Is there any point?

[Buckman]

Is there any point in getting yourself locked into a 12 or 24 month contract? Originally the idea was to have a fixed price for the duration of the contract so that you could budget more easily. Nowadays due to T&Cs in a contract the supplier can increase the price once a year to keep up with inflation and then add another little annual increase. This practice seems to be across the board for all contracts.

I have to admit that I don't like it and don't agree with it but it seems we have little choice as you cannot leave the supplier until the end of the contract!

 

[JTQ]

In context with anything in particular?

As a general point, if it represents a "cracking" deal today, then its probably as good as you can get in the future; I have not felt much other than technology kit ever gets cheaper over time.
Plus, a long term fix removes the hassle of revisiting sorting it out again for quite a period; to me a benefit.

In respect to "energy", I feel the is too much going on to make a fix today; I am delaying on fixing that at the moment.

 

[otherclive]

Is there any point in getting yourself locked into a 12 or 24 month contract? Originally the idea was to have a fixed price for the duration of the contract so that you could budget more easily. Nowadays due to T&Cs in a contract the supplier can increase the price once a year to keep up with inflation and then add another little annual increase. This practice seems to be across the board for all contracts.

I have to admit that I don't like it and don't agree with it but it seems we have little choice as you cannot leave the supplier until the end of the contract!

Assume you are talking about mobile phone where annually the rate goes up by CPI plus 3.5%. Total rip off but they are all in lockstep.

 

[Buckman]

Assume you are talking about mobile phone where annually the rate goes up by CPI plus 3.5%. Total rip off but they are all in lockstep.

That is something else, but we got a letter from our broadband supplier about a whopping 14.4% increase amongst other increases. Annoying, but we can manage, however what about many people who are struggling to put bread on the table.

However is there any point in being in a long term contract nowadays?

 

[otherclive]

That is something else, but we got a letter from our broadband supplier about a whopping 14.4% increase amongst other increases. Annoying, but we can manage, however what about many people who are struggling to put bread on the table.

However is there any point in being in a long term contract nowadays?

Yes if it saves having to keep shopping around for renewals. The broadband and mobile increases generally mirror one another. Some suppliers give monthly contracts like Smarty but their prices are still subject to an annual hike upwards.

 

[JTQ]

Are you locked into contract, I assume not as you are exploring views?

Broadband/ phone line deals is one thing where IME you can make some highly beneficial gains by doing homework upfront and then talking to your provider's "retention" team; politely, slowly and stubbornly.
They are paid to "retain" you!

 

[Buckman]

Are you locked into contract, I assume not as you are exploring views?

Broadband/ phone line deals is one thing where IME you can make some highly beneficial gains by doing homework upfront and then talking to your provider's "retention" team; politely, slowly and stubbornly.
They are paid to "retain" you!

We are locked into a broadband contract for another 18 months, locked into a Sky contract for another 3 months and mobile contracts expiring next month. We are dumping Sky and also our mobile provider as neither of us live on our mobiles.

I have a found a reasonable priced provided for unlimited data with no contract at under £19 a month which is ideal for us as we only require unlimited data during the summer months.

Being retired with all the time in the world it is great fun shopping around for better quotes

 

[Beachball]

We have a 12 month contract with Virgin media package that includes big bundle ,movies ,broadband and phone line but at present we keep getting a leaflet about a (NOW Broadband has anyone heard of them ?)

 

[GaryB]

We're going to look into dropping the landline, we both have mobiles with free calls etc and I genuinely cannot remember the last time we used the landline so it's something we're going to look into.

 

[JTQ]

We're going to look into dropping the landline, we both have mobiles with free calls etc and I genuinely cannot remember the last time we used the landline so it's something we're going to look into.

Interesting but there can be issues for some.
The landline enables incoming calls to your landline number and broadband; both possibly of value?

Here, our cell net signal is still not 4G, so we can forget streaming of the likes of BBC i-player, enabling our "smart" TVs etc over that, therefore, must rely on a landline for broadband, at least till things improve a lot.

