Also I don't like owing money, a phone contract is similar to hire purchase or a loan in the fact that you are paying the service charges and spreading the cost of the equipment over 2 years.

I like to have more expendable income, so I like to buy things up front, rather than having lots of ongoing monthly commitments.

When you aren't tied down to loads of commitments, you have much more money to buy what you want, when you want.

Precisely.

I've always paid cash for unlocked phones (never had a contract phone) simply goes back to when I was working in different parts of the country where some networks had poor coverage so I could just pop in a PAYG sim. Same as today when I'm living parts of the year on Gran Canaria I can use a local sim for cheap calls home.

Up to middle end.


I always assume most high end phones are contract.
Obviously with the likes of the Nexus 4 the times they are a-changin

I thought you could a tesco sim in an o2 phone but not a o2 sim in a tesco phone?

Anyway i started to buy unbranded handsets when I bought an n70 off ebay. Got told it was unlocked and it wasnt plus it had all the orange bloatware on it but luckly no orange badge on it. I got a part refund from the seller and used that to get it unlocked. I then started to get into mobile phone forums and learned how to updated the n70 to stock firmware and I was dead chuffed when I did it. I kept that phone for a good while then sold it and got the n73.... That was a mistake.

Btw Ace 2 from Phones 4 U is about £180 on pay as you go but the phone is unlocked and unbranded. They just grab a sim card for whatever network you've bought it on.

Never assume

My previous 2 phones (N900 and Galaxy S2) were both bought SIM-free, and used on PAYG, and I know a few other people who do the same. I've got a Nexus 4 now, a no brainer really, but I'd always prefer to buy a phone up front whether it's £300 or £500.

As someone else has already said, freedom is the key. Going SIM-free and PAYG means I update my phone whenever I like, on my terms, and if my provider starts being crap then I can move on easily. A mate at work is thoroughly fed up with Voda at the moment and it's going to cost him the price of a Nexus 4 to buy out of his contract...

Do not wish to be stuck in a contract for 24 months, simple as that.

who said anything about a contract?

I'm talking about pay as you go - which you can get for a phone locked to a network or a sim-free one

Since Tesco Mobile just uses the 02 network I wouldn't expect it too.

As I and others have said, you can get phones on PAYG from CPW and P4U and the handsets are unlocked and unbranded and cost the same as a locked and branded phone from Argos or a networks phone shop. It's a no brainer.

Phones that aren't available to buy on PAYG but can be bought sim free then what other choice do people have? Not everyone can get or even wants (including me) a 2 year contract.

If they want a top phone that can't be bought directly on PAYG but they want the freedom of PAYG then they buy the handset sim free.

High end phones generally are not available on PAYG and only become so once they have been superseded, if i was buying a low end budget phone like the Ace 2 id buy a PAYG one and then from the carphone whorehouse so it would be sim free

I have no cash problems, but when i got my S3 which i wanted on three for the excellent signal, buying outright and getting a sim was much more expensive.

I'm 12 months in to a 24 month contract and wanted an upgrade. I'm happy with Three so not looking to change but for me it was cheaper to buy my new phone SIM free than pay the network's early upgrade fees.

For the majority of the phones I've looked at in CPW and P4U, the locked and branded phones are quite a bit cheaper than the sim-free version, sometimes up to £80 cheaper.

That's because you're looking at phones 4 u & cpw. Look at amazon, expansys, clove etc... the sim free is a lot cheaper than p4u.

Yes branded handsets are usually cheaper because they are subsidized as you pay £10+ top up, then £15+ unlock fee. Plus you have all network apps and crap on the phone. The sim free version works out of the box with all networks, has no branding and gets updates much quicker.

Oh and you've missed the point from other posters. Cpw and p4u give you an unlocked and unbranded handset most of the times no matter if you buy the sim free or payg version

On the point in bold, say if you bought a branded handset and unlocked it, surely as its no longer tied with a particular network, it would be no different from a sim-free in terms of getting updates, right?


Wait this is new to me, so you're telling that if I buy the samsung galaxy ace 2 on vodafone for example (http://www.phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_...#offer_details), that they would give me a sim-free phone?

unlock + unbranded is basically what 'sim-free' means, right?

