I think it’s about time we talked about the humble SIM card. I spend most of my time blogging about the techie advances of smartphones or the different price plans you can get for contract phones – despite the fact that I discovered only last year that concentrating on SIM cards can save you a whole lot of money.
Now that your ISP is avidly targeting the smartphone market, you stand a good chance of being able to get better deals with a little shopping around. One of the simplest (and also most money saving) of which is the chance to opt for a SIM only deal, which means you just get the SIM card from your ISP and forget about the phone.
Clearly if you already have a smartphone that you are happy with, then this is an extremely viable option. The normal price of a contract with your ISP includes not just the service you are getting, but the handheld device on which you enjoy the use of that service. When you already have a smartphone to enjoy the service on, you don’t need to pay for another one in your contracted direct debits (or however it is that you pay for service provision with your ISP).
SIM only offers are dependent on ISP. Some do them, some don’t. If the ISP you want doesn’t do SIM only deals then you can’t take advantage of the tactic I’ve just outlined. Though and that point I would be inclined to go and look for an ISP thatdoes offer SIM only deals and use them instead of the company you were thinking of patronising.
Research doesn’t hurt either. Signing up for any kind of mobile contact these days is a big deal – as both Orange and Vodafone customers have been finding out to their chagrin recently. Orange hiked its prices by over four percent at the start of 2012, while Vodafone refused to pay its taxes – both moves that have left long term contract owners spitting teeth, but ultimately powerless to do anything about.
Clearly you can’t predict the future and find out that your intended contract provider is suddenly going to do something as actively immoral as the actions of Vodafone. But you can be aware that the average length of a contract with an ISP (like everything else, now between a year and a half and two years) binds you in for long enough that a little prior research is a good idea. Find out what the average ISP charge for the kind of service you want is. Find out how good each ISP seems to be, according to the opinion of its customers.
The blogosphere and even the ISP’s own social media pages are great places to look for honest opinion about the quality of its service. Most ISPs follow good social media practice and let consumer comments about its services stand on social media streams – this lets them show how they deal with complaints and issues, which is in itself good advertisement for the quality of provision. Take some time and look around before you make your decision.
Finally: the longer your contract, the better a deal you can expect. This is true of all SIM card dependent services, from ISPs for your smartphone or mobile internet provider, to the service provider you choose to use in a bog standard phone contract. If you sign up for a two year contract, your monthly rate will be less than if you sign up for an 18 month contract, or (where they still exist) a 12 month one.
Beware though – the longer your contract (as noted) the less you can do if your ISP does something that makes you want to look elsewhere. Like putting up its prices. Every extra month on your contract diminishes your ability to retain the power of the consumer, and vote with your feet when things go wrong.
Overall: go for a shorter term SIM only offer. It gives you the freedom to move around if you want, and maintains a low price thanks to your not having to pay for a phone.
Rosette Summers is a Freelance and Staff writer who writes informative & creative articles on SEO and Technology for various tech related companies. Her expertise are in writing articles related to internet providers, SEO, cheapest sim only deals related articles etc.
