For those of us who can't afford (or don't want) a M9 or S6 or Iphone 7 or anything else, I thought I'd open a little corner of DS to discuss low budget contracts.

Tesco Mobile have the Moto E for £7.50 a month with 250 mins and 500 meg of data

http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-mont...o+e?deal=14847

Talk mobile have the S3 mini for the same price, or a Iphone 4s for £10 (but the latter requires a £50 upfront payment)

http://sales.talkmobile.co.uk/mobile...fcode=TMBKM133

http://sales.talkmobile.co.uk/mobile...fcode=TMBKM274

What other cheap (upto a tenner a month say?) deals have people found?

This is Jabbamk1's guide to the best value sim only deals.

http://www.hotsimonlydeals.com/sim-only.html

Obviously 1 month sim only contracts are good for certain things but I can't see why you would sign up for a 12 month sim only contract when you could get a free phone for the same price just by committing for a further 12 months.

Probably because the 12 month sim only will have a better allowance than the twice as long 24 month contract that usually comes with a cheap budget phone already out of date before you sign up?

Because you'd pay more over the 24 months with most phones.

I have a tesco £10 sim only. I get 1000mins 5000sms and 1gb data. If a better deal comes along I can switch after 12 months. Total cost to me over the life of the contract is £120

Say I wanted the above Moto E total cost to me would be £180. I'd also lose 750 mins and 500mb data. All for a phone that cost on average £50 to buy outright.

If I wanted to up the allowance to get more mins and data I'm looking at £12.50 a month. Total cost then becomes £300 over the life of the contract. Plus I would still have to drop 500mins as the highest they offer with that phone is 500mins.

So by signing up for this 'better' 24 month deal to get a free phone I've lost 500 mins and it's cost me £180 extra and tied me in for two years all for a phone I've seen go for as little as £40 on payg. Phone doesn't look so free now does it.

I know Virgin aren't generally that popular in forum-land, but they're good for rentention deals to batter the price down.

I've got unlimited minutes and texts with 1GB of data for £8 quid a month with them at the moment.

I'm not convinced the iphone 4s is a 'cheap budget phone', although it obviously out of date.

But for £7.50 or £10 I don't think any of these are bad. Like I said in the first post not everyone can afford an S6 or the latest Iphone.

If you are already with 02 on pay as you go, you can phone them and get a great deal. I only pay £8.50 for 100minutes, unlimited text and 100gb data. OK the data is not great, but providing you have Wifi at home and make sure you use wifi when out and about it is fine. Obviously if you download loads of music etc then it will be no good for you.

Of course it is now a cheap budget phone now, 2011 was a long time ago , it's years out of date and worse not 4G compatible so definitely not future proof.


Even more reason to rather buy the cheap phone outright and go for a better value sim only on a shorter commitment.

Wasn't particularly looking to debate the pros and cons of SIM only, or how much better the modern handsets are than those from 2011. Was just looking to start a thread about cheap contract deals out there as an alternative to PAYG for those on a budget.

Personally the screen size puts me off the iphone 4s- if the screen was a bit bigger I'd bag the 4s tomorrow at that price.

Problem is, the extremely low end contracts aren't really value for money when compared to even PAYG bundle plans. A person has to be really skint to want the cheapest phones on the market subsidised into a contract (and then being stuck with said crap allowances and outdated phone for 2 years).


Personally the fact it's years out of date, about to lose manufacturer support and is completely incompatible with all the advances in technology would be what would put me off...

Seems it hasn't been updated in a while though. 3 out of 5 EE prices aren't correct anymore. O2 doesn't offer 8GB anymore, some prices not up to date. Actually, at the moment only the Vodafone prices seem correct.

BT Mobile £5 a month (if you have BT broadband), Sim only, 12 months, 200 minutes, 500GB, unlimited texts, free 0800 calls, free BT wifi. If you don't have BT Broadband it still fits the thread as it's then £10 a month.

Perfect for me, I can now drop my "anytime" landline add-on, thus saving more than the cost of the mobile contract, so net cost is minus £2.50 a month!

Some of us are, that was the whole point of thetthread. I've nothing against people who want the latest phones and can afford them , just wanted to start one little thread for everyone who can't.

