Help needed please - phone contract

In recent years Black Friday deals are significantly better than Boxing Day deals on most items. She’s better off doing it today, which it sounds like she is.

 

This! In fact always this. Stay sim only. If you need a new phone just buy one. If you want to spread the cost of one, get a interest free credit card or a argos card with 9 months no interest.

 

Car phone warehouse offering 72 pound cashback on some contracts

 

Be aware that when you ring 3 they will not give you your PAC code. They will hit you with their retention team who will offer you deal upon deal, hoping to wear you down until you give in and sign up for another 12 months.

I haven't tried it but according to the OFCOM website, if you text PAC to 65075 it should start a quick and trouble free process to terminate your contact without notice charges and get your PAC code.

3 will probably ring you within ten seconds but just keep telling them the deal you've seen with sky and don't give up. They used to hold all the cards as you can't leave without your PAC code. I understand OFCOM regs say they have half an hour from when you text to reply with the code, so just tell them to match the deal or you're hanging up and waiting for the text

 

Can you arrange to keep your phone number by doing this?

Sorry but Jamdrop seems an expert compared to me. I know nothing.

 

Yes you can. Works exactly the same when switching to SIM only as it does when switching to a new phone included contract

 

I have to look after 3 phones contracts for me, spouse and son. All with 02.

The phones are now paid for, but the continuing monthly payments for each of them are far higher than the monthly numbers quoted on this thread.

I'm after 2 new iphones (I know, but the family all are fond of them). If I just buy 2 new ones from e.g. Argos, then what do I say to O2?

Cos I want to keep everyone connected, with the same numbers, on the same network.

Thanks for any help/advice.

 

Sincere thanks @leeupo! Went with the Sky deal. 3GB is plenty for me and £6 a month for 12 months with a one-off £40 cashback is spot on!

 

Nice one!

I pay about £70 a month for mine. Really should switch to sim only and buy the new phone every 2 years myself.

 

That was what I was planning on doing when I got this phone but it really did work out cheaper for me to do the £20 a month for the phone and 4GB data for 24 months (or 25 as I've messed up) once the £70 cashback was factored in too as it was my first smart phone and I didn't know how much data I would need. I bought my husband an Honor 10 for his birthday last year outright as he pays £12 a month for 8GB data (another Black Friday deal that came with £60 cashback) so he didn't need a contract too. He uses much more data than me so he needs the bigger allowance.

Black Friday really is the very best time to do anything phone contract related as they tend to do double the data/half the price plus cashback rates are inflated too.

 

Tell O2 you want to switch to sim only. They will switch you over without even needed to change your sim. (You may need a new one if the new phone takes a smaller sim) you will keep the same number. But have a look who is offering what deals. Plenty of comparison sites online. And tell O2 if you find a better deal, they may match it or at least get close.

 

I'm with plusnet, Sim only I pay £6.30 a month with unlimited calls and texts and 1.5gb data, which I never get through.

I'm going back to a contract though, because my phone is now 5 years old and needs replacing.

I was going to buy a phone outright, and keep my sim, but it's actually cheaper to get one on a contract with cashback.

I actually get cash back through the company and quidco, which makes it a pretty good deal.

 

Once you get a couple of years into Sim only you really can drive the prices down by threatening to leave every year.
I have 3 Sims on my ee account. I pay £36 a month and we have 50gb of data that we can move around using the gift data option you get with ee. Having them all on one account they also apply a 5% discount for each additional line. So I have 5% off one and 10% of the other on top of the discounts they have given me.
I spend a lot of my free time at work reading Martin Lewis website, I haggle on everything now!

 

https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/compare/sim_only_deals/

 

The phone number actually belongs to you so they can't refuse to give you your PAC code no matter what they say

 

This is true. However, last time I got mine I was on the line to Three's Indian call centre for over an hour before I got it out of them.

 

It’s a good job too, what with everyone using phone numbers for 2 factor authentication these days