Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Yep. T was missed, because we didn't have a grumpy Dane to prod We did try using Leo but it just wasn't the same.

For rather obvious reasons, one would suspect.

Prior Preparation & Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance!

A & B: WitW, WitE, WbtS, GGWaW, GGWaW2-AWD, HttR, CotA, BftB, CF
P: UV, WitP, WitP-AE

quote:

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

And welcome back Kristian!


BTW, what games / simulations / strategies you play at the moment?

Also was there any luck with job hunting in the meanwhile (we all kept our collective fingers crossed)?


Leo "Apollo11"

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

There are a number of national purveyors of phone contracts here too. Available plans run from the pay-as-you-go or prepaid plans all the way up to unlimited 'family' plans. Prices vary accordingly. I'd say that $75-$100 / month will get you an 'all you can eat' buffet in terms of data / tethering / texting, etc. etc. That would equal about 60-75 euros equivalent. Sound about right?

The 'ceiling' on most data plans is between 2-4GB / month. Plenty for most moderate use, but tethering, playing lots of 4G movies / video and the like will eat that pretty quickly. You can always upgrade from the baseline (for a modest fee, of course).

That's really expensive! I have unlimited data traffic attached to my normal mobile account. Sum of everything together lands somewhere in the vicinity of $35-40 ...

You and Dixie are citing much cheaper rates. Does this take into account the amortization of your phone over a two year commitment?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

There are a number of national purveyors of phone contracts here too. Available plans run from the pay-as-you-go or prepaid plans all the way up to unlimited 'family' plans. Prices vary accordingly. I'd say that $75-$100 / month will get you an 'all you can eat' buffet in terms of data / tethering / texting, etc. etc. That would equal about 60-75 euros equivalent. Sound about right?

The 'ceiling' on most data plans is between 2-4GB / month. Plenty for most moderate use, but tethering, playing lots of 4G movies / video and the like will eat that pretty quickly. You can always upgrade from the baseline (for a modest fee, of course).

That's really expensive! I have unlimited data traffic attached to my normal mobile account. Sum of everything together lands somewhere in the vicinity of $35-40 ...

You and Dixie are citing much cheaper rates. Does this take into account the amortization of your phone over a two year commitment?

I've bought my last two phones for the full price. No operator commitment.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus


Also, I'm back for reasons I'm not allowed to talk about. Just putting that out there...

Mike

"Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett

"They need more rum punch" - Me


Artwork by The Amazing Dixie

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

There are a number of national purveyors of phone contracts here too. Available plans run from the pay-as-you-go or prepaid plans all the way up to unlimited 'family' plans. Prices vary accordingly. I'd say that $75-$100 / month will get you an 'all you can eat' buffet in terms of data / tethering / texting, etc. etc. That would equal about 60-75 euros equivalent. Sound about right?

The 'ceiling' on most data plans is between 2-4GB / month. Plenty for most moderate use, but tethering, playing lots of 4G movies / video and the like will eat that pretty quickly. You can always upgrade from the baseline (for a modest fee, of course).

That's really expensive! I have unlimited data traffic attached to my normal mobile account. Sum of everything together lands somewhere in the vicinity of $35-40 ...

You and Dixie are citing much cheaper rates. Does this take into account the amortization of your phone over a two year commitment?

I've bought my last two phones for the full price. No operator commitment.

Most people here get their cell phones included in the price of their monthly contract and sign two year contracts, thus amortizing the payments into the contract. So, someone with a typical Verizon contract may pay only $99 for an iPhone5, well below the retail rate 'off the shelf' of $700-ish. Of course you pay for it in the long run too.

This probably constitutes 40-50% of the monthly cell phone cost-the amortization of the phone itself. This also encourages buying a new handset every two years.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub
You can choose a similar option here as well. I chose not to get this type of contract as in the end, you end up paying ~20% more for the phone as well as being subject to sudden operator price changes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

I'm on a 24 month contract. It has disadvantages and advantages. For the money it was the cheapest contract available. In effect I get unlimited calls, texts and data as well as a nice phone. When I got the phone it was around the £350 mark so I can't complain. It also helps to build up a credit score, being in the military here actually causes a negative on that front. Not ideal when you're looking to buy a house in the future.

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

Tithe....

With T back , and many of the "regulars" present , it's almost like "old home week" here.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub
You can choose a similar option here as well. I chose not to get this type of contract as in the end, you end up paying ~20% more for the phone as well as being subject to sudden operator price changes.

That makes sense. For those of you that chose this option (amortizing the phone into a two year contract), would the monthly charges be more in line with what I cited for a 'typical' data / phone plan?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

Tithe....

With T back , and many of the "regulars" present , it's almost like "old home week" here.

I'm sorry Steve, but I'm bound to hit this 'fat pitch' out of the park. Apologies in advance.

Please forgive me for observing that with you around, you put the 'old' in "old home week".

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Makes perfect sense. Does calculation of your credit scores benefit from ownership / useage of credit cards? I'm referring to non-maxed out, regular payments / paid off balances in a timely fashion? Here, available (but unused) revolving lines of credit is a very influential scoring metric for one's credit rating.

