Pay As You Go Vs Contract

9 Replies Christopher Roberts

With a mobile phone (or as my American friends call it, cell phone) you have two main options when choosing how to pay for your minutes, internet and texts. Either pay as you go, or contract.

Pay As You Go

There are various different people offering pay as you go tariffs and deals. Some pay as you go providers are targeted towards those who use their phone more for calling, whilst others focus on those who text a lot. Shop around and you can find a deal that suits you.

Pay As You Go is probably best for those people who use their phone less often. If you spend less than £10 a month on your phone, Pay As You Go is probably the cheaper option for you.

Contract

If you love to use your phone, and it rarely leaves your side then you probably have it on a contract. This means that you get a certain amount of minutes, texts and MB per month. If you are lucky you may even get unlimited on some of them. For this, you pay a fixed monthly fee.

Different mobile phone network providers - Virgin Mobile, Orange, Tesco Mobile, T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3, Talk MobileSometimes you can get a really good deal and get your phone chucked into free! A recent example of this is iPhone 4S contracts, if you take out a contract with some iPhones, you get the phone at a reduced price, or even for free.

Like with pay as you go SIMs, it can often pay to research all the deals on offer, as there are different contracts for different people. If you don’t mind an older model, but can’t stop talking, then there are contracts with unlimited minutes, but no freebies when it comes to the phone itself. Likewise if you really love having the latest model, there are contracts where you can get new phones as they come out, for free!

The only problem with contracts is that the more you want, unfortunately, often the more you have to pay. Yes you can have unlimited monthly calls, texts and internet usage, along with the latest phone, however it can cost you the earth!

It depends who you are as to which you think is best. Both pay as you go and contract deals have their merits, shop around and you are sure to get yourself a good deal that is right for you 🙂

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Written by Christopher Roberts
Founder and editor of Technology Bloggers, Christopher is passionate about sustainable technology and environmental initiatives. He wants to popularise critical thinking, promote responsible innovation, and excite you about the world around us.

9 thoughts on “Pay As You Go Vs Contract”

  1. kevin k lau

    I am typically averse to contract. They enchant you with their advertising, and soon as they have you in chains, they give you the bait and switch. Whereas pay as you go, you will find these offers from startups who are committed to building goodwill with their customers.

    Hooray for startups!

    Reply
    • Christopher (admin team)

      I know what you mean Kevin, although I am not sure that they are that evil!

      Thanks for the comment, welcome to the blog 🙂
      Christopher – Admin Team

      Reply
  2. Nikki @ Video Production Chicago

    There are indeed a lot of offers today. I saw different subscription plans on my mobile carrier and I was surprised to see the different combinations of services they offer on each plan. They look complicated to me actually. I was thinking why they can’t just put everything in one? Well yeah, its all business for them. 😀

    Reply
  3. Jean @ Used Tires

    I have always stuck to pay as you go method since I only use the phone about once or twice a day. Most of my work communication is done through internet means like Skype, chat or email so the phone is just there for anyone who can’t be contacted via those means mostly.

    -Jean

    Reply
  5. Jarrod Frenzel@Houston MLS

    It ultimately depends on how exactly the phone is used. The cellular phone market, particularly the smart phone, has evolved and gotten so big. More and more plans and types of subscriptions are in the offer, and they’re all for our benefit really.

    Reply
  6. Melanie@IT Call Center

    Contract has always been a no-brainer for me as I use my phone so often. I think the pay-as-you-go option is often incorrectly viewed as always being more expensive, though; a lot of people seem to go for a contract when in reality they would be best served with a pay-as-you-go plan.

    My dad, for example, has a pay-as-you-go phone and it has worked perfectly for him. The beauty of that approach is that if he ever starts to use his phone more we can easily make a change to something that makes more sense. With a contract, we wouldn’t have that flexibility.

    Reply

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