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12 month contracts
southlad
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In May 2011, OFCOM said that networks must offer contracts lasting no longer than 12 months in addition to their 24 month contracts.
Looking on three.co.uk they only offer 12 months deals on their sim only contracts and not on contracts with a new phone.
Weirdly, when I queried this on Three Chat, the advisor said ofcom were wrong!!
Looking on three.co.uk they only offer 12 months deals on their sim only contracts and not on contracts with a new phone.
Weirdly, when I queried this on Three Chat, the advisor said ofcom were wrong!!
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It means that if the provider offer a 24 month contract then they must also offer a shorter one.
Must providers offer 12 months on sim only, but not 24 month.
It didn't actually say that it had to be a contract with a handset though, so the 12 month options tend to be sim-only
Exactly. OFCOM simply said 12 month contracts must be offered - it never said 12 month contracts must be offered with a handset.
Some networks do offer some 12 month contracts with a handset though - but as said they'll charge £££ for them, so it's swings and roundabouts really.
I kinda want to get a 12 month contract next time because I find that I get bored of my phone after a year or so. A get out clause after a year would be a real bonus... but I have to weigh up whether or not it's worth the additional cost.
Vodafone do a new tariff where you can change your phone every year but you have to hand the old one back as it's just rented I think see here
they don't save you money, but you pay for the phone in 12 months instead of 24, and no doubt pay a bit more so the network gets their moneys worth, just in case they lose you after 12 months.
The advantage of 12 months is that you can change your phone if you are the sort that likes a shiny new phone every 12 months and can change networks instead of being stuck with the same one for 2 years,.
They wont do it for the latest iPhone though if you wanted one of those say, even if you are an upgrading customer.
they are so uncompetitive that they may as well not offer them at all.
I think that's because O2 still treat the iPhone as if they have an exclusive on it. Last time I wanted to unlock my iPhone 4S after a couple of months so I could use an international SIM when I was abroad they told me they wouldn't do it as they were keeping the phone "only for their valued customers". The stupid thing was, I'd been one of those "valued customers" for about 4 years at that point, AND I'd bought the phone and signed up for a 12 month contract, so why would it matter at that point if I wanted to unlock it, they'd already got me.
They're a strange company sometimes in the way they do business.
For some, it can work out cheaper than getting a 24 month deal and then buying a SIM only phone half way through if they are 'bored' of the handset that came with the deal.
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-monthly/vodafone-red-hot/index.htm
WHOAH, it's automatically added the link in for voda not me (the text in blue for Vodafone)
Yes that would be the illegal advertising that D's use these days.