More clear mobile price plans

misiek404

A lot of people end up in expensive and lengthy contracts because of the shiny new "free" handset lure.
I think mobile operators should be told to start selling their contracts differently e.g. £35/month = £15 - price plan, £20 - monthly instalment for your handset.

DUTR

Perhaps a lot of people should think more, shiny free handset? It's not free and never is !

gjchester

misiek404 wrote: »

A lot of people end up in expensive and lengthy contracts because of the shiny new "free" handset lure.
I think mobile operators should be told to start selling their contracts differently e.g. £35/month = £15 - price plan, £20 - monthly instalment for your handset.

Why should they, networks are not charities they exist to make a profit.

Taking your example a 24 month contract means £480 back in subsidy. If it was done as a loan as you suggest then the cost would change once the loan amount is paid. By doing it as they do if you don't change or cancel after the minimum terms is a greater profit for the network.

There are also issue with differing regulations for a company that gives loans (as this would be) than giving the phone free and charging a fee for airtime as they currently do.

As DUTR said people need to see the "free phone" for what it is, and work out the real cost, not blindly upgrade for the latest gadget.

misiek404

Works fine in Germany where you have to sign 2 contracts - one for price plan, one for paying off the phone.
Besides, I just found out that Ofcom is actually trying to force it here in UK hehe

grumbler

misiek404 wrote: »

...Besides, I just found out that Ofcom is actually trying to force it here in UK hehe

Where have you found this? IMO Ofcome has loads of much more important work to do.

Guys_Dad

misiek404 wrote: »

Works fine in Germany where you have to sign 2 contracts - one for price plan, one for paying off the phone.
Besides, I just found out that Ofcom is actually trying to force it here in UK hehe

You can do that here - it's called sim only and buy your handset with a loan if you don't have the money.

If you are saying that it should be introduced in this country as a deterrent to people taking on huge 2-year contracts that, if they lost their income, they couldn't pay off, then I would be in favour - as long as it didn't push up my sim-only cost to offset the potential lost income that the networks might incur.

FiatFan_2

Phones4U also do the JUMP contract which you buy the phone and airtime separately meaning you can jump to a new handset and keep the same airtime contract.

I expect price plans are set out like that in the behind the scenes accounts as the handsets are heavily subsidised by the operators. As Guys Dad suggests, if this were to be forced onto the operators then it could see the increase in the cheaper sim-only/payg deals favored by MSE users