Phones Mobile Phonery

[Scouse]

OK. So I'm getting creamed at the moment on my contract. Need to change it and get a new phone to boot.

I'm in a good position (with Orange). Can walk away today if I want to (but don't really want to - I've got the full compliment of friends & family allowances etc. - been with 'em for years).

However, not having really stuck it to 'em before I want to know two things - 1) what's the best deal (I'm after talking to any mobile network and texts, internet is way secondary), and; 2) what's the best negotiation tactic with them?

I want fuckloads of mins a month (only phone) and I don't see why texts aren't free. I quite like the samsung galaxy SII but open to suggestions. Don't mind wanging a 12 or 24 month contract their way but I want to get me a good deal for once...

Helps!

 

[Wij]

Well I'm sort of opposite. I don't use many minutes but quite a bit of Internet so I go for a ten pound goody bag off giffgaff.

Minutes are for girls. Men use data

 

[soze]

Best bet is to call them and see what they offer you. Then say its not good enough and ask to speak to Retentions or Cancellations. If you are an old contract they tend to bend over backwards to keep you happy. Of course you could get an arsehole who will tell you to leave.

 

[Gray]

Check companies like Carphone Warehouse or Phones4u (eeee) for specific deals, usually they offer deals which are better than what you would get straight from the provider themselves but if you spoke to their retentions then they would usually match or make a better offer.

You can also get cashback from websites like Quidco or TopCashback which ranges from around £50-100 for however long the contract runs, personally never tried it and i don't think it probably works for doing it over the phone, but it's one to keep in mind.

800min, unlimited text, 250mb net £140 cashback (Supposedly).
300min, unlimited text, 500mb net SIM only deal.
A large selection of contract deals which is massively popular

Suppose the good thing about retentions is though they can give you good loyalty discounts, which sometimes goes amiss if you upgrade through websites.

 

[ileks]

I used Quidco about two years ago when I got my phone contract. It was about £100 IIRC. They took ages to pay me but it went through in the end. Worth doing!

 

[MYstIC G]

http://www.billmonitor.com/

If you've got online access to your bills it'll help narrow down what you need, you can then bash them over the head to give it to you.

 

[Scouse]

Them sim-only deals are really cheap Gray. Need a new phone tho - my N95 is now perma-torch as I slid through a river on my bike a few months back

I'm beginning to get an idea of a barganing position though.

Minutes are for girls. Men use data

Can't see how having portable internets would be anything but terribly detrimental to my life tbfh. I only need the phone for calls and texts.

And porn. But nothing else.

 

[Laddey]

Our lass said she was gonna cancel her contract with O2. They started throwing deals at her left right and centre. Defo worth ringing orange as somebody said they will bend over backwards

 

[Nate]

I had a contract for 450 minutes and 400 texts on o2 for £5 a month. Only lasted a year mind. But I cancelled once they put it back up.

 

[Zenith.UK]

First stop is check Omio.com for the deals available.
http://www.omio.com/phones/samsung/galaxy-s-ii/deals

Use the sliders to pin down your preferences and then sort the columns by price or free phones or whatever.
Armed with the best price deal and who provides it, phone up Orange customer services and say that you've found a better deal for your contract and would like your PAC (porting authorisation code) please.
At this point, if you're a long time or heavy spend customer, they try to offer you a deal. String them along and see what they offer. Remember that the 1st line customer services don't have much in the way of discretion or ability to offer really good deals. What you're looking for is to get transferred to "Retentions" or a similarly named department. These are the people with real clout to strike a deal and can offer some insane things to keep you.

To give you my personal example, my O2 contract was up in June 2010 and I phoned up asking to end my contract as I found a better deal with another network. They put me through to retentions and then the fun began. I was after a HTC Desire and that wasn't the problem. The problem was they wanted nearly £100 for it with my 600 min contract. They dropped me down a tariff level to 300mins but then added 200mins (to reflect my actual usage), kept my unlimited data bolt-on, kept my Gold Insurance ongoing (£5/month) and knocked 30% off the tariff cost. Meaning I was getting 500mins, a load of texts, as good as unlimited data AND insurance for £27 instead of over £40. She couldn't let me have the phone for free, but I thought the 1p handset price was worth paying for. This is because I have 2 contracts with a monthly spend in the region of £70-£75 a month with O2. They knew if they lost one contract, they'd lose the other as well.

Make sure you know who you can switch to, and try to negotiate a better contract if you want to stick with Orange. I can tell you that you should be able to get a Samsung Galaxy S2 for free an practically every contract. My wife's contract is up in April and can be upgraded in 2 weeks time. She wants an S2 and she'll get an S2... but I won't be paying for the handset and I expect a substantial discount from O2.

 

[Bahumat]

I'm with Orange but seriously tempted to buy out my contract. Their coverage is shit

 

[Lamp]

Giff Gaff for the win

£10/month: unlimited internet, unlimited texts, and more minutes than I need. Superb.

 

[Bahumat]

Isn't the service going down hill for Giff Gaff due to everyone joining them? I did not know if they were over selling much like Virgin do with broadband...or have I just heard someone talk utter shit?

 

[soze]

Central London is meant to be decent but round my way o2 are shit so GiffGaff is a non starter.

 

[Wij]

Isn't the service going down hill for Giff Gaff due to everyone joining them? I did not know if they were over selling much like Virgin do with broadband...or have I just heard someone talk utter shit?

