colldaisy

I am going to Australia in Feb 2013 but I will still have 8-9 months left of my UK mobile phone contract (with orange).

What is the best thing for me to do about this?...not sure if to take the phone with me, or if to just sell it before I go? as it is an iphone 4, totally brand spanking as I've only had it a year and have kept such good care of it, it not got 1 single mark on it and it would be boxed too.

any advice?

Hel83

Your choice what you want to do with the actual handset. I'd take the phone with you-get it unlocked from its network so you can use it in Australia. Problem is though, you'll either have to keep paying your contract bill each month until the contract has finished, or pay it all off in one go before you go. I'm on o2 and to pay off my the rest of my contract in one go, will cost the monthly bill x how many months are left eg; mine will work out £45 a month x 4 months

Not sure if orange are the same!

Lucas_Dad

I agree - you could take the phone to Oz (if unlocked) but I'd suggest that maybe get a spare/cheap phone to transfer your Orange sim into. Making and receiving calls would be pricey (so avoid it!) but it would cost nothing for you to receive texts or picture messages - this would be cheaper for your mates back home than for them to sms/mms to your new Aussie number, at least.

As you're locked in to a contract, you're kinda stuck with it. You can pay it off as Hel83 said, but you may as well keep it going as it will cost you the same - unless you can pay off the contract, sell the phone on eBay and make a profit overall? Probably wouldn't be much profit though.

Is it worth asking if you can pass the contract on to a friend or relative?

Mummy3

We have an iPad that we got before we knew about coming to oz, we could have transferred the account but didn't know anyone who wanted 3G, it was a great deal with huge amont of broadband but to get out early was £500+ so just letting it roll on and not using it, feels like such a waste of money.
Same with my Vodafone deal, my phone is sat with a sim in it, again £100+ to cancel, if only we had known we would not have got a 3G iPad...
Bought a sim here, temporary but have renewed the voucher. Hadn't got my phone unlocked either...

GarryP

First, this is one of the reasons to avoid 24month contracts unless you know you will use the contract minutes so much that you will break even within 12 months. Things are moving and changing so quickly that 24 month contracts become a ball and chain.

Second, they will charge you 8-9 x your monthly amount to cancel. At a rough guess, you are probably on the hook for £280+, looking at their plans. That's probably more than the phone will be worth. Remember, you'll still have to cancel and get unlocked, with their fees.

The iphone 4 is old goods, and is only going to get older and less valuable with the existence of the iphone 5, launched shortly.

Best bet is probably to find a relative who would take over paying the 8-9 months left on the contact in exchange for the phone. You can then hand it over as you leave. That way you can buy new, and arrange things such that you don't end up in this hole again.

Oh BTW, that's unless Orange change the T&Cs such that you can claim an early release as a consequence. However they are usually very careful to avoid this, and even price rises on 'fixed price' contracts aren't deemed sufficient (bloody lawyers).

nicolac34

I had the same issue with o2 when we left, although I only had around 4 months left of my contract. I took my phone with me and then when I could end the contract I transferred my number to an o2 pay-as-you-go sim card so that I could still use it when I went back to the UK on holiday (and I'd had that number since I was 16 - kind of attached to it!)

Unlocking it was very easy (and free), just an online form or a quick phone call and well worth doing to have the use of my iphone in Australia. Otherwise I'd have had to fork out for a new one as there was no way I'd be able to get a mobile contract out here (and I don't want one either).

An iphone 4 isn't THAT old, I'm still on the 3Gs!

Tramps_mate

I brought my IP4 and it works fine. Luckily my contract ended 3 weeks before I left for OZ!

colldaisy

[QUOTE=GarryP;10178470]First, this is one of the reasons to avoid 24month contracts unless you know you will use the contract minutes so much that you will break even within 12 months. Things are moving and changing so quickly that 24 month contracts become a ball and chain.

I didn't know when I took the contract out in November 2011 that I would be going to Australia in February 2013 funnily enough! lol .....I was only looking for a bit of advice

Thanks though.

Any advice is useful advice

colldaisy

Thanks yeh I kinda wanna keep my number aswell cos its quite a good one and I've had it for years

Tramps_mate

Keep your number how? On a pay as you go sim?

GarryP

[quote=colldaisy;10178880] Not having a go, just saying that with the pace of phone developments, and the usual pace of other developments, many people find they have the need to change much earlier than the end of their contract. 24 month contracts are just too long, too confining.

colldaisy

@ tramps mate - yeh as said below


[QUOTE=nicolac34;10178480]I had the same issue with o2 when we left, although I only had around 4 months left of my contract. I took my phone with me and then when I could end the contract I transferred my number to an o2 pay-as-you-go sim card so that I could still use it when I went back to the UK on holiday (and I'd had that number since I was 16 - kind of attached to it!)

Mummy3

[QUOTE=GarryP;10178897] Yeah, we didn't know we were coming to Australia when we took ours out...

Tim86

i have just been speaking to O2 about the same issue i will have 4 months left on my contract,

they suggested that i down grade my contract, (basically i am now on a lesser contract so its costing me less per month, that way when you do come to cancel it they are only charging me the lesser figure x the amount of months left!

certainly doesn't get you out scot free, but it certainly helps, (i managed to almost half the cancellation fee!)

Emma_Par

Try reducing your monthly contract amount, u can normally do it after x months into ur contract. They don't restart ur contact term either. So when u go to cancel your total amount should be alot less, hope it helps