Mobile cost cutting article discussion area

Starlight_2

Propman wrote:

Thanks Martin, great advice to negotiate with Vodafone before switching. Spent a staggering £2503! last year. Yes that's right..crazy! as was always going over my free minutes and getting wacked. Shopping around the for best deal (Orange 600mins £32.50 or 900mins £46.67) Was able to get 500mins, 100txt and International Call Saver, (Aust 24p vs 99p) and new phone for £32.50 per month (inc vat) and no switching hassle or cashback palava This is Vodafone's 3G tariff but they did agree to give it to me as an existing customer.

yes it pays to haggle with Vodafone.After our little chat I was given a new phone worth £80 200mins free 50txt and all for the grand monthly sum of £9.50. My contract is up in April wonder what they will offer me this time :j

easyMobile.com_support

At easyMobile.com we support WAP via GSM and will be introducing GPRS and MMS within the next few weeks.

johnfthetraveller

Get paid to be a mobile phone user, (but only if your very organised and can do the maths).

I've been doing something for over 3 years now, where I get paid to be a mobile phone user. I've not had a deep search on this website, but I've not seen it mentioned in Martin's articles.

Basically you take out a new discount contract every 6 months. For the unused contract term, reduce the tarrif to the cheapest available, and keep the Sim spare, or pay up the contract if you need to transfer the number. I take out contracts where the discounts assume that you will stay on the higher rate for the full term. By switching to the lowest tarrif after 6 months, you beat the system.

Just changing phone now. Made £50 on last contract, expect to make £70 on new contract. Both over 600 free xnet minutes per month.

Thanks to Martin for the new screenscraper mobile phone search engine, which saves LOADS of time finding these deals.

redux

I think I have seen it, or I have done similar for a while. However, recently it seems some networks have extended the no-downgrade time on some contracts, so it may not last. Also the minimum possible tariff has increased on some.

What you didn't mention, which I've only recently really taken notice of here, are the cashback referral sites like Quidco and several others, which would get you another £20 to £30

steve_gb

My contract was up with T Mobile and i recieved a txt offering me £10.00 as a one off on my monthly rental which is £20 for a package that usually costs me around £35.00 p.m.

After enquiring if it was genuine by telephone i was put through to an account advisor

After mentioning i was likeley to move to another provider, i was offered 200 mins and 200 txt messages per month for £15.00 incl of vat! if i go over the amount of txt messages then the allowance comes off the voice calls and vice-versa. Any network any time plus I think there is a bit of carry over to the next month.
I am allowed to use up to £60.00 worth of txt/voice per month.for only £15.00

If the handset needs replacing i can get a cheap unlocked phone from Ebay!

wizk1

Well. What can i say, but thank you very much Martin. I currently have a contract with O2 on the O2 200 tariff with a bolt on for 400 text messages which is about to end. This totals £46 a month, which doesn't take a rocket scientist to agree, that it is quite a hefty sum at £552 per year.

I stumbled across this article, and wisely took Martin's advice. I called O2 this evening, and managed to stick to the same tariff (My precious 200 minutes and 450 messages) and claim a brand spanking new Sony Ericsson W810i. But they reduced the monthly charge to £16.

This has saved me £30 a month. I am thrilled. So thrilled in fact, that I registered with MSE.com to tell you all my story

So here's to you Martin :beer:

Thank you

jolesley33

Hi, first time on so not sure if doing it right so apologise in advance! My 10 year old daughter is wanting a mobile phone and I wondered if anyone knew of any good deals and wheter better to go PAYG or contract - the cheaper the better! Unfortunately peer pressure rules and she wants a fashionable one! Thanks Jo

Edinburghlass_2

Welcome to the Telephone Boards

Personally I wouldn't dream of a contract for a child but go the PAYG route with either 02 or Virgin which would give her lots of texting options.

You can find good reconditioned deals on the Virgin website which are returns due to their 28 day return. I have used them on several occasions and they are in perfect condition. If you go for a Nokia they are the easiest to unlock, most of them with free codes which you can get on here via our helpful unlockers.

I'll see if I can find any recent threads on PAYG with Virgin and let you have the link

kitaj

:money: I used the Reetsit Mutton website and was directed to phones2udirect for a deal which gives me a new Samsung 350 on a 12 month contract, free connection, 400 minutes on orange, 100 texts, free itemised billing and 3 months free insurance. I only actually need 200 minutes but 400 would mean I didn't need a landline (in theory). The cost is £540 a year (£45 a month) but it's all reclaimable in 3 portions of £180 at 6, 9 and 12 months. If I set the text alert and claim back the money I seem to be getting a free phone and 400 minutes and 100 texts for nothing. I'm pretty new to the whacky world of mobiles - am I missing something here or is it a fantastic deal (if I claim the cashback)?

I also discovered a website called freemobi.co.uk which seems to have similar deals (but not the phone I want in this case). Do they rely on people simply not claiming the money back? Are people really that rich - or stupid?

micktsb

hi there this is my story,i was on orange from day one and was getting fed up with the(new customers only) syndrome,and decided just to leave.There is no such thing as loyalty you are paying for a service!!! a friend reccomended that i went with 3 i said that the reception is bad,turns out its not, with contract phones aparently they have a roaming agreement with 02 much the same as abroad when you go from movistar to other networks,anyhow its good, the deal i got which is still available is 400 any network mins 25 video mins 250 texts 25video or photo messages & £5 of downloads per month for around £22 a month!! with a free nokia 6280