Beware
the salesman!
We
do not have any sales staff to pester you - this means if you buy a
phone from our site, you are likely to remain a customer because you
have chosen us, rather we have pestered you.
All
our sales are generated through the internet which means we do not
have to cover the costs of expensive high street outlets
and hence offer much lower prices.
A lot
of people we talk to have been caught out when shopping in the High
Street - remember, most sales staff in the mobile phone shops are paid
on commission. If they don't sell you a phone, they don't get
paid - this generally means they are not necessarily acting on your
behalf, but rather in their own interests.
Sales
staff very often don't go over the standard charges as well as they
should. In many cases, they don't go over the various charges at all.
They just tell you the great deal you're getting and ask you to sign
up to a twelve month contract, or an inappropriate expensive "pay
as you go" phone.
Don't
get caught for 12 months!
Unfortunately
it is only once people get their first bill they realise just how expensive
a contract mobile phone can be and by then it is too late - they are
locked to paying the fees for 12 months.
Telecom
plus plc are so confident with their prices that they don't lock
you in for 12 months - in fact, they have no minimum contracts at
all.
Only
companies who know they are expensive need to lock you in to stop you
going elsewhere. Why would any company lock you into a long contract?
unless they know their deal is not the best. Our advice is be very,
very careful about signing long term contracts - you don't need
too.
Pay
as you go ? (or "pay through the nose" ?)
The
usual alternative when trying to avoid the 12 month contract mobile
phone is the "pay as you go" or "pre-pay" option.
The big risk of the "pay as you go" mobile phone is being
caught with extremely high call charges - a daytime call can often cost
as much as 50p per minute, with per minute billing.
Don't
forget, peak rate on a mobile phone is up until 7pm in the evening -
leaving most people with just 3 hours a day when they can use their
mobile phone "cheap rate". Now, consider an average quick
phone call "honey, I'm on my way home...." lasting just 65
seconds - that one phone call might therefore cost £1 or
£365 per year on a pay as you go tariff with per minute billing.
The
equivalent cost on the MobileXtra
tariff (which has per second billing) would cost just £39.54 -
saving you a massive £325 each year.
Emergency
use only
A lot
of people buy "pay as you go" phones for "emergency use
and low use only" and find just a couple of calls a week can cost
them £10-£15 per month. A "pay as you go" phone
can also leave you without being able to make a phone call when you
need it most - if you don't regularly "top up" your mobile
phone, then it becomes a "don't pay - don't go" mobile phone.
The
MobileXtra tariff
has the advantage of no monthly line rental (as with "pay as you
go" phones), but also allows you to make cheap peak rate
calls (as with contract phones) without the fear of running out of "talk
time". If you are worried about spending too much on your calls
- you can set a monthly
limit on the phone. You receive full details of this free service
with your mobile phone.
You
will also benefit from free itemised billing on the MobileXtra
tariff - the reason you never see an itemised bill in a Pay As You Go
phone is because the mobile phone operators don't want you to see just
how much the calls are costing you. It's perfectly possible to produce
itemised billing for Pay As You Go phones - it's just the industry doesn't
want to!
Itemised
Billing
A lot
of companies quote prices such as "just £11.99 per month"
then add small print that states you must also purchase itemised billing
at £1.99 per month, and also add VAT! So instead of the cost being
£11.99 per month, the real cost is actually £16.42 per month,
but by the time you see your first bill, it could be too late - you've
signed for 12 months.
The
Mobileplus tariff
is £9.99 and this price already includes VAT and
itemised billing. There is also have free itemised billing on our
MobileXtra tariff
as standard.
The
Peak Rate/Cheap Rate Trick
Why
should it cost more to make a phone call at 6:59pm than it does at 7:01pm?
What has changed - do you get a cheaper radio mast?, a poorer line quality?
No! So why do so many mobile phone companies have a separate cost between
peak rate/cheap rate?
Simply
because they know that most people think they only use their
phone during cheap rate times, when the reality is most people end up
making a good number of calls during peak rate (especially as most people
don't even realise peak rate is up until 7pm on a weekday.) Again, it
is one of the great mobile phone industry tricks.
You
need to carefully consider just when you want to make calls from
your mobile not when you must. The most common time to need
your mobile is when you are away from home - which for most people
is during peak rate.
We
do not force you to make calls at certain times of the day as both Mobileplus
and MobileXtra tariffs
have a single call rate - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can use
your mobile anytime of day without worrying about how much the call
will cost you.
"Free
minutes" - the myth exposed.
This
is another one of the biggest traps around - and most unsuspecting people
get caught. A lot of mobile phone operators offer so-called "free
minutes". They then go on to say the phone will cost £17.99
per month. Sorry, did we miss something? We thought is was free? Then,
reading the small print, you notice the free minutes are only available
at off peak times - so you can end up paying £18 in return for
£5 worth of "free" calls. Not quite free is it?. We
get a lot of people who have been on £15 a month tariffs with
750 free minutes and yet still pay over £300 a month in call charges.
Once
again, our advice is be very cautious about bundled "free minutes".
Choose your mobile phone on how much you want to use it -
not on how much you could use it.
Confusion
marketing ?
Choosing
a mobile phone deal is a very confusing task. The fact that there are
so many different deals for one product (the mobile phone) is not a
coincidence - it is known in the industry as "confusion marketing"
and is designed purposefully to stop you looking for the best deal.
Telecom
plus tariffs are very different. Our calls cost the same,
anytime of day, any day of the week, and you are not in a 12 month contract
- so you know exactly where you stand. If you find the deal isn't the
best one for you, then you are free to cancel.
In
summary.......
When
deciding which mobile phone you want to buy - don't look at the "deals"
until you have worked out (truthfully) when and how often you want to
use your mobile. When you have done that, have a good look at our rates
(which you will not find in any High Street shops as Telecom plus
plc only sell through Independent Distributors like ourselves).
