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MSE News: Mobile phone users waste £200 a year
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Former_MSE_Guy
Posts: 1,650 Forumite
in Mobiles
This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:
"Three quarters of mobile phone users could be wasting serious cash on the wrong contract ..."
"Three quarters of mobile phone users could be wasting serious cash on the wrong contract ..."
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Comments
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Too late, the discussion is already going on here:-
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/31656340 -
I'm not surprised to read of such waste myself. When on a contract I either exceeded my limit by quite a bit or I left loads unused. That's a problem fore people like me who have a more erratic usage pattern than most (in fact, NO pattern).
I resolved it in the end by going to Asda PAYG 8ppm calls, 4p texts. I did need to buy a phone as my old one packed up but with only rare, emergency internet use needed, I find that I can run my mobile for between £3 - £8 a month now. Once I ditched the contract and monitored my usage more, I found that it can be quite cheap really. For me, a mobile is more about being contactable.0 -
Of course, they don't allow for people like me - I have thousands of unused minutes and texts but it doesn't cost me a dime... quite the reverse. There are statistics and there are statistics... then there are headlines0
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mobilejunkie wrote: »Of course, they don't allow for people like me - I have thousands of unused minutes and texts but it doesn't cost me a dime... quite the reverse. There are statistics and there are statistics... then there are headlines
Care to elaborate a bit?0 -
Surely they need. Poor stupid lambs."With only a few truly aware of their usage patterns and with almost 8 million mobile phone contracts available in the UK, customers are being overburdened by choice and are in need of guidance."
Analysing bills is far too simplistic approach, something that I would expect from "mathematicians in Oxford, who saw an opportunity to put maths to use in solving complex consumer choice problems". It may work somewhere, but not in UK, where the handsets are heavily subsidised. The price you pay for the handset depends on the contract it comes with. The true price of the handset cannot be ignored but you will not see this information just by analysing bills.Mathematical group Billmonitor analysed more than 28,000 bills for the study.
Also huge commissions are paid to intermediary companies for attracting new customers. They sell contracts with 'gifts' that value is often even bigger than the total cost of the contract and the handset. It just makes no sense to say that such customers waste their minutes. Neither makes it sense to use the bills to estimate the the cost of used and 'wasted' minuted and to compare it to other tariffs.0 -
Care to elaborate a bit?
I only use cashback deals. Currently I have 8 contracts running and each one makes me a profit. I use one as my main contact number and rotate the others according to bundle dates. I never exceed the bundles and often have substantial unused minutes and texts aren't worth adding up. Overall my incoming payments exceed my outgoing ones each month. My main consideration when getting another one is how much profit I will make. Its relevant cash-flow, risk and timescale dictate the rest of the equation.0 -
Are any of these also wasting food because they buy 2 for £X in supermarkets and also waste money checking in a bag on a no frills airline?Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.0
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Wasting has nothing to do with how much you buy. It is how much you buy, but don't use.Are any of these also wasting food because they buy 2 for £X in supermarkets
It would be wasting money if you check in, but don't fly. LOLand also waste money checking in a bag on a no frills airline?0 -
If you got a good retention deal like most cash savvy people you are not wasting, your saving already and possible you are not using your full allowances, because no cares about those that have no time or inclination to really look at their finances.....thats their problem wasting cash, gods forbid they ever get laid off/SSP then they will be stressed to the max learning how to try and the only person to blame while crying as they "cant cope" ? THEMSO... now England its the Scots turn to say dont leave the UK, stay in Europe with us in the UK, dont let the tories fool you like they did us with empty lies... You will be leaving the UK aswell as Europe
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I pay £25 with an Android handset instead of £15 for a simplicity contract.
The phone would cost £300-500, which doesn't show in the above statement..0
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