Feedback Wanted From Mobile Nerds

MSE_Martin

I am about to attempt to undertake the impossible. A 'how to find the cheapest mobile tariff' methodology. I would love some feedback from mobile nerds on this.

Please remember this is a general article, and as such can't go into all the nitty gritty.

Here's my plan (each will be explained in more detail)

1. Establish your likely usage
Peak, Off-Peak, Other calls, SMS use, Other uses
2. Look at Pre-pay or pay as you go
3. Use onecompare.com or switchwithwhich to find the rough tarriff thats best for you.
4. Consider haggling with current provider to get a price match so you dont need to change phone
5. Look for discounted/cashback version of the correct tariff - via web
6. Consider using an override provider on top
7. Use a separate number for roaming.

Feedback on the general methodology would be helpful. And any issues you can think of. I have to say it is a NIGHTMARE to do there are so many different options

Also anyone know of any other good comparison services for mobile phone tariffs

jf2404

MSE_Martin wrote:

Also anyone know of any other good comparison services for mobile phone tariffs

Hi Martin, I use https://www.!!!!!!.com . It is a price comparison site which lists the latest deals on Contract PAYG and sim-free. I have had over 10 phones via the site and all went through smoothly.

Al_Mac

MSE_Martin wrote:

mobile nerds

One for abcon:rotfl: Sorry:D

mobile-advice

Hi Martin

I'm working on such an application at the moment, for my own site. It's pretty simple to come up, as standard the regular tarriffs, but the cashback deals change very frequently and hence would require manual inputting and checking.

I'm unsure of recommending cashback tariffs - in many cases, while they're cheaper, in general the cost of calls outside the inclusive minutes can be much higher. As well, after the introductory period, you're stuck with a very poor-value contract.

They make money from people's indiscipline - if you forget to send in the bill after 6, 9 months (easy to do), you forget to give notice exactly after 11 months (easy to do). An average person, who does have other activities, holidays, other events on, may well forget.
As well, some cashback companies are NOT reliable to say the least.

Anyway, I'm still working on this, but it's likely I'll have something soon. With this sort of project it's always easier to start of with the basics, then add functionality later.

MSE_Martin

All interesting - but no more comments? Im surprised at you!

--_Adam_--_2

I can tell that this is going to be a nightmare.

I feel that most people add a top layer to your "find the cheapest mobile tariff" which is "what phone do I want".

Many cashback comparison web-sites do not detail all of the potential options with regards to Cashback deals. The main contenders are e2save.com (part of CW), Carphone Warehouse, Mobile Shop, OneStopPhoneShop, Dialaphone, Phones4u and Time2talk.

For these it's not the case of closely mapping your needs to the deals, but to ensure that the deal encompasses your needs.

For the extra savvy mobile geek, it may be that they move to a dual sim card solution or similar to take advantage of a contract with off-peak minutes so not to use up their anytime minutes on another.

MSE_Martin

Adam I soooooo agree with you. But I've decided i need to do it. I feel its going to be a bit like broadband where the super-savvy users hate what i write. However when a friend of mine the other day showed me her mobile bill of £140 a month, mostly to call mobiles when she's on an O2 off-peak landline calls only package - i despaired, back of an envelope even with O2 she shouldn't be paying more than £40 a month. So this article is to stop people doing things like that!!!!!!

michaels

Another thing to think about - whether the handsets are network locked and how much it might cost to unlock.
Also of course there is the possiblity of selling an unwanted high value handset on ebay.
Other things worth mentioning are the use of payg sims to 'round trip' port to the same network for new customer deals.
May be for cash back you could adust the price for the 'risk / hassle' factor?

esuhl

I used to play the cashback game with multiple SIM cards (four at one time - and that WAS a headache! Thank God I'm back down to three!)

It seems like there aren't nearly so many cashback deals available now (and as I've been shafted by fwdcellular, so I'm a bit more wary). The only way I can think of to (possibly) get free calls and line rental for the year is to get a deal with as good a phone and as much cashback as possible, then just sell the phone on eBay.

If you haven't already get a phone to use, you could buy a cheap PAYG one (I've seen ones for as little as £20), and still sell the expensive one you get with a new contract.

Thenotsowyzewun

Hehe so I'm not the only one who has lots of contracts due to cashback, I've had 9 contracts a month ago (more to do with wanting to sell high-value phones than wanting a great deal on calls, and im down to 8 now).

Recommendations:

Avoid cashback, and avoid handsets - too complicated, end of.

Basically, you've got your users who barely ever use their phone, the best deal appears to be time2talk's upfront cashback t-mobile u-fix deal (yea its cashback but it all gets sorted within 14 days so you dont have to remember anything)

Then, you've got people who text loads and do not call: o2 online (aka genie)
people who text more and do no call: orange 2000 txt contract £20/mnth
people who text lots and call: o2 online for text, and depending on type of calls and how many a second chip for calls (o2 online will mean you have £10 credit a month, but it will also mean £10 = only 25 mins crossnet)
people who dont call much, and landlines: tesco
call lots and text too: a "3" contract deal e.g. talk&text600, or avoiding cashback well the choices are endless.

There's so many combo's and this is not even considering handsets!! Rather than an article like the broadband article, perhaps you could pull some basic guidelines out of this myraid of information (although I cant). The best advice I have for people is ask me, ill ask around and check my answer is the best possible...

Sorry I can't be of more help but its all sooo complex!!

EDIT: The other problem is, alot of people cant work out what type of calls they make most, or remember what times of day, and some are really fussy about their phone!! - I'm thinking of setting up a shop myself online to find people the best deals, they can either have an off-the-shelf solution (which'll actually come from a referral link to another site, although if the best deal won't let me do a referral it'll still be there) or ask for my advice and perhaps i could advise them what deal to get/how much to sell whatever phone for and why its better to sell it on ebay/loot (aka whether they'll get more on ebay or loot, does seem to be considerable difference on some items from sellers P.O.V) etc etc etc -- as I said before, sooo complex!!