Understanding contracts? (currently on PAYG)

[/\ndy]

Hi all,

I might appear a bit dumb at this subject, but i have never been on a contract phone before and theres just a few things am concerned about, so here goes:

Monthly charge - I understand there are various tariffs and different rates for contracts,
but lets say i am looking at a £25 a month deal with o2, i then see line rental next to it for say £30, so is this paid ontop of the £25 a month? or is this inclusive?

Contract duration - are there any benefits for going with 18 months, as opposed to 12?

Charge - If i was to go over my £25 a month deal in calls, would i get charged a lot?

Can the contract be changed from say £25 to £30?

Any finally what are benefits of having a contract? also the disadvantages?

Thanks for your time,

Andy

 

[McDaniel]

Line rental = monthly charge.

e.g

Monthly Charge = £30

Free Mins Anytime 600
Free Text = 500

This means you will get charged £30 a month, but you get 600 minutes anytime free and 500 text free.

So if you did nothing but text... and you sent 501 texts your bill would be

£30 line rental(monthly charge) and 10p for the 1 text that was not part of your 500 free

 

[TomaHawk]

> Monthly Charge:
The line rental depends upon the tariff chosen or the 'deal' you go for. If you were to choose the £25 deal then that is your line rental for the duration of your contract.

> Contract Duration:
Usually 18month contracts give you (well what seems to be) a better deal, in some respects. You may be offered slightly more minutes/texts a month for the same price.. or a slightly better handset. BUT usually working out the monthly line rental and equating that over the 18months.. you may as well go on a higher 12month tariff.

> Charge:
The charge after you have used up the monthly 'inclusive' minutes/texts contained within your tariff, will be the standard rate for phone calls.. which varies with networks but o2 are around 20p a minute. If you find yourself paying quite a bit on top of your line rental I'd recommend moving to a higher tariff.

> Tariff Change:
Networks don't mind you spending more on your line rental/tariff.. so increasing your line rental to take advantage of more minutes/texts on a higher tariff isn't a problem. But if you were to find you WEREN'T using the minutes and wanted to drop to a lower tariff, you'd have to wait until the terms of the contract allowed you to do so.

Hope this helps.

 

[PinkPig]

but lets say i am looking at a £25 a month deal with o2, i then see line rental next to it for say £30, so is this paid ontop of the £25 a month? or is this inclusive?

The monthly charge and the line rental are the same thing. They can't be different prices! If you've found a deal that says "£25 a month" then "line rental £30" then either you've misread it, there's a mistake, or perhaps it's actually a special offer where the line rental is usually £30 but reduced to £25.

 

[/\ndy]

Thanks for the great responses guys, well appreciated!