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Hi, looking to work away from home for a couple of years unfortunately so need a better phone than my works brick soi can keep in touch with the loved ones.
Has anyone took out a contract for a new phone and went for the free gift option like a 40"tv or tablet. Are the tv's / tablets any good or just a sales gimmick or am I better just taking out a normal contract for a iPhone or Samsung phone?
been tempted but never seen a gift that fits at the right time.
there are some deal comparison sites that show the overall cost of the contract so use that to compare what you will pay in the end. Unless you have planned to buy one of the gifts I suspect it's not the best deal, overall read the small print - nothing in life is free it's just part of the cost.
Dont do it. You pay for the cost of the 'free' item through the contract
IMO you are better going for the cashback deals - IF you are organised to REMEMBER to send in the correct paperwork at the correct time.
Got £400 back on a £600 contract last time.
Probably the best option at the moment is to go for a free tablet.
Carphone Warehouse will do a phone and tablet deal for less than £20 per month but your starting point should be to compare the cost of the mins and texts (plus data assuming you have that)on your current tariff with what that will cost on with the deal.
As an example the to buy say a Nexus 7 16gb tablet might be £179. Add in say a Samsung Galaxy Ace on a new PAYG connection at £99 you can then compare that cost with getting them both 'free' plus the cost of a contract over 2 years.
That way you can judge for yourself if the free gift is worth it or not.
Historically the most popular free gifts have been TV's, laptops or games consoles but its all turning towards tablets now.
When you know how these deals work you wouldn't bother.
You're not buying the phone - you're actually buying the laptop.
Margins on laptops are that low (as low as £5 per unit) that one of the ways of selling them profitably is with some kind of other revenue attached to them. This used to be insurance or a spare charger or a bag.
The revenue available from a mobile phone contract (because you're tied in and likely to renew) is much higher. That's why they're bundling them together to make profit from the overall deal.
They're often crap laptops and crap TVs also.
Best bet is to find a decent mobile phone deal and look for cash back - through quidco or similar - not the network themselves. Then do the same for the TV or laptop.
sorry to correct but
Probably the best option at the moment is to [s]go for a free tablet.[/s] read the contract and small print to see how much it will cost every deal is different and needs looking at on it's merits
Freebies are things that are already included in the margin and cost but added to make it look better. Unless you are going to get one AND it's a good price walk away.
Written from a salesman's perspective - never give away what you've not already charged for.
IMO you are better going for the cashback deals - IF you are organised to REMEMBER to send in the correct paperwork at the correct time.Got £400 back on a £600 contract last time.
I've been doing this for years. Currently on paying net £3.98 a month each for mine and my GF's contracts - extortionate for me - the previous contract boiled down to 99p a month 🙂
Buy the crap phone with the best terms, bin phone (or get small amount of money back on it from recycling)*, get new flashy one (usu. PAYG is cheapest), transfer SIM card and you can show off to all the kids in the playground you're just as hip and with it as they are for a fraction of the cost.
*I struggle on with the crap ones cos I'm tight 🙂 If you've never had better you never know any different 😉
Girlfriend has just upgraded to a Nokia Lumia 820 and it came with a free Qi wireless charging plate - handy as i have the same phone!
On O2 it was.
No. There might be some good deals but usually the cost of the gift is offset by the cost of the phone. I.e. the phone is cheap compared to the same monthly deal without the gift. Usually see them with the cheaper Galaxy phones which are dead cheap but you're paying £40 a month.
No such thing as a free gift.
Ha ha! My cycling phone only cost £2.99!
IMO you are better going for the cashback deals - IF you are organised to REMEMBER to send in the correct paperwork at the correct time.
make sure you can afford / would want the deal without the cashback though - your contract is with the phone network provider and the cashback is coming from a third party. Those third parties tend to go bust, but you stay tied to the contract for its duration.
I got a ps3 with a nokia 6300 (years ago) with a supposed 150 cashback got ps3 and phone next day and applied for cashback, i had to wait 6 months for it ;/ theyre just clearing out all the old phones they cnt sell or new models are comming out and bundle them with a "gift" i cancelld my contract and kept ps3 ; ) just get a good phone on a nice contract 3 do some of the best i got my ip5 on a 2 yr deal 32gb phone free and 35pm for unlimited internet 2000mins and unlimited texts, s3s cand be had for 26pm but the s4 is out in may/june