SIM-only special 12-month deals/offers -- do they ever come up?

[GJD]

Greetings Oh Wise Ones (Genuinely! You've been a great help to me in the past!)

My 2-year contract is finishing soon at the end of November, and after looking around at the SIM-only deals to continue with O2 and with my existing phone, I'm really very underwhelmed.

My current contract was for a Samsung Galaxy S3 (which I still love and think is a fab phone): 24-month contract, 300 minutes, 500MB and unlimited texts. Just £17 a month including the phone. (This was through the Carphone Warehouse whose current SIM-deals are just as rubbish).

Looking at replacement SIM-only tariffs, the savings don't look great at the mo:
£12 -- 500 mins, 500MB
£15 -- 1000 mins, 1GB.

They are a bit cheaper than what I'm paying for the current phone+sim contract, but only a bit. 

So, I'm wondering if special deals ever come up and whether e.g. I should wait until December to get a new contract? Ideally I'd like 500 mins and 1GB data but for like right cheap, like!

Many thanks in advance!

[MI5]

£10 a month on giffgaff https://www.giffgaff.com/goodybags
Owned by O2 so same signal etc....

[Bambino]

Take a look at the Tesco Mobile sim only deals. Also uses O2. Very competitive.

[GJD]

Thanks chaps.

O2's SIM tariff prices are particularly rubbish. I'd prefer not to switch so I'll keep an eye out for deals with O2 over the next couple of months. If there are none I'll look to Tesco or GiffGaff.

Thanks again!

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

If you really do want to stay with o2 call cs on 202 and ask for a loyalty discount on a simo tariff.
Usually they will offer around a £4 a month discount.

[GJD]

Hello again,

My 24-month contract is just about up ...

I wonder ... is the idea of O2 agreeing to match a Giffgaff tariff a very naive one? I have an older 3G phone that I'm still very happy with, so would that sway them in any way, in that I wouldn't be needing 4G? Ideally I'd be after a minimum of 1GB, 500 mins and a lot of texts for a tenner a month. I could live with 300 mins if need be. 

I'll try speaking to them in the next few days but I wonder if anyone has had any experience of them yielding at all.

Thanks!

[Cleoriff]

Sometimes if you ring O2 and ask for retentions ...explain what you want....you may get a deal. If you dont ask you wont get.....

http://www.o2.co.uk/contactus

[GJD]

Thanks Cleoriff -- I wasn't sure which department to ask for but I'll give Retentions a try tomorrow.

[Cleoriff]

Best of luck

[MI5]

Just get a giffgaff sim. It's still o2 (wholly owned by Telefonica).
O2 are unlikely to match completely the same offer from gg.