Today I wanted to talk about mobile phone contracts and more specifically why I don’t have one.
When I turned 18, one of the first things I did was take out a new phone contract and from memory it was an iPhone 7, top of the range at the time and probably around £35 per month. 2 years later and I upgraded to an iPhone 8. Another 2 years later an iPhone X and I repeated this process all the way through to an iPhone 13, every time, my phone bill increased until finally I was paying almost £100 a month.
My final phone contract was due for renewal in November 2024 and simply put, I refused to upgrade. I was sick of paying an extortionate amount for a phone I used primarily to scroll Facebook and google things. When my phone contract came up for renewal, I did what most people do when looking at upgrading, I looked for the best possible deal, the best of everything, unlimited everything.
Then I had an epiphany, why don’t I keep the phone I have a move to SIM Only? In moving to SIM only, I’d be saving at least the £50 per month device plan but it was actually more than that, overnight I cut my current phone bill down to £10 a month, that’s a £90 saving per month, £1080 per year and given that most phone contracts are 2 or 3 year deals, I’m on track to save between £2160 and £3240 overall.
Even if you still want the latest tech, go direct to Apple or Samsung or whoever manufactures the phone and take it out directly with them, that way you could still probably half your overall bill due to the savings on a SIM only plan.
My advice, don’t do it. Find a SIM only deal and get that, keep the phone you have. If your phone is on the verge of dying for good, look on Wowcher and get a refurbished model, mine cost £54.99.