Sim contract renewal - prev 600m talk, 500 txts, unlimited landline calls

sasparillo

Hi,

I have been on a 12 month contract with T-mobile through Chitter Chatter with a £5 cashback, paying £10.32 a month. For this I get 600 mins talk time, 500 texts and unlimited landline.

I've had a letter today about the T-Mobile increase. The contract is now coming up for renewal and Chitter Chatter has offered me the same plus unlimited calls to T mobile customers for £13.50 a month or £9.50 if I give up the landline booster and get unlimited texts.

I've got until the end of April to make up my mind. I've just had a quick shufti and found a 3 mobile offer 600 minutes talk time, 3000 texts and 1 GB internet for £12. I wouldn't mind now being able to check my emails on the move but internet is not essential.

Can anyone suggest anything (I got the chitterchatter contract through the good offices of this forum last year) and what do those in the know feel about the Chitter Chatter offer?

UPDATE: No answers as yet but I've been googling and also found:

Tesco Mobile 12 months 500 minutes 5000 texts 500 MB £10
Tesco Mobile 1 month 500 minutes 5000 tests 500 MB £12.50

Am also considering GiffGaff for £10 and seeing how I go month by month with 250 minutes.

GiffGaff 1 month 250 minutes Ultd texts Ultd internet £10

Are there any pitfalls I should look out for any of these? And/or do people have any other suggestions?

I have also always been with T-mobile previously on PAYG before taking out the contract last year, always with the same sim card. Would it be worth ringing up T-mobile and see whether they would do me a individual deal? Anyone have experience of this?

Thanks!

Guys_Dad

The most important thing - more important than £ per month - is reception.

Whatever your short list boils down to, make sure you test - with a sim - that you get reception.

I would also look at Tesco's offerings

sasparillo

Guys_Dad wrote: »

The most important thing - more important than £ per month - is reception.

Whatever your short list boils down to, make sure you test - with a sim - that you get reception.

I would also look at Tesco's offerings

I just updated my posting when you were posting Thanks for your response. Isn't Tesco and Giff Gaff 02? There's a Three shop in my home town. I am in a town/almost metropolitan area. I've always found T-mobile ok, especially since the merger with Orange. Have people had problems with Tesco, Giff Gaff or three reception?

Guys_Dad

sasparillo wrote: »

I just updated my posting when you were posting Thanks for your response. Isn't Tesco and Giff Gaff 02? There's a Three shop in my home town. I am in a town/almost metropolitan area. I've always found T-mobile ok, especially since the merger with Orange. Have people had problems with Tesco, Giff Gaff or three reception?

Of course they have - just as others have had reception problems with Voda, Orange,T-Mobile, Virgin et al. It depends upon where you live. Do not rely on any coverage charts - you have to try out yourself - or with friends on the relevant networks.

Try out in your lounge, bedroom, office and everywhere you need reception and visit most often.

Most networks will send you a free PAYG sim and you can check the bars or even ring their customer services to see that you are getting reception without loading any cash on the sim. Then simply chuck them afterwards.

Stuart_W

If the Vodafone signal is adequate in your area, Talkmobile can offer 300 mins, 1000 texts and 500MB for £8/month. The TescoMobile deals you've already found are pretty good, too.

T-mobile retentions may offer you something if you agree to a new minimum term on a SIM-only basis.

Also worth checking out cashback sites (quidco etc) as there can often be very big cashbacks on SIM only deals from time to time.

sasparillo

Stuart_W wrote: »

If the Vodafone signal is adequate in your area, Talkmobile can offer 300 mins, 1000 texts and 500MB for £8/month. The TescoMobile deals you've already found are pretty good, too.

T-mobile retentions may offer you something if you agree to a new minimum term on a SIM-only basis.

Also worth checking out cashback sites (quidco etc) as there can often be very big cashbacks on SIM only deals from time to time.

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for this.

Sounds like a good deal since Giff Gaff offer 250 minutes for £10 with unlimited texts and internet. I'll check out Vodaphone and Talkmobile.

I've tested Tescomobile and the signal seems fine (I believe it's O2 like Giff Gaff?). Curiously enough, I've always found T-Mobile/Orange ok until the past few days when suddenly the signal appears to have gone totally haywire and I'm finding lots of failed calls! Waiting to try out 3.

Cashback is a bit confusing for me. I know I've had £5 cashback each month with my present scheme - £10.32 instead of £15.32. With the other schemes is it also cashback each month or is it a lump sum at the beginning? In other words I'd appreciate it if you could give me a bit of an idiot's guide to sim card only deals or is there a thread I should be looking at? Thanks!

Stuart_W

sasparillo wrote: »

Cashback is a bit confusing for me. I know I've had £5 cashback each month with my present scheme - £10.32 instead of £15.32. With the other schemes is it also cashback each month or is it a lump sum at the beginning? In other words I'd appreciate it if you could give me a bit of an idiot's guide to sim card only deals or is there a thread I should be looking at? Thanks!

You've had a very good cashback deal with chitterchatter previously, sadly no longer available. There are two main cashback options available with certain SIM-only deals. It could be possible to combine both.

One option is to use a cashback website - Martin explains them here.. You simply click through to a mobile retailer's website from a cashback website, the sale is tracked, and you get paid a commission for your purchase. Signing up to a mobile contract can sometimes generate anything between £25 and £150 in commission - but usually it is the worse-value deals that pay more, so you actually factor in the cashback in deciding to go with the deal.

Another option is to use a mobile phone reseller that offers cashback - similar to the way chitterchatter paid you £5 each month. However, there are no other mobile phone resellers that pay in the way chitterchatter used to. Some deals require you to submit certain bills at different points throughout the contract, and you receive cashback in cheque instalments - but small print needs to be followed very carefully (search this board for mobiles.co.uk and find various stories of folk struggling with this). If you are willing to go down this route, a 24 month contract with a basic phone (eg Alcatel 209 on Vodafone YourPlan 300 with mobiles.co.uk offers equivalent monthly cost of £3.12 after cashback) is likely to offer greater cashback than a SIM-only deal and work out cheaper - but check you know what you are entering in to. Board user mobilejunkie is very experienced in this area, search for his posts. Other options don't require bills to be submitted, and "automatic" cashback is paid after a qualifying period. e2save, mobiles.co.uk and buymobilephones.net are three examples of companies that do cashback like this.

One the whole, unless a very good cashback deal turns up (and these are often limited period) then value suppliers TescoMobile, TalkMobile and Vectone can often offer SIM-only deals that outweigh cashback on other SIM-only deals.

You might be just as well to go for the TalkMobile £8/month deal if usage sounds about right, and according to Martin's cashback maximiser then use TopCashBack to get £30.30 cashback for agreeing to the £8/month SIM-only deal - which is pretty good as it is only for a 6 month minimum term, so after £48 in line rental and £30.30 cashback (equivalent to £3 per month) you can switch again if you are so inclined.

sasparillo

Wow Stuart, this is HUGELY useful. I've done a quick search regarding the cashback websites but frankly the whole thing is just a bit too much for me. My problem is my usage is very erratic. I use very little some months but then I organize events and need more talktime so while the Talkmobile with the cashback is a great deal, it may be better for me to pay a couple of quid more to make sure, as long as I don't pay more than I'm paying at the moment. Although I am now dithering about TalkMobile ... I know I'm not the first to say, it's such a maze (am considering trawling through cheap phones with sims now as well) and it's difficult for me to estimate my own usage ... Thanks so much again!