Contract with free gift included

mrs_tooti-frooti

Hiya,

I need some advice.

Little un wants a ps3 for christmas and my mobile is due renewal. I see that various companies offer a ps3 with certain contracts and certain phones.

Are there any outstanding deals that I don't know about? And if I go down this road of getting the free gift which company is best to go with?

I'm a complete novice at this so any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks

Foxtbh

There is no such thing as a free gift with a mobile contract. Allow me to explain in basic, non specific terms, how mobile phone sales work.

The retailer is paid - lets say £500 - for signing a customer up to Call Plan A at £35 a month.

Usually this comission is then used to fund the cost of a high end handset such as an Iphone, and the retailer keeps the rest as profit.

However, what retailers can sometimes do is use the money to buy other things instead. So instead of an iPhone, you could get a Nokia 5110 and a PS3. There is a pot of money available, and the retailer mixes and matches how it spends it to make its deals look more enticing.

So in order to get a PS3, you end up with a lower quality handset for the same monthly cost. You might not mind this and therefore think its a good deal. But wait..

If you took out a conventional contract with the lower quality handset its likely it would cost less per month in the first place.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you chose a deal with a PS3 you are essentially simply buying a PS3 on credit.

mobilejunkie

I agree - that's why I never go for free gifts, even though I could really use a laptop. However, free lunches are indeed possible via cashback contracts - provided you really know what you're doing. Since most don't the dealers still break even but for those who do - yum yum!

mrs_tooti-frooti

Thank you, guess its not that good a deal then!

Guys_Dad

mrs_tooti-frooti wrote: »

Thank you, guess its not that good a deal then!

Not necessarily. But you do need to do the maths.

Start off with what you want for yourself as far as handset and minutes/texts etc. Now cost that over 24 months on a Sim-only and separate handset purchase. Call that "Total A".

Now go to Phones4U or Carphonewarehouse in the high street and see what a combined deal for your chosen handset and minutes would cost. Call that "Total B"

Now, check on some Online dealers sites and see what their equivalent costs would be with the free ps3. (You don't want a cashback and, unless anyone can point to other threads to the contrary, gifts tend to be forthcoming, subject to stock. Cashbacks are a different thing altogether and there are certainly pitfalls there. That is one thing Mobilejunkie and I do agree upon - one of the few maybe) Call that "Total C"

If Total C is less than either Total A or Total B, plus the cost of a ps3, then go for it. I suspect, however, that Total A plus a ps3 will work out cheaper in the long run, but maybe not.

mrs_tooti-frooti

Thanks Guys Dad, I will sit down and work out totals a, b and c.

Thats great - I'm completely lost with all this - thank you so much.

SnowWhiterThanWhite

I love free gifts!!

I have given my DS over the years(xmas pressies)an XBOX 360, PS3 and a laptop.

I know I am probably paying over the odds but:

I was paying £10 a month for my mobile tariff, I have now done a deal through Onestopphoneshop, who I always tend to use, & got a new phone, & a lovely new 15.6" Laptop for £25 p.m.

I see this as basically interest free credit on the laptop.

I was paying £10 before, now I am paying an additional £15 per month for the laptop (& a free phone)

I am more than happy that this works out at £360 (£15 x 24) over the 2 years, as I could not afford to lay out this amount of money in one go.

I always go through QUIDCO too, and make sure that you cancel the mandatory phone & gadget insurance.

HTH