By the way, if you already have a Virgin Mobile account (whether it's PAYG, Contract or whatever) you can get some great deals on handsets with them.  If your PAYG number is un-registered, it'll need to be registered first.  If it's never been registered before, you're better off registering the number yourself on their website as this will generate a £2 reward which you WON'T get if you ask them to register it for you over the phone. Virgin are the only network that will unlock a handset free of charge - as long as the phone came from them in the first place.  The only other stipulation is that you must have used £30's worth of airtime on the mobile number in the time you've had it for each phone you want unlocking.  They send you a letter with the unlock code in it with full instructions for unlocking it. Even if you only use your Pay as You Go Virgin phone occasionally, I'm sure you must have used £30 on it during the time you've had it, assuming you've had it a while and you've not ordered an unlock code from them before!  Call 789 from your existing Virgin Mobile number and ask what handsets they have available - tell them you don't want a SIM though and you just want to buy a phone on its own. 

They also sell re-conditioned phones that are half of the price of a new handset of the same model, but they only give half of the warranty.  For example, a phone that costs £80 new with a 12 month warranty would cost £40 re-conditioned with a 6 month warranty.  You could buy an inexpensive phone from Virgin, get it unlocked and use an Asda Mobile SIM in it (see my previous post!)  Good luck!

I've just found out about a really good Pay As You Go deal. Asda Mobile have an excellent tariff. Find a suitable handset  and get an Asda Mobile SIM in it. You can buy a handset from Asda Mobile anyway - if you're using a handset from any other source, you'd need to ensure it's unlocked! It's 16p a minute to ANY British mobile network or standard British landline number (beginning with 01 or 02 but NOT 08). After 3 minutes have been clocked up in any one day, this goes down to 8p per minute during that same day. (YES! that's VERY CHEAP cross-network calls!) Texts are 10p each but after 3 texts have been sent in one day, further texts in that same day are only 5p. Top-Ups via credit or debit card are awarded with an extra 10% of airtime - so top your phone up with £10 from your card and £11 will go on your phone. This extra 10% top-up bonus also applies to voucher and swipe card top-ups if they're done in an Asda store. If you make a service call to their Customer Services line to register your mobile number, it costs 25p but they'll give you a free £1 top-up a month later!

They're a service provider that use the Vodafone network (although they're a completely separate company, of course) and that means it's great coverage and you can pick up a signal just about anywhere - some networks like T-Mobile and ORANGE have patchy coverage in some areas or or signal blackspots/weak coverage but Vodafone is generally agreed to be a good signal over more areas than any other network.

Check out their website: http://www.asda-mobile.com/

My wife normally has a company mobile phone but during her upcoming 9 month period of maternity leave she will need to get a private phone. 
Most calls will be made to a Vodafone business mobile (mine!) and to a few other mobiles and land lines. 
I would expect usage would be no more than an 30 minutes per day plus a maximum of 20 texts per day.
She's not too fussed about the phone itself as long as it's a Nokia - the 6300 would be fine.
Incidentally we currently also have a Virgin Mobile Pay As You Go.
What would you recommend in terms of network and phone?