O2 IPhone Sucker

kiwimel123

Hi there,

I have an I-Phone which I thought I could manage but my £45 tarrif each month usually ends up costing me £70 a month with all the insurance etc added on top.

It is truely crippling me but I am signed up for an 18 month contract which I am about 7 months into, please help? Waht are my options??

Thanks in advance

sporedude

Right now you have no options, After 9 months you can downgrade to the level below.

robt_2

What is the 'etc'? You don't pay £25 a month for insurance surely.

parallax_20

I don't understand how a £45 contract would be costing you £70 a month. Unless you are over using your phone causing you to exceed your monthly allowances or making calls to premium numbers. I think to reduce your £70pm outgoing you just need a bit of self restraint so you don't go over your allocated minutes, and to remove any extras you may have bolted on the account that you don't use. £70pm is a hell of a lot to pay. I could take out 3/4 mobile contracts with free phones for that amount! with all the minutes I can use.

If you really want out of your contract, I would suggest selling the iPhone and paying off the remainder of your contract and move to a tariff that better suits your needs. You need to be quick though as the new iPhone will be out shortly so any older iPhones will fetch marginally less on the open market.

mcmanlyn

I'd look closely at your bill & see exactly where the extra is coming from. Cancel anything but your line rental - unless you really need/want the insurance. I don't bother with insurance & if I lose my phone I get a bog standard one to replace it...not fun but cheap

Once you know where the extra's coming from you can stop yourself from doing it again. I've deleted the settings for mobile internet on mine coz it was costing too much and I couldn't trust myself hehe next time I'll get data included!!

kiwimel123

Thanks so much for all your helpful replies.

Umm, I pay £45 on tarriff and my insurance is roughly about £9 or so and and then I have parents who live as expatriates in Japan who occassionally call. The price for this is usually what makes up the other £15 roughly I believe. Not only are they stupidly expensive I dont know what I can do about stoping it! I think the internet side of things is included in the cost for my IPhone so thats fine, but I looked at my last bill and I am using on average 210 minutes per month and 100 text messages!

Fire_Fox

It doesn't sound like the iPhone is really the problem, it's you using the phone in the wrong way. Speak to O2 and find out exactly when you can reduce the tariff, how to cancel the insurance and what exactly the extra charges are. Explain to your parents you are worrying about money and get them to call you on a landline at home or work instead. To be honest, I would agree with the others who advise to sell the phone on, if it's just a toy rather than something you make full use of.

Edited to add: just looked back at your previous posts. It doesn't sound like you have much of a handle on your money/ budgeting strategy. Why don't you fill in a Statement of Affairs, either for your own use or to post on the (very friendly) Debt-free Wannabe board for comments? It's important to fill in every section as accurately as possible.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

parallax_20

kiwimel123 wrote: »

Thanks so much for all your helpful replies.

Umm, I pay £45 on tarriff and my insurance is roughly about £9 or so and and then I have parents who live as expatriates in Japan who occassionally call. The price for this is usually what makes up the other £15 roughly I believe. Not only are they stupidly expensive I dont know what I can do about stoping it! I think the internet side of things is included in the cost for my IPhone so thats fine, but I looked at my last bill and I am using on average 210 minutes per month and 100 text messages!

Are the 210 minutes including the calls to Japan?

Option1. Consider using an international calling card with 01/02 local number access that can be used against your free minutes.

Option2. Save yourself more money and get a 3 PAYG sim/phone to make free unlimited Skype to Skype calls to Japan. And drop the £9 insurance cover. The cost of £9 over 18months is £162, which equates to a brand new handset.

Option3. You could install Fring on your iPhone and use VOIP over your O2 internet or WIFI connection. But don't go crazy over O2 internet as this is against their T&Cs.