Recently I’ve not exactly had much luck with my phone, a Pay-As-You-Go Pocket PC on o2′s network, a network which for the last 2 weeks has failed me quite consistently with many texts getting lost and getting ‘Network not ready’ messages, it became a real pain in the ass.

Not only was it failing me, but it was also far too expensive at 10p a text and 50p a minute call. It’s old school 02 PAYG, one of the reasons I much prefer and have always had contracts up until I left my job and as soon as I get another it’s the first thing I’ll do.

Last Wednesday I stayed at my friends house for a few days and he recommended I go ‘Blyk’, something which utterly confused me as I’d never heard of it. He told me his brother had been using it for quite a while and that he’d found it great, so on his recommendation I signed up in a ‘what the hell’ moment, and on Saturday my Sim and welcome pack arrived free of charge and so far it’s been great. In fact it’s been perfect. No loss of signal at all, something which my o2 PAYG and T-Mobile contract before that couldn’t claim and what’s more, cheap… and that’s because it’s free…

For those of you now interested, every month you get 217 text messages and 43 minutes of talk-time to any landline or mobile without any need to top-up, though you can if you wish and for £5 you will also get a further 150 text messages.

The catch? Advertising and Age Limitation. First of all, this is for people between the ages of 16-24 only. Second of all, when you sign up you select at least 2 categories that you like (Technology and Gadgets, Gaming, Movies, etc…) and for this you can receive up to 6 adverts a day, some of which my friend has told me are ‘actually pretty damn good’, such as Wallpapers, Ring tones and information, my friends brother has received wallpapers of one of his favourite bands, the Futureheads (tut) and some of the stuff you get it stuff that companies like Jamster charge for, other stuff is merely information or standard adverts, but when silly little adverts offer what they do, a free service for calls and messaging, then it’s hard to see a negative to it. My friend has also never received more than 2 adverts and in 2 days I’ve not received any, so it would appear to be win-win for the time being.

This new way or working could be the future for mobile phone contracts. It’s certainly interesting.

Find out more at http://www.blyk.co.uk.