DavidDB wrote:
> Three's X series looks compelling - but even as an IT professional I
> found it almost impossible to establish exactly what "fair usage" of

3's fair use policy for X-Series is here
<http://www.three.co.uk/xseries/fair_use_policy.omp#fair>

In summary: 1Gbyte data & 10000 Windows Messenger messages per month.

> their bandwidth really meant - but hey - they have loads worthless
> free "hearing minutes" I'm not knocking THREE I'm sure in the hearing
> world its a fantastic deal - I just resent committing myself to an
> outrageous 18 month contract paying for stuff I cannot use,

3 are also currently offering Windows Messenger on PAYG until the end of
2007. You could try it out and switch to a contract later?
<http://www.three.co.uk/personal/price_plans_/promotions_/windows_live_payg.omp>

The small print at the bottom says 200 Messenger messages per day or
6000 per month. Out of interest: is that too low, too many or about right?

> The Orange
> site is no better but they thoughtfully provide to completely useless
> telephone numbers on their disability access page. GRRRR - A quick
> scan of all the major telephone networks paint a similar picture.

T-Mobile offer FlexT tariffs which allow you to spend all your money on
texts rather than voice. (And they also include MMS which might be
useful if pictures are easier than words.) But, for pure texting, 3
looks to be the best.

Hope this helps.

--
Bruce Horrocks
Surrey
England
(bruce at scorecrow dot com)