The BIG MOBILE CON - 18 & 24 Month Contracts

bcbjork

Am I the only person who feels that the mobile companies have made a joint decision to increase the minimum mobile contract to 24 or at best 18 months.

In my opinion this duration is far too long, after 12 months our mobiles are battered and bruised. Mobile companies have increased the duration of the contract and what have we got in return? Nothing, lousy service, poor coverage and extorionate internation call rates.

We need Martin to lead a consumer revolt against this sort of commercial bullying agains the consumer.

samperry209

Totally Agree.. What ever happenend to a good old fair 12 monther?

OneADay

Already said it on other threads, people should boycott 18 and 24 month deals, next thing it will be 36 months.

Happy myself, never done had a contract longer than 12 months :-)

Mind you if you insist networks restrict contracts to 12 months, they could well start charging for the phones at point of purchase to cover the cost.

bcbjork

Soz didnt do a search before I posted, cardinal rule broken.

The thing is, back when they used to offer 12 months they made it work giving us a free phone. I cant see what has changed. Ok, if you are talking about an Iphone for instance which costs alot to produce, then may'be 18 month may be fair. But they should also give the option of 12 month and a payment.

To be frank, I feel that the mobile firms have monopolised the market and agreed, as a group, that they should increase the term of contracts to empower themselves.

I always thought that a free market was about giving the consumer options. I want a 12 month contract. I have searched on O2, dial a phone and 3G which are the companies I have chosen to use in the past. Nothing.

Also if you search for 12 month mobile contract in google, O2, vodaphone, etc all come up on the search as "12 month contracts on <company name>" when in fact you cannot get a 12 month contract. This surely convenes advertising laws?

OneADay

You can still get 12 month deals, bcbjork. As you say you found them on google.

A lot of the 12 month deals are now cashback deals so you have to be ultra careful and aware of the risks.

It really comes down to the market - when things were buoyant, people would pay lots for any period of time to get the phone that looked nice to them. Now as you can see from various threads, things are on the other foot - people are struggling with long contracts and wanting to get out of contracts or wanting short term deals.

Mobile phones also cost more so fair enough, networks have to recoup the money. Cheap phones you can still get on 12 month deals. Three do 6 month contracts.

davidjones90

I always have had 12 month deals up until couple years ago. I just upgraded to a two year deal because they seem to offer much better value for money. 1200 mins, unlimited texts, internet and magic numbers for £15/month IMO is very good. For low end users I think 12 month are ok but for mid to high end users then you'll be better of getting an 18 month or even 2 year deal like myself. I have a N96 which should last another year or so and I can always buy another handset if I need to.

I think orange have now brought on 3 year deals but you get a new phone half way through your contract.

Depends on each user needs I suppose.

jayukps

Most high spec handsets cost £300+ now to make anyway N97 for instance is £500, But most £300+ sp on 12 month contract you would need to pay £25 a month just for the mobile company to break even now with everyone trying to pay as low as possible and wanna pay pittence for unlimited mins and texts and internet 12 months are not really going to be realistic, These companies need to make a profit to hire the staff maintain the network, So this will prob make alot of people not like what i am saying but dont care you carnt have anything for free its all about money. If you want a Nokia 6300 or something along them line happy days go with 12 months but alot of people want the most expensive handset and newest handset out.

You can get 12 months with more expensive handset with a payment towards the handset but again alot of people want it for free, The blame loyalty when they carnt have it, We are not being loyal its greed.

Serenity_Now

Personally I have no problem with 18 month contracts, obviously a 12 month contract would be better but it isn't realistic for the phone/price/minutes/etc I'd want.

I agree that 24 months is too long though and I'd be interested to know what % of people who take out a two year contract get through it without having to get their phone repaired or buy a replacement.

davidjones90

Serenity_Now wrote: »

Personally I have no problem with 18 month contracts, obviously a 12 month contract would be better but it isn't realistic for the phone/price/minutes/etc I'd want.

I agree that 24 months is too long though and I'd be interested to know what % of people who take out a two year contract get through it without having to get their phone repaired or buy a replacement.

It may be long but I think we should expect handsets to last at least 2 years no? Maybe after a year you need to replace the battery and upgrade thee software but ideally that should be it. Like other electronic devices and even cars there may be a time when it doesn't work as it should and needs to be repaired

Dime_Bar

I was in a T-Mobile shop getting a G1 on sunday and the chap was telling me that all the phones they have on contract are being moved to 2 year waranty at the moment, but they are not all there yet.

I think as long as the waranty is for at least the length of the contract then they have provided some cover for you.

There are the options of 30 day contracts out there if you do not want to tie yourself in, you obviously will have no subsidy from the network for your handset, so it is not the networks that have pushed the lengths up I feel it the expectation of the consumers that they can get the phone for free.

From what I can see we get pretty good deals here compared to many other countries.

thor

I completely agree with the OP. They have all colluded together to so that they can get away with increasing contract lengths. It is the same with the energy business where utility companies announce huge prices increases and pitiful reductions in a timely 'after you' manner.