Nope, even if you unlock it you still have the branded software so updates take ages as the network has to brand it.

Yep, if you go my hukd thread here, you will see that everyone who bought the phone got an unlocked and unbranded version even though they bought the network payg version

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sams...up-p4u-1377471

And yes, sim free usually means unlocked and unbranded. On sites like Amazon though you want to look for the word unlocked in the title

I don't understand though.

If as you say, that, ''Cpw and p4u give you an unlocked and unbranded handset most of the times no matter if you buy the sim free or payg version''

then that beggars my question even more, why does anyone buy a sim-free version of a phone when it is avaliable cheaper on payg. I mean, why does p4u and Cpw even bother putting up their sim-free deals when they offer exactly the same thing on payg orange/vodafone/o2 without the phone being locked or branded (so it is sim-free in all but name)?

Because people know they'll get a sim free version. Most people want a unbranded unlocked handset and if they can get one as cheap as the payg price then why not.

However, if you look at high end phones like the s3 etc... most networks still sell it on payg for around £450 where as it is £380 unlocked on amazon. Usually the payg version only costs less on low cost handsets and not high end phones. Usually

This still doesn't make sense to me. You said that for payg, cpw and p4u gives you an unlocked and unbranded phone (which is basically a sim-free) most of the time. Given that payg deals are nearly always cheaper than the 'official' sim-free version on offer, wheres the logic in having this 'official' sim-free version of the phone on sale and who would buy it if they know that they would get the same thing on payg for cheaper?

Just take a look at this:
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mob...G_GALAXY_ACE_2

payg offers start from £189 (plus £10 top-up), whereas the 'official' sim-free costs £259, even taking into account the £10 top up, the payg is still £60 cheaper than the 'official' sim-free deal. If what you said is true, that the payg phone would be exactly like the sim-free in being unlocked and unbranded, no-one would waste £60 extra in buying the exact same thing, so whats the point in having this £259 sim-free deal?

Yes but you're forgetting what I said before, if you look at amazon, expansys prices then you see they're much cheaper than sim free p4u pricing. I guess the reason p4u price so high sim free is that they get a incentive/commission for selling payg sim with the phone from the relevent network

That's why p4u prices are much higher sim free. But tbh phones 4 u are overpriced like I said.

For example it is £260 sim.free from p4u, but £175 here sim free.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007...sr=8-1&pi=SL75

Cheaper than p4u on payg price as well. Its just p4u who price high sim free like cp2. Usually sim free and payg are maybe £0-£30 price difference max. Not £70 like p47.

Like I said its probably because p4u get a commission from the network for selling the payg phone so they price sim free so no one guys it.

What has amazon or expansy got to do with this discussion?

I'm only asking you about the specific point you made on post #41 in which you said carphonewarehouse and phones4u gives out unlocked and unbranded (which as you've said means they're no different from being sim-less) phones even on network payg purchases. And my question is why would these two retailers offer sim-less phones at prices far greater than their deals on network payg phones, when the phones are exactly the same by being unlocked and unbranded. For example, who on earth would be stupid enough to go to carphonewarehouse and pay £60 extra for a sim-less samsung galaxy ace 2, when the exact same thing is offered on network payg at the same retailer?

You know what, all I want to find about is this: if I go to a phones4u shop and buy this samsung galaxy ace 2 on vodafone payg (http://www.phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_...#offer_details), would I get an unlocked and unbranded phone? - the exact same as a sim-less version here: http://www.phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_...ItemKey=596670

Again, missing my point. Cpw get commission for every phone they sell with a network sim so they may as well price it lower than the official sim free version .

But bear in mind its not everyone phone that comes unlocked, e
G iphones don't come unlocked.

Yes the ace 2 will come unlocked

Unlocked phones aren't more expensive if you buy a sim card with them at the same time, I paid £25 less at Phones 4U for an unlocked phone + O2 sim than it cost at the O2 store.
Advantages are, no supplier software on the phone, being able to switch suppliers whenever you want without paying and being able to use a local sim when abroard.