Samsung Galaxy S3

sazz123

Hi All

I'd appreciate any words of wisdom!

I am at the end of my t mobile contract and I would like to get a Samsung Galaxy S3 to replace it.

I have been on T mobile £15.50 tariff - 300 mins, 300 texts and unlimited internet with an HTC wildfire.

This tariff (in terms of allowances) is fine for me. I got it through mobiles.co.uk and was supposed to claim cashback on 4 of the months to make it cheaper - but didn't.

I have had a chat with T mobile loyalty team. Their offer is £200 upfront for the phone (new LTE version), then sticking with the same tariff, so a total of £572 over two years. This seems better than I can get through any other internet site and definitely better than the offer they gave before I requested my PAC which was £36 / month AND paying £49 for the phone.

I am quite tempted to go for this, but I also wonder if I am better off going for a sim-only deal and trying to find an S3 for sale separately. The best price I have seen (not second hand and from a site I have actually heard of) is £360 from Amazon - for the non-LTE version I think.

If I combine that with a giffgaff sim or even virgin mobile or tesco mobile for £10 a month, perhaps that is better.

So (and sorry this is so long) - which do you think might be better?

Two things I should say - 1) I am a student so could I think get 15% off with virgin and 2) after I finish my studies in August next year, it is possible I will go and work abroad, which is why giffgaff seems like a good option - I don't have to comitt for 2 years. And I am not sure with virgin or tesco whether I can keep my number if I let a 1-month rolling contract lapse.

Any wise words appreciated, thank you in advance for reading a long question.

Ultrasonic

sazz123 wrote: »

2) after I finish my studies in August next year, it is possible I will go and work abroad, which is why giffgaff seems like a good option - I don't have to comitt for 2 years.

(Lot's of views but no replies, so I'll say something...)

The deal you've been offered sounds pretty good, but possibly leaving the country obviously complicates things. Don't think there are any easy answers.

The dull, sensible thing to do would be to keep using your existing handset till you know what your future plans are...

If you could get one, a Google Nexus 4 would be a cheaper high spec phone to consider if you went down the buying a handset outright route.

metallicahead

sazz123 wrote: »

Hi All

I'd appreciate any words of wisdom!

I am at the end of my t mobile contract and I would like to get a Samsung Galaxy S3 to replace it.

I have been on T mobile £15.50 tariff - 300 mins, 300 texts and unlimited internet with an HTC wildfire.

This tariff (in terms of allowances) is fine for me. I got it through mobiles.co.uk and was supposed to claim cashback on 4 of the months to make it cheaper - but didn't.

I have had a chat with T mobile loyalty team. Their offer is £200 upfront for the phone (new LTE version), then sticking with the same tariff, so a total of £572 over two years. This seems better than I can get through any other internet site and definitely better than the offer they gave before I requested my PAC which was £36 / month AND paying £49 for the phone.

I am quite tempted to go for this, but I also wonder if I am better off going for a sim-only deal and trying to find an S3 for sale separately. The best price I have seen (not second hand and from a site I have actually heard of) is £360 from Amazon - for the non-LTE version I think.

If I combine that with a giffgaff sim or even virgin mobile or tesco mobile for £10 a month, perhaps that is better.

So (and sorry this is so long) - which do you think might be better?

Two things I should say - 1) I am a student so could I think get 15% off with virgin and 2) after I finish my studies in August next year, it is possible I will go and work abroad, which is why giffgaff seems like a good option - I don't have to comitt for 2 years. And I am not sure with virgin or tesco whether I can keep my number if I let a 1-month rolling contract lapse.

Any wise words appreciated, thank you in advance for reading a long question.

That sounds like a no-brainer... you would have to pay 572 for two years, even if you will only be using less than one year (since you finish studies next August).
Instead you can get the phone off contract for 360£ and then add a sim card for 9months*£10 = £450 total :beer:

Ultrasonic

metallicahead wrote: »

That sounds like a no-brainer... you would have to pay 572 for two years, even if you will only be using less than one year (since you finish studies next August).
Instead you can get the phone off contract for 360£ and then add a sim card for 9months*£10 = £450 total :beer:

This doesn't make a huge difference, but are there any sim only deals offering unlimited internet for £10 a month? Not sure there are. I think the cheapest is Giff Gaff or Virgin at £12 a month (not allowing tethering), which would equate to a total of £468 over 9 months. Giff Gaff would be closest to the OP's current deal in terms of call minutes (250 vs 300).

The thing is the OP may not leave after 9 months though. So the comparison is £468 for 9 months vs £572 for 24 months phone usage. That said, conituing to use Giff Gaff for the remainder of a 24 month period would give a total cost of £648, so only £76 worse than the contract. Plus of course there might be a better longer term deal to go for in 9 months if they know they're not leaving the country. So probably the sensible way to go, assuming that the OP is happy with O2 network coverage.

lordra

The Google Nexus 4 is sold out and you'll have to wait at least 2 months for your order. The S3 from Amazon is what I would buy. Consider the One X or the One X+. Sim Only PayG from GG is the best and the most economical.

lordra

The cashback rate for all iPhone 5 contracts at Phones4U has increased to £100.00. Valid for 3 days.

sazz123

Thanks very much to all for your input. The Nexus 4 is a great shout, I should have considered that before. I think what I will do is go with giffgaff for a bit while I wait for it to come back in stock and see what they are like. And then get my hands on a nexus 4. In the end, I'd love to have an S3 but it's definitely not moneysaving overall, so having a bit of time to think about it makes me realise that I don't absolutely NEED a fancy S3. I think the Nexus will be plenty fancy enough for me and I am willing to wait for a decent saving.

Thanks again all.

Lucas_Shrek

Though samsung galaxy s3 is the best android phone but all other mobile phones of different companies are also in demand to compete with it. As android is the latest os in demand leaving back java, symbian so users are preffering more to android.

horsepills

Lucas_Shrek wrote: »

Though samsung galaxy s3 is the best android phone but all other mobile phones of different companies are also in demand to compete with it. As android is the latest os in demand leaving back java, symbian so users are preffering more to android.

:huh::huh: