Contract lengths - where did 12 months go?

MoneyGypsy

I know I'm stuck in the old days but where did the 12 month contracts go? And how have we ended up in a situation where it is nigh on impossible to get a decent deal on the odd occasion they are available?

I know that longer contracts without upgrading the phones make the manufacturers more money. But I would have thought that customer demand for 12 month contracts and to keep up with the new phones every 12 months (after all they change so fast) would have meant competition between the mobile companies and, therefore, that they still would offer this.

Is there some sort of underhand collusion going on here that means the companies don't offer these deals? Or is it something else?

Money_Grabber13579

It's basically because the phones everyone wanted back when 12 month contracts were available cost around £100 -£200. Now, everyone wants a phone that costs £400-£500 pounds and the only way to ensure customers pay a reasonable amount is to lengthen the contacts. I've heard Tesco still do 12 month contracts though.

LeeSouthEast

Tesco still do 12 months (as above), you just pay more for the handset.

lozzaman

Only other option is to pay for the phone and the line rental separately, or take out a 2 year contract, after a year sell the handset, buy a new one SIM free and stick you contract SIM in.
Either way you are paying for the handset and always have been, even back in the days of the 12 month contracts.

rev_henry

It is outrageous and anti competitive. I quite agree. I've just about accepted having 18 month contracts - 24 months is just a joke.

lozzaman

You don't have to sign up for them? All the networks offer 1 month and 12 month SIM only.

Money_Grabber13579

rev_henry wrote: »

It is outrageous and anti competitive. I quite agree. I've just about accepted having 18 month contracts - 24 months is just a joke.

What would your views on 36 month contacts be?:D

lozzaman

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

What would your views on 36 month contacts be?:D

Same as 18 and 24 months.
If the overall deal warrants it then fine (would have to be SIM only price wise to warrant such a stupidly long commitment) otherwise SIM only.

MoneyGypsy

lozzaman wrote: »

You don't have to sign up for them? All the networks offer 1 month and 12 month SIM only.

Yes that's for sure. I'm thinking it might be a better deal to do a sim only deal and then just get a 2nd hand phone on ebay. Although I don't think that the sim only deals are as good now as they were a year ago. Still better than some of the contracts though.

DUTR

lozzaman wrote: »

You don't have to sign up for them? All the networks offer 1 month and 12 month SIM only.

That is true, it is getting the masses to get into the habit of paying for a handset :j

Hauptmann

There are plenty of sub-£100 handsets being pushed on 24 month contracts. Three will only do 24 months for new customers (you can still get 18 months at renewal).
The networks obviously want to lock you in for as long as possible, so they want to move to longer and longer contracts. I read an interview with the boss of T-Mobile recently and he was saying that they would like to move to three year contracts, but its a case of slowly increasing the length of contracts to reduce customer resistance.