contract question (vodafone)

Disco Boy · 11 Jan 2013 at 13:34

Hi everyone,

I was wondering whether it is possible to end a 12 month SIM only plan early by upgrading it to a 24 month iPhone plan? Specifically this is what I would like to do:

Take out a 12 month SIM only plan @ £15.50 pcm now.
In a few months (<12) change it to a 24 month iPhone plan for ~£40 pcm.

Is this possible to do without penalty because I am changing to a more expensive plan? Or would I have to buy out the remainder of the SIM only contract? A 12 month plan is much more attractive than a 1 month plan.

dasyad · 11 Jan 2013 at 13:37

I don't see why they would let you bail out a 12 month contract early without having to pay any remainder.

How many months is a few? If is three then a 30 day rolling for three months can't be that bad.

I don't work for Vodafone so you'd probably be best ringing them and asking

Myshra · 11 Jan 2013 at 13:43

I highly expect this not to be allowed. Maybe giffgaff for a few months would carry you over?

InertProtocol · 11 Jan 2013 at 13:44

You'll be lucky.

Just ring them and ask. You never know...

Disco Boy · 11 Jan 2013 at 15:28

dasyad said:
I don't see why they would let you bail out a 12 month contract early without having to pay any remainder.

How many months is a few? If is three then a 30 day rolling for three months can't be that bad.

I don't work for Vodafone so you'd probably be best ringing them and asking

Well I would effectively be changing to a more expensive deal, it's to their benefit.

Myshra said:
I highly expect this not to be allowed. Maybe giffgaff for a few months would carry you over?

GiffGaff would usually be a good recommendation, but my OH works for Vodafone so I can get either 30% or 50% off a Vodafone contract depending on how I play it. Factoring in quidco cashback it just isn't worth it not to go with vodafone.

For example, one option:
£15.50 pcm contract *12 months = £186
less 30% = 130.20
less £100 quidco cashback =£30.20 pa

InertProtocol said:
You'll be lucky.

Just ring them and ask. You never know...

I was hoping that someone might know the answer from their own experience

sonic_rm · 11 Jan 2013 at 15:32

Disco Boy said:
Hi everyone,

I was wondering whether it is possible to end a 12 month SIM only plan early by upgrading it to a 24 month iPhone plan? Specifically this is what I would like to do:

Take out a 12 month SIM only plan @ £15.50 pcm now.
In a few months (<12) change it to a 24 month iPhone plan for ~£40 pcm.

Is this possible to do without penalty because I am changing to a more expensive plan? Or would I have to buy out the remainder of the SIM only contract? A 12 month plan is much more attractive than a 1 month plan.

If it's a sim only contract they normally do let you upgrade to a 24 month contract after half the period i.e 6 months. Sometimes even earlier.

The network is not losing anything in a SIMO contract hence they would rather have the customer tied in for another 24 months, contracts with free phones are a different story.

dasyad · 11 Jan 2013 at 16:44

Disco Boy said:
GiffGaff would usually be a good recommendation, but my OH works for Vodafone so I can get either 30% or 50% off a Vodafone contract depending on how I play it. Factoring in quidco cashback it just isn't worth it not to go with vodafone.

For example, one option:
£15.50 pcm contract *12 months = £186
less 30% = 130.20
less £100 quidco cashback =£30.20 pa

Wow so you would only need to pay £30.2 for a whole 12 months SIM only? At that price point even if I was just keeping the SIM only deal for 3 or 4 months I would definitely do it because you're still only looking at between £10 and £7 only per month of usage.

Can you get Quidco on a deal that is already discounted by 30%?

Myshra · 11 Jan 2013 at 19:03

dasyad said:
Can you get Quidco on a deal that is already discounted by 30%?

You can off some deals, I got 50% staff discount (I work there too, Faraday House represent) + quidco.

The problem is in releasing the number, not the price really.

MrSnuggleBump · 12 Jan 2013 at 00:13

As sonic_rm says, 6 months is the usual amount of time that you must wait before you can upgrade a contract early however if you pointed out that you wanted to increase both your length of contract and cost then I'm sure they'd make an exception.

Disco Boy · 12 Jan 2013 at 12:34

Myshra said:
You can off some deals, I got 50% staff discount (I work there too, Faraday House represent) + quidco.

The problem is in releasing the number, not the price really.

The number is the thing. I'm thinking I'll take a 12 month sim only plan, then just change numbers and keep paying for the old contract when I decide to upgrade.

Thanks all.