Sim Free Phone

[zingo1327]

Hi guys,
Can you explain how a sim free phone differs from one with a sim card (excluding the obvious)
Has one greater benefits than the other and if so ...what?
thank you

[hc4361]

You can buy mobile phones unlocked (sim free) or locked to a service provider such as Vodafone, Three, EE etc,

Usually when you buy a new phone outright you will buy it sim free so you can choose the provider you want for your sim card, either PAYG or contract.
When you get a phone on monthly contract it is usually locked to the provider that supplied the phone.

I prefer to buy my phone outright and get a one month rolling SIM card. It works out much cheaper that way.

[hc4361]

Forgot to say that a sim free phone (unlocked) can take a SIM card from any provider. A locked phone can only be used with the service provider unless you pay to get it unlocked.

[TheChair]

Hc4361's answer is roughly correct, but what dictates whether the phone is locked is simply down to whether its price was subsidised by the provider. I have a monthly contract, but instead of a cheaper or free phone, I buy mine outright, and instead get a discount in return for signing the contract.

[Guilbert53]

Normally when you buy a phone and sim together you buy it on a 2 year contract (though the contract length can be more or less than this).

This means in effect that you are paying for the phone over that 2 year contract. It also means that at the end of those 2 years the company will probably offer you another phone, when the one you are using may be perfectly fine.

So one of the benefits of buying a sim free phone (and then adding the sim contract afterwards) is that you own the phone outright straight away and can carry on using it after the two years are up and wont get offered a new phone that you may not want.

So buying your own phone means you can probably save money.

Lets look at some numbers.

Suppose you get a phone and sim contract at say £35 a month for 2 years. That is £840 over the 2 years.

But lets suppose you BUY a phone at say £200, and get a contract at say £15 a month. That will cost you £560 over the 2 years.

AND at the end of the 2 years you can carry on using the phone, and it will only cost you the £15 a month for the sim (£180 per year).

Obviously these figures are just examples but when considering a phone and sim contract ask the shop how much it would cost for 2 years.

Then compare it with buying your own phone and getting a sim only contract. Tesco Mobile do some good deals (as do others).

There are some decent phones around nowadays at £200 or less, for example the Motorola Moto G5S can be got for less than £200.

Do a search for "inexpensive Android phones" for a few examples.

It is worth shopping around to save money.

[ladybirder]

zingo you can buy a unlocked refurbished phone from my link. I bought an iPhone for about £140 and it has been fine.
https://www.refurbiphones.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home

Tech Radar is a good site for recommending their sim only deals of the month.
https://www.techradar.com/news/sim-only-deals