There has recently been lots of innovation in the handset financing space, giving us newer and more flexible alternatives to the 24-month contract.

Over the past decade, smartphones have become increasingly advanced but at the same time, they’ve also grown massively in price. Back in 2007, the original iPhone cost £269 whereas today, you’ll pay £999 for the latest iPhone X unlocked and off-contract. With almost a four times increase in cost over just a decade, it means handset financing is now more important than ever before.

Historically, the most popular form of handset financing has been the 24-month contract. For something like the iPhone X, you might take a 24-month contract paying something like £60 per month. This gives you an allowance of minutes, texts and data to use every month and you’ll get a handset with reduced or no upfront cost. The cost of your handset is rolled in to the monthly fee, often with very little transparency and limited flexibility. Mobile phone contracts also typically have hidden APRs that are hard to work out.

In this article, we’ll explore alternative handset financing options that can save you money and give you greater flexibility than you’d get on a 24-month contract.

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If you’re buying a mobile phone for your kids, there are several important things to consider including how you decide to pay for it.

This year, mobile phones are once again near the top of the wish list for kids when asked what they’d like to receive as a gift this Christmas.

In our opinion, mobile phones can be a great gift for your children but before you buy one, there are several important things you need to consider. This includes which handset you buy and how you decide to pay it. For instance, if you decide to buy the mobile phone on a contract, you’ll be committed to also paying the mobile phone bill for another 24 months. There are also some key things to consider when it comes choosing a mobile phone plan and paying for apps & games.

In this article, we’ll discuss the most important things you should consider when buying a mobile phone for your kids.

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The BenQ WiT is a curved LED lamp designed to illuminate your desk so you can work and read in the evening.

On this website, it’s not very typical for us to be reviewing desk lamps or other everyday household gadgets. Typically, our thing is more mobile phones and tablets along with the mobile networks and tariffs behind them.

However, as we approach the Christmas giving period, we also wanted to have a look at some other gadgets that can enhance your digital life and that can solve some everyday problems.

As someone who spends a lot of time working at a computer, getting the right lighting environment has been a constant challenge for me. During the summer, I’m fairly lucky to get lots of natural light around my working environment. However, as the days get shorter and as we approach the winter, the amount of natural lighting has drastically reduced. Therefore, when BenQ offered me the opportunity to try out their new high-tech desk lamp, I jumped at the opportunity to see whether it could help me out.

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The Apple Watch Series 3 is Apple’s first smartwatch to have 4G connectivity. Compare the options for buying it in the UK.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is Apple’s first smartwatch to have 4G mobile connectivity. Unlike previous Apple watches which only had Bluetooth connectivity, the 4G connectivity on the Series 3 Apple Watch means you can stay connected even without having your smartphone nearby. This is useful, for instance, when you’re out exercising: you’ll be able to make and receive phone calls without having to bring your smartphone with you.

In the UK, the Apple Watch Series 3 with 4G connectivity is available exclusively to customers on EE. To use an Apple Watch on 4G, your iPhone will also need to be on the EE mobile network.

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BT Mobile, EE and Plusnet Mobile are three brands from the BT Group using 4G coverage from EE. Find out how the three mobile networks compare.

In 2016, BT acquired the EE mobile network and incorporated it into the wider BT Group. Alongside BT Mobile, the BT Group now also offers a mobile service through the EE and Plusnet Mobile brands. All three brands offer coverage from EE’s high-speed 4G network, but differ in some of the features they offer and also in their target audience.

In general, the EE brand is targeted towards power mobile users. EE offers the widest selection of devices along with the biggest data allowances and fastest download speeds available. Customers using the EE network also get extras like wi-fi calling, 4G calling and access to Apple Music.

BT Mobile is targeted towards more families and households. They’ve got a smaller selection of handsets compared to EE but there are some additional features like family discounts, monthly spend caps and access to BT Wi-Fi hotspots.

Finally, Plusnet Mobile is the more affordable ‘value’ brand in the portfolio. Calling themselves a ‘simple and honest mobile’ service, they offer plans from just £5/month on a 30-day contract. While Plusnet Mobile doesn’t come with all the additional benefits of EE and BT Mobile, they provide highly-affordable prices and the ultimate flexibility.

