Choosing a Mobile Phone - 6/8

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In part three of the moneysupermarket.com guide to mobile phones we examined the various ways to pay. However, there are many different costs and tariffs depending on which network you use. In part six of our guide to finding the best mobile phone for you, we examine the various costs.

Costs and ways to save

If you have a pay-as-you-go phone the costs involved are fairly straightforward – you load money on to your phone and that is the money you have to spend on calls, messaging, etc. However, call rates are often higher for pay-as-you-go customers. Contract mobile phones offer different services with many different costs involved. These costs vary to suit your needs and choosing the right deal for you can save you money.

• Calls – It’s the most basic service but costs will vary widely from calls to the same network off peak costing 5-30p per min to calls to different networks costing 20-50p per min at peak time. Calls to fixed lines at peak time can cost from 10-40p per min.
• Data – Costs vary between networks for data services such as downloading from the internet with i-mode, WAP costs, etc. For example, O2 currently offer a 1MB browsing allowance as part of their monthly fee on i-mode phones, while Orange’s ‘world access’ monthly tariff ranges from 4-400MB included in the monthly fee ranging from £4-£88.13.
• Direct debit – Paying monthly direct debit can save you money on your bills.
• E-billing – Choosing to have your bills e-mailed to you can save money with some networks.
• Further extras – Adding extras leads to additional charges. Some networks will allow you to buy extras in packs.
• International calls – Vary between networks with a general price rise of 10p in 2005.
• PAYG/Anytime – Some networks offer a PAYG/Anytime service that allows you to pay the same for calls at all times of the day. This is ideal for business use.
• Text messaging – Costs normally range from 10-12p.
• Text messaging bundles – Some networks will offer you cheaper text messages if you buy them in ‘bundles’.
• Voicemail – With some networks calling your mobile is free, with others it is charged at a standard rate.

There are numerous additional offers that vary from network to network that can save you money. These include concepts like free weekend calls, reduced rates for sharing talk time with more than one account and group calling. Be sure to check out the price comparison table at moneysupermarket.com to find the latest mobile phone features available across the networks.

In part seven we’ll take a look at protecting your phone and insurance.