Advice on New Contract - Sim Only and Buying Separate Phone?

elsmandino

Hi there,

I am looking to set up my own mobile phone account for the first time - my parents put me on their bill all the way through university and now I have no idea what to look for in a contract.

Furthemore, I have never really been into mobiles much and always had my brother's old cast-offs when he was finished with them but I would like to get a brand new phone for once.

I have been looking at all the various contracts available and the main thing that I cannot decide is whether it is better to buy the phone that I want and then have a cheap sim only contract or whether I should go with a contract that includes the phone.

I don't believe that there is anything as a free lunch and although the deals make you look like you are getting a free phone, are you not really paying the same as if you bought it as a one-off payment, in terms of the greater tariff price and longer contract period?

I would be really grateful for any advice on the subject.

Many thanks

citykid5

hi,i recently bought a tesco sim only deal.£10 per month for 500anytime minutes and 5000 texts,and i got £35 bach through quidco,so used that to buy a motorola krzr as i like that type of phone,kept my old vodafone number,but had to make sure the phone was unlocked as tesco use 02.very happy

rodenal

If you can afford to just buy the handset it tends to make sense to do that and then get the cheapest sim only deal for your needs - means if you're bored of the handset after x months you can just sell it and put the cash towards a new one.

I tend to pay a bit for the phone (i.e £50-150) and get a contract that I can buy myself out of after a year by selling the handset and start afresh after that - definately not the cheapest way to do it but works for me and stops me changing handsets too often and costing myself even more money (I love my gadgets so would definately do this!)