In this article, we’ll be reviewing EE, BT Mobile and Plusnet Mobile to see how the three mobile networks stack up against each other.

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Unshackled is offering a 29-month plan on the iPhone, with a guaranteed trade-in value after 24 months.

Unshackled is a UK website allowing you to buy your mobile phone and SIM card on separate agreements. Rather than having a single 24-month contract for both your handset and airtime, the website instead makes it easy for you to buy an unbundled deal. Here, you’ll have a separate agreement for your handset and airtime, allowing you to save money overall. You can also change your handset independently from your mobile network and tariff.

Unshackled’s latest innovation is something called the “29 month plan”, which works in a very similar way to the “personal contract plans” often used when buying a new car. The 29 month plan gives lower monthly payments, and promises a guaranteed trade-in value after 24 months (subject to fair wear and tear). Customers can take advantage of this to trade-in their iPhone for a newer model after 24 months. Alternatively, you can continue paying for a further 5 months if you’d like to keep the handset.

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ASDA Mobile is now offering 4G internet, with 2GB of extra free data on all Pay As You Go bundles.

In the UK, ASDA Mobile has just launched their 4G service following the recent renewal of their contract to provide a service on EE. The launch of 4G internet gives ASDA Mobile customers a download speed up to five times faster than 3G. They’ll get 97% population coverage on EE’s 4G network, and an extra 2GB per month of free data on all Pay As You Go bundles until the 27th June.

In this article, we’ll review the new 4G service from ASDA Mobile. We’ll look at the 4G bundles available on ASDA, what you’ll need to use it on your phone and the level of coverage you can expect. We’ll also look at how to keep your existing phone number if you’re switching to ASDA Mobile to take advantage of the new service.

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It’s almost never a good deal buying the latest handset on a 24-month contract. We explain the hidden APRs in a mobile phone contract and why they cause you to pay hundreds of pounds more.

Traditionally, most people have bought their smartphones on a 24-month contract. With a contract, you can normally get the latest smartphone for a reduced upfront price. For instance, the 32GB iPhone 7 has a full retail price of £599 unlocked. However, on a Pay Monthly contract, it’s often available for an upfront payment of £99 or less.

In exchange for you being able to save money upfront, a 24-month contract will tie you in to one mobile network and will require you to pay more on your phone bill each month. For instance, you might pay an additional £30/month for the next 24 months (this is compared to if you were getting an equivalent SIM-only deal). When these additional monthly payments are taken into account, you’ll normally end up paying far more than the original cost of the handset.

In this article, we explore the hidden APRs in a 24-month contract and why they mean traditional contracts are almost never good value. We’ll then look at newer “unbundled” alternatives where you buy your handset and SIM card separately to avoid hidden APRs (this is an alternative to 24-month contracts promoted by retailers such as Unshackled).

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There are multiple ways to watch BT Sport on your TV, laptop or smartphone. We compare the available viewing methods and find the cheapest way of watching BT Sport.

In the UK, BT Sport allows you to watch 42 live matches from the Premier League along with every game live from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The BT Sport channels also show a number of other events including the Aviva Premiership, European Rugby Champions Cup, SPL, Bundesliga, Serie A, WTA tennis, MotoGP and UFC.

In this article, we’ll discuss the different ways of watching BT Sport on your TV, laptop and smartphone. We’ll also compare each of the methods to find the best value way of watching BT Sport.

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From March 2016, giffgaff is increasing their Pay As You Go prices to 15p/minute, 5p/text and 5p/MB. Additional minutes are also being removed from the £5 Hokey Cokey goodybag.

Through a post on their online community forums, giffgaff has announced an upcoming increase to their Pay As You Go pricing.

From the 23rd March 2016, giffgaff’s current pricing (10p/minute, 6p/text and 20p/day for 20MB of internet) will be replaced with a new “simplified” tariff. Calls will cost 15p/minute, text messages will cost 5p each and accessing the mobile internet will cost 5p/MB. The impact will mainly be felt by light users who make occasional phone calls and by customers who occasionally use mobile data on their smartphone.

From the 23rd March, additional minutes will also be removed for all customers buying the £5 Hokey Cokey goodybag. At present, customers can earn additional minutes of calling for every minute they pick up an incoming phone call. After the changes, this will instead become a flat monthly allowance of 125 minutes, 500 texts and 100MB of data.

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