[Aontroim]

My wife is not a big mobile phone user. When she bought a phone about 12 years ago she took out an orange Virgin tariff contract - which means she just pays for the calls she makes by direct debit - bills never amount to that much anyway.

In all this time she has changed her phone once when a friend gave her a cast off! The screen has now broken so it is time for a new phone.

I know as much about contracts and mobiles as my wife! - so anyway we went into carphone warehouse - found the assistant to be totally unhelpful and rude - his reaction to our admittedly basic questions was to sigh and roll his eyes!

So maybe some of you can help?

We want to put the existing sim into the new phone - I don't understand why - as an example - a handset that costs £200 to buy can be bought for £100 pay as you go. Is it as simple as this - you just replace the sim and that's that - if that is the case who would actually pays the full handset price?

What is the catch?

I think that I am right in saying that Carphone warehouse phones are unlocked?

Looking on the internet we have nearly settled on a SE 810i.
We can get a sim free one for about £150 online - but I have also seen one offered for £99 as being on Orange PrePay - as an orange customer would my wife's sim work in that one or would she still need to go for the sim free one?

Have to admit we are finding it all a bit confusing.

Any advice appreciated, as are any comments about our phone selection.