Free gifts with mobile contracts

elsmore1

Are the free gifts i.e netbook when you choose a mobile contract any good? We were looking at getting a laptop or netbook and a friend suggested getting a cheap phone and contract to get a free gift. We may be able to save a bit on our landline bill by using free minutes.

Thanks for any advice

Parva

The simple answer is that you don't get 'owt for nowt. Do some costings on the plan versus how much it would cost you to buy the 'free' gift.

Browntoa

yes agree with Parva , you are paying for the "free" gift over the life of the contract

gjchester

elsmore1 wrote: »

Are the free gifts i.e netbook when you choose a mobile contract any good? We were looking at getting a laptop or netbook and a friend suggested getting a cheap phone and contract to get a free gift. We may be able to save a bit on our landline bill by using free minutes.

Thanks for any advice

Thats two questions.

Are they any good, is subjective, is a PS3 any good, is XXX lapto panygood depends what you compare it to.

However as Parva said work out the cost of the item and the contract against the contract without the item, Take the cost of the item from the excess, and work out the cost per month of the credit.

So as an example Diala phone do a Samsung Galaxy Appollo on Dolphin 35 (700 minutes/ unlimited text messages) with a Dell 11z laptop. £35 PCM for 24 months is £840.

The laptop is discontinued, and cost somewhere between £250 and £300 but you can bet that Dial a Phone bought a lot and got a bulk discount.

Given the phone free on as little as £15 a month (although only 100 minutes not 700) thats £480 (with £65 cashback I'm not including as it may not come off).

Question is how much are the minutes worth to you, will you use them all and do you need the gift? Theres a difference of £360 so taking off £250 for the laptop would you save £100 of landline calls a year?

ampletime

Free is never free unless it is given to you for nothing and with nothing asked in return.

Avoid these type of 'deals' at all costs.

elsmore1

I have found a deal for £15 with a free netbook from my own search is going for about £250, so the total cost would be £15 x 24 months - £250 so thats £110, now need to see if I can save £55 a year on call charges from using my landline and also I am at moment on a pay as you go, so I do top up with this. So it probably will work out an ok deal, and I only need a basic phone.

jena

I have been looking for similar but haven't seen anything at £15 per month. Could you share where you found this? I have been spending £15 recently a month on PAYG so have been looking for a contract and starting looking at the free gifts and didn't think they were worth it. However the one you found sounds not too bad.

MissKeith

Personally, free gifts aren't all bad. I served a lady who told me she wanted a basic phone for just calling and testing but she was a high user. She had picked out the phone she liked which was extremely basic but needed a high amount of minutes and messages. She walked out the door with the phone and the deal of her choice with a 40" tv.

Just ask yourself, would you use the allowance? Would you want that phone without the gift? If the answers aren't yes, it's most likely not worth it.

Chorlie

It's not a free gift, you'll be paying a higher monthly fee, over a longer period, for a lower spec phone and with fewer included mins, text & data.

But if you're going to be buying that same free gift and you happy with the amount of mins, text & data it can be a way of spreading the cost.

Like others have said, workout the overall costs a compare to buying them separately and always remember you're signing up to pay a set amount over a fixed period (more if you go over the allocated mins, text, data etc) can you afford this if your finances change?

[Deleted User]

Consider this: Last year I signed up to a 12 month T-Mobile contract with Buymobilephones.net.

I had a crummy phone - a Nokia 1208 - with 300 mins, 200 texts, and 500MB internet. Free for the whole year by cashback - normally £35 a month (and yes, they paid all the cashbacks on time!)

The other option I had was a "free" Wii, but no cashbacks. That means I would have paid £420 in line rental.

Hefty cost for a "free" Wii, dont ya think?