iPhone on contract

[ClinkatyClank]

If someones gets an iPhone on contract and decide to cancel the contract within the 6 months, do they have to return the iPhone back ? Would there be any charges for cancelling and returning ?

[sunny-dave]

You can't just 'cancel a contract'. The whole point is that you have agreed to pay a certain amount each month for the given period.

So - if you attempt to stop paying, you keep the phone but they are entitled to most (or indeed all) of the payments up until the end of the contract - the precise terms will be in the small print that accompanied the contract.

The only way out is if the phone company breaks its side of the contract (say by increasing the price) - that will then give you a window during in which you can cancel for free.

[EvianBaby]

I'd also be amazed if you got a contract that was only 6 months too. Most now have a minimum of 18 months (especially for iPhones), sometimes 24 months.

[ClinkatyClank]

So a standard iPhone these days is about £35 to £40 a month with a one off payment, is that right ? Or is there no one off payment and just free ?

I just tought I'd quicky ask as before going on to variuous websites of all networks.

[ummmm]

Hard to say. They will all offer different deals.

[EvianBaby]

It would obviously vary with each company and different contract types as well as which iPhone you want but I'll give you an example.

I recently enquired about upgrading to an iPhone 4 (already had 3gs). I've been with O2 about 10 years and the best they could offer me was to give me the phone for 'free' with a 24 month contract of £35 a month. If you want a cheap monthly payment on a shorter contract you can do that and pay a one of sum for the phone but you're looking at a few hundred quid to buy the phone.

[ClinkatyClank]

Are phone charges, bills together with the monthly paymen of say £35 ?

[EvianBaby]

Not sure I understand your question fully but in the example I gave the phone company recoup the cost of the phone within the 24 monthly payments of £35, you wouldn't pay anything else on top of that. You'd really have to ask around though as there will be lots of different packages.

[bednobs]

in eb's example, that mponey per month would entitle her to use the phone for calls texts and data up to a certain amount each month (say 600 minutes, 600 texts and unlimited data. As long as you stuck to those amounts, you wouldn't pay anything else. If you went over your inclusive calls, you would pay more

[MASS1961]

The phone company don't want your phone back.
The only reason you got a "free" iphone was because you signed a contract for normally a minimum of 18 months as mentioned on a previous post.
Note the word CONTRACT, a deal where you committed to pay £x per month for x months. Some phone companies will let you out of the contract early ONLY if you pay them the outstanding balance ie. 6 months left @ £35 per month = £210. The money they would have expected to get for your "free" phone.

[Buenchico]

To try to sort a few things out here:

An iPhone 4S costs between about £500 and £700 if you buy it without entering into a contract. If anyone is going to let you have one cheaper (or even free) they'll need to recoup their loss through what they charge you for using it. So they'll want you to enter into a lengthy contract. Unless you pay a really hefty upfront fee and/or extremely high monthly fees, you won't find any 6 months contracts (and you're unlikely to find any 12 month ones). To get a fairly low monthly rate you'll need to sign up for a 24 month contract.

A contract phone is likely to cost anywhere between nothing and about £170. The more you pay for the phone, the lower your monthly costs will be.

The search facility on the Car Phone Warehouse website is a good way to see what you get for your money with different contract deals:
http://www.carphonewa...mobiles/iPhone-finder
(Car Phone Warehouse might not be everyone's first choice as a phone provider, but they deserve full marks for the clarity of their website).

Chris

[joko]

basically NO, you do not get to keep the iphone free of charge having only paid for 6 months ...why would you be allowed to do that?

if you did everyone would be doing it

they will recover the cost of the phone and contract.