O2 Refresh - How does it work if you do change phone mid contract?

[Anonymous]

Hi there

I upgraded from an iPhone 5 to a Lumia 1520 at the start of the year and at the same time switched over to a refresh contract. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out a Windows Phone as I was getting bored with Apple and finding the size of the phone too small.

However I may have overdone it a bit with the 1520. It is a very large phone indeed! Its a great piece of hardware mind, but on balance it is just too big so I want to get something a bit smaller. WP8/8.1 is fairly nice as well but its not all I was expecting. Alot of the apps are pretty bad, even though I did my research and knew they had available apps, I didnt realise how poorly some of them are supported. One of the big draws was Office built in, but to be honest thats pretty bad as well. iOS and Android have much better Office experiences that are worth paying the Office 365 subscription for!!

So I am looking to get the HTC One M8.

I understand that I can just pay off the remainder of the phone plan. That is straight forward. However, when going through the upgrade motions on the O2 site, it then also asks me to pick a new tarrif and my only option is to stay where I am and recieve less minutes/data or pay £5/mo more and recieve more data! I am quite happy on my £33 (total) with unlimited minutes, texts and 1gb data. I don't really want to pay £38 for 2gb. I dont need it.

Additionally, there is no money down for the phone. While I dont want to pony up the full asking price, I dont mind paying some upfront, but again this option would take me down a few pegs on the mobile tarrif.

I thought you could just keep the tarrif you are on?

[Anonymous]

Hi


As You know you have two direct debits now.

Phone plan.
Airtime plan.

You can pay off the phone plan at any point and then upgrade again to a new phone or walk away by cancelling the airtime plan after paying off the phone plan.

Phone O2 on 202 or pop into an O2 store to upgrade if you wish and they will clarify and explain what tariffs are open to you.

Edit to add link : http://www.o2.co.uk/refresh/frequent-questions

[Anonymous]

Doesn't really answer my question

I want to know specifically if you simply carry on with your current mobile tarrif or if you have to alter the tarrif to suit the current deals on the phone. For instance what I have now:

unlimted mins/texts + 1 gb data + Lumia 1520 (paid £129.99 upfront) = £33/mo total

if I go through this O2 site with an refresh upgrade to HTC One M8:

£300 to pay off the Lumia 1520 then either:

unlimted mins/texts + 2gb data + HTC One M8 (£0 upfront) = £38 

or

500 mins/unlimited texts + 500mb data + HTC One M8 (£129.99) = £33

so as you can see, mobile tarrif wise I am either worse off on what is offered or I end up paying more for something I dont want. Don't really understand as the two phones are in similar price brackets (ie £600).

What I want to do is keep what I have now but have the HTC One M8 + unltd min/text + 1gb data for £33 and I don't mind paying the £129.99 upfront again. Do you think that some kind of arrangement could be arrived at in store??

[Anonymous]

If you ring O2 Uk customer service on 202 they will clarify what's available to you wether you do this online or instore.

[Anonymous]

This is from the link I added which shows an example.


"Imagine John buys his new smartphone on O2 Refresh. He signs two contracts. One is for his Phone Plan: £20 a month for 24 months, with no upfront payment. The other is his Airtime Plan for calls, texts and data: £22 a month, for unlimited minutes to UK numbers, unlimited text messages to UK numbers and 2GB of data. So every month John pays a total of £42.

After ten months, John wants to get his hands on the latest new phone. All he has to do is pay off the balance of the Phone Plan (not the future months of the Airtime Plan): 14 months x £20 = £280. And if he recycles his old phone through O2 Recycle, he can get money back to pay it off or put towards his new phone.

He then buys a new phone on O2 Refresh, chooses his new Phone Plan and starts using his new phone with a new Airtime Plan.

If John keeps the same phone after he's fully paid off the Phone Plan, the price he pays each month will reduce to include only the price of his Airtime Plan and any services he uses.

Representative example: Duration of agreement 24 months. Phone cash price is £480. Upfront cost is £0. Credit amount is £480. Interest rate is 0% fixed. Representative APR is 0%. Monthly phone payment is £20. Total amount payable for phone is £480. The monthly airtime payment is £22.

O2 Refresh includes 24 month Airtime Plan on our Pay Monthly Mobile Agreement and options to pay for your phone upfront or on a consumer credit agreement. To get a new phone pay the balance if you've taken credit and we waive the remaining months of the Airtime Plan. Subject to status, credit check, and payment by Direct Debit. Applicants 18+. Subject to availability. Airtime Plan prices may go up. Standard UK calls and texts, special numbers chargeable. UK data only. Credit provided by Telefónica UK Limited trading as 'O2', 260 Bath Road, Slough, Berks SL1 4DX. Telefónica UK Limited is regulated by the OFT, consumer credit licence number 0518589. Terms and fair use policy apply, visit o2.co.uk"

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

You would need to start a new contract with one of the tariffs available now. Your old tariff is most likely obsolete now for new business.
The other option is to buy m8 simfree and jut carry on with your current tariff.

[jonsie]

That would be my option. Sell the Nokia and put it towards the cost of the new phone, keeping your present contract.

[Anonymous]

An option I also take up when I want a new phone.

All depends on ones disposable income.

[Anonymous]

Ok cheers guys for the answers

Will pop in store sometime this week and see what they can do for me. 

[Anonymous]

To confirm - if the phone contract is paid off then you can leave o2 by simply cancelling the airtime contract, even if half way through a contract?

thanks