Advice on group mobile contracts for family

silvercar

Is it ever cheaper to buy your phone contracts as a group?

Having delayed phone upgrades, 3 of us are now due upgrades at the same time. We can all do with new phones. I'm wondering if I would get a better deal by having a single contract covering all 3.

Would like 2 iphone 6's and an iphone 5C, need at least 800 minutes on 2 of them and 1GB data on all 3, do joint contracts work?

Someone suggested a phone broker, where would I find one of those?

forgotmyname

A few years back i wanted a new phone mid contract but Voda wouldnt do anything for me. Number linked to the contract and nothing the could offer to change that.
So i got the new phone with a new contract and number. I hate changing numbers.. Gave the old phone to my daughter.

When her contract was up i intended to let it go and drop to pay and go. But they offered a good deal.

So with 2 contracts on the plan i got a call and offered a phone at a very very good price. Battery on wifes phone was on its last legs and hard to get a replacement due to its age.

So thought why not. With the 3 contracts they do seem keener to haggle. Although when i wanted the S4 they wouldnt budge. But contacting their deals team on twitter got me the price i wanted and more minutes/data.

diamonds

With EE 4G (old 2G/3G T-Mobile with 4G access) You can take upto 5 devices (mobile or tablets and wifi devices) and share mins, texts and data.

Good thing with EE is when the data runs out you cant run up a data overusage bill UK or abroad, with 3 iphones I'd recommend it!

http://ee.co.uk/help/add-ons-benefits-and-plans/price-and-plans-and-costs/ee-price-plans/shared-plans

d123

diamonds wrote: »

With EE 4G (old T-Mobile) You can take upto 5 devices and share mins, texts and data.


http://ee.co.uk/help/add-ons-benefits-and-plans/price-and-plans-and-costs/ee-price-plans/shared-plans

From your link the shared plans are on EE 4GEE (the new 4G network) and not T-Mobile EE.

In a nutshell, a Shared 4GEE plan is an EE offer that lets you add up to five different devices to one inclusive plan.

diamonds

d123 wrote: »

From your link the shared plans are on EE 4GEE (the new 4G network) and not T-Mobile EE.

EE4G is the old 2/3G T network with 4G added, you just cant get 4G on T-Mobile as its a business decision to fade out T-M (aswell as Orange) Orange sites being closed down the rest rolled in to EE old T-Mobile network so no 4G on Orange as a commercial decision also as they barred 4G & 4G roaming from T-Mobile Orange sims. Only EE branded sims (rebranded T-Mobile sims) get 4G access.

Nebulous2

It's hard to say what you will or wont get. You need to do the legwork and ask people.

Lots of good deals only work on less popular phones though. There are rumours of build problems on iphone 6, which will limit stock. I cannot see many deals on them for months.

d123

diamonds wrote: »

EE4G is the old 2/3G T network with 4G added, you just cant get 4G on T-Mobile as its a business decision to fade out T-M (aswell as Orange) Orange sites being closed down the rest rolled in to EE old T-Mobile network so no 4G on Orange as a commercial decision also as they barred 4G & 4G roaming from T-Mobile Orange sims. Only EE branded sims (rebranded T-Mobile sims) get 4G access.

Completely incorrect, let's try and get you a little information before you post that nonsense again .

T-Mobile and Orange merged, and became EverythingEverywhere or EE 3G, this T-Mobile/Orange network still exists and it's legacy customers still have access to only 2G and 3G.

EverythingEverywhere then began roll out of a NEW network on 4G, sometimes referred to as 4GEE in their literature, legacy customers from T-Mobile (and Orange) DON'T have access to this network. A T-Mobile EE customer can opt to upgrade and move to EE 4G, but it requires a new contract and a new sim card with the new network to do this.

A legacy T-Mobile EE customer calling a EE 4G customer would be making a cross network call.

Hopes this helps you understand the EE group of companies a little better.

gjchester

Nebulous2 wrote: »

There are rumours of build problems on iphone 6, which will limit stock. I cannot see many deals on them for months.

Regardless of rumours the iPhone 6 will fly out of stores. You will be very very unlikely to get any deals on it until the next iPhone is announced. (6s?). All the current deals seem to be based on the 5c that's known to not be selling as well as the 5s.

Generally Apple do not encourage any deals that offer discounts on Apple devices. When the 6 launches next months the 4s is likely to be dropped and the 5s and 5c may change in terms of memory option available. However the old stock is never offered at a reduced sale price Apple simply recall it and use it in warranty claims. It would not do the premium Apple brand well. to have a reduced to clear sticker on it.

Techhead_2

d123 wrote: »

Completely incorrect, let's try and get you a little information before you post that nonsense again .

T-Mobile and Orange merged, and became EverythingEverywhere or EE 3G, this T-Mobile/Orange network still exists and it's legacy customers still have access to only 2G and 3G.

EverythingEverywhere then began roll out of a NEW network on 4G, sometimes referred to as 4GEE in their literature, legacy customers from T-Mobile (and Orange) DON'T have access to this network. A T-Mobile EE customer can opt to upgrade and move to EE 4G, but it requires a new contract and a new sim card with the new network to do this.

A legacy T-Mobile EE customer calling a EE 4G customer would be making a cross network call.

Hopes this helps you understand the EE group of companies a little better.

You and diamonds are really talking about different things. Everything you say is correct.

However diamonds is correct that EE's systems are based on T-Mobiles. Also more Orange sites were/will be decommissioned than T-Mobiles and not all Orange sites are integrated into MBNL (yet).

silvercar

Thanks for the info. I have a slight preference for O2 as I like the visual voicemail, other than that, we are all in good reception areas, so choice of network is not critical. More bothered about price.

d123

Techhead wrote: »

You and diamonds are really talking about different things. Everything you say is correct.

However diamonds is correct that EE's systems are based on T-Mobiles. Also more Orange sites were/will be decommissioned than T-Mobiles and not all Orange sites are integrated into MBNL (yet).

EE 4G may well have been implemented on the computer systems of the old T-Mobile, but it is not "the old 2G/3G T-Mobile network with 4G added".

EE 4G is a new network that has its own 4G network and can fall back onto the old Orange and T-Mobile networks. It is a different entity from T-Mobile altogether.

Diamonds has been quiet for quite some time, but at one time he was well known for flooding the forum with drivel, almost always well after midnight (inferences can be drawn there) and IIRC has been PPR'ed for his behaviour and posting manner in the past.