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| BA: K750i on VM 200 (18m): min term cost =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=A3164_?= |
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| message from Reestit Mutton on 04 Jun 2005 |
Regular readers of this NG will be well aware of the recent bargain from
One Stop Phone Shop with the Sony Ericsson K750i on Vodafone CrossNet
200 (12m) for only £110 over the minimum term of the contract.
In summary, this handset was released less than 2 weeks ago. OSPS put
this handset on their website on 23 May with an offer of 8 months free
line rental on Vodafone CrossNet 200 (min term cost of £110). On the
afternoon of 26 May, they changed the offer to 7 months free (min term
cost of £140) and early on 27 May the offer changed once again to 6
months @ £2.99/month (min term cost of £188 ). This last offer is the
offer that still stands today.
Even at £188 minimum term cost it seems like a good deal for what is
essentially one of the most sought after handset releases of the past
few months. However, for those of you that are cursing yourself for
missing out on the early bargain costed at £110, there is now an
alternative option on a very similar tariff that works out even cheaper
than the original deal on a monthly cost basis. The catch is that it
requires an EIGHTEEN month commitment on one of Virgin Mobile's new
contract tariffs.
One Stop Phone Shop is now offering the K750i on Virgin Mobile 200 (18
months) with 11 months free line rental. This deal is structured as follows:
The normal line rental for Virgin Mobile 200 (18 months) is £30 per
month. If there is no upgrade after 12months, the line rental reduces to
£24 per month for the remainder of the contract*. However, Virgin Mobile
will only charge you half this amount (£15/month) for the first 6
months. The remainder of the stated discount is achieveable via cashback
from the One Stop Phone Shop in three equal parts - £83.33 each time
after 4, 8 & 12 months.
Retailer: One Stop Phone Shop
Handset: Sony Ericsson K750i
Tarrif: Virgin Mobile 200
Minimum Term: 18 months
Monthly Free minutes: 200
Free Minute Validity: cross-network, anytime
Monthly Free Texts: NIL
Monthly Line Rental: £30 (months 1-12), £24 (months 13-18)*
Network Offers:
6 months 1/2 price line rental
line rental reduction to £24/month after 12 months if no upgrade is sought*
Retailer Cashback: £250.00
Cashback Schedule:
£83.33 after 4 months
£83.33 after 8 months
£83.33 after 12 months
MINIMUM TERM COST: £414 (before cashback), £164 (after cashback)
MONTHLY EQUIVALENT: £23.00 (before cashback), £9.11 (after cashback)
non-affiliate link:
http://www.onestopphoneshop.com/ourdeals.php?PROV=VIRG&OFF=GK750I&TAR=V20018
Or, if you're happy to use it,
I also have an affiliate link for this deal on my website:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~lauriem/latest_additions.html#0406200501
* To be honest, I wouldn't recommend asking for an upgrade after only 12
months of an 18 month contract as the best renewal deals are only ever
achieved with the threat of leaving the network, backed up with a
request for your porting authorisation code to take your number with
you. Because the network knows that you are tied in with them for a
further 6 months it is unlikely that you will get anything worthwhile
from them at the 12 month point. Also, any upgrade you receive will tie
you in for a further 6 months on top of your 18 month term. In my
estimation, you are better off taking the £36 discount off your next 6
months line rental and seeking a better value renewal at month 18 instead.
HtH
RM
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| Tariq replied to Reestit Mutton on 6 Jun 2005 |
Was thinking of going for this deal, but hesitating because if I can't
get the phone unlocked then it's no good to me. Newer Sony Ericssons
can't be unlocked privately yet can they?
Tariq
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| Brian replied to Reestit Mutton on 4 Jun 2005 |
Reesit,
What are these K750i phones like, do you know if they have a good
battery life? I friend of mine recently got a K700 and this only lasts two
days in standby. Is this a smartphone as I'm considering the Orange C500 to
act as a phone (obviously) but also to replace an ageing Ipaq.
Keep up the good work!
Brian
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| Anon replied to Brian on 04 Jun 2005 |
RM,
If you can find a cached page of the original offer and get the code from
it, surely they must still be able to offer the original deal if it was
valid until a set dat providing that date hasnt passed
Electro
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| David Hearn replied to Anon on 05 Jun 2005 |
Nope - a number of people on here tried ordering the 8 month cashback
offer whilst it was still on their website. By the time OSPS got round
to connecting the phone, they'd changed their offer and connected the
phone on the new offer - not the one the people had signed up for.
