22 replies to this topic

[jbrare]

Monolithix (MVP), on Jun 26 2006, 20:05, said:

The mobile phone market is mental for competition.  O/Voda/Tmob/etc are all well aware customers don't want 18 month contracts, but they have to make money somehow!  Customers want a top of the range phone for free, with 1000 mins and unlimited sms+data for ?25 a month, and as (some) have realised, the sums don't balance, _unless_ you take into consideration 18 month contracts.

Agreed, but the choice (even in the franchised shops) should be available. As I said before, I don't expect unrealistic price plans for my 12 months so long as it's fair. I don't even mind contributing a fair share of the phone price either. This option was taken away from me by Orange unless I accepted an 18 month contract. "No" business seems to be preferable to "some" business as far as Orange is concerned. Shame really, I liked the network.

JB

[Monolithix]

Yep absolutely.  Unfortunately you're in the minority, as i said above, the majority of people want the latest phones for no cost.  The networks have responded, Orange and the rest, by introducing 18 month contracts.  Higher commission and difficult targets have resulted in retailers pushing for the longer contracts.

Surely you must know that as a consumer, in electronic equipment in particular, you are told what you want, rather than requesting it *cough*HDTV*cough*?

[sporkguy]

Yep - they pretty much made it impossible for us to sell consumers 12 month contracts, as we'd earn literally nothing for a handset upgrade on 12mo - I'd rather be spending my time connecting a clearance PAYG handset which paid a hell of a lot more than a standard 12mo upgrade.