Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Where to get your free mobile upgrade

There are many mobile phone upgrade offers screaming for your attention but how do you make sure you are getting the best offer AND that you will safely get your money back?

Seduce your wallet with free, cheap or half
price mobile phone upgrade deals … (safely)

You probably already know that mobile phone retailers are falling over themselves to better each others deals. You will see many websites and high street shops advertising free or discounted line rental offers for 6, 9, 12 even 14 months.

So how can the dealers make these seemingly crazy offers? First, you need to understand how the dealer gets paid and how the mobile phone industry works (just a little bit). The dealer gets paid by the network, based on what price plan (tariff) he connects the customer to; a higher price plan means more money for the dealer.

Dealer Profit

Then the dealer must pay for the cost of the phone. A high quality and expensive phone means less profit for the dealer. The difference between the tariff commission and the cost of the phone gives the dealers gross profit.

However, the dealer must then pay any cashback money from this remaining commission. The dealer basically is ‘betting’ on how many customers will claim their cashback money after the stated 6th/12th month (or as given); the lower the percentage of customers that claim, the higher the dealers profits. The higher the percentage claiming, the closer the dealer comes to going bust!

It is a fact that many are actually offering deals to customers that do not make them any money at all, and may make a loss. So how can they make this work?

Retailer goes bust without paying customer

The worrying problem is that some do not make it work, and have gone bust. Less reputable and unstable companies have not got the balance right and had to pay out so much cashback that they simply do not have the money in their coffers to pay, and have closed shop leaving the customer without their cashback money.

In 2004 Mobile Republic went into administration allegedly for this very reason, and left many customers without their cashback.

Take the benefits of cheap offers but miss the problems

How? Read the next article on Mobile Phone Upgrades
Take the benefits of cheap offers but miss the problems

So how do you avoid this disastrous situation?

In short, use a reliable company that has good business history. For example, the Carphone Warehouse has been established for over 10 years, as has Mobile Phone World, the company behind http://www.mobile-phone-upgrade.com

It is important not to be seduced by the attraction of too-good-to-be-true offers from companies that have not been established for a long while – it is quite likely that they might go bust before you have had your cashback monies.

Check the small print

It is also vital to pay great attention to the Terms and Conditions of the cashback redemption procedure. Most require you to send in your mobile phone bill for your (eg) 6th month of connection within 28 days of receipt.

There for a reason

This is not just petty procedures to make it harder for you to claim … it is because the dealer will receive a clawback of their tariff commission if the customer does not pay their phone bill within the first 6 months, or changes to a cheaper tariff. Sending in the bill gives the dealer proof that you are still connected and still on the same tariff.

Get the Best Mobile Phone Upgrade Deal - Safely

So 2 Top Tips: How to seduce your wallet with the best deal – for the long term:

Only choose from well established phone retailers such as
1. Carphone Warehouse
2. Mobile Phone Upgrades - http://www.mobile-phone-upgrade.com
3. The Link
4. Phones 4U

Read closely, print out and keep the cashback redemption Terms and Conditions so you can follow them to the letter in claiming your cashback

With this information you can now search the internet for the best mobile phone for you.

Mobile Phone Upgrades - Part 2 - Where and How?

Free Mobile Phones Upgrades – How to get an even better Upgrade

Before you take the jump and switch to a different network for your free phone upgrade, think about this …

Imagine you call your current network to tell them that you are thinking of leaving them to switch to another mobile phone network. Often that person you speak to will be on a commission to keep your business ie they will earn a bit of money if they can convince you to stay with that mobile phone network.

This means that you can use this to your advantage.

Tell them that you have had a great offer from another mobile phone network (and do not lie – they will most likely know exactly what you could and could not get with another network). Simply ask them if they can equal or better the deal offered by this other network.

If they can equal it, then it is probably not worth the hassle of switching mobile phone networks and the paperwork. It is not too much hassle to do the switch but obviously it is easier to stay with your current mobile phone network.

Free mobile upgrades can be got in this way quite easily by simply understanding how the system works and how the money works in mobile phones and free mobile phone upgrades.

