Student discount: student mobile phone, SIM only deals and making cheap international calls
Student phone discounts
Save hundreds of pounds on your annual mobile contract - have you heard of cashback mobile phone deals? If not then you could be missing out on hundreds of pounds of extra beer money each year. Ok, now you're interested, read on... How it works is you select a talk plan from one of the discount mobile phone dealers such as the Carphone Warehouse backed One Stop Phone Shop, Mobiles.co.uk or e2save. On these sites you select a mobile handset/smartphone and network deal and sign up for typically an 18 month contract with one of the major networks as you would on the High Street. Orange, Vodafone, 3, O2 etc will still collect their monthly tariff from your bank account by direct debit however when you receive your phone from the dealer it will receive a number of cashback vouchers. How this works is every 3 months you post in a voucher and a copy of your phone bill to the dealer, then in return they post you a cheque with a cashback value of sometimes up to 90% the cost of the contract! Or even easier than that some will post you a cashback cheque for up to £250 towards the cost of your mobile contract just two weeks after signing up. So why would they do that you're probably thinking? Well each dealer is paid a commission by the major networks for recruiting new customers, so all they're doing is sharing some of this bounty with you. It gets better - you can even transfer your number between networks (but not across your existing network). So to summarise you get a snazzy new (and often free) handset, up to 90% off the cost of your regular contract (via cashback cheques) and you get to keep your existing mobile number. For other mobile deals check out high street stalwarts Carphone Warehouse or Phones 4u will find you the right phone 4 u...
Discounts on Smartphones and phone line rental
If you're looking for a good deal on a smartphone then Three mobile have some very competitive deals with free handsets including 500GB of data, 300 mins/texts for just £13 a month. One of their best current deals is the HTC Wildfire on Internet Texter 500 with 500mins of calls, 500 texts and a huge 1GB of data allowance for £20/mth. With additional handsets by HTC, as well as the Samsung Galaxy, Sony Ericsson X10, Nokia N8, Blackberry Curve and iPhone also available you can build your own tariff at a budget that suits you. To compare against other mobile networks then try Carphone Warehouse. If you prefer your smartphones large then T-mobile are offering the iPad from £25 a month, or stick with the iPhone 3GS available for free with unlimited internet also for £25 a month.Currently you can save up to £10 off a monthly tariff with Orange. To get this offer use the voucher code “Promo120” at the check out. The code will give consumers an extra £5 off plus the £5 discount for ordering online and is available to all customers purchasing a 24 month contract (excluding iPhone handsets).
SIM only deals with no contract - keep your existing phone and number with no commitment
For just £10 a month O2 will provide you with a free SIM card with 100 minutes and unlimited texts included, on a one month notice period. Alternatively for £10 per month 300 minutes and unlimited texts are on offer if you sign up to a 12 month contract. Three offer a wide variety of SIM only options starting from £5 per month for 1000 texts or 1GB of internet data on a one month contract going up to £25 per month for 2000 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited internet on a 12 month contract. You keep your phone and keep your number, there's free delivery and a 14 day returns policy. On Orange £10/mth will buy you 300 mins, unlimited texts and Orange Wednesdays (2 for 1 cinema tickets) on a 12 month contract, going up to 600 mins for £15/mth. Or the Orange SIMO deal on just one month's notice gives you 100 minutes, unlimited texts and Orange Wednesdays for just £10 per month. T-mobile also have a range of payment plans from £10 for 100 minutes and texts up to £25 per month on either a 30 day contract or 12 months for the top package of 1200 minutes with 500 texts. Alternatively unlimited texts for £10 are available or if you call abroad a lot they do a free International Sim Card whereby if you top up £10 during the week you get £10 free credit to use that weekend on international calls or texts.Another one to consider is giffgaff which is a SIM only mobile operator, running over the O2 network. As well as a Pay As You Go offering you can get a giffgaff goodybag which is a varying mix of minutes, texts and mobile internet that lasts for a month at a time for between £5 and £30 - so there are no lengthy contracts. In addition, for every full minute of inbound calls received you will also receive a credit of one minute to use to call any UK mobile or landline number! Check out giffgaff for full details and to register for your free giffgaff SIM card.
If you need your mobile phone unlocking so you can use it on any network then Mobile Unlocked provide free unlock codes for over 100 mobile phone models.
Get cash for your old mobile phone
Mobile Phone Xchange give customers the opportunity to turn all their old mobile phones into cash. They are one of the biggest recyclers of mobile phones with exclusive contracts with some high street stores. What a great way to help the environment, recycle your old phones and earn money, statistics show that over one person per household has an old mobile phone, which is just put in a drawer somewhere. Check now to find out whether that old mobile phone could be worth up to £150!Cheap international calls
Rebtel is one of the fastest growing operators for international calling with more than 5 million users, allowing you to save 95% on calling to 196 countries from your mobile or landline. Call abroad from just 1p per minute.
Localphone is a leading mobile VoIP provider and offer students a double credit bonus on their first top-up, plus your first call is free. With Localphone you can make cheap international calls at local prices from your mobile, landline or computer. There are no monthly fees or hidden charges and you can top up from as little as £1. Plus you can try it for free!
With these services there are no expensive access numbers to call, how it works is once you’ve signed up you get a local number for each of your international contacts. Save that number to your mobile or landline and each time you call your friend or loved one overseas, you’ll only pay local rates to your phone provider (usually free) and a small per minute amount to the provider (i.e. Rebtel/Localphone). Example rates on Localphone include just 0.4p per minute to call the USA, 0.5p per minute to call China or 0.8p per minute to call Australia. Now that's cheap!
