This is my dilemma so far..........

My girlfriend is due to leave these sunny shores for approximately a year and as my 3 Mobile phone contract is due to expire in the next 2 months, I instinctively thought that as she has an iPhone it would make sense for me to either upgrade my existing contract with a similar handset and functionality. Owing to the time difference amongst other issues, e-mail would be the best way for us to keep in contact when neither of us are able to speak.

I am in the process of investigating the new iPhone but 3 Mobile recently contacted me in an attempt to renew my contract, I told them that I was thinking seriously about leaving and going across to O2 for the iPhone but they've tried to steer me down the line of the LG Viewty. Stating that this is a good alternative with better functionality and the added bonus of Skype...........which I must admit sounds pretty good to me as my girlfriend will have this on her laptop and this could save us both hundreds of pounds over the coming 12 months.

3 have also offered to review my tariff, something that they refused to do a few months back as I am using nowhere near my alotted minutes and is wasting money.

My question is this............which do you think is the best deal and why?

I know the iPhone will cost me more but is it worth considering the LG purely on the basis of Skype? What other benefits are there to the Viewty?

Many thanks kind people.

Minor

Options to look at are:

• Computer to computer calls, with voice and video link. These should cost no more than the costs of connecting to the internet. There's Skype, Yahoo messenger and loads of others who will let you have the software for free.

• Computer to phone calls, with voice and fax facility. These cost much less than normal calls. There's Skype, Net2Phone and others to look at. For this and the above, google for "internet telephony", messanger, etc.

• Phone to phone calls. Look at Global sim cards, country specific sim cards, discount calls from landlines and so on. You can google for "cheap international calls" and this article has some useful information.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/COMMUNITY/forums/t/cheaper-calls-when-youre-abroad-22446.aspx

In my view, the choice of mobile phone is less important that your choice of method of communication.

If your girlfiend is going abroad avoid any form of mobile communication even skype on a mobile as your still going to have to pay for data rates which can be very high at times.

I don't rate either the viewty or the iphone highly in all honesty both are very early examples of where the current technology is going to go. But between the viewty and the iphone I would go for the iphone, as I've had some very poor experience with the viewty.

At the moment the best phone on the market is the nokia N95, it's not the most pretty phone but it does everything the iphone does and more and it's cheaper. Although the iphone does have a pretty user interface and it's music and movie abilities can't be rivalled by any other phone but its should be a phone first and an ipod second.

If I was you I would keep in contact with my girlfriend using a good old computer and email. I would get a webcam and skpe on my computer so we could chat and see each other and we could also record video message to each other if the time difference was huge.

Thanks Darklight,

I appreciate your comments. The main reason I am considering either of the above (or better) is for e-mail and SMS communication although as Skype was available on the LG Viewty I thought this may have been a viable option.

I did consider Skype on my laptop but unfortunately, as it is my work one, I do not have Administrator Rights and therefore will not be able to download it. They have a strict policy on software downloads and wouldn't even allow me to install the drivers for my home wireless network.

I don't fancy my chances successfully in asking them for access to Skype.

Minor:

I don't fancy my chances successfully in asking them for access to Skype.

Minor,

Are the drivers for your webcam already loaded on your laptop? You don't actually need Skype to communicate, you could use audio/video over IM instead, assuming that your girlfriend has the ability to connect to the Internet whilst abroad in the first place.

I use a Viewty myself, but my needs differ from yours, so I'd be reticent about advising you on handset choice, but I would say that I'd advise against 3 if you don't need to stay with them. Lots of reasons, but primarily the fact that the coverage is still iffy, and the reason they refused to review your tariff is that they are still desperate to gain as much revenue as possible from each subscriber, given the millions of pounds that 3G operators paid for their operating licences. Of course they are promising to be flexible now... you are soon going to be in a position to jump ship to another provider!

Make your judgement based on the quality of service (including flexibility, or lack thereof) that you have received, not the quality of service that they are promising to give you in future! Which is the best indicator of what you will get for your hard-earned money?