So next time, simply ask you current mobile phone network if they will better the free mobile phone offer from another network. Always ask if they can better the offer – don’t ask them to equal it or they will only equal it.

Good luck.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Free Phone Upgrades - Where and How?

Free Phones - Upgrades

Mobile phone upgrades are easy to do – if you know where and how to do it.

A “mobile phone upgrade” is where an existing customer of a network (eg T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3G, Virgin etc), who has been with that network for about 1 year since getting their last mobile phone, gets a new mobile phone from the network at a free, or cheap discount price, in return for agreeing to stay with that network for another 12 months, under a 12 month contract agreement. The customer keeps their existing mobile phone number, and stays with the same network. This is called a “mobile phone upgrade” – often it is a free mobile phone upgrade!

To get the best offer for a free or cheap mobile phone upgrade you must understand this. The mobile phone networks pay a mobile phone dealer more for a new customer (new mobile phone contract) than they do for a mobile phone upgrade customer. This odd situation has been the same for many years. The only network that seems to pay mobile phone dealers nearly as much for an upgrade customer as for a new free mobile phone customer is Three (also known as 3 or 3G). The other mobile phone networks simply do not seem to value their existing customers as much!

The craziness of this situation is that it encourages you to be disloyal to your current network.

What does this means to you? How can you get the best deal from knowing all this, so you can get a free mobile phone upgrade AND get other benefits? Read on …

The amount that a mobile phone dealer can give to you will depend on how much money he is making. If he is making more money from a ‘new’ mobile phone contract customer than for an upgrade customer, then he will be able to give the ‘new’ mobile phone contract customer a bigger discount or a free mobile phone or maybe more!

Now, did you know that instead of upgrading your phone on the same network (where you probably will not get such a good deal or a free mobile phone etc), you can switch to a NEW and different network AND keep your existing mobile phone number? This is true.

Now, knowing that you can keep your mobile phone number, and that you can usually get a better deal as a ‘new’ customer on another network, what are you going to do?

You can simply become a ‘new’ customer on a different network … this new network then treat you a a new customer, give you all the free mobile phone bonuses and gifts etc, AND you keep your mobile phone number!

So by simply looking around at all the offers available to you on all the other networks

The next article will tell you how you can get an even better deal

Monday, May 01, 2006

Free Mobile Phone Upgrade? How?

There are many mobile phone upgrade offers screaming for your attention but how do you make sure you are getting the best offer AND that you will safely get your money back?

Seduce your wallet with free, cheap or half
price mobile phone upgrade deals … (safely)

You probably already know that mobile phone retailers are falling over themselves to better each others deals. You will see many websites and high street shops advertising free or discounted line rental offers for 6, 9, 12 even 14 months.

So how can the dealers make these seemingly crazy offers? First, you need to understand how the dealer gets paid and how the mobile phone industry works (just a little bit). The dealer gets paid by the network, based on what price plan (tariff) he connects the customer to; a higher price plan means more money for the dealer.

Dealer Profit

Then the dealer must pay for the cost of the phone. A high quality and expensive phone means less profit for the dealer. The difference between the tariff commission and the cost of the phone gives the dealers gross profit.

However, the dealer must then pay any cashback money from this remaining commission. The dealer basically is ‘betting’ on how many customers will claim their cashback money after the stated 6th/12th month (or as given); the lower the percentage of customers that claim, the higher the dealers profits. The higher the percentage claiming, the closer the dealer comes to going bust!

It is a fact that many are actually offering deals to customers that do not make them any money at all, and may make a loss. So how can they make this work?

Retailer goes bust without paying customer

The worrying problem is that some do not make it work, and have gone bust. Less reputable and unstable companies have not got the balance right and had to pay out so much cashback that they simply do not have the money in their coffers to pay, and have closed shop leaving the customer without their cashback money.

In 2004 Mobile Republic went into administration allegedly for this very reason, and left many customers without their cashback.

Take the benefits of cheap offers but miss the problems

How? Read the next article on Mobile Phone Upgrades