According to their T&C's they can do this, but many people were unhappy
ordering 2 phones (at the same time) at 8 months free rental, only to
get 1 phone on 7 months free, and the other on 6 months @ £2.99.
D
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| Tariq replied to Reestit Mutton on 6 Jun 2005 |
You could very possibly be right, just checked on the Virgin website
and there's no sign of this model on there.
That would make things better I suppose... should I go for this phone
or not - really would prefer a cheap deal on a Nokia 6680!
Tariq
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| Tariq replied to Reestit Mutton on 6 Jun 2005 |
Ah, thanks for that RM. Decided I'm going to wait for a cheap 6680.
Any good offers for those on Orange at the moment RM? :)
Thanks,
Tariq
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| Tariq replied to Reestit Mutton on 5 Jun 2005 |
Is this handset supplied locked and if so, what is Virgin's policy on
unlocking contract handsets?
Thanks,
Tariq
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| Reestit Mutton replied to Tariq on 05 Jun 2005 |
Good question...In the light of their PAYG unlocking policy I was
wondering the same myself.
RM
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| JP replied to Reestit Mutton on 6 Jun 2005 |
Everything I've read, says it must be unlocked by cable. £10 at local shop.
Is this what you meant by Virgins PAYG unlock policy?
++++++
At no additional charge, we will provide the code to 'unlock' your mobile
phone, as long as you do not owe anything for that phone, you have spent at
least £30 on airtime with us on that phone and you have complied with terms
of this agreement. You will need to register that phone with us for security
reasons
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| Dave Gill replied to Reestit Mutton on 6 Jun 2005 |
I'm not sure this is an "official" Virgin handset in the first place.
Perhaps (and I have no way of knowing for sure) it's like some previous
CPW Virgin offers, where you get a Virgin SIM pack and a generic GSM
handset?
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| Reestit Mutton replied to Dave Gill on 06 Jun 2005 |
Actually...Virgin Mobile have started offering contracts via third party
outlets and the CPW group have a head start on the competition via an
exclusive arrangement for a few months. The reason that there's no
mention of these deals on the VM website is probably only because they
want to keep it solely a PAYG outlet (for now) while trialling contract
sales through the CPW network.
So...although there's a good chance of it being unbranded, it's not
necessarily assured that the handset will be unbranded.
HtH
RM
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| Reestit Mutton replied to Reestit Mutton on 07 Jun 2005 |
Not sure about Orange but someone asked me about this handset on 3 Talk
& Text 600 today (yeah, I know that 3 isn't everyone's favourite network
ATM for a number of reasons) so I undertook a price comparison:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~lauriem/REQUESTS/RQ0606200501.html
If you're happy to use the 3 network then you're in luck at the moment
as OSPS and E2Save have just resurrected their 11 months 1/2 price deals
that they both offered just after the handset was released (until today,
the best available deal was with only 6 months 1/2 price).
The abovementioned deals INCLUDE the 3 months 1/2 price network offer
(deducted from your monthly bills), thus they are effectively cashback
from the retailer equivalent to 8 months 1/2 price (or £120).
OSPS pays cashback after 4, 8 & 12 months and offers £10 extra cashback
for online orders (min term cost of £185) E2Save pays cashback in two
parts after 6 & 12 months (min term cost of £195).
I'll see if I have time to dig up any interesting deals on Orange
tomorrow (no promises though).
HtH
RM
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| Reestit Mutton replied to Reestit Mutton on 07 Jun 2005 |
A quick check with about 20 or so different retailers suggests that the
cheapest min term cost is currently £380 on a £25 per month tariff on
the Orange website.
Outside of the Orange website it's more like £430 upwards.
Somehow I don't think you were wanting to spend this much but, alas, it
seems to be a tad overpriced on Orange at the moment.
HtH
RM
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| Tariq replied to Reestit Mutton on 7 Jun 2005 |
Ouch, only reason looking for Orange is because of the inability to
unlock them at the moment :(
Got an Orange contract up next month, so will ring them and haggle :)
Cheers for looking RM!
Tariq
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