MSE News: Mobile operators forced to offer 12-month contracts

gjchester

MyOpinionCounts wrote: »

The fact that 12mths will now be compulsory again, will serve all the GREEDY mobile service providers right for trying to force people onto a longer, less competitive contract.

Sorry but I don't think you'll be right. The mobile co's may be forced to offer 12 month minimum term contract but they could be far higher monthly costs.

My iphone contract is £35 PCM for 18 months, thats £630 a year plus the phone cost. I suspect if they have to offer 12 month contracts the same service will be £45 or more for the same minutes / texts / data, or the cost of the phone will go up.

People won't get any better deal overall, just be tied in for less time and have higher monthy bills.

Remember as someone has pointed out they already offer 12 month sim only contracts, that may just be enough to satify Brussels, saying the phone has to be paid for in full, ie no subsidy.

MyOpinionCounts

gjchester wrote: »

Sorry but I don't think you'll be right. The mobile co's may be forced to offer 12 month minimum term contract but they could be far higher monthly costs.

You may well be right about the higher monthly cost. But this is currently the case for 18mth contracts. Left to their own devices the mobile phone operators would keep going until we had indefinite length contracts at this rate :exclamati
At least I will have a choice again. I am sure there will be directives so that anyone choosing a shorter length contract will not be unfairly disadvantaged. In the long run this is about consumers not having unfair practices forced on them by these mobile service providers who themselves get the handsets at heavily discounted prices and if they were not making any profits would have bailed out by now.

tigertail49_2

24 months is too long to be legally tied to a phone company...that just how I feel. They are being morally irresponsible in pushing young people (more often than not) into this, or anyone really. A phone should be an object of leisure unless for business use, and not a possible danger to your credit rating which could implicate problems ahead. 12 month contracts should be possible on reasonable rates if you can pay part of the phone in a lump sum. Like Tesco mobile do.

gjchester

tigertail49 wrote: »

They are being morally irresponsible in pushing young people (more often than not) into this, or anyone really.

I'm not sure how far thats true.

Most younger people now want the latest gadget be it Android or Apple, and these are not cheap.

Ask yourself how many kids do you see with a smartphone now, and how manyu have basic phones. Peer pressure makes them want the latest gadget and mum and Dad have to buy it. I don't think it's the phone companies more peoples wants on a device.

There is a demand for cheap low cost phones and contracts but it's from the middle age sector who just want a phone, the younger sector wants a do everything device they can surf, watch you tube and email on, and occasionally may even make a call.

nsabournemouth

If you have the money the best option is always getting the phone sim free then stick whatever sim card from any network in it and off you go.

adamnsu

IMO

12 months contract is great for expats who come to stay for a short time in the UK and also international students as well.

It also give more flexibilty to the customer to switch between mobile phone companies. This should further facilitate competion in the market.

Personally I think the whole telecoms industry was acting as a cartel where they all the companies somehow went out of the 12 month contract all togther.

malky39

gjchester wrote: »

Sorry but I don't think you'll be right. The mobile co's may be forced to offer 12 month minimum term contract but they could be far higher monthly costs.

My iphone contract is £35 PCM for 18 months, thats £630 a year plus the phone cost. I suspect if they have to offer 12 month contracts the same service will be £45 or more for the same minutes / texts / data, or the cost of the phone will go up.

People won't get any better deal overall, just be tied in for less time and have higher monthy bills.

Remember as someone has pointed out they already offer 12 month sim only contracts, that may just be enough to satify Brussels, saying the phone has to be paid for in full, ie no subsidy.

You say your contract is £630 over 18 months. But put it this way even if they were to raise the price to £50 a month you would still only be paying £600 and you would get a new phone after 12 months and be able to negotiate for a discount. Obviously good for folk who want the new tech but as said before only good if you can afford the higher outlay per month if not the cheaper 18/24 month contracts will still be there

Stuart_W

Am I just being really dim here?

Being forced to offer 12 month contracts won't achieve anything from a money saving perspective.

Look at one random example from Tesco Mobile.

You can get the Samsung C3050 phone free on a 12 month £15.32 tariff with 100 minutes and unlimited texts
http://www.tescomobilepaymonthly.com/product-page.aspx?!!!!!7cb10dd9-0ad8-4d46-ae86-086fb5756a13

But the very same phone company will also sell you a SIM card that can do exactly the same thing for £7.50/month - infact more minutes
http://www.tescomobilepaymonthly.com/product-page.aspx?!!!!!66e34ea4-677c-4ea2-972f-95151ab333cb&so=1

Any then from the very same phone company again just buy the handset as a PAYG handset for less than £30
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-2761.aspx

I'm simply showing that even within the same phone company, just because a 12 month contract is offered, it doesn't even mean that it's the cheapest way to get that phone from which ever network you've chosen, even if you only want to be tied for no longer than 12 months.

Look properly across the whole market, and bigger savings can be made.

From the above example, 12 month contract = £183.84 over 12 months
Buy handset plus sim card = £119.97

The buy the phone option also means you end up with a spare PAYG SIM with £10 on it, and if you can't afford the phone upfront, even the worst credit card paid off over the 12 months would still be cheaper.

Being forced to offer a 12 month option will achieve nothing, moneysaving-wise. Where it is already available, it's generally pointless, and will continue to be so.

It will just cement the current role of the networks in being rather poor credit providers for handsets.

Dacarlo

Other than Simplicity I'm still not seeing 12 months on offer. Chances are you have to go through to a sales person who will no doubt attempt to talk you into something else. Maybe it's hidden elsewhere on the site?

How do the other big operators match up?

Ofcom = toothless.

OneADay

Still only vodafone and talkmobile offering 12 monthers with phones!

EDIT - Just noted O2 offering 12 month contracts (with phone) as upgrades only
http://www.o2.co.uk/tariffs/paymonthly