# Three iphone contract has come to an and. What to do now?



## ericsson (22 Apr 2014)

So as the title says my contract on my iphone was up last weekend. I missed a phone call from three earlier, I presume to try to get me to upgrade! Before they ring again I'm looking to see what my options are. 

Basically I have been on a €40 per month package (i think) which I have always been happy with. Unlimited internet, 300flexiunits and free 3 to 3. My bill usually comes to about €42 euro or so. I use la lot of internet but not much of a talker and generally use viber for texting. My OH also has the same contract as me and it is in my name (technically they are both mine) and his is also due to upgrade. His bills come in about the €50 mark. I love my iphone but not hugely pushed on upgrading to 5s from my 4s as there is much of a muchness and also from what I can see there would be an upgrade charge anyway. 

What do people think? Should I sign up for a new 24month contract and get the new iphone? Should I Stay as I am should I ever want to leave I only have to give months notice? Would there be saving of I moved to prepay? Many of my friends are with meteor so should I change to them for sim only? (Ps I had changed to 3 from meteor originally when getting iphone as meteor wanted a €150 deposit  and 3 didn't charge) 

Just want to weight up my options before they ring me and try to convince me that I want what they want to offer!

Thanks in advance, sorry for longwinded post!


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## dub_nerd (22 Apr 2014)

It looks like you are a fairly low-end user. I was similar with an iPhone 4 from O2 a couple of years ago, and also had no interest in upgrading the phone. (A decent phone to me is an indispensable commodity, but not something to ooh and aah about, and waste money on inessential features or expensive upgrades). I briefly used O2 prepay, but their data policy is a joke and it was a waste of time having a smartphone when your data's switched off. I moved to prepay with 48months.ie and haven't looked back. €10/month for 300 mobile any-network minutes, free texts, 60 land line minutes, and 1 GB of data. I've rarely used more than a fraction of any of the allowances in a month, and I prepay a year at a time so I never have to even think about phone charges except for the odd bit of roaming or calling non-standard numbers.

If you're a heavier user there's a heavier package for €20/month with unlimited mobile minutes and texts, and 5GB of data. You can buy extra add-ons if you run out of any component during a month. The only thing is you might have to be "generous" about your age when signing up, however 48 themselves encourage this so it's no big deal. As far as I know they use O2's network. There's been one or two niggly annoying things about them, but nothing worth complaining about at a tenner a month! (Disclaimer: I have no connection with them other than as a customer).


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## ericsson (22 Apr 2014)

Hi dub_nerd, thanks for the reply, defo food for thought. I just checked my current spend for this month and I still have 190 flexiunits outstanding and my billing period is up in 2 days so I wouldn't be at all worried on that account. Would 1GB of data be much do you know? I'm constantly on my phone on Facebook, Twitter etc and watch loads of netflix on it (tho usually at home on wifi) I'd hate to change to a cheaper package to find out that my data is bringing me over my limit. I might phone 3 and ask them for a breakdown of my data usage and see from what I am currently using. Thanks again you've been really helpful.


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## vandriver (22 Apr 2014)

Three do an equivalent plan in sim only for €20.33 per month.As you have finished you contract period ,just ring them up and ask to be put on the sim only plan.(or do it on boards in the talk to section)


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## dub_nerd (22 Apr 2014)

ericsson said:


> Hi dub_nerd, thanks for the reply, defo food for thought. I just checked my current spend for this month and I still have 190 flexiunits outstanding and my billing period is up in 2 days so I wouldn't be at all worried on that account. Would 1GB of data be much do you know? I'm constantly on my phone on Facebook, Twitter etc and watch loads of netflix on it (tho usually at home on wifi) I'd hate to change to a cheaper package to find out that my data is bringing me over my limit. I might phone 3 and ask them for a breakdown of my data usage and see from what I am currently using. Thanks again you've been really helpful.


 
Hi ericsson, I use the phone for checking e-mail and a bit of light browsing. I was surprised to find how little that uses -- it's usually only about 10 or 20 MB a month -- 2% of the allowance. Most of my data usage would be at home on Wifi (and usually not on the phone anyway). If you do lots of Facebooking it'd probably be a bit more, but I doubt that Facebook alone would seriously dent your quota. Netflix is a different animal, but I assume you'd do that on Wifi. With the 48 package you can buy an extra 1GB anytime for €3, or go for the €20 package with 5GB. Just btw, there are some bandwidth usage apps you can get for the iPhone if you want to monitor your usage for a while.


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