Reply With QuoteOpen up an Excel, work out the difference, go with the cheaper route. Same as when buying most things, Mick.
My missus bought a new MacBook Pro and loves it. She now wants to dump her Apple 6s plus onto me so she can have a Apple 11.
She can have one on a contract with VirginMedia or she can buy one.
I know nothing about mobile phones and I also know nothing of the market.
So simple question to you clued up geeks, what is the best way of getting one ?
Many Thanks
Open up an Excel, work out the difference, go with the cheaper route. Same as when buying most things, Mick.
That is the easy bit, what I don't know is will Virgin Media or any other ISP offer better protection than a stand alone purchase.Originally Posted by wileeeeeey
For instance, one perk offered by VM is that you don't pay for calls to another VM phone.
I am really just picking brains on other peoples experience.
It honestly varies more than you would ever know.
SIM only and buy the phone offline Vs phone and plan together. Netowkr Vs network is very different.
I pay £20 per month for unlimited calls and texts, 20GB of 4G data and Spotify. I buy my own phone. The only reason I buy my own phone is I don't like 24 month contracts and the network I'm with didn't sell the phone I wanted. Before then I always did an excel once per year to work out avg monthly cost and total cost.
Free calls to other virgin numbers is a nonsense and very retro. Most call plans now are unlimited calls and texts with only the data being the decider so that would factor 0% in my decision making.
I buy my phone then go sim only as it works out cheaper for me. Currently have free calls and texts with 50gb of 4g data for £20 a month with BT. I don't mind having an older phone which helps (Samsung Note 8). Just work out how much it's going to cost over the period of the contract compared to buying the phone outright and then the sim only monthly payments. Like has been said, nearly all sim only contracts give free calls and texts these days. Will be even cheaper if she doesn't mind getting a refurbished iPhone 11.
Usually just a simple calculation.
I buy my phone form the Apple store and have a SIM only deal with 02. Cheapest way for me.
The most important factor will be how much data she uses, if you end up with a plan that gives too little you'll end up overpaying to buy what she needs.
Forget the free virgin to virgin calls perk, the minimum you should be looking for should offer hundreds of minutes of free calls to any network.
Generally, I’ve always found that buying the phone outright and a sim only plan works out about 10% cheaper than opting to get the phone on a contract.
You don’t get any better protection by buying a contract phone.
Usually some useful ideas on the Martin Lewis site:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ph...ng/#newhandset
But that would be true on a sim only deal as well surely?
I always but the phone these days and have a sim only deal.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Is that really a perk though? Minutes, when included on a price plan are generally plentiful and you’ve also got to factor in if you really talk for that long on the phone...especially to another VM mobile phone user.
Data is the big variable to be considering unless you are using a cheap basic non-data capable phone.
When I picked up my Google Pixel, it was better for me buy phone from Carphone Warehouse on their rolling sim 30 day contract, which you can cancel straight away (14 day cooling off period). Buying phone outright from CPW was more expensive.
I had a iPhone 4s and wanted the 5s. The cost to upgrade for 24 months including the new 5s was in total about £100~ over what I had been paying in the previous two years as tariffs had changed. Therefore the new 5s cost £100~.
I look at cost to upgrade with existing number. Cost for a new new contact, number and phone. Or cost to buy phone and get my own sim over the same period as the upgrade or new contract period.
A post about moving from a 4s to a 5s - way to keep topical and up to date !
I just bought MrsO an 11 from the Apple Store - I always buy in the US as it is much cheaper .
For me I didn’t need the latest so bought a refurbished 8 again direct from Apple - scroll down to the bottom of the page for refurbished options .
Today they had 8 / X / XS on the list .
We use Giffgaff sims for UK - seem reasonable packages .
As with most here I but my phone, and run it on Giffgaff.
Leaves me the freedom to change my phone whenever I like without any ties.
Cheers,
Ben
..... for I have become the Jedi of flippers
" an extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife "
The 5s is still topical for me as it is still in use! And the 4s still works (well kind of but frustratingly slow).
But whilst the upgrade cost £100 or so, I think the phone price at the time was about £300. The same upgrade scenario may still possibly apply, albeit at a much greater cost.
When I upgraded from 5s just over a year ago, buying the phone with a rolling contact sim worked out the cheapest.
Sometimes a third party deal , ala Carphonewarehouse works wonders. I got my XS last year with unlimited data and calls for £37 pm . That s less than half what I pay for my daughters contract on the same Vodafone network and probably only just covered the cost of the phone itself .
I always used to buy the phone and go SIM only but that deal was too good to turn down .
Places like HotUK deals and the like throw up these deals from time to time .
I have just ported my vodafone number in and out because I can get their highest tariff which is £36 for £20 via a third party...
I may just go for the VM package, it is just an easy one stop shop.
Is there any advantage in buying direct from Apple ?
Little known, it seems, but if you buy direct from Apple you can get a phone at 0% over 20 months. I did it with my iPhone 7 and the missus has just done it with her XR. Obviously this spreads the cost out and you are then free to choose your own sim.
I'm with Virgin because they offered me unlimited calls/texts/data for £10 a month on top of my TV/Broadband/Landline package.
The missus just moved to Smarty. £10 a month for unlimited calls/texts/30GB data. As far as I can tell, unless you'd actually use more data than that, that's the best widely-available deal on the market at the moment. The good news with it is that if something better comes along it's just a rolling monthly contract so you can leave immediately.
Deals go on all the time and can buck the trend but in general buying the phone outright and getting sim only is the better way to go and reduces monthly payments - if that's important to you.
I like 3, pretty much all their sims have free 3 to 3 calls and texts (most of my family is on 3), they have a very good foreign roaming setup and their 'go binge' is great for when my son wants to watch netflix on long journeys (data from this and certain other online services is free and doesn't come out of your data allowance) i'm paying £14 for a 12gb ultd/ultd sim with go roam / binge.
I foolishly bought an apple iphone xs on apples upgrade plan, I plan to see this out and keep the phone as long as it is viable and then buy outright again.
This is what I do too, although with Vodafone.
Big advantage to me is that if you have an issue with phone its much easier to deal with Apple if it was bought from them. Most issues they can sort out over the phone or in store.
Previously, having got my phone through Vodafone and having issues, they just told me it was getting old (2 years old!) and I’d need a new phone and new contract.
Mick, might not be for you but I renewed my son.only yesterday with Vodafone.
Unlimited calls, unlisted texts, 30GB of 5G data, Spotify. £20.80 per month for 12 months. This is 20% off what they offer online.
I've bought a phone off Vinny here instead which will come next week.
Own the phones and sim only on both, unlimited calls and texts 3g download which suits us both ( at home use the broadband and freebie where possible when out and about) £6.30 pm.
No point in buying gb’s if you do not use them.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
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