# Best place to look for phone contracts?



## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

So with the piece of art that has been released (Samsung s8) I am contemplating going back to having a contract. What are the trusted on line sites to search the best value deals? Or is it better to walk into a physical shop and speak with an assistant?


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## MagpieRH (May 27, 2014)

If you can afford it, I'd buy the phone outright and get a sim-only contract; that's what I did although admittedly I'm not interested in the 'premium' £500+ handsets.

My contract is £7 a month on Virgin Mobile; 600 mins, unltd texts and a GB of data.

If you're after the S8, I'm not sure you'll get much of a deal because it's the latest flagship and will be in demand. I think I saw an ad on TV the other day that said you could get it for £47/month + £30 upfront. That's a huge chunk of money when you add it all up.


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## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

Mobiles.co.uk

Used them a few times now and always got the best deal and good service.

On expensive handsets, contract is the cheaper option. Buying outright and then adding the sim costs over 24months have always equated to more than the cost of the contract over the same period based on my research when getting my iPhone 6S a while back.


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## kingswood (Jun 23, 2016)

used tesco for a while. do interest free on the phone and you pay for a sim deal on top.

ok buying upfront if youve the cash but on a 48 mnth % free deal your buying money


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## STEALTH K3 (Dec 29, 2006)

If you have the phone look at theses https://www.thepeoplesoperator.com/


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## Guitarjon (Jul 13, 2012)

I was always under the assumption that buying the phone outright and a cheap monthly sim only deal was the best way. However, my wife's just come up to upgrade time and they've really ramped up the prices of handsets. Unless you are going for a slitly older model it's just not worth buying the phone outright. We also found that carphone warehouse are no longer very competitive being one of the only shops you can actually walk into and discuss options. Since phones4u have dispersed there's no real competition. 

We did find the inline phone retailers were the best way to go now. We spoke to EE and said we would leave hoping t get out through to retentions who still could only offer us either a larger monthly bill and rediculous amounts of unneeded data or a huge upfront costs to kee her bill similar. Marketing wise, both Apple and Samsung are top of their game and will always have a following so nowtheybcharge what they want for the latest phone as people will always pay it. They've partly got round this by doing away with smaller capacity memories in favour of a price hike on more expensive batteries. 

I really like the look of the s8 like yourself, but I just can't justify having the latest tech any more when phones are costing so much now. I was interested in the latest hwaiwi or whatever it's called butbeven they are pushing iPhone and Samsung prices considering they are a cheaper brand.


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## Guitarjon (Jul 13, 2012)

I'll try and find out where we got wife's phone deal from later. It was better than EE couldnoffer her on retention and actually ended up paying a little less than she currently does.


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## Guitarjon (Jul 13, 2012)

Www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk is where she got her deal from.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

Another thumbs up for www.mobiles.co.uk. Used them for the last 4 years now always beat any quote so give them a call.


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

I was going to go down the buy phone/contract sim route too but the savings over a normal contract were negligible, not because of the cost of the phone but because I wanted to stay with EE and their sim only deals were rubbish. CPW are always cheaper than the networks and if you physically go into store, they will haggle on extras or up front costs, maybe even throw in some cash. Just be aware that even though there are usually better deals to be found online, many of the sites like mobiles.co.uk are actually owned by Carphone Warehouse


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## The_Weasel (Nov 23, 2006)

Matt have a read through the Martin Lewis pages below, lots of info that might help

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/mobile-phone-cost-cutting

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-mobile-phone-contracts


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## bradleymarky (Nov 29, 2013)

have you tried your home internet provider. I got an iPhone 5s for £15 a month from virgin.


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