Upgrading my phone and contract

neviditelny · 31 Jan 2020 at 10:33

I'm thinking about upgrading my phone and contract as it has now run out. I'm currently using a Samsung Galaxy S7 and pay around £30 a month for my contract which includes only 1GB of data (but then I'm mostly using wifi while being at home or at work).

I would like to stay with an Android phone and try to not go to much higher on my monthly bill as I'm trying to cut living costs (I'm with Vodafone at the moment).

My main question to you people would be about decent phones? I'm not using many apps at all (mostly using Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp). I'm planning to head into a Vodafone shop in the weekend to see what phones they have and how they look/feel in my hand and to use but would like suggestions to check out.

MrRockliffe · 31 Jan 2020 at 10:49

neviditelny said:
I'm thinking about upgrading my phone and contract as it has now run out. I'm currently using a Samsung Galaxy S7 and pay around £30 a month for my contract which includes only 1GB of data (but then I'm mostly using wifi while being at home or at work).

I would like to stay with an Android phone and try to not go to much higher on my monthly bill as I'm trying to cut living costs (I'm with Vodafone at the moment).

My main question to you people would be about decent phones? I'm not using many apps at all (mostly using Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp). I'm planning to head into a Vodafone shop in the weekend to see what phones they have and how they look/feel in my hand and to use but would like suggestions to check out.

If you’ve been happy with your S7, I would recommend an S10 - you still get the headphone jack, and it’s an all round improvement over the S7

Alternatively, the Oneplus 7T is decent

Squink · 31 Jan 2020 at 11:15

If you go into a Vodafone shop without doing any research, they'll happily sell you a cheap phone with not much data for a little over your budget.

Decide what phone you want in advance (or two or three to look at) - S10 a good shout, also the Huawei P30 Pro - and check out prices available at the many resellers. These companies are generally as reliable and trustworthy as going direct to the carrier, but cheaper. Either order online or get Vodafone to price match in store (if they will).

neviditelny · 31 Jan 2020 at 18:07

With the Galaxy S10 my contract would get £10-15 more expensive a month, with the Huawei it would be similar price increase. I did look at SIM only plans and I could do a 12 month contract with 10GB data and unlimited calls+texts for £10.63 a month. I'm thinking about upgrading to this contract until beginning of next year and then get a new phone as my Galaxy is still working alright and it would make it a bit cheaper for me each month as well.

joelk2 · 31 Jan 2020 at 18:24

neviditelny said:
With the Galaxy S10 my contract would get £10-15 more expensive a month, with the Huawei it would be similar price increase. I did look at SIM only plans and I could do a 12 month contract with 10GB data and unlimited calls+texts for £10.63 a month. I'm thinking about upgrading to this contract until beginning of next year and then get a new phone as my Galaxy is still working alright and it would make it a bit cheaper for me each month as well.

ive always found upgrades to be rubbish. switching networks would give you much better deal.

the other option is to call them with a deal you can find online and get them to price match it. they wont be able to but they might do it better than the online or instore listed deals.

£33 a month here with EE, free phone, 30gb data a month.

https://www.fonehouse.co.uk/basket?...4_1580494944_d208e04d6d503e0894f54a8c12313105

instore places ive always found they cannot do any deals apart from ones in the shop.

Squink · 31 Jan 2020 at 22:37

I saw the p30 pro on hotukdeals for I think 32 quid a month with loads of data and a Watch GT thrown in.

If you like the s7 stick with it. The fact you're posting about an upgrade makes me think those nagging thoughts of new shinies won't go away

flea.rider · 31 Jan 2020 at 22:57

wow .. 1 gb wtf ?? mobile phones direct or phones 4 u .. way better than ee but yet ee phones

neviditelny · 31 Jan 2020 at 23:45

I've decided to stick with my S7 as it still works well and battery still lasts pretty good too. I'm going to change the contract to a 10GB data with unlimited texts/calls for about £10 a month (my last bill was £37).
If worse comes to it I can get a cheapish phones on Amazon if the need arises or just wait until beginning of next year when this 12 month contract would expire and get a new phone in that way.

neviditelny · 31 Jan 2020 at 23:47

mulpsmebeauty said:
I saw the p30 pro on hotukdeals for I think 32 quid a month with loads of data and a Watch GT thrown in.

If you like the s7 stick with it. The fact you're posting about an upgrade makes me think those nagging thoughts of new shinies won't go away

The main thing was that I didn't realise my contract had run out, I thought I had more time on it so then I started to think a little.
I don't really need loads of data as I'm about 95% of the time connected to a wifi system. The times I've just the full data have been when I've been away on a holiday sometime and posted pics on fb without being connected to the wifi.

kration · 1 Feb 2020 at 11:44

neviditelny said:
I've decided to stick with my S7 as it still works well and battery still lasts pretty good too. I'm going to change the contract to a 10GB data with unlimited texts/calls for about £10 a month (my last bill was £37).
If worse comes to it I can get a cheapish phones on Amazon if the need arises or just wait until beginning of next year when this 12 month contract would expire and get a new phone in that way.

Which company is the £10 sim only deal with?

neviditelny · 1 Feb 2020 at 17:46

kration said:
Which company is the £10 sim only deal with?

Vodafone

Drunkenmassacre · 1 Feb 2020 at 23:13

by all means, go into a shop and 'try out' as many phones as you like, but when it comes to getting a new contract, do it over the phone via their retentions team. The people in store will only have so much sway with what options they can offer you, but if you phone up and say you want to leave as your contract is up, you might be surprised as to what they'll offer.

