Ending a mobile contract early?

[daimbardiva]

Hi, I have a crappy Nokia smartphone which I got a year ago. I've never really got on with it and the software is really glitchy, and it's just generally clunky and annoying. I'm desperate to get shot of it and get a better smartphone, however I'm locked into the dreaded 24 month contract.

Has anyone got any cunning plans for getting out of a mobile contract early, or would I just have to accept having to pay my remaining line rental as a penalty?

Grateful for any thoughts!

I had the same problem earlier this year, and didn't get much help from my network provider; I was on a crappy pre-smartphone phone and wanted to upgrade to something better, and was happy to increase my line rental fee too but they were really unhelpful.

They didn't grasp that they'd be better off in the long run and just stuck to their party line that I'd have to buy myself out of my contract, also meaning I'd end up with a new phone number which I didn't want.

In the end I bought a sim-free phone from ebay and used that. I'm planning to auction off my "free" upgrade phone when my contract finishes to compensate myself for the cost of the ebay one, iyswim!

Ooh, that's a cunning plan - hadn't thought of that..

And your crappy Nokia might be worth a few quid on eBay or one of those secondhand phone websites.

I think it's worth about £40 or so on a secondhand site.

So my next question is - is it really as simple as that? If I buy a handset only, I just stick my sim in, carry on with my current Vodafone tarrif and all will be well??

It is, indeed, that straightforward. One thing to consider, though, is that if you're thinking of moving to a smartphone (such as an iPhone or Android phone) then you need to check if your current SIM has any data allowance. A standard phone doesn't need any data service but a smartphone does.

Yes, it's as simple as that although.... some phones that are sold with a contract are locked to that supplier so if you're buying a second hand phone make sure it isn't locked. You can get it unlocked but it will cost you a few quid. i think I paid about £10 to get my HTC Hero unlocked.

Yes, check for data allowance. I didn't have to change contract, but swapped tariff which allowed for less calls (no one calls me anyway) and more data. I also can add on 500mb extra data any month for about £6.

The phone I got from ebay was someone else's unused upgrade. It was described as being locked to a different network, but it actually didn't make any difference. I just plonked in my SIM card and it worked straight away.