The "costly" add-on to our landline would be phoning out, daytime packages.
To get around that, we use our mobiles for the UK destination calls, and exploit the landline's broadband via a "Voip" account for our extensive international calling use.
With that, from up front non expiring credit, we, basically just pay for what we use.
Ironically, it cost less per call for us to ring any of our international contacts, or even standard UK ones that way than, a standard UK call would cost us over our landline! We need to be guarded re special numbers, these can be cheaper made over the landline directly.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Like JTQ where we live we are supposed to have a strong 4 & 5G signal from all providers, yet mobile calls we receive at home are usually very patchy, if we have to move away from the window, to check the calendar the signal drops out!

Also because whthe cable TV systems were installed 20years ago, the company completely missed our culdesac out. I live on the corner and there is cable in street along one side of my property but not available to me because my front door is not on that road!

Consequently the best I can get is about 5mBit copper internet.

 

[RogerL]

Like JTQ where we live we are supposed to have a strong 4 & 5G signal from all providers, yet mobile calls we receive at home are usually very patchy, if we have to move away from the window, to check the calendar the signal drops out!

Also because whthe cable TV systems were installed 20years ago, the company completely missed our culdesac out. I live on the corner and there is cable in street along one side of my property but not available to me because my front door is not on that road!

Consequently the best I can get is about 5mBit copper internet.

Like you, we missed out when the main part of the street was cabled - so we're dependent on Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) with copper wire to the house but get over 70 Mbps - so your 5Mbps restriction must be something else, perhaps your Internet Provider rather than the copper link.

 

[chatter]

I got rid of my talk talk landline and bb some time ago after they kept putting the prices up, it was a bone of contention with me anyway because when we took on talk talk bb was supposed to be free for 'life' but it wasnt really it was while you remained in your property usually they reckoned about 5 years and we have been in this property since earlly 80s. So it got cancelled after my husband passed away. I had '3' mobile and mifi with enough gigs on it for what i used then they brought out '3' home bb with unlimited gigs, at a very good rate so i decided to get that, now the beauty of this rooter is that when i go away to my van in wales or my daughters van i take the unit with me, I no longer really need the mifi but still have it at the mo as still in contract. Now where my van is located you have the choice of streaming or using a sat dish to watch tv so the unit has been great for streaming all the tv i want when away at either van.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Like you, we missed out when the main part of the street was cabled - so we're dependent on Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) with copper wire to the house but get over 70 Mbps - so your 5Mbps restriction must be something else, perhaps your Internet Provider rather than the copper link.

The annoying thing is less than 30m away from my house is roadside cabinet which has FTTC stickers on it, I even have a telegraph pole on the corner of my property which links to another just on the other side of the road which is even closer to the cabinet, yet apparently my connection does not go to the closest cabinet, but to another about 400m away!

 

[Buckman]

We cannot even get a 2 or3G signal in our home so unfortunately we have to stay with a landline and enter into contracts which increase annually instead of staying at a fixed price.

 

[JTQ]

As said in post #7 you are locked into your broadband contract for a further 18 months, and in post 15 you said that due to signal issues a data viable cell-net based option is not available anyway.

Plan oodles of research but only in 17 months time, by when the "climate" could be quite different, even the cell-net situation and forget worrying now as presently it is just a self-destructive process.
Put mindset into getting the van sorted for this "good" weather Good Friday we are being promised.

 

[woodsieboy]

As I was out of contract I switched to sim only with Tesco for mobile, price dropped to £12 a month with a promise of no increase during time of contract which is 24 months.I left 02 and Tesco use 02 network, not noticed any difference in service apart from price. Also shopped around at work for telephone line as ours had crept up to £65 a month, managed to get a 2 year deal elsewhere for £25 a month ,then the original provider started phoning every day offering cheaper rate, finally offered £9 a month,but we still left , my thinking being that if I hadn't arranged to leave they would still have charged £65. When I told them that was why we were leaving they said we should have challenged them sooner, so they were admitting they had been ripping us off.

