I need to know what I should do with my SIM contract!

[andrewducker]

My SIM-only phone contract has just run out, and because of that I'm currently paying £23/month for unlimited data (and calls and texts, but I don't use many of those).

Last month I used just under 11GB of data on my phone.

My options are:
£12 for 12GB
£14 for 30GB
£16 for 100GB
£18 for Unlimited

12GB is cutting it too close, so the other three are my real options.

£14 for 30GB/month seems pretty good.

Is it worth me spending the extra £4/month for unlimited data?

Is it worth me worrying about £4/month when I'll never notice the difference in my bank account?

(This is all through Three. So far as I can tell pretty-much everyone has the same mediocre signal quality near us because we're in a dip next to a hill. I am, however, prepared to listen to suggestions about other providers/approaches.)

Comments

[rhythmaning]

Is the 11GB/month typical?

My provider, GiffGaff (more expensive for data than yours!), lets you pay-as-you-go if you use up all your allowance (expensive but can tide you over) or immediately start the next month, so going over isn't catastrophic. (GiffGaff piggybacks on O2.)

If that's available to you, I'd go with 12GB, because I hate paying for things I don't use.

If it isn't, I'd go for 30GB.

And (in complete awareness that you are employed by a major savings provider and are probably already completely up to speed on savings) stick the £4/month into a savings plan for your kids! ;)

[hilarita]

I'd go for £14/mo and not angst any more.

[skington]

Orthogonal to data use, but check whether your carrier supports all of the features of your phone. I switched to iD a while ago, and was annoyed to realise that it doesn't support visual voicemail on iOS.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, one of the reasons I switched from Giffgaff to Three is that Giffgaff didn't support voice over WiFi. And with the signal in my area I really need that.

[jack]

I assume you don't need to lock yourself into a contract? I would go for £12 or £14 and if you go over, go up to the next level. But OTOH unlimited is cheap enough if you think you'd like to be able to just watch video out and about without worrying about it, it's worth it just for the convenience. So really I think either would be fine.

Another potential question, do you ever need to tether your phone to use your mobile allowance as back up internet for a PC? I rarely need to but occasionally it's been a handy fallback. And in my plan you CAN do that with any of the limited packages but NOT with unlimited. I don't know if it's likely to matter, it probably doesn't come up often enough

[andrewducker]

Those prices are all on 24 month contracts.

I did the tether Jane a bit on holiday - but only about 600mb worth.

Not had to the tether my desktop, and if I did I could go unlimited for the month.

[jack]

Ooh! Then yes, "what I used last month + 20% rounded up to the next plan" sounds sensible. Having a buffer so you dont' have to worry about running out is worthwhile. (I think you usually can UPGRADE if you decide you want to, although it may reset the clock on the lock-in.)

For a long time I resented how opaque phone contracts were. I was so pleased when it became possible to just buy a month's worth without needing to negotiate N years in advance. It's not rational, but whether or not it's cheaper I just really really hate the experience of having to lock in an N year contract and PRETEND that that's a fair price for a data contract and pretend that they give you hundreds of pounds of smartphone free out of the goodness of their hearts. And I know it's irrational and most services the real cost is something other than the obvious thing it looks like you're getting. But I still found it SO much more restful to just be able to pay for what I was getting and have the option to just change it (even if it wasn't actually cheaper). Even then, I got a giffgaff contract that required you to guess in advance, rather than just saying "well, if you use 8 GB we'll charge you the 8GB price and if you use 12GB we'll charge you the 12GB price, or if you only agree to pay for 8GB then you'll just run out", but it was so much better. Sorry for the rant, it's not actually relevant to your decision :)

[andrewducker]

That would be the best. Just charge me for whichever tier I hit.

But yeah, I think I'll go for the 30GB one and I can always upgrade later if I need to.

[mountainkiss]

Disappointing lack of SEWIWEIC.

[andrewducker]

I have failed!

I shall have to run a poll at some point soon!

[armiphlage]

Canadians pay 4 UK lbs per GB on average for phone data.

*envy*

https://www.cable.co.uk/mobiles/worldwide-data-pricing/

[anef]

What a fascinating map! North America is clearly very expensive for data, but look at Europe - massive variations between (say) Germany on the one hand and Italy and France on the other. There must be a rational explanation.

[armiphlage]

Perhaps some residual regulatory barriers restricting competition, despite EU standardization?

Canada's high prices appear due to limited competition. Whenever a new company tries to enter the market, the three incumbents buy it out or tie it up with court cases. Then the incumbents all announce identical price increases on the same day.