Originally Posted by Russ_WWFC:
“I know what you mean about the lengths too, I usually get bored of my phone after a year - the way things are going I can see 36 month deals coming up - whereas 12 months was the norm before, it's now 18 and slowly creeping up to 24”
36 month deals could make sense if you got an upgrade say every 18 months - the network knows they have you for 3 years but you're not stuck with an outdated phone. The downside would be come upgrade time the network doesn't need to tempt you to stay so could try and stick you with a lame phone or at least one that isn't as high end as the one you started with.
Orange have been trying 36 month deals but the market just doesn't seem to like them at the moment, maybe that will change. Also of course a lot of people are not "tech savvy" so don't mind - or even know- if their phone is not cutting edge.
Either way there isn't the margins in 18 month deals to make them attractive for the networks to push hard on high end phones.