Upgrading yearly on O2 refresh - benefits and cons ???

shaggy

Hi all
I'm after some advice here.
I've been on sim only contracts ever since phone contracts changed from the standard 12 months to 18 (and now 24) and have usually sourced myself the latest phone every year. Butt now instead of paying silly money (approx £900) for a Note 8 for example, am looking at the possibility of O2 refresh, and trying to weigh up the pros and cons

Currently on sim only BT sim 20g data unlim text/min for £16pm and on a 30 day notice so can easily cancel

Take the example of a latest high end phone for example - Note 8. Outright sim only cost brand new is around £869 (I know can be had for around £650 but that's off Chinese stores and I'd prefer to buy from U.K. for warranty etc so let's not get down this road

Annual cost - £869 + 12*£16 = £1061

And now let's do the maths on an equivalent data tariff (20gb ) on O2 refresh:
Upfront cost £29.99
Device plan £33.00

Airtime plan £35.00

Cost over first year : £845.99

Now like a lot of people I like to change to the latest and greatest phones every year, so after first year, pay off the device :

£33*12 = £396.00

So total cost in first year = 845.99 + 396 = 1241.99

Sell off the note 8 for approx £400 I would say is the minimum it's worth in a year and upgrade to the next biggest thing out in a year.
So total net cost in first year approx £841.99 and I would say possibly less as I have undervalued what the phone will be worth in a year

This sounds 'too good to be true'? The only downside I can see to this is after a year, if you pay off device and upgrade, your contract renews for another two years so if you're a serial upgrader you will never go out of contract.

Have I missed something obvious , and can anyone enlighten me on the o2 'upgrade on us in 12 months' ... does that involve giving the phone to O2?

macman

'so if you're a serial upgrader you will never go out of contract'.

Which is exactly why O2 offers this type of deal: you are locked in to them for as long as you fail to break the 'new phone every year' habit.
The old phone is yours to do as you wish with from day one of the contract. Sorry, but I can't equate paying getting on for £900 p.a for a mobile as 'too good to be true'?

shaggy

macman wrote: »

'so if you're a serial upgrader you will never go out of contract'.

Which is exactly why O2 offers this type of deal: you are locked in to them for as long as you fail to break the 'new phone every year' habit.
The old phone is yours to do as you wish with from day one of the contract. Sorry, but I can't equate paying getting on for £900 p.a for a mobile as 'too good to be true'?

I guess I used the wrong phrase. Definitely shouldn't be too good to be true. What I meant was it seems cheaper than buying a new phone sim free per year

In any case just the thought of locking in forever to the refresh contract is enough to put me off lol

Still prefer the freedom of sim only

Frozen_up_north

It looks like the O2 Refresh requires you to trade in your old phone, so the OPs arithmetic may need a tweak.

I fail to see the need to keep replacing a phone every year. Equally, O2 aren’t giving phones away, someone ultimately has to pay for those phones and the finance deal they come with...

I’ll stick with SIM only

shaggy

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

It looks like the O2 Refresh requires you to trade in your old phone, so the OPs arithmetic may need a tweak.

I fail to see the need to keep replacing a phone every year. Equally, O2 aren’t giving phones away, someone ultimately has to pay for those phones and the finance deal they come with...

I’ll stick with SIM only

Im pretty sure as long as you pay the 'device plan' part of your contract, you can keep the phone. I've used O2 Refresh a couple of times in the last two years to get dirt cheap Iphone 5s - buy on a certain plan, as soon as you get the phone, cancel the plan (i didnt have to pay anything for cancelling this as long as its within 14 days) , pay off the device in full, and you keep the phone. O2's own billing systems are a joke so you really have to know what youre doing to do this. And it only works on certain offers they might have on, not on every plan.

maurice28

Have you looked into the Samsung Upgrade Programme? You buy a SIM free device direct from Samsung and pay it back over 24 months. It's 0% interest at the moment on a Note 8 and after 12 months, you can trade in the device for the newest one (Note 9 or X or whatever they call it) and start again.

It costs £869, which is broken down into monthly payments of £32.58 with a deposit of £86.90. So over the first 12 months you would pay:

£32.58 x 12 = £390.96 + £86.90 = £477.86

If you then stuck with your BT SIM only airtime plan, over the first year in total you'd pay:

£477.86 + 12 x £16 = £669.86

You could then trade in the phone and start a new contract on the new device, as you would with O2 Refresh, but you'd be much better off by my maths?