Are contracts a bad deal?

andy88_2

It doesn't look like an argument as you've requoted 3/4 of what I said. How could I disagree except to ask why you omitted Orange postpaid?

I didn't suggest one or the other to be better; only that you should compare like with like

People using the phone abroad a lot would find better options anyway, like free incoming calls

Martini

Why not have 200 minutes per month on Orange for only £32 for the year?
That's only £2.66 a month or just over 1p a minute!
This deal also includes a free Sony Ericson K500i.

http://www.onestopphoneshop.co.uk/ourdeals.php?PROV=OR&OFF=K500&TAR=OVPR200

richpb7

Fair enough. I did requote you, that's true, but I presented the information in a clear and unambiguous manner. The Orange postpaid scheme cannot be considered like for like.

All I'm after is facts really. As a Psychologist I'm very interested in how people actually behave, so issues like this tend to set the neurons firing. Large companies, whether Orange or Virgin, spend large sums of money in order to understand people so that they spend more money with their companies rather than others. The historical legacy of the contract scheme may have many more implications here than is commonly recognised.

What I presented was what the public sees, at least on their websites. Your post gave a limited amount of information, used specific jargon, and suggested speific specialist user groups that may make alternative arrangements.

andy88_2

richpb7 wrote:

All I'm after is facts really. As a Psychologist I'm very interested in how people actually behave, so

Then please explain how you have been with Orange longer than it has existed

... and why you won't compare like for like with a contract you're on

andy88_2

richpb7 wrote:

The Orange postpaid scheme cannot be considered like for like.

I have an Orange phone on OVP EQ Virgin; true, it is no longer available, but it is very alike

Your post gave a limited amount of information, used specific jargon, and suggested speific specialist user groups that may make alternative arrangements.

I see no jargon in previous posts

The historical legacy of the contract scheme may have many more implications here than is commonly recognised.

The companies are mostly relying on the inertia of their customers not looking around for new deals, or periodically being rewarded with a "free" new phone (I've lost count of how often friends will say well it's free with the contract). The same inertia prevents a lot of people researching whether they are on the best contract.

But as several people above have pointed out, if you become more agile, skip from one contract to another, using cashbacks, you will find that contracts can be a lot cheaper. Of course, many people then worry about porting numbers or telling friends of number changes, etc; inertia again. But your perceptual skills have slipped up here, for you have not quite settled on the solution for you.

Get both. Use your new Virgin as your permanent number, just as I do with the Orange equiv. Then get occasional contracts and run them for just one year and cancel. There are cashback deals around that show the intelligence you attribute to the mobile companies is misplaced. Free phone, free year's line rental; after 6 months go to a lower tariff - now the deal cost is negative if you use no extra minutes. Start a new contract then, so you'll always have 2 running - more if you need more minutes.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I don't think this method will be more expensive than one phone on Virgin. 4 phones (I also have an o2 contract paid upfront for life) will cost under £20 for the year (provided the dealers don't crash; CPW should be safe)

Of course, maybe your questions are psychological research rather than requests for useful info, in which case I've bored you to death as well as anybody else

Non-conformist ranting I suppose?