Billions of people around the world have mobile phone contracts, often referred to as post-pay contracts. Such contracts enable one to have the convenience of paying for any mobile phone charges on a monthly basis.
The trouble is, they aren’t always good value for money. Here are some reasons why you should ditch your mobile phone contract and opt for a pre-pay tariff, either with your existing network provider or with someone else.
You Don’t Have To Pay Over-The-Odds For A Handset
It’s a well-known fact that on monthly post-pay contracts, mobile phones are subsidised by network operators; in other words, they buy your handset from the manufacturer and pay for it out of their own money, and then get the money back off you through your monthly instalments.
The trouble is, network operators charge you more for doing this instead of just charging you the actual phone price. For example, in the UK it is not uncommon for network operators to charge you £650 over the course of your contract for a new Apple iPhone, even though the phone itself might only cost £549 if you bought it directly from an Apple retail outlet.
By having a pre-pay or “pay-as-you-go” tariff instead, you have the freedom to choose or buy whatever phones you want, whether they are new or used, rather than sticking with whatever your network operator wants to charge you.
It’s Not Unusual To Save More Than 50% Off Your Bill
Let’s say that your monthly post-pay contract costs you £40 a month. If you had a pre-pay tariff instead, you would only ever have to pay for topups when you needed, with the minimum topup usually being £5 or £10 (depending on the network operator you are with).
Some networks even offer “SIM-only contracts”, which are either 30-day or 12-month contracts but don’t come with a mobile phone; if you find that your network’s pre-pay tariffs aren’t as good as post-pay ones, you could always get the best of both worlds by having a SIM-only contract.
This will mean you are tied into a contract for a certain period of time, but you won’t be paying anywhere near as much as what you did when you originally took your post-pay contract out.
There Is A Bigger Choice Of Tariffs And Networks Out There
A value-added (VAS telecom) provider might have all sorts of features that some subscribers can benefit from, such as cut-price cinema tickets or discounts at various retail establishments, but if all you need is a phone that you can call and text people on, and do nothing more, then you have the option to check what sort of network providers are out there that can offer you a better tariff.
Perhaps you might need a tariff that offers you excellent rates on international phone calls, so that you can call your relatives and friends overseas if you are on holiday, or if you are working away from home for a set period of time.
