Clove Technology's Blog
Do you buy the device SIM free or on contract. One ties you in for a long time whilst the other has a higher upfront costs. The following vlog considers some of the reasons for and against.
The 44th vlog from www.clove.co.uk -This vlog looks at the arguments for and against buying on or off contract.
It considers the benefits and drawbacks to the idea as well as the implications.
About JonConstantly challenging opinions and looking for new opportunities, Jon develops the product ranges and business activities and very much strives to maintaining growth and taking Clove in to the future.
Never knowing when to stop, he spends too much time in the office! He's very organised; writes lists, reports, spreadsheets, you name it, he's on to it!! When he does relax, however, he can be found driving his pride and joy (his Range Rover Sport), walking his Dog, down the pub or at a local restaurant. He does too like the finer things in life and often lives beyond his means, only the best hotels will do.
As a rule I’d always go SIM-free – the only reason I went contract for my most recent phone is that the variant I wanted was exclusive to the provider. Fortunately this provider doesn’t SIM-lock, and I could flash to remove bloatware, but it can make warranty claims a hassle.
Guessing that was the 32GB SGS3 on Voda then Ian??
Afraid so. I’m a bit annoyed that Samsung don’t offer phones with more than 16Gb internal storage, except in little markets like Vodafone UK for this and Germany for the Note. Maybe they’ll do better with the Note 2…
That’s what I was after; I ended up buying from a German company. It’s still a Vodafone variant but it’s unlocked.
I wasn’t impressed with Samsung’s behaviour there; not exactly putting their customers first. Not putting retailers like Clove first either; I really wanted to buy from them.
I’m already down to 12GB free on my S3; if I’d got the 16GB version I’d be having to prune. I don’t want to put apps on the external microSD card.
Samsung does seem to find a way to frustrate consumers with every release (not including Kies, of course!). We’re still awaiting info on the 32GB
I thought about buying a Samsung Galaxy SIII and realized unlocked would cost about $600 and buying from AT&T on a special was $149. However, I have an old contract with AT&T that so far has been grandfathered in (they think I’ve had an old Motorola flip-phone for the last 10 years). A new 2-year contract from AT&T would increase my monthly charge by $53 per month and limit data. So, $53/month for 24 months equals $1,272, plus my unlimited data would go away permanently. Think I’ll stick with buying the unlocked phones. They are actually a bargain and it’s nice to not deal with the bloatware.
All of my smartphones have been SIM-free.
To me they’re PDAs that happen to have phones built-in, and I always used to have to pay for PDAs.
I want the phone to be mine, not on some kind of HP. I don’t want to rely on operators to release updates.
I want to be able to put in a locally-purchased SIM if I go abroad.
I don’t want to be tied-in for 24 months; what if my needs change or another operator comes out with something better?
What if I move somewhere or start working somewhere that has lousy coverage on my operator?
In life I tend to choose the option that gives me more options and flexibility, and that’s generally stood me in good stead.
It’s the whole ‘buy now pay later’ trap that gets people; essentially a long-term phone contract is just a finance agreement.
If you can break the cycle once and go SIM-free it serves you much better in the long run – cheaper costs, more flexibility with service providers and more frequent upgrades. Plus you don’t get stung for £40/50 every month when the bill comes out.