I currently have a sim only deal, rolling 1 month contract, with O2. £10.00 a month for 600 mins ( I usually use zero lol), unlimited texts, I maybe use 100 max, and 500 mb internet as a bolt on for an extra £5.
I don't need a new phone every year to 18 months, happy with my HTC desire which is unlocked. Not worried about having the latest phone, as long as it does what it needs to do, that's good for me. There's always cheap options for getting phones, when they are nearing the end of their production. The good thing about that is, you're normally aware of the bugs that exist then.
Currently looking at what's out there.
Orange are doing a sim only, 150 minutes, 500 texts and 250 mb for £7.00 a month (12 month contract)
300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500 mb for £10.50, 12 month contract.
Three are doing a 12 month sim only for £10 a month, 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 1 Gb data. Or a 30 day rolling contract at £10 per month, 100 minutes (more than enough for me), 3000 texts and 1 Gb data (or 300 minutes instead for £12 per month). Or a 12 month contract with 300 minutes, 3000 texts and unlimited data for £15. Although I'd like to see the small print in their policy for what they consider unlimited data as fair use.
Virgin are now doing a sim only 30 day rolling contract with 125 mins, 2500 texts and 250 Mb data for £7.00 a month Edit: as a Virgin media customer that's 125 minutes, 5000 texts and 500 Mb for £7.00 a month. I don't think I'm going to find anything better than that. Or 250 minutes, 2500 texts and 500 mb for £10.00 per month. They are now using the T-mobile and Orange networks so their coverage should have improved.
So I'm going to ring O2 up th the next week and see if they are willing to offer me what I'm getting now for £10.00 a month or match what Virgin are offering. You can usually negotiate some kind of deal with mobile operators, none of their tariffs seem set in stone, though they do try and con you into signing up for longer contracts with incentives but I like the freedom of just being able to drop it at a months notice.
I probably wouldn't ever go back to Vodafone (their deals don;t seem too good at the moment for what I'm looking for anyway) after the problems I had with their customer service last time I was with them, or the idiots at Three, who told me that what they were offering was the best they could do when I enquired about an upgrade, until I asked for my PAC code, then they rang me up with a better offer, by which time I'd already agreed a better offer with O2. I pointed out that they'd basically lied to me when they said their previous offer was the best they could do, so I couldn't trust them.