Getting out of a mobile phone contract

Tpaz

Hi everyone

is it possible to get out of a mobile phone contract ? I upgraded my phone in december, it has been running now for 4 months but I'm no longer using the phone anywhere near as much as I used to

I'm with orange and I currently get 120 mins worth of calls and 250 texts a month for £30

the texts I use a fair bit of but I barely touch the minutes I think I've used about 30 mins this quarter.

I've been checking on the orange site and cant see a tarrif that will let me reduce my current spend by dropping the minutes but keep a resonable number of texts.

it would be frustrating if I'm wasting money for the rest of my contract

any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tpaz.

redux

You can't cancel it without paying the rest of the rental, but you may be able to drop to a lower tariff after 6 months. This used to be the case, but some networks have been phasing it out, so you would have to ask about your particular case.

Longer term, it sounds like an O2 payg SIM, with 300 free texts on a £10 monthly top-up, would be quite sutable for you. There is also a similar Orange payg text bundle, but I can't remember the exact details. Either that, or get your next contract with cashback terms.

PinkPig

You won't be able to get out of the contract before the end of its term - your free or subsidised phone was paid for by the money they know they'll make from you in line rental and so on. Check your contract for the exact terms, but it will probably say something along the lines that cancelling before the end of the minimum term requires you to pay them the sum of all remaining line rental payments (ie £30 x 8 months left = £240)

devils_nose

funnily enough, I've just sent off my letter to do just this this morning!! as redux says, its unlikely they'll let you reduce your tariff until you're 6 months in.. but then just ring them up and tell them to put you on the cheapest tariff and then ask to pay it off.. its costing me £96 to get out of my contract but it will make my monthly budgeting easier this way

redux

devils_nose wrote:

... but then just ring them up and tell them to put you on the cheapest tariff and then ask to pay it off.. its costing me £96 to get out of my contract but it will make my monthly budgeting easier this way

but there is no point in actually cancelling - the cost is the same either way, but staying there still gives you some use from it (unless you've given up using a mobile)

Tpaz

devils_nose wrote:

funnily enough, I've just sent off my letter to do just this this morning!! as redux says, its unlikely they'll let you reduce your tariff until you're 6 months in.. but then just ring them up and tell them to put you on the cheapest tariff and then ask to pay it off.. its costing me £96 to get out of my contract but it will make my monthly budgeting easier this way

so what your saying is for example I'm on £30 per month. To get out of the contract it would be as pinkpig says (30 x 8 = 240)

but

if I get them to drop me to the cheapest tarrif which is £19 a month (which has no texts and quite useless) and then ask to pay it off its

(19 x 8 = £152) ??

*just an example I guess I would have to be on that tarrif for at least 1 month so really it would be (19 x 7) ?

and thanks redux that O2 tarrif looks like exactly what I want for the long term