24 Month contracts

Rev

I've seen a huge amount of threads here with people saying 'you're stupid to sign up to a 24 month contract'.

My question is, why?

It seems the norm these days, all providers are pushing the 24 month contract and if you want an 18 or 12 month contract, you pay through the nose.

Tesco do 12 month contracts, say somebody wants the Samsung Galaxy S II. you pay £380 for the handset and then £20 per month. Contract total is 620. 24 month contract is £30 per month and the handset is free, contract total is £720, so only £100 more for a year of service, doesn't seem bad to me.

Or is it that the phone will be out of date in 12 months? And you want the latest and greatest phone?

Before people start saying I'm stupid for wanting a 24 month contract, I don't, I'm just out of contract, wouldn't mind an iPhone 4, but all the deals are 24 month contracts and I am loathed to tie myself in for two years. I'm not sure why, since I'll still be using a mobile in 2 years, still probably be around the same amount of mins and texts, and still paying around £20-£30 a month for the privilege whatever I do. So why am I reluctant to sign up? Plus it irks me that 24 month phones comes with handsets that only have 12 month warranties.

Why are you personally reluctant to sign up to a 24 month contract? Or are you not and you don't see what the fuss is about?

OneADay

Do the sums and 24 month contracts cost more. But mostly signing up to long periods with phones which either wear out easily or you lose interest in the phone quickly means going for shorter contracts is better. Especially with the ever changing phone market where new smarter phones are coming along every month.

And there are deals with 18 months and even 12 months which work out far better than going for 24 months.

Hoping to go back 12 month contract soon myself (on 18 monthers at the moment).

Gordon_Hose

My 24 month contract ends in November (1 month early for being a silver customer with O2). I don't think I'll get another 24 months contract, I'll pay more up front and go 12/18 months instead.

Rev

OneADay wrote: »

Do the sums and 24 month contracts cost more. But mostly signing up to long periods with phones which either wear out easily or you lose interest in the phone quickly means going for shorter contracts is better. Especially with the ever changing phone market where new smarter phones are coming along every month.

And there are deals with 18 months and even 12 months which work out far better than going for 24 months.

Hoping to go back 12 month contract soon myself (on 18 monthers at the moment).

Can you point me to some of the decent 18/12 month contracts they work out better than the 24 month ones?

Since I'm out of contract I'm looking for a deal.

zagfles

Rev wrote: »

I've seen a huge amount of threads here with people saying 'you're stupid to sign up to a 24 month contract'.

My question is, why?

It seems the norm these days, all providers are pushing the 24 month contract and if you want an 18 or 12 month contract, you pay through the nose.

Tesco do 12 month contracts, say somebody wants the Samsung Galaxy S II. you pay £380 for the handset and then £20 per month. Contract total is 620. 24 month contract is £30 per month and the handset is free, contract total is £720, so only £100 more for a year of service, doesn't seem bad to me.

Or is it that the phone will be out of date in 12 months? And you want the latest and greatest phone?

Before people start saying I'm stupid for wanting a 24 month contract, I don't, I'm just out of contract, wouldn't mind an iPhone 4, but all the deals are 24 month contracts and I am loathed to tie myself in for two years. I'm not sure why, since I'll still be using a mobile in 2 years, still probably be around the same amount of mins and texts, and still paying around £20-£30 a month for the privilege whatever I do. So why am I reluctant to sign up? Plus it irks me that 24 month phones comes with handsets that only have 12 month warranties.

Why are you personally reluctant to sign up to a 24 month contract? Or are you not and you don't see what the fuss is about?

It's not "stupid" to get a longer contract, in some cases they can be better value. But you need to understand what you're paying for - contracts which include "free phones" are a mainly a disguised loan for buying the handset.

Most of the monthly cost is paying for the phone not the service. That's why the warranty doesn't cover the contract period - if you took out a car loan over 5 years the warranty wouldn't cover the loan period.

The retail cost of the Samsung Galaxy S II seems to be about £480, so in the 2 cases you quote:

For the 12 month you pay £480 for the phone and £140 for the service.

For the 24 month you pay £480 for the phone and £240 for the service, plus get longer to pay for the phone.

So in this case, the 24 month contract is better value! Of course you are tied in for longer should you want to upgrade etc.

OneADay

Rev wrote: »

Can you point me to some of the decent 18/12 month contracts they work out better than the 24 month ones?

Since I'm out of contract I'm looking for a deal.

I will get shot down for suggesting cashback deals but those are the ones which offer the cheapest offerings with free phones.

t-mobile are particularly good with having their free booster (i.e. an addon service which you can change).

Dialaphone, mobiles co uk, carphone warehouse, phones4u - search and get.

I have seen a couple of 12 month deals with e2save which work out favourably but they are with Talkmobile.

vodafone offer 12 month contracts now with phones.

shellsuit

I've got a 24 month contract and I'm really happy with it.

I got a new phone and I now pay half the price for more minutes/texts/data etc, than I was getting/paying in 2006. (£35 a month in 2006, £17.36 a month now).

Stuart_W

Well, I've got a 36 month contract and I'm happy with it (but these have since been banned by the EU so you can't start one now).

The key is to check the deal carefully and do all the maths first - can you change tariff if you need to during the contract? How do you "buy" your way out if you want to end early? It varies between networks.

It can work out cheaper to take certain 24-month contracts and buy yourself out after 18 months than to take an equivalent 18-month contract, which is rather daft.

The right contract can work out cheaper than buying the handset yourself and using a SIM-only deal - but not necessarily. Do the research, do the maths, consider your usage and how this may change over the next 24 months. The ability of keeping your options open may be worth something to you (ie being prepared to pay a couple a quid extra each month to be on a 30-day rolling deal rather than a 24 month fixed deal).

If you post the exact deal you are considering, some of the boffin-type people on here will be able to work out if there is a "cheaper" way than the 24 month contract.

Rebecca01

I have had an iPhone 3Gs coming to the end of 24 months and also don't see the problem with it. I am not keen on the iPhone 4 so I wasn't to bothered about not being able to upgrade. As an iPhone only fan it's not too much of a problem as the phones don't come out that often. I am nearly out of contract now and was waiting for the iPhone 5, however if it's just a revamped i4 then I will just keep the 3GS. So the 24 month won't have been a problem as I will probably go over this .

Plus smart phones are so good these days , you don't feel like you are missing out like we did in about 2002. Two years actually went pretty quick lol

chuckley

doubt ill do a 24 month one now (halfway through one). Back then it was the natural thing to do (just renew renew renew), but now theres way more choice.

aaj123

Rev wrote: »

Tesco do 12 month contracts, say somebody wants the Samsung Galaxy S II. you pay £380 for the handset and then £20 per month. Contract total is 620. 24 month contract is £30 per month and the handset is free, contract total is £720, so only £100 more for a year of service, doesn't seem bad to me.

For the Galaxy S2, I signed up for a 24 month contract in May from Phones4U (Tmobile network). The handset cost me £99 and the monthly contract cost is £20.42. This was for 300 min, 300 texts and 500MB internet. Further I got £45.45 cashback via topcashback. The total cost of the contract over two years therefore works out to be £543.63. As the standalone handset costs £480, it means I am getting 2 years of network service for £63.63.

As you can see, this was an unusually good deal and I would have paid more had I gone any other route (including buying handset upfront and going for a cheap sim-only deal).

I mentioned this because it illustrates how a 24 month deal can sometimes offer tremendous value. It just pays to work out the costs and compare properly before taking the plunge.