Vodafone - 3 months half price line rental coupon

stayinganonymous

Hi,

I have a coupon code that will give me 3 months half price line rental (when you take out a new 24 month pay monthly contract), but I am unsure how it will work .

Does anyone know? Will it make my first 3 bills half the price? so if my monthly price is £40 per month, I'll only have to pay £20 per month for the first 3 months? Or? I know there's normally a catch and I'd like to know what it is before I sign up, otherwise I'll just go for a cheaper rate with less texts/mins/internet instead.

My mind seems to have gone blank.

Thanks

Buzby

Signing up to a 2 YEAR contract for the promise of half-price rental for three months is foolhardy. If your circumstances change, you could be high and dry with a fried credit file. Your first three bills will be for the full price (as will all the others), but there will be a credit added to the first three only reducing the amount you have to pay.

The industry is heading back to 12 months commitment (and it doesn't like it). I suggest if you have to go for any contract, limit it to 12 months. Or work out the TOTAL cost you are committing yourself to (24 x £??) to see the problem!

stayinganonymous

Buzby wrote: »

Signing up to a 2 YEAR contract for the promise of half-price rental for three months is foolhardy. If your circumstances change, you could be high and dry with a fried credit file. Your first three bills will be for the full price (as will all the others), but there will be a credit added to the first three only reducing the amount you have to pay.

The industry is heading back to 12 months commitment (and it doesn't like it). I suggest if you have to go for any contract, limit it to 12 months. Or work out the TOTAL cost you are committing yourself to (24 x £??) to see the problem!

Considering Vodafone only offer 18 and 24 month contracts (regardless of the '3 months half price' offer) I wouldn't be able to take out a 12 month contract. I'm not sure if they do the Sim Only pay monthly ones that are either 30 day or 12 months, but even if they did I wouldn't be getting an iPhone for free with that type of deal.

I easily spend more than £35 a month on pay as you go top up, so a contract would actually work out cheaper for me.

stayinganonymous

After a quick search of discount websites I found the same offer on another website that gave a little more detail...

Terms & Conditions
Online exclusiveThe first 3 months’ line rental on your 24–month price plan will be half price when your order includes a new phone. Please note that this discount doesn’t apply to any additional products, charges or service associated with your plan. You’ll see the discount starting with your first bill. Available on new 24 month mobile phone connections only (not available on Sim Only or Mobile Broadband contracts, upgrades or PAYG). The offer is not redeemable with any other promotion- i.e another e-voucher, cashback, loyalty points/rewards. The discount will be a rolling 3 month half price applied onto your first bill, not as a bill credit

Also, I should imagine when the contracts get reduced to 12 months the monthly price would go up - and possibly the handset prices too. I was looking at going for the 18 month contract instead or the 24 month, but the price of the phone increases quite a fair bit and when I add it all together I wouldn't be saving anything compared to the 24 month contract.

Still not sure if I am going ahead yet anyway. Like you say, 24 months is a long time to be tied to a contract. I need to think about it a bit more first.

Buzby

No. This is old ground. The monthly price will not go up - it is the purchase cost that will. So instead of free, they will be anything from £70 +, at long last restoring value to a marketplace that doesn;t value phones because they are seen as having no value. Your calculations need to factor in costs (value) your commitment to a contract brings. This balances out the percieved benefit to the purchaser, a long-term commitment, their ability to stiff your credit file when you least expect it, that 95% of users to have an inclusive bumdle never actually use it... the fact a third party can empty your bank account if you do something wrong the list is extensive.

Purchasing your own handset, with a SIM only deal (and 30 days cancellation) is by far the best way a consumer can protect themselves, and get the best value. Although this has a downside in case the hanset is stolen. PAYG provides a solution to this.

stayinganonymous

Buzby wrote: »

Purchasing your own handset, with a SIM only deal (and 30 days cancellation) is by far the best way a consumer can protect themselves, and get the best value. Although this has a downside in case the hanset is stolen. PAYG provides a solution to this.

Buzby, you have a good point. After some more thinking and research on contract prices (Vodafone, Orange and O2) as well as 3G signal in my home area and reading your previous post, I am thinking buying the phone outright (unlocked to all networks) and having a pay as you go phone/sim only deal is the best bet. Yes, I may have to fork out quite a few quid on the phone upfront, where as with a 24 month contract I pay it over those 24 months... But with the sim only deals I can cancel ALOT sooner than 24 months if my circumstances change.

I'm seeing issues with the 3G coverage checkers on the Vodafone, Orange and O2 websites. Basically the 3G signal/coverage doesn't look so great where I live and I don't want to be signing up for a 24 month contract with Vodafone then receive the phone to find out the signal is poor. Yeah, I have 7 days to return it if I am unhappy... but then I could end up doing the same with Orange next and could have the same problem (no 3G signal and going through the grief of cancelling and returning the phone during the cooling off period), sounds like too much messing about. But I could switch around with Pay As You Go sims in my unlocked phone to find out what the signal is like for each provider, much easier and possibly less costly.

I'll look into the sim only deals and see what takes my fancy. Thanks!

fiendishlyclever

stayinganonymous wrote: »

I'll look into the sim only deals and see what takes my fancy. Thanks!

The phone I chose was a HTC Desire. Available on contract for £20 per month over 2 years (cost = £480) with a low value tariff. Better tariffs cost £25 a month (cost = £600).

Cost of phone SIM free is £300 now (I paid about £330 when I got mine). Sim only deal from GiffGaff = £10 a month with more texts/internet (cost = £240). Total cost over 2 years = £540

If you buy a second hand or cheaper phone there are bigger savings to be had (or indeed an iphone!).

I can upgrade whenever I want, or swap mobile operators at the drop of a hat which is reason enough for me to go this path even without a cost saving.