Before you start signing a mobile contract, there are a few questions that you should be asking yourself to make sure that you're getting the best deal. Most of us want to save a little money these days, and the wrong mobile contract could cost you a fortune. You have plenty of options out there, and you want to make sure that you're choosing the right one. So before you sign, ask yourself these questions...Do I Really Need a Contract?
You do have another option; you don't have to sign a contract. Pay as you go plans are not as popular as they once were, but some customers benefit more from them than from contracts. If you're a light phone user, someone who calls for less than ten minutes a week, who sends only three to four texts a day and who uses mobile data only for email and casual web browsing, then chances are that pay as you go will be a better deal for you. It's worth keeping in mind...
Am I Choosing the Right Calling Plan?
The calling plan is the most important part of any mobile contract. This is the set of monthly limits for the amount of calling minutes, text messages and mobile data that you're allowed to use for your set monthly fee. The wrong plan is going to end up costing you money. Here's the deal. Imagine you have a plan that includes thirty calling minutes.
If you call for thirty minutes a month, you pay your monthly fee. If you call for five minutes a month, you still pay the same monthly fee. So a plan that's too big means paying for services that you don't use. Now imagine that you call for forty minutes a month, what happens now? You pay your regular monthly fee, plus premium rate charges on the extra ten minutes that you used. So a plan that's too small isn't a good financial decision either. You need the right sized calling plan, even if that means getting a pay as you go plan for a month so that you can track your usage and find out the amount of minutes, texts and data that you need.
Am I Taking Free Txt and Calling Minutes into Account?
Many operators these days will offer you free txt and calling minutes as an incentive to sign up for a contract. There's no point accepting this offer if you're not actually going to use them though. You'll want to take these free txt and calling minute offers into account when choosing your calling plan, so that you make full use of them. If you get thirty free calling minutes a month, for example, you might want to choose a calling plan that has lower calling minute limits than you would otherwise choose.
Do I Really Need that Incentive Phone?
Operators are going to offer you two contract choices, incentive and SIM only. Both of these are going to come with a calling plan of your choosing, but an incentive contract also comes with a free or low cost mobile phone. Think about this option carefully. A phone is pretty tempting, but it's not going to be free. The monthly bill on an incentive contract is going to be higher than the monthly bill on a SIM only contract, because basically you're buying a phone in instalments, and the bill will include a monthly payment for your phone. With most instalment plans you end up paying more than the actual cost of the item that you get, because you're both paying for the convenience of not having to make a big initial payment and because the company is taking a risk by giving you something without get full and immediate payment in return. Incentive contracts are no different. You will pay more than the retail cost of the phone that you get over the course of the contract.
If you already have a phone to use, or if you can afford to buy one up front, you should do so and then sign a SIM only contract, because you will save money. Don't be tempted into getting a new phone just because they're offering you one. You should only sign an incentive contract if that is the only way you can get a phone that you absolutely need.
How Long Am I Going to Sign Up For?
You will also be offered a choice of contract terms. Usually you can choose between a twenty four month, eighteen month or twelve month contract. Some SIM only contracts also come in rolling thirty day periods. This means that the contract is only for thirty days, but it will automatically renew every month unless you tell the operator that you want to stop your service. The longer your contract is the lower your payments will generally be. And if you sign an incentive contract this is especially true, since the cost of the phone is spread out over more monthly payments, making each individual payment smaller. But don't forget that once signed up, it's going to be difficult to get out of your contract. That means that switching to another operator to get a better deal could be complicated. And if your financial situation changes then you might be stuck making payments that you really can't afford to make.
Will I Have Good Service?
Your mobile reception depends on how good coverage is with your operator in you local area. If you don't get good coverage then you won't get good reception. That might mean that your phone won't work at all, but at the least it will mean that you get slow mobile data speeds and bad call quality. You should always check coverage in your area before signing up with an operator. Just go to the operator's web page and look for the coverage map that the operator is required to have there.
Sam Jones’s son knew that packages which included free txt messages would save him money. He proved himself right when he compared deals online and started to spend less on his phone bill every month.
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