I suppose the point is if you're that skint then these contracts aren't value for money so you're better off buying a cheap phone and going sim only.

As I showed above to get a cheap phone on a subsidised contract would cost me almost £200 more than it would paying £40-£50 for a phone and getting a sim only. So they're not for people who are after a cheap deal because they're skint. They're for people who don't realise they'll end up paying far over the odds. And really isn't advisable for someone who isn't strapped for cash.

I realise some don't have £40-£50 to spend on a phone. If not stay as you are and save the cash until you can buy it. Save yourself a few hundred £ in the long run. If you just want the cheapest phone on the market they all do £5-£10 Nokia phones and again you save more money.

These contracts are for people who actually want a semi decent phone and don't realise they'll end up paying through the nose for this 'cheap' deal.

Well said, exactly the point. If you can't afford £50 for a MotoE then you shouldn't be budgeting to waste all that extra money over 2 years.

This is a terrible premise for a thread. These phones are NOT free. You will pay over the odds for a crap phone and a crap allowance. Pay for the phone and airtime separately and stop being a mug.

I have to add fuel to the "don't get a free phone" fire.

Even at the high end it's pretty ridiculous. People will happily pay £20 or £30 more a month for 24 months to get something for "free", that they could save up and buy outright in a few months, at worst. At least then they'd own it, the phone would be unlocked and they can chop and change networks as they see fit - and without buying thousands of minutes and texts you will never use

Where can you get a Moto E for £50 and then how do you run it for less than 7.50 a month?

The Moto E has been available from a number of retailers at around £50 in the last few months.

You still aren't getting it though, it's the TOTAL outlay you are tying yourself to for an out of date phone, if you really cannot afford to pay £50 or so for a handset you shouldn't be taking out a 24 month contract. At least buying it for cash and then using PAYG, for the allowances you mention Three 3-2-1 would probably cost under £5 a month, any of the PAYG providers with bundle style PAYG would give better allowances sub-£10.

It also means as you are in such a financially precarious position that if you were to suddenly have even less disposable income you aren't stuck with a 2 year contract.

I completely agree but at least if someone wants a high end £600-£700 phone getting a contract lets them pay for it over 24 months. So they can spread the cost. Plenty of people can afford £30-£40 a month but don't have £600 sat there doing nothing. So if someone wants a high end phone and has the cash then I can see why they'd sign up for a contract. But to tie yourself in to a provider contract for 24 months for a phone that cost £40 to buy outright is just madness.

I've been lucky in the past and been in a position to buy my phones outright (iPhones) and go sim only. I'm not in that position any more so have simply kept my iPhone 5 and stuck with sim only. Which is what I'll carry on with either until I'm in a position to upgrade or I have no option because the phone has given up the ghost.

Get a SIM-only contract and get a SIM-free phone on an interest free credit card or just a credit card with cashback. Best of both worlds

Exactly. Why all the fuss about phones anyway? My years-old mini-Samsung is still going strong, albeit looking a bit battered now - but I don't care! So I'm getting the BT Mobile sim-only 12 month contract I mentioned earlier for a fiver, or net they "pay me" £2.50 when I downgrade my BT landline bundle.

So much fuss about having posh phones, so much money given away to phone companies who are almost as greedy as Sky TV (but luckily, there is tougher competition than in pay TV, which does limit their money-grabbing possibilities).


Exactly, or even better keep your last phone going and get a bargain sim, like me and Lyceum.

People work hard for their cash. Some like expensive clothes. Some cars. Some gadgets.

I've always been into gadgets. Previously had the latest computers/laptops/tablets etc but times have sadly changed so I don't have the cash these days.

I have no objection to people buying high end phones. I do object to people being hoodwinked or being ill informed and thinking they're getting a great deal.

People tend to not look at the over all cost. The only time I'd consider a contract is if it worked out the same price over 12/24 months as buying the phone and going sim only.

There's been a few iPhone deals posted over at HUKD that have actually been the same price as buying outright etc. but as I said right now cash is tight so I'll stick with what I have until I'm in a better position.

Even if it was the same price, I'd never go for anything over than a one month contract these days. If anything goes wrong I just leave.

If not, I stay and after a year or so I negotiate a better deal. Works even on a one month contract