One of the biggest issues many of us have experienced with Three and other major mobile networks is phones being locked to sims only from those networks. This means that if you decide to go to another provider on a contract only or pay and you go sim (without a phone) then you would need to purchase a new phone anyway. Sometimes getting a phone without a SIM is the better option
Some of you may be thinking what's the point if I can get an good phone on contract?
Well think of it like this, to get a great phone like a Samsung Galaxy S4 or an Iphone5 the network will normally put you on a contract that's at least £30 for 24 months and will possibly charge you a small fee for the phone as well. Now if you take into account that mobile communications have come a long way and cost the networks much less to run, you are paying £720 during this period plus the £30-100 extra you may pay as a premium for the phone so that makes a total of at least £750 if not more. A Galaxy S4 and Iphone range between £400-£550 last time I checked and take into account the networks will get wholesale prices from the phone manufacturers that's a big dent in your budget.
So how does this compare to Sim only? At the time of writing I checked the contracts with Three. To get a Galaxy S4 you need a minimum contract of £33 for 24 months with no premium for the phone so your total costs before additional call charges is £792. With this base level contract you get 500 minutes, 1000 texts and unlimited internet. Sounds great right? Not really because you're tied to the same phone for 24 months so if it's faulty after 1 year and you have no insurance then you're in trouble!
Here is what would have happened on a Sim-only contract. You can get a 12 month contract for £15 that gives you 2000 minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 Three to Three minutes and unlimited data/internet. Already this is sounding better. You can even go on 1 month contracts with them for £18 if you don't want to be tied down to 1 year. So over a 2 year period this now costs you £360.
Now you need a phone, well if you have an existing phone you may be able to do a trade in with some phone stores and get some money off and this is especially good if you're phone is tied to a network. Now you can still go down the Galaxy S4 route and they are currently retailing at around £400-450 so you would be paying as much for it as you would with a contract BUT now you're on a 12 month contract with more minutes and you can now sell your phone at any point and it will retail more value than at the end of a longer contract. But the real way to save is the fact you can get a decent dual core android or windows phone for less than £200 these days.
Some of you may be thinking what's the point if I can get an good phone on contract?
Well think of it like this, to get a great phone like a Samsung Galaxy S4 or an Iphone5 the network will normally put you on a contract that's at least £30 for 24 months and will possibly charge you a small fee for the phone as well. Now if you take into account that mobile communications have come a long way and cost the networks much less to run, you are paying £720 during this period plus the £30-100 extra you may pay as a premium for the phone so that makes a total of at least £750 if not more. A Galaxy S4 and Iphone range between £400-£550 last time I checked and take into account the networks will get wholesale prices from the phone manufacturers that's a big dent in your budget.
So how does this compare to Sim only? At the time of writing I checked the contracts with Three. To get a Galaxy S4 you need a minimum contract of £33 for 24 months with no premium for the phone so your total costs before additional call charges is £792. With this base level contract you get 500 minutes, 1000 texts and unlimited internet. Sounds great right? Not really because you're tied to the same phone for 24 months so if it's faulty after 1 year and you have no insurance then you're in trouble!
Here is what would have happened on a Sim-only contract. You can get a 12 month contract for £15 that gives you 2000 minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 Three to Three minutes and unlimited data/internet. Already this is sounding better. You can even go on 1 month contracts with them for £18 if you don't want to be tied down to 1 year. So over a 2 year period this now costs you £360.
Now you need a phone, well if you have an existing phone you may be able to do a trade in with some phone stores and get some money off and this is especially good if you're phone is tied to a network. Now you can still go down the Galaxy S4 route and they are currently retailing at around £400-450 so you would be paying as much for it as you would with a contract BUT now you're on a 12 month contract with more minutes and you can now sell your phone at any point and it will retail more value than at the end of a longer contract. But the real way to save is the fact you can get a decent dual core android or windows phone for less than £200 these days.
