Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

Mikey_82

It looks like my previous years off battering have come back to bite me on the backside.

My contract is up for re-newel so got onto 02 today. I had a really good renewel last year. My tariff came down to £9.99 a month for 500 free texts and some off peak minutes and I got the Sony Erickson K750i for £30.

Now as my bills have been so low they can't do me any deals on phones. I got quoted £100 for the new Sony Erickson W810i! Any decent phones were going to cost me money and I'd have to raise my tarrif aswell. This was after I told them that T-Mobile had offered me that phone for free or a Nokia N91 for £50 on a higher tariff. It was total rubbish and I also threw i nthe problems I'd had last year when I was re-newing with the customer service.

But what it kept coming back too was this low tariff I'd gotten myself onto and how low my bills had been. So it looks like I'll just have to stick with this low tarrif and forget about any freebie or phone deals.

Just thought I'd warn people.

ChrisM1_2

After 5 years on PAYG, spending about £30-50 each a year on calls using ancient handsets, my wife and I decided it was time for a change when I started working away from home staying in digs without a land line.

A search on the internet found a deal with phoneboxdirect that seems too good to be true. A twelve month contract with Three @ £35 pcm (and a free LG U880 3G handset) that each month gives us 400 Any network minutes, 250 Text messages, 25 Video call minutes, 25 Picture or video messages & £5.00 to play with AND £367.50 cashback. Three charge half price rental for the first three months, so the first year cost is £367.50, i.e. a net cost of nothing.

Assuming that we cancel our contracts at the end of the year, stay within our monthly allowance (easy) and remember to claim back our five installments of cashback it will cost us nothing. Plus I get £20 introducers fee for 'introducing' my wife to phoneboxdirect. In twelve months time I can sell the 2 phones on eBay for say £50 each and look for a similar offer with another network and off we go again.

jonnyboy_2

Mikey_82 wrote:

Now as my bills have been so low they can't do me any deals on phones. I got quoted £100 for the new Sony Erickson W810i! Any decent phones were going to cost me money and I'd have to raise my tarrif aswell. This was after I told them that T-Mobile had offered me that phone for free or a Nokia N91 for £50 on a higher tariff. It was total rubbish and I also threw i nthe problems I'd had last year when I was re-newing with the customer service.

...

Just thought I'd warn people.

The thing to do is simply start a new contract again. I've had a different mobile contract for the past five years now, and at no point has it cost me more than £90/year to run a mobile - with a large amount of texts. Like with many things, only new customers get the best deals, so my policy is to switch provider every year and take my number with me.

I think the article should be updated to reflect some of the cashback deals that are available with new contracts. It has literally saved me hundreds of pounds that I would otherwise have spent.

JoeyEmma

I'm really happy with Orange. Just phoned up and did the "I've found a better deal elsewhere, and want to cancel my contract" blurb with them and it went brilliantly. I'm only 11 months into an 18 month contract, but have insurance (which I do sometimes use) which means I can cancel the contract at any point.

In the end, the girl matched a better offer than the one I was looking at. I've ended up with 500 cross network minutes and 100 texts a month for the bargain price of £25 a month. She is giving me a £150 credit on my account (which is 6 months line rental for free), a new phone and even better I'm only tied in for a 12 months, not 18.

Even better, my current phone is less than a month old and can get over £100 on ebay.

My bills have been about £50 month = £600 a year

With this new plan and selling my current phone on ebay, my phone should cost me £50 for the whole year.

Not bad! Thank you MSE for your handy article!

stefano

A lot is being said about cashback deals, and how cheap it makes your contract. But do all companies actualy pay up their cashback offers, or does anyone have any difficulties in claiming. I am sceptical, why would a company refund almost all of your line rental? What's in it for them? Call me Doubting Thomas, but I need converting.

qtanx

This method works great! I currently have the o2 only 200 (200 anytime x-network mins/500 texts for £30 a month). I called o2 yesterday as my contract expires on june 15, and he could only give me a 500 anytime x-network/500 text package for £35 - this sounded ok, but I want to be paying, less not more... especially with uni in September. I said I'd think about it and asked for a direct line to call him back. He said he was leaving soon so there was no point (obviously he didn't care about giving me a good deal). Anyway, I called back today and the lady I spoke to is giving me the exact same contract I was offered for £35 a month, for £20! That's 1.5x as many minutes for £10 less per month. This is great as it's a 12 month contract too. She said I can also get the Sony Ericsson K800i as soon as it comes out (around June 26), and gave me a number to call and speak to her direct, what a result!

Just a quick addition, I found the Three Direct Text 1400 plan online, this offers 300 anytime x-network mins/2000 texts for the first 3 months and 1000 a month thereafter for £30 a month. I don't want to go with Three as I want the the K800i and it's not available on Three. I used this as my weapon and it worked amazingly

Tino_2

Just had a go with O2 online. What I had was:

Free minutes - 500 x-net anytime (with rollover)
Free texts - 1000
Monthly cost - £45

I wanted an upgrade to the Nokia N80(priced at £100 on the website) and was looking for some extra free minutes and a reduction in monthly cost. I got:

Free minutes - 750 x-net anytime (with rollover)
Free minutes - 950
Monthly cost - £44

And I got the Nokia N80 for £50. That'll do nicely

olly_2

Tried an upgrade with vodafone for the n80,on 125 mins/250txt and told them orange were offering the n80 for £50,(@£25 month tariff)did not tell them this bit,but they first said £200 but out of stock till 27 june,then i told them thats no good,and put through to another vodafone bod,who said could only do it for £150,so asked for pac code,and he told me it will go straight in the post,so no luck there for me!

Money_Cub

Been with T-mobile for 6 years. I'm one of those that hasnt bothered upgrading etc, havent upgraded for last 2-3 years and still have an old battered phone.

Seen a '3' deal for £15pm 1000 texts, 300 minutes any network any time. This suits me perfectly.

Called T-mobile, I was very nice and asked for their help and suggestions and could they match or come close on for a similar deal. I got a one word answer, no, we cant offer that at £15 or anywhere near it, do you want to close your account. I'm happy to change networks and numbers and said yes, so my account will be closed on 14 July.

There weren't in the slighest bit interested in keeping my business.......... off I go to '3'.

stiffnuts69

It amazes me that people are still with vodafone. It amazes me even more that orange thought they could bring out some baffling, rubbish, and poor value for money animal tariffs, and get away with it.

Tmobile flext and O2 are really the ones to go for at the moment, and imo O2 are second to none when it comes to retention deals. I bought a pay monthly sim for O2 for a couple of months then asked for my pac. The gave me 300 minutes 50 texts for £15 a month on a 12 month contract and W810i which I flogged on ebay for £200. I’m actually in credit by £20
I would not recommend that people take the £100 credit if on O2 for not taking a phone because it’s before vat so in real terms you only get an £80 credit. Get a phone and if you don’t need it flog it on ebay.