In today’s financial climate most of us are trying to cut costs and make savings wherever we can. Sometimes this means cutting down on luxuries. However, for many of us a mobile phone isn’t a luxury any more, it’s a necessity. So many jobs require workers to be in constant contact, not to mention the demands of friends and family. But there are ways that you can cut costs on your mobile service. Today we’re talking about how to save money on mobile contracts. So, if you’re looking to sign a new contract, then read on to find out how you can save yourself some cash…
The Best Mobile Phone Network for Price…
If you’re looking for the best mobile phone network that comes in with the lowest prices, then you have a couple of options, depending on what you’re looking for. In general, the cheapest contracts come through Vodafone. However, these contracts come with extremely low monthly limits on the amount of calling minutes, text messages and mobile data that you can use, and they’re only a good financial idea if you’re able to keep to those limits. Three has the cheapest mobile data prices, making it the best mobile phone network for big internet users. For heavy phone users the best prices are usually with T-Mobile, which offers the biggest plans for the cheapest prices.
Sign SIM Only Over Incentive…
If you really want to save money you’re going to want to sign a SIM only contract rather than an incentive one. Most operators offer both kinds of contracts, and both contracts will give you a calling plan, but an incentive contract will also give you a free mobile phone. The monthly cost on an incentive contract will be higher than the monthly cost on a SIM only contract, even when both have the same calling plan. And if you multiply the extra cost by the number of months in your contract you’ll find that the total price you pay for that free mobile is higher than the retail price of the phone. This is because you’re basically buying a phone in instalments, and like most instalment plans you end up paying extra for the convenience of not putting any money down. In terms of long term savings you will always be better off signing a SIM only contract and then buying a phone yourself if you need one.
Consider Not Signing a Contract…
Contracts have their advantages, you always have service, you get a convenient monthly bill, and for average or high users you tend to save money. But lighter phone users usually benefit more from getting a pay as you go plan, rather than a contract. Contracts have higher limits on the amount of minutes, texts and data than a light phone user will use, meaning that they end up paying for services that they don’t use. With pay as you go you only pay for services that you actually use, so whilst the rates may be higher than on a contract you end up saving money anyway. A light phone user is defined as someone who uses less than thirty calling minutes per week, sends three to four text messages a day and who uses mobile data only for map apps and casual web browsing.
Think About Switching Operators…
There are lots of mobile operators on the UK market, which can make choosing between them hard. But so much competition means that operators often offer special deals to new customers as an incentive to get you to sign a contract. These deals are usually things like extra services on top of your contract, or discounted payments for the first few months of service. If your current contract is coming to an end, you might benefit from switching operators and taking advantage of some of the new customer deals. Operators often reserve their best deals for new customers, and people resigning contracts can’t take advantage of them. Switching operators is easy, and you can even take your mobile phone number with you as long as you request it from your old company.
Choose the Right Plan…
Probably the biggest way that most people waste money on mobile services is by having the wrong calling plan with their contract. You calling plan has a set limit for calling minutes, text messages and mobile data that you can use for a set monthly fee. You will pay that same fee no matter whether you use everything within your limits or nothing. So if the limits are too high for you, you’ll constantly pay for services that you’re not using. When you go over the limits on your mobile calling plan you’ll be charged expensive extra fees for using extra services. That means that if your plan is too small for you you’ll constantly be being charged extra on top of your bill. You need the calling plan that comes closest to matching your needs. Look at your old phone bills to get an idea of what your average monthly usage looks like, and then choose your calling plan accordingly.
Use the Internet…
There are a couple of ways that you’ll save money by doing your contract shopping on the internet. Firstly, you can more easily comparison shop. You can go to one of dozens of mobile tariff comparison sites and compare prices on plans with different operators until you find the cheapest one around. Plus, most operators offer discounts to online shoppers. Prices on contracts tend to be lower online, or at least there are more special offers, such as extra services, for online shoppers. It’s generally best to shop directly from the mobile operator’s site though. Beware of third party sites that offer cash rebate schemes on mobile contracts. These aren’t really scams, but they rarely result in you getting everything that you’re promised, and are better avoided. Settle for the real discounts that you get from a mobile operator, rather than the promise of cash in the future from a third party site.
A neighbour of Sam Jones needed to be sure that the best mobile phone network was available to him. He showed him how easy uSwitch is and suddenly all the information he needed was staring him in the face.
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