My operator (VF) lets people upgrade over the phone 90 days in advance of contract date, and 60 in store.

Suggest you call the customer service people and ask nicely what the earliest date you can upgrade is… and use the old handset until then.

Hi,

I managed to damage my phone to an extent that they won't repair it under warranty (no insurance - it's ridiculously expensive), and I've got 6 months left on my contract. Course I could use an old phone for those 6 months, but I was hoping my current provider (Orange) or a store could give me an offer to secure my continued custom.

The store won't do anything - just says "you have to buy out your contract", Orange offered slightly better, a buy-out about 20% less than the full buy-out price.

I'm sure I can do better than that.

Does anyone know of any offers or deals, or retailers that specialise in this sort of thing?

Thanks!