[Ben]

Note: You can do this on any network :)

When you're nearing your 11 month mark with Three UK, you may be wondering what offers are available for upgrade. Like many, you may have received an excellent deal from your local Three dealer. If those 'new customers only' deals are looking more tempting than the upgrades Three are prepared to offer you, then there is a way to get the best of both worlds.

First off, you need to port your number out of Three and onto a spare Pay as you Go SIM card from another network. Please note that this effectively cancels your account with Three. Now, with your number safely transferred to a Pay as you Go SIM, you can open a new contract with Three and port the number back again!

As far as I know, this is the only way that you can take up a new contract and get all the extra incentives while at the same time keeping your old number. It may well be too much hassle for many, but for some - it could save you a packet!

[miffed]

I have had four different contracts on Three now , And the idea of upgrading doesn't appeal to me in the slightest !

I remember a time when you would get a better deal upgrading as an existing customer than you would by "pretending" to be a new customer , but those days are well and truly gone now, on all networks to be fair

When I "upgraded" to my A1000 , I had been quoted £185 as an upgrade - in the end I purchased one as a new contract for free & got half price line rental for 3 months , so with that & dropping my tarriff down to the lowest common denominator (naturally !) after 3 months , got my a1000 & the years line rental for £202.50 ! - under the upgrade scheme I would have paid £395 ! (3 x £25 + 9 x £15 + £185 for the phone)

Can't say I can think of a situation where a customer would be better uprgrading than making a fresh purchase , unless the are on a discontinued tarriff that they are attatched to

[Ben]

I really wish the networks would detatch handset subsidies from the contracts. Sure, if you want it, you should be able to spread the cost of your new phone over the 12 (or however many) months, but it certainly shouldn't be inbuilt into the priceplan as it is now. I'd be more than prepared to be offered a really great deal on my line rental and then purchase my handset off whoever I wanted :\

Recently there's been talk of aiming for retention on all the networks, even Three - if that's the case, why not launch a transparent value-for-money upgrade scheme?

[Hands0n]

I anticipate an unbundling of handset from contract in the not too distant future. Why? To promote the "lifestyle choice" of handsets as distinct from the contract life. The mobile ops will get it eventually. The kids are not loyal or interested in any network in particular. They used to "herd" around particular networks before inclusive x-network calls became available. Even now, it is no more expensive to text message x-network (it was at one time, as I recall). So the next logical step has to be unbundling handset and contract imo.

The "true" [i.e. factory gate] cost of a handset is not representative of what we are asked to pay retail. But this is also true of any goods. Mark ups are in the many 100's of percent, leaving much room to bring this down to encourage volume sales of the devices (stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap). How about a handset for each day of the week? Or maybe one for going out and one for roughing it? The kids would have a new handset each few weeks or months to "keep up with the latest".

Retention? With a fickle customer base like the kids (not us old fogies) they have a job on their hands. Ignore the Lifestyle option at their peril, I reckon.