Best Phone Contract Deals

Cheap mobile bills – You will have numerous freebies included in the contract such as free inclusive talk minutes, free texts and free data usage. This all contributes towards keeping your bills as low as possible.

Flexibility – There are so many different mobile phone contracts out on the market today that you are sure to find a contract that fulfils your specific criteria. Some contracts will offer free unlimited minutes which is good if you are a big talker, many offer unlimited texts and some even offer unlimited data transfer so you can stream youtube or Spotify on the move without having to worry about huge data transfer fees. If you are on a tight budget there are phone contracts that start at £5 per month onwards so there is a wealth of choice out there – you just need to decide what aspects of the contract are most important to you.

Free phone – One of the best parts about having a mobile phone contract is the fact that you can choose a new mobile phone as part of the contract (usually free of charge). This means you can get hold of a cutting edge smartphone as part of the contract without having to pay the outright cost which can be up to £700 for the most high end models.

Freebies – Some phone providers even offer free gifts to entice users to take out mobile phone contracts on their network. Some of these gifts can be expensive items such as televisions, xbox, ps3, tablet computers, laptops, etc. so it is worth keeping a look out for any deals if you were thinking of buying one of the freebie items anyway as it could save you a bundle.

Always on – From a security point of view a mobile contract provides peace of mind because you will always have a usable phone line should you need to make an important call immediately. If you were on a PAYG phone you would need to ensure that you always had enough credit on the phone to be able to connect and complete a phone call which isn’t ideal in an emergency.

If you are someone that does not use their mobile phone very often then a PAYG phone can be a good option because you can add credit to the phone and if it is not used in one month it will usually carry over to the next month until it has all been used.

However, if you use your mobile phone fairly regularly most people will save money over time by having a mobile contract because on average PAYG customers tend to spend more on their bills over time on calls, texts and data than customers on an equivalent contract.

The most common lengths of contract available for a mobile phone contract are 12 months, 18 months and 24 months. Generally speaking the longer the term of the contract, the better deal you will get. This can mean you will get more free minutes, more free texts or a greater data allowance. Sometimes it can also mean you could get a more expensive model of phone if opting for a longer contract term.

If you were looking at a SIM only deal (which is a contract that does not include a phone – it only supplies the SIM card which you slot into a phone) the contract terms are most commonly 30 day rolling contracts (you only need to give 30 days’ notice if you want to cancel the contract), 12 month contracts or 24 month contracts.

Mobile phone contracts can work out to be a long term commitment if taken out over 24 months so it is important that you choose the right deal for you now and for the future. Given that there are so many contracts to choose from it would be wise to think about the particular criteria that are most important to you and work out the best contract based on your requirements.

Areas to take into account when considering a new contract include:

• How many free minutes and texts would I genuinely require per month? You do not want to have hundreds of unused minutes or texts at the end of the month because these will not usually carryover to the next month. On the other hand you do not want to ideally go over your allocated free minutes because each minute above your quota will result in added costs to your mobile bill.

• At what time of day do I use the mobile phone most? There are some phone deals that have allowances for off peak calls.

• How much data will I use? If you use the Internet a lot on your phone e.g. checking Facebook, sports results, general browsing on the web, then you will want to look at a phone contract that includes a reasonable quota of free data transfer. Remember that if you go over your data transfer allowance you will be charged for additional data transferred which can prove to be expensive.

• What type of phone do I want? There are mobile contracts that include most phones on the market today so you can pretty much pick and choose the phone of your choice.

• What is my budget? Mobile contracts can be taken out for as little as £5 per month and can range up to £50 plus per month so it is important to work out what is affordable as a monthly payment (particularly if the contract is taken over 24 months.

• How long do I want my contract to be? Most mobile phone contracts will be offered over 12 months or 24 months. The longer the deal, the more inclusive freebies you will be offered and also you will likely be able to get a free mobile phone with a better specification. Bear in mind that towards the end of the contract you will be invited to upgrade to a newer phone so if you like to have the best in technology it would make most sense to opt for a shorter contract so you can get access to the newest phones quicker.

• Do I have a mobile network preference? This can be an important consideration because although all the major phone networks have very good mobile coverage these days, some will have small “blackspots” where 2G, 3G or 4G isn’t achievable. In other words you could be stuck with a phone on a network where you are unable to make calls (or the calls keep getting dropped mid call) or you are unable to browse the Internet on your phone. The good news is that all of the major networks have signal checker tools on their websites so you can go onto your chosen network, enter your selected postcode and check how good the coverage is in your area. A good tip is to try the postcode for important locations in your day to day life such as home, work, partner’s house, friend’s house, family house, etc so that you can get good coverage wherever you go.

Yes. If you are currently on a mobile phone contracts, payg or SIM only contract and you want to move to a new mobile contract you can also take your existing phone number with you – even if you are moving to a different mobile network.

Moving your number is called number porting and it is a simply process to complete.

To move your mobile phone number to a new provider you need to contact your existing phone network and ask them to supply you with your PAC (Port Authorisation Code).

Once you have your new handset and new mobile phone contract in place you will be given a temporary phone number. You should then contact your new phone network and quote the temporary number, the number that you want to retain and give them your PAC.

The new number should then be transferred over to the new contract and should be usable on the new phone within 7 working days.