Enter Contract Before or After Xmas?

JaspaC

My contract is due for renewal at the end of the month which means I could set up a new one now or wait til after Christmas.

I want to know whether I'm more likely to find the best deals now (in the run up to Christmas) or if I wait until afterwards (in the sales).

There's two ways of looking at this, will phone shops be fiercely competing for business for presents etc..in the run up and hence offer great offers (benefiting from the economies of scale) to undercut their competitors. Or will the sales (if contract phones have those) be cheaper to entice people to spend after Christmas. Perhaps they will try to offset their Dec discount in January maybe.

Or maybe prices are more expensive before xmas as people are obliged to buy phone contracts at whatever price to have ready as a gift for xmas.

Has anyone had any experience with this?


Cheers,

J

gjchester

Neither, contract phone prices do not tend to drop after xmas. Phone prices drop as phones are no longer current but xmas has little effect

robbies_gal

i doubt contracts will be any different older models might have a sale on them for payg

JaspaC

If anyone does think they will lower prices in Jan, do you think they would offer me those prices now if I were to start the contract from January?

gjchester

JaspaC wrote: »

If anyone does think they will lower prices in Jan, do you think they would offer me those prices now if I were to start the contract from January?

Contract per month prices won't drop.

What may change is the up front fee for a phone, (say going from £99 to £89), or what phones are free on a set tarrif, so for example a set phoen my be free on a 340 a month contract but in January be free on a £35 a month contract.

Can you negotiate a drop, Maybe if you phone up your current provider, if you are a new customer then the answer is probably no, but there no harm asking.

jenniewb

From what I remember, some prices do change but its ony the really old or not very popular mobiles that do. I remember clearly a few years ago the Motarola Razer (or whatever it was called!) being dropped to £50 for the phone with maximum of 10 per person...it was such a lousy phone that no one wanted it which is why it was in the "sale".

I'd imagine they would drop the prices of some handsets but they wont be any of the newer versions and if the newer handsets are reduced in price its not likely to be a lot: by the sounds of things electronics and so on are the most popular thing to buy this Christmas, the companies selling them know they have a fairly captive audience and are unlikely to try very hard.

Buzby

Only the handset price changes, the contract is unaffected. It also can be increased - far better not to bother and go SIM only.

keith1950

Only the handset price changes, the contract is unaffected. It also can be increased - far better not to bother and go SIM only.

Hi JaspaC this is good advice, the only times you will find offers on the tariff are at very quiet times of the year such as August/September and even then may not be with the handset you require.

An example this year was with T-Mobile through Quidco where an HTC Wildfire was being offered for £10/month with 600 mins/500 texts and unlimited data and also Quidco cashback.

Due to an error with the cashback ( they paid more than they should ) I was able to sell the phone , get the Quidco cashback and was £20 up on the cost of the contract ( £10 x 24 ) , I was out of contract at the time so cancelled my existing contract and have 2 years cost free mobile use.

Because of Xmas you are less likely to find a 'good' offer and would probably be better letting your contract run on and waiting until something appears.......but have you got the willpower ? He hee !