titles

 

[Rev]

7 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

If anyone is looking to cut expenditure on kindle books, this library site has (or claims to have) 81 million free ebooks.

https://www.pdfdrive.com/

You don't have to sign up and everything I've found on there downloaded fine. 

Epub and PDF file formats - easy to get on to your kindle using Calibre 

I suspect it's not 100% copyright compliant, but then it's never going to be over that many titles

 

On a similar line, Prime subscribers have a lot of free Kindle content available already included in the Prime subscription. 

They don't point out this goodie, for obvious reasons I suppose, but a lot of magazines for instance are included, like Viz, Lonely Planet and FourFourTwo.

Loads of free books too, and you don't need a Kindle to access them, just the Kindle App which is available on most formats.

[Ramarena]

Told you it’d be pinned on leftist plotting ?
 

https://news.sky.com/story/liz-truss-had-to-be-convinced-to-issue-govt-statement-to-calm-markets-after-meeting-with-chancellor-12706352

"Some around Truss think this all just needs to be explained better," said one business source familiar with the conversations in Number 10.

Some in government are understood to see the market assault on the pound and government debt as a plot by the left, something which has surprised city traders.

 

[Rev]

The more people and organisations, and indeed the entire planet come out against the budget, the more I like it.

Just because no-one seems to think it will work, doesn't mean it won't. 

Get with the programme people, this is a new way of doing business, based on belief rather than science.

Kinda like religion, but with the added edge of losing all your worldly possessions, no matter how fervently you believe.

In Truss, we trust.

[GboroRam]

Apparently the old "day today" sketch of "the pound has been stolen" has been going viral, so there is some positive news in all this. 

[Gritstone Ram]

Just a quick question 

Do interest rate increases really affect the right people?

Most people with mortgages are paying loads out just to buy a house. Surely the people who own their house outright won’t be reined in on spending and they, theoretically, will have more extendible income.

All it seems to do is add more pressure onto the ones who are running tight budgets as it is. 
There may be other reasons too but I am scratching my head with this.

[PistoldPete]

18 minutes ago, Gritstone Ram said:

Just a quick question 

Do interest rate increases really affect the right people?

Most people with mortgages are paying loads out just to buy a house. Surely the people who own their house outright won’t be reined in on spending and they, theoretically, will have more extendible income.

All it seems to do is add more pressure onto the ones who are running tight budgets as it is. 
There may be other reasons too but I am scratching my head with this.

Raising interest rates will possibly shrink house prices which will also affect people with houses but no mortgages as they will feel they have less equity to play with. 

[Eddie]

10 hours ago, Rev said:

The more people and organisations, and indeed the entire planet come out against the budget, the more I like it.

Just because no-one seems to think it will work, doesn't mean it won't. 

Get with the programme people, this is a new way of doing business, based on belief rather than science.

Kinda like religion, but with the added edge of losing all your worldly possessions, no matter how fervently you believe.

In Truss, we trust.

When the IMF says 'WTF', then obviously you are correct. Everyone else is wrong and Crazy Kwarteng is the only one with the crystal ball.

[sonofmidnight]

I was so incensed by the mini budget I fired off a letter to my Conservative MP. Not only is it morally wrong but it is looking increasingly like a financial disaster. Not only that but the Conservatives have manged to committ electoral suicide by alienating the tradionally Labour voters who voted for Boris in the last election. Please if you feel strongly about this send an e.mail to your MP. Thanks.

[cstand]

10 hours ago, Rev said:

The more people and organisations, and indeed the entire planet come out against the budget, the more I like it.

Just because no-one seems to think it will work, doesn't mean it won't. 

Get with the programme people, this is a new way of doing business, based on belief rather than science.

Kinda like religion, but with the added edge of losing all your worldly possessions, no matter how fervently you believe.

In Truss, we trust.

I thought Gordon Brown selling half of our gold reserves when the price was at 20 year lows was incredibly stupid but Truss tax plan is just absolutely bonkers.

People on low wages should be getting the biggest tax breaks especially going into a recession/inflationary period still in shock TBH.

Oh well at least Christine Lagarde stated in July there would no recession this year so we can all relax.

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by cstand