Anyone recently upgraded their phone? A moan!

[Youngmumss]

I’m on EE since 2000 ( One2One, T-Mobile and all that)
Im at the end of my two yr contact and I was looking forward to a new upgrade and to get a new shiny phone Samsung however I’m bit confused as all the new upgrades seemed to be containing two contracts, one is the price of the handset and the second one is the monthly fee of the airtime.
So if the phone I’d like is £38 per month and then on the top of it it’s the airtime contract of another £28.
Before it used to be just one payment.
Anyone had this?
The prices are shocking anyway.
I pay now £42 per month ( the price was originally £31 but increased)
Even if I choose the Sim only it’s still £33 and no new phone.
Again before for that £33 I had a new flagship phone.
not sure what to do.

@AlltheFs

If you need to have wifi calling then
https://www.1pmobile.com/ is your best option. You also get EU roaming included.

As I said before, you don’t need to have PAYG, they do monthly plans.

I agree that EE is extortionate at the moment and there is no piggyback available.

As has already been mentioned there are several. AFAIK though only one (1pmobile) offers Band 20, so it should have the same coverage as EE.

For the OP, 10GB for £10pm sounds like the obvious choice:

https://www.1pmobile.com/data-10GB-SIM

You need to change to Sky mobile. They have iPhone 15s with 8gb data for £34

Apparently, these are all the mobile companies now using EE as a carrier. I haven't personally checked any out. Good luck OP.

1pMobile, Airwave Smart Mobile, Anywhere SIM, Axis Telecom, CMLink, CT ExcelBiz, Delight Mobile, Digital Phone, Econet Mobile, Ecotalk, Family Mobile, Go Mobile, Lomo Mobile, Matrix Cellular, Natterbox, Now Mobile, Popit Mobile, Simple Call Mobile, Talk Home Mobile, The Phone Co-Op, Telecom Plus, To The Moon, Ubigi, and Vectone Mobile.

I’d ring them if you’ve been with them for a while and see if they will price match anything. I rang o2 because I wanted to stay with them and they price matched a virgin offer I had seen - effectively I got my iPhone for something ridiculously cheap like £5 per month and the air time is good value - they could only negotiate on the phone not the air time which are Standard. Black Friday always has good phone offers so might be worth waiting and seeing if there is a good offer then?

I've just upgraded with EE last week and noticed the new way of splitting prices - 2 years ago iPhone 13 I paid around £53 per month and now I have an iphone15 for around £55 so not much more - I have decreased the data from unlimited to 5gb as looking at my average usage I didn't use much more and today I got a message that because I'm also a BT customer they are doubling my 5gb to 10gb for free so win there. I only do 2 year contracts not 3 as I don't think iPhones have a shelf life of much longer than that oh and I elected to pay £50 upfront this time to bring the cost down a bit. I could have traded in my iPhone 13 to bring the cost down even more but saving that to use as Internet only phone at home when on the internet so for me negligible price difference

I just bought a secondhand Samsung for £90. Not thr latest but works for me. Then £10 a month to GiffGaff

I got a new phone yesterday from Tesco and was surprised I had one contract for the phone and another for usage. I took out a 24 month contract but was told I could cancel either part at any time with no penalties. Obviously, I need to pay off the handset to cancel that part though.

I got the Google Pixel 7 which is on offer in Tesco right now for £300 but still on sale for over £400 everywhere else.

OP, it seems like you feel a bit tied to EE, but you'd be able to save money by moving elsewhere on a month by month SIM only basis, and you'd be able to keep the same number too. Replacing the battery on your current phone sounds like a good idea.

Regarding the dual contract, @User174085934 is correct. Mobile contracts were always dual, but a law was put in place that they now have to show you how much is for the phone and how much for the service. This is because people who kept the same phone past their contract date were still being charged for the handset, although they'd finished paying for it - and customers on different contracts were paying different prices for the same phone, which is why choosing one used to be so complicated!

I'm with Tesco Mobile because they're fair and reasonable, but saw some brilliant deals last week on Xiaomi at Carphone Warehouse.

I made the choice to move away from the expensive Co tract phones having bought DD a Nokia 'starter smartphone' and realising just how much technology has come along.

I've just bought a Nokia G42 5G for £161 outright, sim card is £4.50 a month with ID mobile 45 gb data, unlimited calls and texts. Its a beautiful pink colour but I really, really like how Nokia have moved away from fast, throw away technology and moved into sustainability. The phones are made of recycled materials, the packaging was completely compostable, they even offer a subscription scheme for those who want newer phones more often. To increase the life of their phones they have 'fix-it' kits so that you can carry out basic repairs at home like replacing a cracked screen.

