Do I buy a new phone or get a contract ?

bigtree

bigtree

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Carthago chic eline
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I’ve been with IDmobile for the last year in a sim only deal and looking around to renew, there’s a good 2 year deal via mobiles.co.uk for £6 a month with 175gb of data. I fancied upgrading my phone too and if I take out a 2 year contract I could save £44 over the term, I know it’s not a lot but every penny helps.
What does everyone else do, buy outright or take out a contract ?
 
Just been researching as John needs new phone. I have decided continuing to buy outright is best. Getting a new sim too - also with ID and I saw those mobile.co.uk offers.
I read the Ts&Cs though, and only a good offer through cashback. This seems to involve an account with 3rd party, and you have to submit your ID bills every so often and the cash back should then be dribbled back. Some not good reviews.
So I decided I would rather go straight through ID as usual and not have the bother of claiming every 3 months and getting a fiver back if the company stays in existence.
 
If you do the maths, it's rare that a contract gives you a discount on the phone. In most cases, it's just spreading the cost of the phone. Often locking you into much longer contracts.

I prefer to buy SIM only contracts and buy my phones outright when I need one.
 
Riverbankannie said:
Just been researching as John needs new phone. I have decided continuing to buy outright is best. Getting a new sim too - also with ID and I saw those mobile.co.uk offers.
I read the Ts&Cs though, and only a good offer through cashback. This seems to involve an account with 3rd party, and you have to submit your ID bills every so often and the cash back should then be dribbled back. Some not good reviews.
So I decided I would rather go straight through ID as usual and not have the bother of claiming every 3 months and getting a fiver back if the company stays in existence.
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We've been doing the cashback for 3 years,not a problem once you get the hang of submitting your invoices.
 
We always buy our phones independently, currently using a stonking Xiaomi Redmi 10 pro which only cost just over £100. Had a couple of their previous offerings and can't fault them.

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Guigsy said:
If you do the maths, it's rare that a contract gives you a discount on the phone. In most cases, it's just spreading the cost of the phone. Often locking you into much longer contracts.

I prefer to buy SIM only contracts and buy my phones outright when I need one.
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That's what we have always done but this works out cheaper, we would be paying £144 for the sim over the 2 years as against £100 if we take out the phone contract. Also it's more data with the phone contract,not that I'm likely to use 250gb as against 175gb.
 
bigtree said:
We've been doing the cashback for 3 years,not a problem once you get the hang of submitting your invoices.
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Yes, very easy indeed and worth it to save anywhere up to £100 compared to buying direct.
 
bigtree said:
We've been doing the cashback for 3 years,not a problem once you get the hang of submitting your invoices.
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It is a good deal for you then. I just wouldn’t want to bother. You and Minxy a good pair for bargains. 🙂
 
bigtree said:
That's what we have always done but this works out cheaper, we would be paying £144 for the sim over the 2 years as against £100 if we take out the phone contract. Also it's more data with the phone contract,not that I'm likely to use 250gb as against 175gb.
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I've just gone for a 70gb contract, I had a 120gb one bit never used more than 40gb so 70gb is more than sufficient. If you don't need it why pay for it?

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Pristine refurbished. My phone retailed at £1100 at the time, got it without a mark on it and a 12 month warranty for £760. Had it nearly 2 years and in another couple of years when I replace I'll do the same.
 
bigtree said:
We prefer Iphones and thinking of upgrading to the iphone 15pro.
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Omg you're not someone who suffers from FOMO are you? :LOL:
 
Minxy said:
I've just gone for a 70gb contract, I had a 120gb one bit never used more than 40gb so 70gb is more than sufficient. If you don't need it why pay for it?
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I used 75gb in the last month abroad, no restrictions on IDmobile. We took out a sim only deal with 150gb, they’re only offering the deal on the phone with 250gb.
 
Minxy said:
Omg you're not someone who suffers from FOMO are you? :LOL:
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Try and be serious for once, this a pertinent question I’m asking and you are usually the best one for such questions.
 
Hi bigtree (y)
I see ID mobile are on the 3 network, our house location shows 3&4G coverage inside & outdoors, but from experience I cannot trust these coverage maps, its always a gamble to try it and see.
175GB of data for £6 PCM is an incredibly good deal, if you are happy with 3's coverage I would stick with that, especially if outside of any contract term, as we all get caught on 2 year deals when PCM prices increase after year 1.:swear:

What phone were you thinking of upgrading to?

We have 2x I phone XR's one we bought on a 2 year contract via Vodaphone ages ago, the other we bought re-furbished, then got an Asda Lebara no contract cheap sim card unlimited calls/texts with 5GB data, which is OK while at home as we don't use much data, and it backs onto Vodaphone network which we know works here at home, well as best as we can get anyhow at the moment.
We will buy a data sim for any travels in the MH then use phone as hot spot which has worked well for us in the past.

We are not Apple Addicts by any means, so I will either look for a new android phone with good reviews, or buy another re-furbed phone, as I don't need or want to spend a grand plus on any phone.
Good Luck keep us posted, maybe have a look at re-furb deals.
LES

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I prefer nor to be locked into long contracts often two years or more if getting a phone in the deal.
Monthly sim only contracts cost a fraction more than longer term ones but you can take advantage if any better offers come along.
Newer phones have no particular advantage to me I would still be using my Samsung S9 if I hadn't managed to crack the screen, silly money to repair.
 
herald_400rl said:
Pristine refurbished. My phone retailed at £1100 at the time, got it without a mark on it and a 12 month warranty for £760. Had it nearly 2 years and in another couple of years when I replace I'll do the same.
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Apple refurbished products are really indistinguishable from new ones. The MacBook Pro I ma using now ia as new but was £400 cheaper wit the usual 12 months warranty. Whats not to like.
 
iandsm said:
Apple refurbished products are really indistinguishable from new ones. The MacBook Pro I ma using now ia as new but was £400 cheaper wit the usual 12 months warranty. Whats not to like.
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Is there any refurbed iPhone 15pro available ?
 