Other big factors: regular and timely repayment of installment loans (e.g., car payments, phone contracts, other reasonably big-ticket items); home mortage payment histories; late payments / non-payments; bankruptcy or other similar legal indemnification from debtors; employment history and income. I imagine that some of these are similar abroad, but I don't know for sure.

Getting a credit card, using it judiciously and paying it off regularly is generally pretty good for starters.

Bigger boys stole my sig

(in reply to Chickenboy)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Makes perfect sense. Does calculation of your credit scores benefit from ownership / useage of credit cards? I'm referring to non-maxed out, regular payments / paid off balances in a timely fashion? Here, available (but unused) revolving lines of credit is a very influential scoring metric for one's credit rating.

Other big factors: regular and timely repayment of installment loans (e.g., car payments, phone contracts, other reasonably big-ticket items); home mortage payment histories; late payments / non-payments; bankruptcy or other similar legal indemnification from debtors; employment history and income. I imagine that some of these are similar abroad, but I don't know for sure.

Getting a credit card, using it judiciously and paying it off regularly is generally pretty good for starters.

That's a big help. Until recently I didn't have a credit card and I've been careful about my finances so I've had no debt against my name. Whilst that's usually good the banks don't fully agree as I've never had to pay anything back either so there's no history of being able to pay them off.

Because of that I picked up a credit card in the summer, it's mainly used for buying gogo juice for the car and paying for hotels when I'm away with the RAF. Everything is then paid off by the end of the month. Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score, which is partly why military personnel can have issues.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie
Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie
Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score

Even if it's a rental property?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grollub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

Tithe....

With T back , and many of the "regulars" present , it's almost like "old home week" here.

I'm sorry Steve, but I'm bound to hit this 'fat pitch' out of the park. Apologies in advance.

Please forgive me for observing that with you around, you put the 'old' in "old home week".

Ewww ... that was a low punch.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Makes perfect sense. Does calculation of your credit scores benefit from ownership / useage of credit cards? I'm referring to non-maxed out, regular payments / paid off balances in a timely fashion? Here, available (but unused) revolving lines of credit is a very influential scoring metric for one's credit rating.

Other big factors: regular and timely repayment of installment loans (e.g., car payments, phone contracts, other reasonably big-ticket items); home mortage payment histories; late payments / non-payments; bankruptcy or other similar legal indemnification from debtors; employment history and income. I imagine that some of these are similar abroad, but I don't know for sure.

Getting a credit card, using it judiciously and paying it off regularly is generally pretty good for starters.

That's a big help. Until recently I didn't have a credit card and I've been careful about my finances so I've had no debt against my name. Whilst that's usually good the banks don't fully agree as I've never had to pay anything back either so there's no history of being able to pay them off.

Because of that I picked up a credit card in the summer, it's mainly used for buying gogo juice for the car and paying for hotels when I'm away with the RAF. Everything is then paid off by the end of the month. Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score, which is partly why military personnel can have issues.

Here at least, people (myself) that pay off their credit cards in full every month actually have lower credit scores than those that allow some balance to ride on their revolving credit lines and allow interest to accumulate. While these people demonstrate the ability to pay off monthly bills, they're not demonstrating payments against an interest-bearing loan with their revolving credit, I guess.

I've heard some credit counselors advise carrying a small balance for a few months, sucking up the interest payments and not paying off fully until some credit history can be demonstrated.

Another biggy is the ratio between average balance *used* on a CC versus balance available. The lower this ratio the better. I guess this demonstrates that you aren't using all the superfluous credit that you *could* be overusing if you so desired. Some credit advisors recommend increasing available credit maximum on a card to tweak this ratio.

Again, I've got no idea if these same guidelines hold sway across the pond. It would be interesting to hear what rubrics (if any) were different for credit scoring over yonder.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie
Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score

Even if it's a rental property?

Bigger boys stole my sig

(in reply to Chickenboy)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie
Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score

Even if it's a rental property?

It's not a rental per se. In effect the MoD (or the clowns who they have contracted to run the housing) are our landlord. So the money for rent gets taken out of my pay at source by my employers who are also the landlord. Even though we're in a civvie owned place atm, the MoD are still paying the rental to the actual landlord and then I pay my share of the rent to the MoD.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie
Moving house frequently is a big minus to your score

Even if it's a rental property?

It's not a rental per se. In effect the MoD (or the clowns who they have contracted to run the housing) are our landlord. So the money for rent gets taken out of my pay at source by my employers who are also the landlord. Even though we're in a civvie owned place atm, the MoD are still paying the rental to the actual landlord and then I pay my share of the rent to the MoD.

Is this appreciably discounted versus what would be available on the (fully) public market?

Bigger boys stole my sig

(in reply to Chickenboy)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Yep. T was missed, because we didn't have a grumpy Dane to prod We did try using Leo but it just wasn't the same.

For rather obvious reasons, one would suspect.

Because I am not bold...


Leo "Apollo11"

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Haven't heard from Des today, after I sent him the 001 combat replay from our first turn. Hope he doesn't take it too hard...

Cheer up, old bean-you should to break even by 1946. Ish.

When you see the Southern Cross, For the first time
You understand now, Why you came this way