Mobile phones are an expensive necessity - but whether you sign up to a monthly contract lasting years or decide to travel the pay as you go route and stump up for the cost of a handset in advance, there are ways to save, although your network may not always be keen to share these secrets.
Ten money-saving tips
1. Go SIM only
SIM only is the lesser-known sibling of pay monthly and pay as you go mobile phone contracts. As the name suggests, it doesn’t come with a handset so you’ll need to buy a phone upfront or use one you already have.
But you can then tailor what you buy to the calls and texts you make and the data you use, which over the course of an equivalent 24-month contract can save you hundreds of pounds.
SIM only also has the advantage of offering 12-month and one-month rolling contracts, which makes it easy to change tariff and usage options more often, or opt out altogether.
For example a typical iPhone 5 contract costs £36 a month for 1GB internet, equating to £888 over two years. Buy the phone upfront for £529 from Apple, and opt for a £10 SIM-only deal from Virgin Media and over two years you’ll spend £769, a saving of over £100. And because you are on a rolling contract you can swap networks with just 30-days notice.
