Mobile Contracts

[geoff-r]

Hi guys, looking for a little help on this one. I have a phone contract as we all do but my problem is that it's quite frankly rubbish. It's with O2 and for £30 a month I get 300 mins and unlimited texts. I think this is a pretty poor deal, the guy at O2 even agreed! The phone is utterly crap, Sony Ericsson Satio, the software is buggy, it crashes, often locks up so I need to remove the battery etc, the only good point it has is the fact that it has a 12 mega pixel camera. It was great when I first got it but 12 months in and it's starting to show it's age. Why have an 18/24 month contract when the phone just won't last?!

 

Anyway I called up O2 this afternoon to find out how much they wanted to buy my contract out, they want £180 plus my most recent bill pushing it to somewhere near £240.

 

I need to know is there anyway I can buy it out cheaper? Can I go to another provider and sign up with them and get them to part subsidise my buy out? Basically I want to pay as little as possible to get out of this terrible contract. O2 tell me I can't do anything with them to reduce the buy out. I think the top trade in on those cash for mobile websites is somewhere in the region of £150 so I can knock that off but I just want out of a terrible contract with a shocking phone (possibly the last Sony Ericsson I ever have).

[Andy82]

Firstly can you downgrade your current plan (maybe cite financial difficulties) as that would be cheaper to downgrade to the lowest package possible and sell the phone to cover the remain un-used bills, then the world is your oyster as all current providers seem to offer better deals.

 

I recommend most android phones, avoid Sony Ericsson they haven't made a good phone for years, I like my HTC phones even with the poor battery life (which smartphones don't have poor battery performance)

 

I would always strongly recommend buy direct from the network website or over the phone with the network, having once worked for a network all the 3rd party companies cannot be trusted, from lieing about what you are getting to selling your details i've seen and heard it all even he big guns do it. The advantage of a telephone/internet sale from the networks direct is you have 7 days to try your new phone and service out if you don't like it notify them within these 7 days and you can return it and either choose a different phone or cancel the agreement all together.

 

Hastily written apologies on the quality.

[Zugara]

Nothing wrong with my xperia x10

[geoff-r]

Cheers for the info Andy. I did call them again not even citing financial difficulties (not that I am) stating that I wanted to downgrade to the lowest and they stated it would be from the next bill at £20 a month which isn't too bad. I may very well downgrade, stick two fingers up to the network and leave. I'm quite tempted by the Android phones to be honest, they look and feel good. I'm not an Apple man so I ruled the iPhone out a long time ago plus I'm not paying an upfront premium to own it.

 

Anyone recommend a really good tariff at the moment circa £30/month?

[DoogyRev]

We have just has a new Windows 7 Phone delivered this week.... and its quite good

[geoff-r]

We have just has a new Windows 7 Phone delivered this week.... and its quite good

 

Interesting I quite like the look of them, maybe the question I should be asking then is can anyone recommend a good phone, smartphone preferably, as the right tariff can be had anywhere.

[CaptainSensible]

I've just got an HTC Desire on Vodafone and am very impressed having previously been both a Nokia and Sony Ericksson boy. Phone was fee on a £30p/m contract, which inlcues 300 free minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of interent.

 

There's loads of free apps you can download, some of the games are pretty addictive! Plus it syncs with your Facebook so when a contact rings you it bring up theiur profile picture and also imports their other contact details. I'm sure all smart phones do this but I was impressed!

 

The only not so good thing is battery life but it comfortably last the day with around 1/3 left so usually put on charge overnight.

[geoff-r]

I did have a look at that, it's got to be an Android phone really. HTCs certainly look good.

[Ricey]

Cheers for the info Andy. I did call them again not even citing financial difficulties (not that I am) stating that I wanted to downgrade to the lowest and they stated it would be from the next bill at £20 a month which isn't too bad. I may very well downgrade, stick two fingers up to the network and leave. I'm quite tempted by the Android phones to be honest, they look and feel good. I'm not an Apple man so I ruled the iPhone out a long time ago plus I'm not paying an upfront premium to own it.

 

Anyone recommend a really good tariff at the moment circa £30/month?

 

2 things - don't 'buy out of it' just drop it to the lowest and give it the missus or keep it in the car as an emergency......no point buying out and losing all the free minutes/texts you've just paid for! Granted you can't port your number if you do this but tis up to you.

 

My current contract is £25 per month with Vodamoan for HTC Legend (great phone but Desire HD is far more I-Phoneish) 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 500mb internet usage (provided you have wireless internet at home you'll never come close to using it).