Just my 2 pence worth

oldestgregg · 3 Feb 2020 at 15:23

I work for a mobile phone company in upgrades and retention's over the phone. Always better to phone up as store will generally try to sell you a new contract and not an upgrade as you get it a bit cheaper. Store cannot offer retention deals and a lot of the time we can price match or get close to it as an upgrade. The third party thing is great for the consumer but often comes with a few small downsides like...

There are certain online only third parties that sell returned/reconditioned handsets for instance. Now, this may be just a phone that was sent out,was unopened and returned under the 14 day cooling off period. The other side of that is it could have been used for a week or could have been repaired.

Most of the online third parties are literally just an email address and any problems,despite you being on the network,can only be dealt with through said third party which can be frustrating given its just an email address and they don't have an actual human you can speak with. This is some,not all.

Warranty. Given some of these companies sell reconditioned and returned handsets the warranty can often be covered from when *they* purchased the handset and often times Ive seen the customer be 8 month into Apples 12 month warranty when they take out the 2 year contract. I may be wrong but I think Apple may off extended warranty to 24 month now but it was 12 month up until recently.

New phone number. If you are already on the same network as the new deal you have seen is, it will probably be a new contract and not an upgrade. This will mean a new number as you cant straight swap a number from one line to the other, it has to be ported out to a different network and back in as a PAC code is designed to carry a number to a different network.

Third party deals are generally so cheap because its that new customer deal ,which is a loss leader to bring people onto the network. Everyone gets a deal like that once
but its a money losing deal and if it was offered as an upgrade every-time the company would make no money. Its great for the consumer but I can see it from a business point of view and understand why it cant be offered every-time. Saying that though, a lot of the time we *can* offer it as a retention deal so bare that in mind and always ring to see what can be done.

Squink · 3 Feb 2020 at 17:30

I think a lot of what you say is inaccurate. Third party resellers don't just sneakily give you a refurb unless it's made clear at the point of purchase. The main telcos also sell refurbs, again advertised at the point of sale.

Plus these resellers are genuine companies (eg mobiles.co.uk is owned by CPW), not fly by nights looking to offload a few dodgy handsets and then do a runner. Every reseller I've dealt with has responded promptly and efficiently. If you work directly for a telco your friends and family discount mean you probably never have to look elsewhere for a reasonably priced deal. Hence the office mistruths about dodgy resellers go unchallenged by personal experience.

Finally, these aren't loss leaders. These are profit making companies which are able to undercut the big telcos because the latter are in many cases absurdly and dishonestly overpriced. You work in retentions so you should know that your customers are obliged to haggle for a best price. With a reseller you simply get the best price up front and it's often better than a retentions "deal".

oldestgregg · 3 Feb 2020 at 20:12

mulpsmebeauty said:
I think a lot of what you say is inaccurate. Third party resellers don't just sneakily give you a refurb unless it's made clear at the point of purchase. The main telcos also sell refurbs, again advertised at the point of sale.

Plus these resellers are genuine companies (eg mobiles.co.uk is owned by CPW), not fly by nights looking to offload a few dodgy handsets and then do a runner. Every reseller I've dealt with has responded promptly and efficiently. If you work directly for a telco your friends and family discount mean you probably never have to look elsewhere for a reasonably priced deal. Hence the office mistruths about dodgy resellers go unchallenged by personal experience.

Finally, these aren't loss leaders. These are profit making companies which are able to undercut the big telcos because the latter are in many cases absurdly and dishonestly overpriced. You work in retentions so you should know that your customers are obliged to haggle for a best price. With a reseller you simply get the best price up front and it's often better than a retentions "deal".

The companies that do sell reconned and returned do state as such in the terms and cons. Its not done on the sly its just put up front when you read the details but its in the smaller print. The likes of uswitch and cpw dont but Im talking about the more random ones ie, mobilephonesaregreat.com or similar which are online only as I said.

They *are* loss leaders as well as the way the companies structure their bonus and such are different. They take a loss in the short term but look to recoup it in the long term over the year. For instance last year there was an iphone 11 deal for £33 a month. These deals are not there all the time because they are loss leaders. They are cheaper in general but when you do a quick search for an iphone 11 deal for instance ,it will give you the best prices *today* which are not there long term they are more of a flash deal and its what most people buy

Everything I said is the truth ,if you choose to take it as such is up to you. I never said all them do that but the ones that do state as such in the terms and conditions.

Dirk Diggler · 4 Feb 2020 at 08:05

neviditelny said:
I've decided to stick with my S7 as it still works well and battery still lasts pretty good too. I'm going to change the contract to a 10GB data with unlimited texts/calls for about £10 a month (my last bill was £37).
If worse comes to it I can get a cheapish phones on Amazon if the need arises or just wait until beginning of next year when this 12 month contract would expire and get a new phone in that way.

You've made the best choice for your circumstances by the looks of it. Have you entered into a new contract yet? Reason I ask is that you should be getting that type of deal on a month rolling contract, no need to sign up for years.

neviditelny · 4 Feb 2020 at 10:06

String said:
You've made the best choice for your circumstances by the looks of it. Have you entered into a new contract yet? Reason I ask is that you should be getting that type of deal on a month rolling contract, no need to sign up for years.

I've just upgraded my contract, 12 months, 10GB data, unlimited texts and call SIM only. So in beginning of next year I shall most likely upgrade with a new phone as well.