Buy phone outright V contract.

trickydicky14

Buy phone outright V contract.

I wish to buy a new phone; I know what I want but now unsure if I would be better off getting it on a contract, I do have the funds to buy outright.

New phone for cash £429-00

New phone on 24-month contract £99-00 upfront and 24 months @ £14-99 total cost £458-76p + 3.9% increase each April.

Contract states 500GB data. (Sorry if I’m being thick but is that over the 24-month contract? If so, I make that just over 20GB a month.) So, take off the cost of the phone and you have £29-76p to cover all that data which to me, look good.

Currently I just have a 30-day rolling contract for £6 and have around 5GB a month.

So other than being tied into a 2-year contract, it looks like the better option?

I can put that cash into a 5% savings account and make some interest over the 2-year period.

Have I missed anything, please tell me if I’m talking crap.

Brie

So taking the 3.9% increase into account my figure for buying on a contract comes out at about £476.

Then again if you buy outright you have to pay £6 a month over that 2 years and there'll be increases on that too. And that's another £150.  Which totals up at 579.

So on those rates I'd say go for the contract.  (didn't think I'd ever say that frankly)

BUT
don't forget that this is a higher value credit agreement that you will be making.
And how good will they/you be at dealing with the end of the 2 year contract.  Many people get trapped into a subsequent contract that costs much more than it should.  

Happy to have someone correct my maths!

oldernonethewiser

500GB is per month data allowance.

If you don't need that much then don't get that amount.

£29.76 for that amount of data is high. You can get a SIM only deal for unlimited data for £15 per month.

flaneurs_lobster

What's the phone? 

Do you have a particular requirement for a particular network (because of coverage)?

Might be able to suggest a few options.

flaneurs_lobster

Brie said:

Many people get trapped into a subsequent contract that costs much more than it should.  

Not sure how that could happen. After two years you own the phone (actually you own the phone from day 1) and have completed the minimum term on the airtime. You can walk if you don't like any offered upgrade (to phone and/or airtime).

trickydicky14

flaneurs_lobster said:

What's the phone? 

Do you have a particular requirement for a particular network (because of coverage)?

Might be able to suggest a few options.

I have recently posted on the Techie forum regarding phone. I’m looking at a Google pixel 8a 256GB and the contract I was looking at was with ID mobile which I am with currently, glad of any help.

oldernonethewiser

How much data do you think you will realistically need on a monthly basis?

trickydicky14

oldernonethewiser said:

How much data do you think you will realistically need on a monthly basis?

To be honest not a lot say around 20GB, I want the phone mainly for the camera and storage.

trickydicky14

oldernonethewiser said:

500GB is per month data allowance.

If you don't need that much then don't get that amount.

£29.76 for that amount of data is high. You can get a SIM only deal for unlimited data for £15 per month.

I think we have some confusion, what I am saying is if you deduct the cost of purchasing the phone out right from the 2-year contract price you are left with a figure of £29-76p I assume maybe wrongly the data is included in the monthly cost?

Glad

It might be worth shopping around, I've had a contract phone for years, until this year when the price of the phone I wanted included a free Samsung Galaxy watch. I might not have let that sway me but I did need a new watch at the time

km1500

trickydicky14 said:

oldernonethewiser said:

500GB is per month data allowance.

If you don't need that much then don't get that amount.

£29.76 for that amount of data is high. You can get a SIM only deal for unlimited data for £15 per month.

I think we have some confusion, what I am saying is if you deduct the cost of purchasing the phone out right from the 2-year contract price you are left with a figure of £29-76p I assume maybe wrongly the data is included in the monthly cost?

yes it is £29.76 total for airtime not £29.76 a month so that is a good deal.