Buyer's Guide - Things to watch out for when buying a mobile phone, things they don't tell you in the mobile phone shops!

Buying Online - No Salesmen.

One of they key advantages of buying a mobile phone deal online is that you do not have to deal with a sales person who may have a hidden agenda. Most sales people in High Street shops have a large element of their monthly pay based on commission. Every so often the mobile phone networks get the sales people to push particular phones simply because the margins are higher and hence are more profitable.

The fact there is no one to talk things through with can also be a downside - unless you are capable and happy working through the details yourself. That is why we have included this guide - to hopefully steer you through some of the basics and help you avoid some of the pitfalls that catch out many people buying in the High Street. If you make a wrong decision - it can be VERY expensive.

One quick example of getting it wrong. We are fairly busy answering the phone to people who ask us if we have any really cheap no contract handsets. The reason they are asking us this is because they have bought a mobile phone deal in a contract (which ties them in for a minimum of 12 months) and have had it stolen or lost. Most people do not take out phone insurance even though around 10% of all mobile phones are lost or stolen. If you buy a mobile phone on a 12 month contract without any additional insurance and lose the handset, you have two options:

1) Carry on paying the line rental (e.g. £35 per month) for the rest of the contract term (up to 12 months - e.g. £420!!!) with no phone to make any calls on, i.e. simply pay £420 for nothing in return

2) Buy a new sim free handset - again, if you had a "fancy" handset (colour, camera etc.) you will typically need to pay around £200-£300.

Our advice, when buying a phone is to make sure you have insurance (note, most home insurance policies do NOT cover mobile phones, for the express reason so many are lost or stolen).

Two ways to buy a phone?

When committing to a 12 month contract - the usual attraction is the "free phone" offer. Basically you never get something for nothing, and what retailers do here is subsidise the cost of the phone as you are committed to a minimum term contract.

Pay As You Go:

Pay As You Go deals are where you buy the ownership of the handset outright. Usually handsets are bundled together with a network provider's sim card so you are ready "to go" as soon as your activate the sim card. To make calls, you need to buy "top up" cards.

Disadvantages of Pay As You Go:

1. You cannot generally take a Pay As You Go phone overseas
2. You have to pay "up front" for the purchase of the phone - can be difficult if you are on a tight budget
3. Calls can be incredibly expensive. You very often do not see the small print on the call charges, and can pay up to 50p a minute, with calls rounded up to the nearest minute hence, ten 65 second phone calls could cost up to £10 (equivalent of £120 an hour!). Many people spending over £10 a month on a Pay As You Go deal would be far better off with something like a £4 per month line rental deal with the Utility Warehouse (currently the UK's cheapest line rental deal).
4. You never get to see a statement - this is particularly concerning to us as most Pay As You Go phones are given to children at school. The parent doesn't know how many "competition calls" or dubious phone calls the child is making. In worst case scenarios, Pay As You Go mobiles are used by drug traffickers etc. as they are very difficult to trace by the Police - which in turn means they can find it more difficult to find a phone (or child) if it goes missing
5. You can run out of credit mid sentence and get cut off - if it is a critical call (e.g. we've broken down at.......) it could be awkward, if not dangerous.
6. If you use a Pay As You Go phone for emergency use (e.g. in the car) you may have to make a call at least once every 6 months to keep your connection live. If you forget and then need it when you break down, but haven't made a call in the last 6 months, you may not be able to call home or the breakdown company.

Advantages of Pay As You Go phone deals:

1. Ideal for low/emergency use - can be very cheap if you don't use a mobile much.

2. You are not tied into a contract so if you find you are using it more than you expected, you can change your tariff (e.g. get a cheap sim card)

3. You do not have to be over 18 to buy one. (Contract phones insist you are over 18).

4. There are no credit checks, i.e. you can have a poor credit rating but still have a mobile phone.