 

[otherclive]

As I was out of contract I switched to sim only with Tesco for mobile, price dropped to £12 a month with a promise of no increase during time of contract which is 24 months.I left 02 and Tesco use 02 network, not noticed any difference in service apart from price. Also shopped around at work for telephone line as ours had crept up to £65 a month, managed to get a 2 year deal elsewhere for £25 a month ,then the original provider started phoning every day offering cheaper rate, finally offered £9 a month,but we still left , my thinking being that if I hadn't arranged to leave they would still have charged £65. When I told them that was why we were leaving they said we should have challenged them sooner, so they were admitting they had been ripping us off.

Not all Tesco mobile SIM only deals are fixed for the duration of the contract. Some are fixed for Club Card customers, but I was looking for a SIM only 24 month deal for my BIL and at £7.50 for 2 gig and unlimited calls and texts the small print says it will rise each year by CPI +3.9%.

 

[woodsieboy]

Sorry other Clive, I should have said my sim deal is business, clearly says no increases for term of contract. Mind you your deal at 7.50 sounds good , as we know a percentage increase depends on the starting point, so 3.9% plus CPI on 7.50 is a lot less painful than on £40.00

 

[Buckman]

Not all Tesco mobile SIM only deals are fixed for the duration of the contract. Some are fixed for Club Card customers, but I was looking for a SIM only 24 month deal for my BIL and at £7.50 for 2 gig and unlimited calls and texts the small print says it will rise each year by CPI +3.9%.

Originally the idea of the loing term contract was to protect you from unexpected increases during the period of the contract. Now the shorter the contract the higher the monthly cost.

 

[Hutch]

Both My wife and Myself have had mobile Phone , SIM only contracts with ID. 500 minutes 5000 texts and 500 mb per month for £3.99 for over 5 years now. Every year they quoted us you can upgrade to XXX for £XX. . No thank you. But the upgrade deals are interesting if you use data. We don't.

 

[Scannyman]

We are locked into a broadband contract for another 18 months, locked into a Sky contract for another 3 months and mobile contracts expiring next month. We are dumping Sky and also our mobile provider as neither of us live on our mobiles.

I have a found a reasonable priced provided for unlimited data with no contract at under £19 a month which is ideal for us as we only require unlimited data during the summer months.

Being retired with all the time in the world it is great fun shopping around for better quotes

Both our mobile phones are on PAYG with Smarty (3 network) and is a rolling 1x month contract so can cancel / suspend at anytime. Caravan internet sim card also on Smarty with similar contact so suspended / cancelled when our of season (£10 pm 30GB)

 

[Buckman]

My original post was about contracts in general and not limited to BB, mobile phones etc. We have dumped Sky and also got a cracking deal on mobile phones which are not in contract. Unlimited for under £20 a month on one phone and can leave at anytime. Other phone is under £10 for about 20GB and no contract. Both are with Three.

 

[RogerL]

My original post was about contracts in general and not limited to BB, mobile phones etc. We have dumped Sky and also got a cracking deal on mobile phones which are not in contract. Unlimited for under £20 a month on one phone and can leave at anytime. Other phone is under £10 for about 20GB and no contract. Both are with Three.

There are some good non-contract* deals around for mobile phones - I've recently switched to Lebara from Plusnet (who are dumping mobile phone contracts) and now pay £4.90/month with 3GB/month which is enough for my needs - as an introductory offer, it's reduced down to £0.49/month for the first 6 months.

* technically it's a 30 day rolling contract.

 

[Buckman]

There are some good non-contract* deals around for mobile phones - I've recently switched to Lebara from Plusnet (who are dumping mobile phone contracts) and now pay £4.90/month with 3GB/month which is enough for my needs - as an introductory offer, it's reduced down to £0.49/month for the first 6 months.

* technically it's a 30 day rolling contract.

We only require the Unlimited for the summer months when we stream a lot when out and about. During the winter months 3GB is more than ample.