Going on to contract, paying towards handset?

invisibleyousee

Hello,

Hope someone is able to help.

I'm going back onto contract soon from Sim Only, since my Nokia 5800 is starting to protest ever more...

I've been offered a retentions deal by Orange for the HTC Desire S, but this involves paying in part towards the handset. I'm not totally against this as over the 2 years it actually works out cheaper, but what I wanted to know was:

Since I'd be paying a fair amount for the handset, would I be entitled to have it unlocked for free? In the same way that if I were to go to a CPW for instance it would be unlocked (useful when going abroad etc).

I can recall reading here somewhen previous that if you're paying, you're entitled to request an unbranded handset - is that an advantage and is that true?

Thanks.

DUTR

All those things you could be asking the seller, I don't know to be honest, however I would be wary of the 24 month contract! depends on what you are paying, me personally I would rather get a sim free handset and stick to sim only.

invisibleyousee

Well the SIM only is what I've been on for the past 2 years, and my handset is just really playing up now - the speaker isn't always working when I answer calls, the browser freezes and closes pages, doesn't give alerts randomly etc amongst other things. Tried to normal fixes but think it's just an age thing for it!

24 month seems to be the standard now-a-days, and over 2 years it would only work out at £60 more than what I currently pay for SIM only.

pimento

I've just done this. I was on a SIM only deal with o2 but they don't do the phone I wanted so I used Dial-A-Phone (thanks Grumbler) and Quidco (thanks Grumbler) and bought a Desire HD on an 18 month contract with o2 for £26.50 a month and the phone was only £9.42. Plus, Quidco got me £50 cashback and I've sold my old handset to a mate.

o2 confirmed they can port my old number onto my new contract.

It's being delivered tomorrow.

invisibleyousee

Fair enough, I've had a look at some of the deals with other companies and over the 2 years they work out more expensive - basically they've offered me the Desire S at £10 a month, 400 mins, unltd texts, 30 mms, 500mb but £180 for the phone which sounds a lot but the cheapest I can get the phone free with enoguh minutes is £25 a month, which ends up being significantly more expensive.

pimento

At the moment I'm paying £15 a month for the SIM only deal, so adding the £11.50 a month for 18 months means the phone is costing £207.00 (cheapest I've found the Desire HD is about £365.00) and I can deduct the £50 cashback which means effectively, the phone is only costing me £157.00.

Plus, I'm getting £95.00 for my old phone (Wildfire).

It works for me.

DUTR

invisibleyousee wrote: »

Fair enough, I've had a look at some of the deals with other companies and over the 2 years they work out more expensive - basically they've offered me the Desire S at £10 a month, 400 mins, unltd texts, 30 mms, 500mb but £180 for the phone which sounds a lot but the cheapest I can get the phone free with enoguh minutes is £25 a month, which ends up being significantly more expensive.

Well doing the maths there, £240+180 =£420 / 24 = £17.50 per month

option 2=£25 per month


personally if you can't get the handset at around £180 sim free then the deal offered is good, and is what I would choose out of the two options :j

pimento

Mind you, I don't need minutes or texts. It's the internet I use mostly.

invisibleyousee

The handset sim-free is well over £300, hence the need to go onto contract. I've had this 5800 for over 2 years and wouldn't be changing apart from the fact that it's playing up, so trying to make sure I get a contract that is affordable but also with a phone that'll last two years (both in terms of not breaking, and in terms of actually not being completely old tech...lol). So HTC seems the way to go anyway!

drbesty

To answer your questions, you can't have the handset unlocked for free, you can't have it unlocked until you've had it for three months and you can't request a generic handset, hope this helps

simax

drbesty wrote: »

To answer your questions, you can't have the handset unlocked for free, you can't have it unlocked until you've had it for three months and you can't request a generic handset, hope this helps

Basically, what he said

£20.42 to get it unlocked after 3 months.