buy or contract can't decide

flissh

Help:eek:

Hubby wants a new phone. He has a blackberry that is for work, but wants an I phone. He doesn't know if he should buy one or get one on contract.

Probably go O2 cos that has best reception at home but is also thinking 3

Any ideas/suggestions where to start. I'm bl@@dy hopeless at this sort of thing.

rolstherat

Get him to do it then!

rolstherat

Work out what phone you want and how many minutes, texts and data you will need, then go to the comparison sites and find he best deal.

Compare that to the cost of the phone and a sim only tariff or ovio/giff gaff.

Without understanding your needs you will struggle to work out what to get

AndyPK

Well if he wants the latest model it's about £600

Neil49

Buy a Nexus 4 outright and get a sim only deal.

rolstherat

Neil49 wrote: »

Buy a Nexus 4 outright and get a sim only deal.

For a fresh deal I would agree, unless you don't need a phone with that spec

MillicentBystander

Nexus 4 and 30 day SIM only every time for me as well (speaking as one who is half way through a 24 month contract and will never do such a silly thing again!). You only have to compare the spec of the nexus 4 and iPhone 5 on gsmarena and then look at the prices and you will laugh (unless you have already bought an iPhone 5 of course)...

Pineapple88

If you take out a contract over the phone you have 7 working days to return it if you change you mind or find the signal isn't very good.

As others have said there are lots of things to consider:
- what do you want the contract to provide in terms of minutes texts and data. If fairly low usage it would probably be cheaper to buy outright and then get a sim only deal.

- how stable are the household finances? If you take out a contract are you and hubby going to be able to comfortably afford paying an additional phone contract for 24 months? There are too many stories on here of people not being able to afford it in the long term and asking if they can get out of their contracts!

- will he be happy with keeping the phone for the next 18/20 months without an upgrade? If he wants to upgrade regularly look at sim only, O2 Refresh or Vodafone Red Hot.

- how careful will he be with the phone? If he is the clumsy sort who will break the phone after six months you may not want to be tied into a 24 month contract (or will want to have additional insurance)!

Frozen_up_north

Beware that when O2 implement 4G the current iPhone 5 will not have the appropriate band that O2 have bought in the recent auction. An iPhone 5 should give 4G on EE and 3 though as they use a different band for 4G.

My other half and myself both have iPhone5s on 3 with their "The One Plan" which suits us great, it's a 30 day rolling SIM only deal with our iPhones bought directly from Apple UK.

iPhones bought from Car Phone Warehouse and some other high street stores lock to the network of the first SIM used, those direct from Apple are completely unlocked.

Malc_44

Another vote for the Nexus 4. When you look at the spec and the price it is a no brainer......

SnowTiger

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Beware that when O2 implement 4G the current iPhone 5 will not have the appropriate band that O2 have bought in the recent auction. An iPhone 5 should give 4G on EE and 3 though as they use a different band for 4G.

Is 4G really a dealbreaker? Mobile broadband already operates faster than my home broadband.

I'm tempted to ask who needs 4G speeds on a mobile phone?, but I know I may regret that. :rotfl:

Never say never and all that.