Mobile contracts.

[Chippy_Tea]

Do you have one?

According to the news after 24 months the handset is paid off so you should get a reduction in the monthly cost.

It looks like (see below) Ofcom are going to get customers a better deal but according to tonights news 3, EE and vodafone are dragging their heels.




Mobile phone companies could be forced to automatically move out-of-contract customers to lower monthly tariffs, under new rules proposed by the telecoms regulator to stop consumers being overcharged for handsets.

In the face of increasing pressure to reduce overcharging, Ofcom has called on the big mobile phone operators to be fairer and more transparent with customers who bought their handset on a fixed-term contract that has ended.

Consumers opting for a new, high-end handset typically agree to pay £37 or more for two years. The deal includes the mobile phone’s purchase and a monthly calls, text and data package.
However, the operator will usually continue to charge the same amount each month, long after the contract has finished.

Sim-only deals that offer the same amount of calls and data can cost less than £10 per month but consumers have to ask to be moved on to the cheaper tariff.

Last week, Citizens Advice warned that up to 4m mobile users were being overcharged for phones they already own. It said the overpayment could amount to as much as £490m a year.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-firms-switch-out-of-contract-customers-ofcom

 

[Oneflewover]

I was, until recently, contracted with one of the big providers for nigh on 20 years. After getting fed up with abysmal customer service I moved to a sim only monthly contract and haven't looked back

 

[marshbrewer]

I was on sim only with Tesco, recently switched to gift gaff ( you need to be on an O2 provider in our village really). I needed a new phone so got one from gift gaff at the same time. They separate the loan due the phone element from the SIM element, so the above can't happen. You can also move to another provider with a months notice, and just keep paying the loan bit. The phones come unlocked as standard. They also worked out the cheapest. Quite impressive.

 

[AdeDunn]

I am 100% certain that 3 aren't charging me for my phone.... For the simple reason that I'm on a sim only contract, the one way you can always be certain not to get conned like that.

My wife has the same model of phone, and is on a slightly cheaper sim only contract with 3 also.

Cheapest way, buy a decent, but reasonably priced, sim free phone on Amazon, get a sim only contract. Pay As You go is usually rob you as you go if you ever actually use your phone, especially if you want a little thing called data....

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Pay As You go is usually rob you as you go if you ever actually use your phone, especially if you want a little thing called data....

I have Moto G4 (cost £160 just after release) and I am with Vodafone on PAYG, i pay £10 per month for a Big Value Bundle and due to the roll over (see below) i currently have 4GB data, 478 minutes and unlimited texts, i use my phone online a lot (i spend a lot of time here during the day when away from home) but don't watch lots of video so for me its perfect and i didn't use any more of the bigger allowance when i was on a monthly contract which cost over twice what i am paying now.

For some a contract is a waste of money especially if you have paid the phone off and are being ripped off by your mobile provider.

Vodafone Total Rollover lets you take unused allowances from your previous Big Value Bundle into the next 30-day period. So, if you have any unused data, minutes and texts, it’ll be automatically rolled over to the next month, at no extra cost.
You’ll need to use any allowance that rolls over within the next 30 days. It won’t roll over more than once, so you can’t save it for longer than 30 days.

 

[Leon103]

Yes I have two, one for me and one for swmbo. At the end of the contract I say I will quit, they offer a good deal and then I through in my work discount. Happy days. Paying slightly more than we do normally. Last contract we both had iPhones and the wife's deal was just over £8 a month (lower data than me)

 

[Ghillie]

Mobile phone contracts are old hat.

There are scores of 0% interest credit cards available at any one time, with the respective interest free periods extending as far as 42 months.

Buy the phone on the credit card and then set up a standing order to pay it off in whatever time you like - 6 months, a year, two years or even the whole interest free period. Cut up the card and forget about it if you want to.

Get a sim only deal with someone like GiffGaff. No contract and you can leave when you like. Better bang for your buck with a sim only deal (data, minutes, texts) vs a contract deal. What's more is that the total re-payable amount (phone + sim deal) is always less than a contract would be! Big savings to be made. I saved nearly £300 doing this with my current phone.

 

[Covrich]

Mobile phone contracts are old hat.

There are scores of 0% interest credit cards available at any one time, with the respective interest free periods extending as far as 42 months.

Buy the phone on the credit card and then set up a standing order to pay it off in whatever time you like - 6 months, a year, two years or even the whole interest free period. Cut up the card and forget about it if you want to.

Get a sim only deal with someone like GiffGaff. No contract and you can leave when you like. Better bang for your buck with a sim only deal (data, minutes, texts) vs a contract deal. What's more is that the total re-payable amount (phone + sim deal) is always less than a contract would be! Big savings to be made. I saved nearly £300 doing this with my current phone.

hmm

Just had a look at an s9 outright seems to be 639 everwhere I look so over 24 months that would be 26.65

I would need to find a sim card only for £10 with 30GB data.. to be "just" cheaper than what I pay.

Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

 

[simon12]

hmm

Just had a look at an s9 outright seems to be 639 everwhere I look so over 24 months that would be 26.65

I would need to find a sim card only for £10 with 30GB data.. to be "just" cheaper than what I pay.

Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

Thats because they know the average customer will stay with the contract way after the phone is paid, if ofcom make them not do it the way they do you are exactly the customer who will not get the reduced rate and will loose.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I don't do a contract. I paid $30 for the phone and pay $40/month. That monthly will go down soon when I no longer need the extra service to call Canada. It will still have unlimited text and phone. I use my computer to go online but I do have some GB for my phone but haven't used it.
Before the necessity to call Canada regularly, I was paying $12/month for limited texts and minutes which was fine by me and plenty of time/texts.
I'm the black sheep in my family regarding phones because my brothers and sisters LOVE the expensive new phones and get contracts.

 

[Dutto]

I have two PAYG phones with Vodaphone. Mine has a "Big Value Bundle" on it. At £10 per 30 Days the benefits are:

• 2 Gigabyte of Data
• Unlimited UK Texts
• 120 minutes UK phone

Unused Data and Minutes are rolled over at the end of each 30 day period.

When SWMBO is in the UK her phone is on ordinary Vodaphone PAYG but we instigate the BVB system when she goes overseas because:

• In the UK, we have to pay extra to phone or send texts to any other EU country.
• In ANY EU country (apart from the UK), we can call anywhere within the EU (including the UK) using the Data, Texts and Minutes of the BVB.

"Rip off Britain!" anyone?

PS
After 29th March 2019 the mobile phone companies will be able to reinstate "Roaming Charges" for UK travellers going to EU countries.

 

[LeeH]

I’m on a £7/m virgin contract having been with 3 for....errr since it’s birth I think.

I’m definitely not paying for my handset.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

What handset do you get paying only £7 a month?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Dutto you should be getting 250 minutes https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/vodafone-big-value-bundles#Big_Value_Bundles

For anyone interested you can put the credit on your phone anytime during the month and as long as it's there the day they take payment all you unused minutes, texts and data will be rolled over.

 

[Alex.mc]

I've had a mobile since 1994, from the days of Mercury one 2 one.
Mobile phone companies have swung back and forth over the years, in a cycle.... of being good for their customers or bad for their customers in terms of value for money.
Jumping ship from one to another provider at the right time was always usually beneficial. However the balance has swung fairly firmly against the customer and seems to have stuck there!
With the introduction of 24 month contracts it all went downhill..... and I left behind contracts and went sim free about 8 years ago.

Currently I pay £25 a month, a fee I am personally happy with, and get unlimited minutes and texts, 30gb of Data and I get that entitlement in around 90% of the world including all the major western nations. For example, we spent a week in New York earlier this year, and I was able to set my phone as a mobile hotspot for 4 other people for data use and not worry about it.

I doubt I will ever return to contract.
I'm constantly amazed by the ridiculous amounts people pay for some premium contracts. I've just looked up the iPhone XS on EE. £83 a month for 24 months, total cost of contract just shy of £2k! Cost of an iPhone XS an insane £1k! Add a sim-only contract for loads of everything for £25 a month and you're saving over £400 over the same period.

Really all that's happening is people are chasing status, as they always have, and it's just the phone companies that are making them pay over the odds for it, rather than say the old rolling credit that high street stores used to use.

 

[Gunge]

Until recently, Virgin Mobile had been ripping me off for ages but I couldn't be bothered to do owt about it. Then it occurred to me how badly ripped off I was with Virgin Media, so I cancelled that contract too. Now I've had a succession of letters and one extremely heated phone exchange as apparently I owe them over £300 lol. Good luck getting a penny of that... I owe them nuthin'. The guy on the phone gleefully told me that my credit rating would be affected but I said I couldn't give a toss cos I'm a millionaire and don't want credit off anyone. That reytened him.

 

[Graz]

The problem with this is that is will mainly screw the already savvy customers (such as myself) as they'll increase the costs of the cheap SIM only tariffs to make up for the money they lose from folk not moving off £30/month tariffs once they've paid of their phone. It should really be up to the buyer to be aware of what they're signing up to and what they should do once the contract period comes to an end.

I've been on SIM only for a long time now. £150 phone from China, Xioami Mi A1, very good! £5 a month SIM from ID Mobile 500 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB data (I'm not a heavy user!).

 

[Dutto]

Dutto you should be getting 250 minutes ..........

I probably am! Vodaphone was doing something to their Website when I tried to look it up, my current time available was 175 minutes and I forgot that SWMBO had been using my phone - again!

I went with Vodaphone about 4 hours after Orange had taken about £45 of credit in a single day on the basis that I was "Roaming" when I tried to check my email on the phone. I had driven my motorhome up to Scotland!

Keeping tabs on these Mobile Phone companies is like juggling rats; it ain't easy and you may get bitten!

 

[Clint]

Mobile phones... necessary evil! I changed my phone earlier this year...went from Samsung to Huawei. The new phone is on spec with an iPhone,128gig storeage I get unlimited calls and text and 4 GB data,my contract went down (iirc) to £19 a month..I like it.

 

[Alex.mc]

I have been on Motorolas for a few years now since HTC went expensive. This year I renewed my phone and was seriously tempted by Xiaomi and Huawei and nearly took the plunge. however Motorola have an excellent fast-charge ability, and with the appropriate charger I can put 75% charge in in about half an hour. That tipped the choice for me but next time.........

Having said that, my searches brought up some amazingly titled, cheap, bizzarrely styled Phones from unknown manufacturers. I was seriously tempted to buy one called something like a "King Kong Guerilla" tough phone that was styled like a Transformer toy!