It varies but the beauty with Gifffgaff is you aren't on a contract. If you don't like the service then just stop paying for it.

 

[Access Denied]

I've been with T-Mobile on various tarrifs for about 10 years. I want an iPhone 4 (yeah yeah yeah) but I can't afford £45 a month for it. So when My contract is up for renewal in September I'm going to threaten to leave unless they give me what I want in reward for my loyalty.

 

[gohan]

4 or 4s?

can get the 4 for like £27 a month in some places now, 4s is still like £40 to get phone for free because apple fan bois are stupid enough to pay it, I've nothing against I-phones, they're decent kit. But when you could get 2 SII's or HTC sensation XE's for the same price it's not even worth looking at the I-clone

 

[Access Denied]

Just the basic black 4 mate. I currently pay £25 a month for 300 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data, thought tbh I could do without the unlimited data as I rarely use the internet on my phone. I've got a HTC Wildfire and I've had no end of problems with it. I've heard similar stories about other HTC phones and their customer service is shit. I don't know about any of the other Android phones around but it seems to me that the iPhone is an all-round better bit of kit.

 

[Wij]

Just buy one. You'll save money in the long term.

 

[gohan]

Never had issues with my HTC's on my 3rd one now. Galaxy SII is a really nice bit of kit aswell, personally I prefer andriod as it's a lot more customisable, you're not contricted to I-tunes and alot of the apps are free. aswell as genrally having better camera's faster processors bigger screens etc. and they can play flash xD

other than 3 (who are dog shit) I don't think many places offer unlimted net anymore, most are 1GB now, mines only 500MB but I'm on it constantly and never go over, you can ring up your custoemr services as ask for an average usage for min text and net.

when i worked at o2 we were price matching the i-phone 4 8gb with 200 mins 500 mb net and unlimited text for £27 a month on a 24 month


think it was vodaphon we put down as the price match so amy be worth a look there, as someone else said, if you find the deal you want else where and ring T-mobile they will ussually match it to keep you.

 

[gohan]

Just buy one. You'll save money in the long term.

that's so not true lol. the ammount of times I'd work out a 2year cost on phones for customer, any top range smart phone is not worth getting on anything othe than contract,

£30 x 24 =£720
or £430 for phone + £15p/m for equivlent sim only deal = £790


there'ss next to no difference

 

[Access Denied]

I can't afford to. We live on a budget so tight it would take more than a year to save up for one. No it's better that I convince T-Mobile to give me me one on a deal.

 

[Gwadien]

Just the basic black 4 mate. I currently pay £25 a month for 300 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data, thought tbh I could do without the unlimited data as I rarely use the internet on my phone. I've got a HTC Wildfire and I've had no end of problems with it. I've heard similar stories about other HTC phones and their customer service is shit. I don't know about any of the other Android phones around but it seems to me that the iPhone is an all-round better bit of kit.

Seriously? - I have a Wildfire S - Unlimited texts, 300 minutes and 500 MB data a month - £10. Oh, Vodafone btw

 

[Access Denied]

Obviously I'm going to be shopping around for the best deal. I'll then ring T-Mobile and tell them about it and see if they can beat it. If they can't I'll leave and go to another network. I'd rather not though as I've never had any problems with T-Mobile.

 

[Wij]

that's so not true lol. the ammount of times I'd work out a 2year cost on phones for customer, any top range smart phone is not worth getting on anything othe than contract,

£30 x 24 =£720
or £430 for phone + £15p/m for equivlent sim only deal = £790


there'ss next to no difference

Depends what sim only deal you get and also neglects the effect an unlocked phone has on resale value.

 

[gohan]

payg phones aren't unlocked, even if you buy an i-phone direct from apple it will be locked to a specific network. when your contract is up however most phone companies will unlock your phone free of charge. So that's acctaully a plus for contracts anyway

 

[soze]

payg phones aren't unlocked, even if you buy an i-phone direct from apple it will be locked to a specific network. when your contract is up however most phone companies will unlock your phone free of charge. So that's acctaully a plus for contracts anyway

I am not sure that's right none of iPhones we sell are SIM locked. I can't imagine Apple would sell you a phone with no contract and have it SIM locked to the first network it touches.

 

[gohan]

any network that sells a PAYG phon is locked to that network, Apple can upgrade any contract on any network in there own store and those phones are then locked to that network, so i'd assume (as they don't have seperate stock for each individual network) that that's exactly what happens. the IMEI is registered to that user and locked to there network. thing with iphone aswell is if you pay matey on the street £15 to unlock it, as soon as you do an update through I-tunes it will revert to the network it was origonally locked too

 

[soze]

I would say Apple lock the phone when they sell it on a Contract. If you buy a phone out of contract you can't then be forced to have to pay to have it removed from the first network you used on the phone. Appels SIM lock is done via iTunes when a network unlock it they tell Apple that its now SIM Free and after an update your iPhone is SIM Free. I would imagine it works in reverse when they sell it on a Contract rather than every phone SIM locks to the first sim card.

 

[eksdee]

I don't envy anyone calling up to get a new contract. I work for a mobile phone magazine (Mobile News) and we do a 'Mystery Caller' thing each issue, some of the shit people come out with us unbelievable.

Can only echo the advice of others here though in saying that often the best thing to do is to threaten to leave. Most networks value you simply not being with another network to give you a silly deal if you're willing to push for it.