Mobile Phone Contracts

A guide on the various types of mobile phone contracts available in the UK and help on picking the right mobile phone contract for you.

• How long do you want your contract to last?
• 12 Month Contracts
• 18 Month Contracts
• 24 Month Contract
• General Contract Information

How long do you want your contract to last?

Choosing the right tariff is important; there is nothing worse than committing to a contract that becomes a burden three months down the line. If you then decide that you want to change to a different tariff a few months later, the dealer will get the subsidy taken away from them. This loss by the dealer will usually be taken from you (this is a condition that is standard with most contracts) to cover the loss they have incurred – if you want to change your contract, make sure you are aware of how much you will be expected to pay. The minimum length of a mobile contract is typically 12 months – 18 months; some suppliers sell contracts that last for 24 months.

12 Month Contracts

With a 12 month contract, the monthly rates for using the service will usually be greater than those available on longer contracts. As the mobile phone market changes so rapidly, newer, more convenient handsets and deals may become available within a year. The main advantage of signing up for a 12 month contract is that should you want to upgrade or change to a different phone or contract after a year, you won't be locked into a lengthy plan when you could be getting a better deal elsewhere.

Sometimes you will have the option to upgrade your handset or sign up to another tariff before the end of the contract, usually after the majority for the contract's lifespan has already elapsed. If, for example, 10 months of the contact have elapsed, a new handset becomes available and you want to be able to switch phones quickly, a 12 month contract will give you the flexibility to do this.

• Flexible, easy to upgrade

• Change your phone, re-sign contract before the 12 months are up

• Better rates available on longer contracts  

18 Month Contracts

Customers who sign up for 18 month long contracts benefit from cheaper monthly payments which generally work out to be better value for money in the long term than shorter contracts. An 18 month contract is ideal if you know how much you are likely to be using your phone each month.

However, 18 months is a long commitment, and so before signing up for one, carefully examine your phone habits, how much do you call/text a month, think about how long you will be using your phone for – if you starting a new job, or heading off to university your phone usage may well change within the 18-month contract, and you may want to upgrade, which is harder to do than when on an 12-month contract.

Some networks will allow you to re-sign a contract early, within 2 to 4 months of the end of the contract, but should you do that the surplus months will end up being added on to the end of the new contract. For example, if you switched contracts on the same network after having seen through 16 months of an 18 month contract, those 2 months would be added on to the end of the new contract.

• Great value for money, save on monthly bills

• Useful if you want to upgrade after a year or so

• Ideal for regular phone users

• Not as flexible as a shorter contract

24 Month Contract

The main benefit of signing up for a 24 month contract is that you will have access to the biggest discounts available on the market, allowing you to make huge savings on your monthly outgoings.

The main disadvantage of taking out a plan of this length is obvious – you will be obligated to stay with one network provider for at least 2 years from the moment you sign up. This will be a problem if a new phone or handset that you like the look of becomes available.

Therefore, a 24 month contract is only really for those who know that they will be using their mobile phone frequently, and will not require to change or upgrade their handset for a long time, although many providers will allow you upgrade under certain conditions (usually involving contract extensions as described above) after periods as early as 11 months into the contract.

People who want a phone to be a 'phone' phone primarily for calling and texting or an email-enabled handset might want to invest in a contract of this length, as their phone habits are unlikely to change over the period of the contract. Users interested in phones with MP3 and camera features and other peripheral functions would be better off signing up for a shorter contract if they want the flexibility to upgrade.

• Best value for money, save large amounts on monthly bills

• Ideal for regular users who know who they will call each month, at what time of day or night and for how long.

• Not as flexible as a shorter contract

General Contract Information

Things to consider when signing up for a contract:

• Changing your phone? Ask for your PAC Code – If you are changing networks and providers then you can request a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) from the customer services department of your current network provider. A PAC code will allow you to keep you number and transfer it to a new handset if you are changing to a different network, so this way you can keep in touch with your contacts and won't have to waste credit sending people your new number. This process can take time, often around two weeks, and in the meantime you are stuck with a temporary number. Your current network provider is obliged to supply you with a PAC code normally within 2 working days of your request. See our page on Porting and Switching for more info.

• Make sure the figures add up – A contract offering 1000 minutes a month to other people on the same network may seem like a good offer, but are you really going to use them? How about calls to other mobiles and landlines? Similarly, lots of off-peak minutes are great, but what if you want to make on-peak calls? You might find 250 any network/any time minutes are much more useful than 1000 off-peak minutes.

• Monitor your usage – You might think that because you have hundreds of free minutes a month, you are able to easily call up hundreds of people and not worry about how long you are on the phone for. It is surprising how quickly 100 minutes can evaporate after making a few calls. You may end up using your phone a lot more than you normally would if you were on PAYG, as once you have exceeded your set amount of minutes/texts, you will still be able to use your phone, albeit at a more expensive rate. Because of this perceived 'safety net' of free calls and texts, some users end up paying more out each month that they thought they would.