What's gone wrong with contracts?

spoffle said:
You can't abuse an unlimited service. If they can't provide it, they shouldn't offer it.
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That's like saying it's ok to take a thousand free ketchup sachets when they are offered for free somewhere, just because they are free.

So then they start getting sold for 5p and then everyone is worse off because a few people ruined it.
 
I agree they are way too expensive these days.

I've never paid more than £24 for a phone and that was for my S4. Now I'm paying £34 for an S6. Annoying, but you either pay it or go without I guess.
 
This is why I have stuck to my iPhone 5 when I got it on contract when it came out. The deals these days are retarded, what makes it worse is people will blindly go for it even though it costs them like £40+ a month.

If I ever need a new phone I reckon I will just buy one and go on a sim deal like I am doing now
 
I love my Three £15 a month 12 month contract (Sim only). Unlimited data. 200 minutes, unlimited texts, and free roaming (in a lot of countries that I go to regularly).

Worth every penny in my opinion!

Bundled contracts are way too expensive. Though it makes expensive phones more accessible I guess. However, I don't think I could go back to £30+ contracts. I'm more interested in data, and hardly any contracts offer enticing data contracts.
 
I was in the same situation but managed to speak to one of the suppliers for work and got a sim free LG G3 through them for £149.95 and I moved to VodaFone from EE to a SIM only deal.

Managed to get unlimited calls and texts which I would never use heavily and then 20GB of 4G (first 3 months are unlimited) and 12 months spotify for £25 a month as I also get the discount through work due to the VEA from VodaFone.

Personally, if you can live without the latest and greatest phone, I tend to find these days you can get decent sim free phones for a good price if you are willing to sit a generation behind or hold out for online deals.

I was going to stick to my S4 and run Cyanogenmod on it to keep it going for another 12 months but the LG G3 price was too good to pass up, also wanted the larger screen.
 
totally agree that everything seems to have been hiked recently. I have been "out of market" for three years since I got my Galaxy S3. I got it close to launch for £26/month and then went £10/month Sim only at the end of the contract so its cost me c£250 per annum. Ok if you are prepared to have a phone for 3 years. What's driving the pricing is consumer demand not to retain the device beyond the end of the contract tempted by what are largely annualincremental updates from the manufacturers

Personally I'd like a new phone but logically my custom ROM S3 still does everything I need very well. Battery life is fine and only the Z3 would tempt me as it offered step change in that area. Screen etc is fine and the chassis has stood up to 3 years use reasonably well. For the latest tech and similar usage I would be c£400/annum and what would I get for my £150 - prob higher ppi than I need and a slightly better camera.

Fortunately for the manufacturers and the Network providers most people don't rationalise the purchase decision and focus on the short term utility they get from buying something new. So long as thats the case then prices will continue to rise.
 
dl8860 said:
That's like saying it's ok to take a thousand free ketchup sachets when they are offered for free somewhere, just because they are free.

So then they start getting sold for 5p and then everyone is worse off because a few people ruined it.
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It's nothing like that. Ketchup sachets aren't free, they're included in the price you pay for your food.

If a restaurant offers an unlimited refills service on drinks, but after a certain number, tell you that you've had too much, then they shouldn't offer that as a service because they clearly can't provide it.

Or an all you can eat buffet. If they tell you to pack In eating, then ithey've offered a service they can't provide.
 
Freefaller said:
I love my Three £15 a month 12 month contract (Sim only). Unlimited data. 200 minutes, unlimited texts, and free roaming (in a lot of countries that I go to regularly).

Worth every penny in my opinion!

Bundled contracts are way too expensive. Though it makes expensive phones more accessible I guess. However, I don't think I could go back to £30+ contracts. I'm more interested in data, and hardly any contracts offer enticing data contracts.
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I'm on the same price plan. Any long phone calls I make are done over Skype or Hangouts, which generally suits me better anyway as the call quality is significantly higher.

