Pausing Vodafone contract?

flamingo28

Hi all,

I'm 11 months in to a 24 month contract with Vodafone. I have an iPhone 5C and my bill is £41 a month.

When I signed up for this phone I assumed I was going to be in England for the next two years; however, circumstances have changed and I'm now no longer in the UK.

I can't use this phone where I am as I would get charged an extortionate amount for roaming, so I'm only able to use it on wifi, making it useless when outside the house.

It's galling to see £41 disappear from my account each month and literally get no benefits from this contract.

1. Is it possible to suspend my contract or reduce the amount that I'm paying whilst I am not in the UK?

2. If not, does it make more sense to pay the contract off in full, or to continue paying £41 each month on the chance that maybe I'll return to the UK at some point before the contract finishes next year? Basically, would either of these options save me some money or would I end up paying the same amount regardless?

3. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I currently have an old PAYG phone because I can't afford to get a new contract in this location and also continue paying the Vodafone one - so this iPhone is currently just functioning as an iPod touch (it is also locked to Vodafone for the next month so I can't get a PAYG sim just yet).

I know I'm asking a lot of questions but I can't face attempting Vodafone customer services at this moment so was hoping someone on here might have been in a similar situation and be able to give advice.

Thank you!

System

You can request Vodafone unlock the handset via their website for free.

You could then ask them the question (once unlocked) as they will advise you better but you'd likely be able to pay off the remainder without paying VAT and have an unlocked iPhone to get you started.

19lottie82

get someone else to take over the contract? But £41 a month for an iphone c????? Wow. You could have got a ip 6 for that when you took out the contract.

Sell the phone and put it towards the contract cost?

flamingo28

I have to wait another month before I'm able to unlock the phone for free - otherwise it'll cost £20. I'm definitely going to do it as soon as this first year of contract is up.

So are you saying I would save money by paying off the remainder of the contract in one go? Is there less VAT that way?

I know £41 is a lot. I'm not sure how I ended up agreeing to this, haha ... They somehow made it sound like a good deal at the time! I guess the person who convinced me to sign up was good at their job ... unfortunately.

Buzby

You pay VAT regardless, this is an urban myth that keeps being regurgitated. The only VAT you save is IF the network agrees to an early termination discount that discounts the inclusive calls you won't make, so you might save 3%, not 20%.