Phone Contracts

[limpid]

How long are the contracts? How much are the mid-contract price hikes? Which networks?

[Genie]

The £7.70 one is 24 months with talk mobile, the other is 24 months with o2. No idea on future price increases, probably in line with what the rest of the market does.

At £7 / £17 I feel comfortable that I'm not going to win or lose much by paying for my mobile phone use another way.

[mykeyb]

So Ofcom who screwed up the 4G bidding process that in effect lost the treasury over a billion pounds have formed a cunning plan and want to increase licence fees by 432 per cent to the Telecoms providers.

 

Guess who is going to pay for that?

 

I would love to hear what their justification is for it as you can guarantee it will pretty much bullshine

[Demitri_C]

I just got a great deal with tecso mobile, sim only deal, 2000 mins, 5000 text and 3GB data monthly contract £17 result

[The_Lions_Roar]

I just got a great deal with tecso mobile, sim only deal, 2000 mins, 5000 text and 3GB data monthly contract £17 result

Three do one the same with unlimited data for £15

[limpid]

How long is the lock in?

[P.O.B]

I have just upgraded, I wanted a Samsung Galaxay S4 or a HTC one. I phoned up O2, asking what they could offer me. They said £37/ month for a free handset, 600mins, unlimited texts and 750GB of data... I wasnt overly impressed by the deal so I told them I wanted to shop around.

 

 

I saw a deal on the Phones 4U website for an upgrade to a HTC one on O2, i thought it was too good to be true so i rang up and asked.

 

£27/month, for unlimited mins, unlimited texts and 1MB of data - free handset. They offered me it, and I bit their arm off.

[Genie]

I have just upgraded, I wanted a Samsung Galaxay S4 or a HTC one. I phoned up O2, asking what they could offer me. They said £37/ month for a free handset, 600mins, unlimited texts and 750GB of data... I wasnt overly impressed by the deal so I told them I wanted to shop around.

 

 

I saw a deal on the Phones 4U website for an upgrade to a HTC one on O2, i thought it was too good to be true so i rang up and asked.

 

£27/month, for unlimited mins, unlimited texts and 1MB of data - free handset. They offered me it, and I bit their arm off.

 

Don't use it all at once

 

 

On a side note, I hate the term "free handset" as it isn't free is it. You could get the same minutes, texts and data without a phone for a fraction of the price of a 'deal' which includes a 'free' handset.

[P.O.B]

Haha woops, 1GB*, I'm sure you got what I meant.

 

 

Yeah, I agree, no such thing as a free lunch and all that. But If i assume the handset costs £450, it works out at £8.25/month for those mins/texts and data, not sure if that is good value when compared to SIM only, but a price I am willing to pay to avoid the lump sum costs of the handset in one month.

 

When I lose/break it at the gig I'm going to tonight my opinion might change somewhat.... anyone reccomend an insurance firm when it comes to phone cover?

[The_Lions_Roar]

Mines insured through my bank. I pay £5 a month and gives me phone insurance, car breakdown cover and travel insurance.

How long is the lock in?

Threes is 12 months. You can do the same deal on a 1 month rolling contract for £18

[Genie]

I get mobile phone insurance through my bank too. £9.95 a month and includes travel insurance, AA recovery, mobile insurance and one or two other things I can't remember.

 

Might be worth looking in upgrading your current account as it might work out cheaper.

[limpid]

Yeah, I agree, no such thing as a free lunch and all that. But If i assume the handset costs £450, it works out at £8.25/month for those mins/texts and data, not sure if that is good value when compared to SIM only, but a price I am willing to pay to avoid the lump sum costs of the handset in one month.

Except that you've signed a contract which allows them to up your monthly charge whenever they feel like it and you are committed for two years. I don't understand why people do that.

[Dodgyknees]

Got a little fed up of O2's coverage on the IW, so sent them a tweet, they asked what the problem is.. I have sent them this:

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/179865027/10yearsservice-pdf

[Don_Simon]

This is a very interesting thread, ive never really thought of going down the sim only route, and have been with Orange for years.

 

So, ive done a bit of digging and could use some help on this, if possible...

 

To buy out my current contract that runs to August 2014 will cost £281.

My average bill is £66. (This is slightly higher due to me using the phone a lot when on holiday this summer).

 

GiffGaff do a sim only deal for £10 a month that would meet all my needs.

 

Thus, for the nine months until my phone contract runs out I can either pay £60 a month (on average) and pay a sum total of £540.

Or pay £280 up front now to cancel the contract, then pay £10 a month with Giff Gaff, a sum total of £370.

 

Is that right? If so, its a no-brainer, surely? Or have I spectacularly mis-calculated?! Help!

Edited November 22, 2013 by Don_Simon

[Davkaus]

Hang on, your contract buy out will cost £281, or about £30 a month, but you#re paying more than twice that cost per month? What the hell is the extra £35 a month?!

[Danwichmann]

Just moved to giffgaff and for £12 a month i have more everything than i ever use, and most importantly, no contract.

[darrenm]

Finally moved away from T-Mobile on my old £15 a month unlimited data (but actually 5GB FUP) contract that was worth keeping.

Went to GiffGaff but sometimes I need to tether a lot of data when on hols so I had to use data limited goodybags to be allowed to tether. Then the o2 network is hopeless for coverage.

So I'm now on the 3 one plan. 12 month contract but I get 3.9G *everywhere*, it's £15 a month, and it's all you can eat data with no FUP. Absolutely superb.

[The_Rev]

4G coming to Birmingham (I presume central only) next month.  Dunno how often you get into Brum but it will be interesting to see your thoughts.   I was tempted to swap phones with Mrs The_Rev (she offered) just to see what kind of speeds I could get in the Birmingham office at work but until they bring decent 4G coverage out into the wilds of Warwickshire where I live I might as well just stick with my Nexus 4. 

Edited November 24, 2013 by The_Rev

[villarule123]

Why would you need 4G on your phone, especially when most of the sub £40 contracts are around 2-4gb a month data?

 

3G isn't exactly slow when you're just browsing, and you get unlimited usage for a good price these days.

 

It just seems way overpriced for something that won't make the difference to justify the cost.

Edited November 24, 2013 by villarule123

[The_Rev]

Three are offering 4G at no additional cost.