I'll be making plenty of use of their roaming service too, just after I booked a flight to Spain, Three announced that they're adding Spain to their feel at home service, which was a nice plus.
 
The cost of multiple buyouts and there now being only three companies in the market; I think that is where the money is going rather than the cost of 4G networking gear.
 
spoffle said:
It's nothing like that. Ketchup sachets aren't free, they're included in the price you pay for your food.

If a restaurant offers an unlimited refills service on drinks, but after a certain number, tell you that you've had too much, then they shouldn't offer that as a service because they clearly can't provide it.

Or an all you can eat buffet. If they tell you to pack In eating, then ithey've offered a service they can't provide.
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Yeh but they point is that there is a reasonable amount of consumption that is expected. It's the equivalent of someone taking boxes of all-you-can-eat food with them when they leave the restaurant, in my opinion. Or standing at the unlimited refill drinks thing filling up an entire barrel.

I completely agree that from a logical, legal standpoint an unlimited service means just that. And it's true that the onus should be on the company to enforce terms that prevent abuse. I just think it does still count as abuse, when a few individuals are allowed to ruin it for the rest, and is therefore bloody annoying.
 
dl8860 said:
Yeh but they point is that there is a reasonable amount of consumption that is expected. It's the equivalent of someone taking boxes of all-you-can-eat food with them when they leave the restaurant, in my opinion. Or standing at the unlimited refill drinks thing filling up an entire barrel.

I completely agree that from a logical, legal standpoint an unlimited service means just that. And it's true that the onus should be on the company to enforce terms that prevent abuse. I just think it does still count as abuse, when a few individuals are allowed to ruin it for the rest, and is therefore bloody annoying.
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It's not like taking boxes of all you can eat food, because there are stipulations on how you can consume "all you can eat", as it's based on a time period usually, and restricted to all you can eat whilst in the restaurant at the time.

But the point is that there aren't, and can't be any such stipulations with an unlimited data plan, as it's not unlimited data then. So it really isn't a case of people ruining it for others, it's completely a case of they can't provide that service.

So they either upgrade their infrastructure, or stop offering the service. Not blame the people who are using the service as it's advertised. It's like being angry at people watching "too much" on Netflix because Netflix didn't have the infrastructure to provide unlimited streaming to their customers.
 
I only do sim only 12 month contracts now. Anyone who signs up for a £50 a month two year contract is utterly insane if you ask me.

I just buy outright whatever phone takes my fancy when it comes down to the right price every couple of years.

Shocked more people don't do this to be honest.
 
I have a friend who works for Vodaphone who can get me 30% discounts. Even with that, their price plans for some of the latest handsets were still more expensive than others.

I've got an iPad mini 2 on a contract using my friend's discount though, for about £16 a month and that was only just cheaper than getting it from Three without a discount!

I only opted for Vodaphone as they had them available quicker, and if I ever have any signal issues with either, I've got the other I can use. Which has actually come in handy a number of times. Plus I'm effectively getting an iPad mini 2 with a data connection for the same price as buying a cellular iPad mini by itself with no service.
 
Actual sim price isn't too bad I'd say, it's the phone part that gobbles up a big portion of the contract price. We have basically approached a point where a phone costs about the same as a decent specced laptop.
 
I'm in a similar situation myself. Got a S4 at launch and looking to upgrade to the S6. I was paying £26 a month for unlimited data although I paid £100 for the phone with £50 cashback. It was actually a decent deal as it was hardly any different to buying the phone outright.

Now I can not find anything as close as that on EE :(. I miss the recession!
 
So long as you don't mind sticking with the same phone for two years or paying the extra after a year to change nothing is wrong with contracts. You can get some good deals, that said the less monthly payments I'm committed too the better so I avoid them.

I'm currently with Three and their all you can eat data because I use a lot of data, I was with Giffgaff but the price increases forced me over to Three.
 
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