Stopped the buy a phone contracts years ago..rip off.

Buy the phones ourselves now and get the SIM deals on monthly unlimited.
Even refurbed phones come with warranties now too if you don't have to have the latest and greatest.
 
Progress on phones has definitely slowed. It used to be that phones were significantly better each year. And batteries were seriously depleted in capacity in 18 months. I hammer my phone pretty hard and I've slowed to changing every 2.5 to 3 years.
 
bigtree said:
That's what we have always done but this works out cheaper, we would be paying £144 for the sim over the 2 years as against £100 if we take out the phone contract. Also it's more data with the phone contract,not that I'm likely to use 250gb as against 175gb.
Click to expand...
Are you saying your getting a contract for 2 years with an i phone 15 and 250G data for £100 in total? Sounds too good to be true! Or what is the monthly cost?
 
I would rather cover my "Thingy" in treacle, wrap it in barbed wire and shove it into the front entrance of an ant's nest than have anything sold by Apple.

I buy my (Samsung) phone(s) outright and have sim only deal with Vodafone and Nos...


JJ :cool:
 
The Wino said:
Are you saying your getting a contract for 2 years with an i phone 15 and 250G data for £100 in total? Sounds too good to be true! Or what is the monthly cost?
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No, if we just get a sim it will cost £144 for 2 years but if we take out the phone on contract with a good data package, it will only be £100 for the term over the price of buying the phone.
phone cost , £1099
Contract cost, £1199
Sim only cost, £144
So will save £44 over the 2 year contract.
In saying that ,he did say there would be a mid term increase.
Not that I think I will need more data but if I was going to get the sim only deal it's for 175gb against our current 150gb, we have been paying £8 a month for 150gb and the new 2 year offer is £6 for 175gb.
 
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JJ said:
I would rather cover my "Thingy" in treacle, wrap it in barbed wire and shove it into the front entrance of an ant's nest than have anything sold by Apple.

I buy my (Samsung) phone(s) outright and have sim only deal with Vodafone and Nos...


JJ :cool:
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Thanks, that's very helpful, not.

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The best thing I have learned about phone contracts is not to have one.
When the monthly costs go up in line with RPI or whatever they use as an excuse, if on contract you have to pay up as you agreed to them increasing costs when you initiated the contract.
without a fixed term contract you can always get a better deal, even more pleasing when you can get a deal for a short period "for new customers only" but make sure there are no annual cost increases or tie ins included after the initial term of the deal. EG: Lebara no contract unlimited texts/calls choose your data size package. As mentioned we dont need lots of data on our mobile phones at home, so we got a 5 & 7GB data deal, for £1.98 for 3 months, then £5 thereafter will no annual increases.
If you need loads of data for touring, then buy a data sim to suit your needs for the time you need it, or as many do, buy 2 or 3 but use & activate before you leave the UK.(y)
Same with any phone, check out what the specs are between the latest usually overly expensive one, and a phone model thats now been superseded, even an earlier model than that. When these phones were first released they were all the mutts nuts, they were all better than their predecessors, but many don't ask why they need better than they already have.
If a phone has a decent battery life, adequate camera, enough data storage for your needs, then why pay more to replace it.

PS: I know, I know, none of my business, do as you feel you want to, don't listen to me, I may even ask to borrow yours one day to get that one off shot of the dark side of the moon, with the Indian restaurant sign.;):LOL:
LES
 
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bigtree said:
We prefer Iphones and thinking of upgrading to the iphone 15pro.
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If you had a good ipone 11 or 12 for trade in, I would have bought it from you. Heavily considered a refurbished one for John but difficult to vet the sellers and what you might get and it’s origins. I have an 11 which is daughter’s old one and absolutely fine.
Have just bought John a new 12 so for once he is one up on me!
 
TinaLes said:
The best thing I have learned about phone contracts is not to have one.
When the monthly costs go up in line with RPI or whatever they use as an excuse, if on contract you have to pay up as you agreed to them increasing costs when you initiated the contract.
without a fixed term contract you can always get a better deal, even more pleasing when you can get a deal for a short period "for new customers only" but make sure there are no annual cost increases or tie ins included after the initial term of the deal. EG: Lebara no contract unlimited texts/calls choose your data size package. As mentioned we dont need lots of data on our mobile phones at home, so we got a 5 & 7GB data deal, for £1.98 for 3 months, then £5 thereafter will no annual increases.
If you need loads of data for touring, then buy a data sim to suit your needs for the time you need it, or as many do, buy 2 or 3 but use & activate before you leave the UK.(y)
Same with any phone, check out what the specs are between the latest usually overly expensive one, and a phone model thats now been superseded, even an earlier model than that. When these phones were first released they were all the mutts nuts, they were all better than their predecessors, but many don't ask why they need better than they already have.
If a phone has a decent battery life, adequate camera, enough data storage for your needs, then why pay more to replace it.

PS: I know, I know, none of my business, do as you feel you want to, don't listen to me, I may even ask to borrow yours one day to get that one off shot of the dark side of the moon, with the Indian restaurant sign.;):LOL:
LES
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TBH this year we have started to spend our savings as we ain't getting any younger, Mrs bigtree got a new car, we bought the Carthago and I bought another Stanton frame and built it up with choice components. had a great 10 week trip and didn't scrimp on any purchases, although I did buy my Grey Goose in Andorra. :cool:

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