Although the phone itself isn't quite as slick as an iPhone it is on par with any other android I've used and more than up to what I need a phone to do so Nokia have my business again and I'll be avoiding the likes of big companies with expensive contracts going forward.

Keep the phone, get a new battery and possibly charging socket. I've just had someone come to my house and do mine for £50. Easy peasy. Get a SIM only deal from one of the providers who uses EE. Then you'll be all set up for less than EE wants for your first month, and saving every month thereafter. No hassles setting up or getting used to new phone either.

Lyca use the EE network so will be cheaper than EE but you will get the same signal...

I am with o2 for sim only - usually pay £8-£12 depending on now much data I want. At the moment I am paying £14 I think as going to the US and it includes worldwide roaming. Sim only with them you can upgrade at anytime to a different one and as they often have 6 months Disney plus free I just keep swopping my contract around to get that again.

phone I buy interest fee from Apple.

i have bought a previous phone from affordable mobiles with a contract - they actually had a really good deal for a new phone. If you go for an older one great deals - I got my daughter an iPhone 11 unlimited data for £18 a month last Xmas.

my older DD was on EE for a while - their tariffs didn’t seem that competitive.

Have you spoken to them? I'm with EE, longstanding customer and multiple lines and I always get a better deal if I either call or go into an EE shop.

If you use wifi calling, does it really have to be EE? Unless you rarely leave your very local area, then the signal will likely be better on other networks when out and about.

TBH, I'd start by looking at the coverage maps on the OFCOM website then pick one of Giff Gaff/iD/Lebara etc based on what looks best for the places you spend away from home most often - work, friends and relatives, local shopping or leisure areas etc and give them a try.

They're all very easy to hop between on month to month services so if you find it doesn't work, you can just move to another one. Hopefully you'll find something that's cheaper than EE, which looks like a rip off compared with what's currently available.

Alternatively, if you're longstanding customers you could try giving them a call and ask for a deal to stay otherwise you will leave for another service.

Just googled and saw that Lyca mobile changed to the EE network only a couple of months ago, so definitely look at them OP.

I find it much cheaper to buy the phone on 0% finance and pay for the contract separately. At the moment I’m paying £33 a month for the iPhone 15 over 24 months and £12 a month for unlimited calls, texts and 10 GB data.

Lyca use the EE network so will be cheaper than EE but you will get the same signal...

You didn’t when I tried one of their SIMs. However, that was three or four weeks after they switched to EE so it may have improved now.

But it quite literally is the same network.

But it quite literally is the same network

Despite the quite literallyness, Lyca didn’t, and possibly still doesn’t, have access to the full EE network. For example, they didn’t have access to EE’s Band 20 which meant that reception in some rural areas was nonexistent on Lyca yet perfectly usable on EE.

That may or may not have changed.

It doesn't work like that. You get a reduced service in any of the piggyback networks. Most of them don't offer wifi calling either which for those of us in poor signal areas is essential.

I need to replace my phone. It was taken out in contract in 2019. And ideally I need a phone that will run two sims one for personal and one for my business. Cannot afford £60+ a month for phone contracts

You get a reduced service in any of the piggyback networks.

You can do. It isn’t always the case.

And ideally I need a phone that will run two sims one for personal and one for my business

Have you considered using a physical SIM and an eSIM?

If the OP is in the West Country its quite likely that EE is the only network functional in the local area - its not just a feeling.

Outside of cities and large towns many areas are only served adequately by one of the mobile networks. This leaves people stuck with the tariffs of that provider. Piggyback networks may help but don't always offer the full coverage. Telco service in rural and semi rural areas is shockingly bad in the UK.

OP its probably worth trying a pay-as-you-go SIM of the giff-gaff type which piggybacks on EE. Then if its not good enough you have only paid for one month and can try another. It also means that if a piggyback moves to a different network you are not locked into it.

You could also call EE if you have been with them for a while and tell them you are leaving due to high tariffs - that may get you a discount on a new model and contract in return for locking in for another 18months.

I got annoyed with Vodafone a few tears back, when at the end of my contract they continued charging me the same amount even though the handset had been paid for. I now buy the phone outright, when the prices drop a few months after launch and use a sim from Smarty. £6 a month for unlimited text and calls and 6g data. Plus no extra charges for European roaming. I dont need the flagship phone anymore, so bought a mid range, the A54 with 256g storage. Usual price £499, got it fir £350 on offer at mobiles.co.uk. Really pleased with it.