After feeling jaded with mobile data, I have decided I will never sign a 24-month contract again

IF YOU’RE on a 24-month phone contract, you need to read this. It could end up saving you a big pile of money.

OPINION

WHEN I signed onto my $80 per month Vodafone plan, I was excited because at the end of 24-month contract I would be the proud owner of a two-year-old smartphone.

Well, that was how I had hoped things would pan out.

The reality aligned more with me losing my smartphone three months into my plan after one too many whiskeys in a dubious nightspot with poles.

This meant I was left to pay off a smartphone I would never see again for the next 21-months — something that left me a little jaded to say the least.

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While I admit the circumstances surrounding my loss are my fault, I am sure there are countless stories of water damaged/dropped/stolen/lost phones that have landed people in similar predicaments.

In all honesty, this isn’t even the worst part about my contract. I am more concerned with the stinging feeling my phone bill gives me after all of my data add-ons.

That’s slightly different from what I could get for $80 per month now.

At the time of joining my 80 Red 24-month plan, I was given infinite text, infinite standard national calls and a minuscule 2.5GB of data.

This would have been great if I lived in 2004 and was only using my phone for texting and calls, unfortunately this was not the reality.

I know because I have been stuck with huge bills thanks to those pesky data add-ons.

For a while now, my bills have averaged $140 thanks to a monthly 3GB $20 add-on, two 1GB $10 data boosters and $20 worth of data used over my amount.

I am well aware there are ways to be more diligent with data use, but I am also a millennial who has become accustomed to a certain way of life.

You can call it self-entitled, but I call it living in 2016.

What makes the pill even harder to swallow is the fact the same 80 Red 24-month plan now offers 9GB of data to coincide with the unlimited talk and text.

Even with a $10 data booster to give me the 10GB a month I have been using, the plan would be $50 cheaper than what I pay currently.

Likewise, I could get the 100 Red 24-month plan, which offers me unlimited talk and text, 13GB of data and a 12-month subscription to Stan or Spotify.

You can now even get 12 months Spotify with plans.

Even at $100, that’s still much better value than what I am on now.

While Vodafone does give me the option to change plans on its website, this is not widely advertised to customers.

Also, why should people have to go in and frequently amend plans themselves?
Surely telcos could do this automatically as part of “customer service” - especially given its cost them literally nothing to give the customer extra data.

Instead of sending me a text to advise I can update my plan when I go over my data, Vodafone direct me to where I can purchase add-ons - this isn’t putting customer needs first.

As a result, I have decided I am not going to join another 24-month plan again because they are just not worth the effort — especially if you have a track record of misfortune with smartphones.

Given I am already well-versed at finding a bargain for iPhones on eBay — and the fact a number of Androids are quite cheap — I am going to continue to purchase my phones outright.

My solution will be joining a month-to-month sim only plan.

If I stay with Vodafone, I can get 10GB of data for just $50 per month.

This will mean instead of paying a minimum of $2160 in 24 months, I will only be paying $1200.

Even if the cost of buying a smartphone outright puts me on par with the total cost of the 24-month plan, I will have the ability to chop and change carriers in search of the best deal.

While I admit not everyone can buy a phone outright, if you can, it certainly seems like a viable option.

Continue the discussion in the comments below or on Twitter @mattydunn11

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