Whats the difference between upgrading and starting fresh? Three Mobile.

x-Princess-Vikki-x

Hi,

A quick question as I've only ever had this one mobile phone contract. But I always hear people talk about wonderful deals they've got 'upgrading'.

I'm with Three mobile and my 24 month contract is coming to an end in December. But from what I can tell, there's no benefit to 'upgrade' with them rather than to just get a new phone contract.

I currently pay £18 a month on a plan that I am happy with but I just want a new phone. But this plan no longer exists with Three, so have been looking at the options and it all seems a bit complicated!

Am I missing something? Any advise would be appreciated .Thanks!

Quentin

If the tariff is no longer available to new customers and you want to stay on it, then you don't want to start afresh.

x-Princess-Vikki-x

Quentin wrote: »

If the tariff is no longer available to new customers and you want yo stay on it, then you don't want to start afresh.

I'm not that fussed about the tariff, I just want a new phone, will they let me have one for free if I agree to another 24 months on the same tariff?

Quentin

You got nothing to lose by asking.

See if their online upgrades is working to save the horrors of phoning them.

keith1950

At £18/month they will probably let you have a low-midrange phone but not one of the latest top of the range phones.

At £18/month you would be paying them £432 over 2 years so you would probably be offered a phone with a value of around £200-250 although if you can stretch to around 25/month you should get a top range phone.

Have a look at 3rd party retailers who can also do upgrades. i.e. mobiles.co.UK , e2save , mobile phones direct , buy mobile phones.net.

Herongull

"Free phones" are not free. Part of your monthly tariff is an element to pay for the cost of the phone. This is why sim-free contracts are much cheaper than similar contracts with "free phones". The more expensive the "free phone", the greater your monthly fee, everything else being equal.

"Upgrade" is a marketing term used by phone companies for when their customers take out a new contract with them. Sometimes these are better deals than what new customers get, sometimes not.

Phone companies sometimes claim that "upgrades" are excepted from the Distance Selling Regulations (ie you can't change your mind and send the phone back as you can with a new contract if you've not yet used the service). Since "upgrade" is a marketing term not a legal term, this can be challenged in court. But unless you want to take them to court on this matter, you may be better off getting new contract with a new supplier (in terms of having a cooling off period to see if you are happy with the phone).

Alternatively why not just buy a phone outright and go sim only or PAYG?

forgotmyname

I had a vodafone contract with something called stop the clock. In the evenings and at weekends i could call someone for upto an hour and only lose 1 minute or 3 minutes of my call allowance.

I hung onto that by upgrading long after they stopped it. I only lost it when i wanted to upgrade before my contract expired. So had to start a fresh contract.