Cheapest iPhone XR contract (ee)

[Phooey]

After a little help please.

I'm not one to change phones regularly. Me and the missus are still using the iPhone SE - currently on sim-only deals direct through ee for approx £47/month for the two, including (£10) Apple Music. I think data allowance is approx 10GB for the missus, and 4GB for me. Unlimited calls and messages, but no picture messaging.

I think the XR would be the best phone for us (XS sounds super duper but too expensive?). Looking on the ee website you can get a XR (64GB) for £59/month (10GB allowance) and £10 upfront cost per handset. If we had two of these (one each) that makes it £118/month + £10 Apple music.

Has anyone been through similar and has any recommendations for where is the cheapest place (monthly contract) or how best to negotiate with ee over the telephone?

Foe ease (and to make sure we keep our number/s) I would ideally like to go direct with ee but if there is a big cost saving might look elsewhere.

Thanks

[gregs656]

Look on uswitch, you can look for the best deals on specific phones.

I wouldn't worry about moving your number about.

[Phooey]

Cheers. Uswitch has pointed me to a deal @ £43/month £0 upfront with mobilephonesdirect.co.. or the same with affordablemobiles.co.. Both a lot cheaper than ee direct.

Has anyone dealt with the above two companies? Because I'd be staying with the ee network I assume I won't have to mess around too much with telephone numbers etc etc?

[Xcore]

I got a contract through a 3rd party mentioned above, saved me 25 quid a month no complaints yet.

[williaa68]

If you live near an apple store and you trade in your SE they will sell you a new XR for £499, or approx £21 a month. You can get a 8gb sim only deal with Vodafone for about £10 a month, less if you get cash back via Quidco or similar. Do that x2 over 24 months and I reckon you are about £500 up on the best pay monthly deal.

[jimmythingy]

I think the trade in on an SE is about £60 so I think a sim free price from Apple on an XR would still be the thick end of £700.I also think you may have a problem swapping over your phone number from a third party supplier. EE to EE phone number swaps are strange.

Edited by jimmythingy on Sunday 26th May 18:11

[Phooey]

yeah, trade-in on the SE isn't very much, plus I want one of them to give my daughter, and the other as a spare. I'm going to try calling ee and mentioning the £43/month deal above and see if they will match it. Got to be worth a go

[ben5575]

I've just upgraded on Vodafone from a sim only to a new 64gb iphone XR.

Unlimited voice/texts + 100GB of data + 500 international + spotify etc = £57/m + £29 up front. Or £50/m if 60gb/m is enough.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/phones/pay-month...

Edited to add that Apple do the iphone upgrade plan (new phone each year) on the 64gb XR for £41.45/m on 0% https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrad...

or Stormfront (official Apple reseller) do what is essentially an iPhone PCP on the 64gb XR for £28.54/m https://www.stormfront.co.uk/easyupgrade/

Edited by ben5575 on Sunday 26th May 19:30

[anonymous-user]

williaa68 said:

If you live near an apple store and you trade in your SE they will sell you a new XR for £499, or approx £21 a month. You can get a 8gb sim only deal with Vodafone for about £10 a month, less if you get cash back via Quidco or similar. Do that x2 over 24 months and I reckon you are about £500 up on the best pay monthly deal.

Duff info
SE is worth ‘up to £62’ , an insulting price
0% is over 12 months max..
Apart from that, spot on!

[Phooey]

Cheers for replies.

So, it was worth a quick call to ee... Best offer on £0 upfront is £44/month for a XR64GB on a 30GB monthly contract, or £80 upfront and £39/month.

I was so close to pulling the trigger but whilst on the phone to ee I googled the size difference vs my SE. The XR is massive! I'm sure the missus will be fine with the XR but it's too big for me so will have to look into alternatives. The XS is smaller and a better size but I think it will be another +£20/month. Mmmmmm

[GeneralSinn]

The X is a good handset too and will probably be close to the XR price

[gregs656]

I think the X is a better phone than the Xr.

You miss out on force touch on the Xr which is absurd, and the camera on the X is better, as is the screen.

I went for the X over the Xr and have not regretted it.

[Sheetmaself]

Seeing as you currently have the se I’m presuming that you dont mind keeping the phone for a while With that in mind take a look at Virgin mobile as they do 3 year deals.

One example of price is a. XS 256gb with 5000 minutes unlimited texts and 8gb data.
£0 upfront cost
£48 per month

[GeneralSinn]

Sheetmaself said:

Seeing as you currently have the se I’m presuming that you dont mind keeping the phone for a while With that in mind take a look at Virgin mobile as they do 3 year deals.

One example of price is a. XS 256gb with 5000 minutes unlimited texts and 8gb data.
£0 upfront cost
£48 per month

That’s not a good deal at all - never mind the crazy length of the contract

[Sheetmaself]

GeneralSinn said:

That’s not a good deal at all - never mind the crazy length of the contract

Didn’t think too bad. If you take away the price of the phone £1250 it works out £13/month

[Dicky Knee]

I think Carphone Warehouse has a deal advertised in yesterday's paper. Something like £40 per month and £50 upfront for 60Gb.

[Phooey]

I haven't committed yet. Decided that the XR will be fine for the missus but it's too big for me. So I rang ee this morn and asked about an XR and an XS. The XR i'm happy with at £39/month + £80 upfront (30GB usage), but the best deal they could find on the XS was £54/month + £350 upfront! I explained I can get the XS on Vodafone for £50/month + £79.99 upfront via Carphone Warehouse but the lass @ ee said (admitted) they weren't very competitive on the XS. I'm in no rush, might just get the XR @ £39/month for her indoors and probably just keep my SE for a bit longer. I'm not that bothered about a new phone tbh. Other alternative is buy the XS handset for £949 and continue to pay £15/month (4GB) for my sim-only deal I'm currently on. Buying the XS handset outright + £15/month for sim works out cheaper (£1309 total cost for 24 months) than buying from ee (£1646). Total cost on the above with Vodafone is £1280 and you only have to outlay £79.99 upfront! Unfortunately I need to stay with ee (Vodafone poor signal at my place of work). I guess the mobile phone shops/operators must have some kick back on the XR because taking a contract works out cheaper than buying the handset outright @ £749 with a sim-only contract (£1016 for 30GB contract vs £1109 for 4GB sim-only).


There's a reason ^^^ why I don't change phones/contracts often

Thx for replies

[nikaiyo2]

Have you looked at mobiles.co.uk?

They are part of Carphone Warehouse but online only, and often have cracking deals.

[cobra kid]

Phooey said:

Cheers. Uswitch has pointed me to a deal @ £43/month £0 upfront with mobilephonesdirect.co.. or the same with affordablemobiles.co.. Both a lot cheaper than ee direct.

Has anyone dealt with the above two companies? Because I'd be staying with the ee network I assume I won't have to mess around too much with telephone numbers etc etc?

I've used mobilephonesdirect.co a few times and they've been great each time. Mainly with cashback deals as well. Prompt delivery and prompt cashback payments (make sure you remember to claim!!)

[Phooey]

Cheers for replies. I rang one of the companies mentioned above yesterday. Problem I/they have is that to get the quoted deal/s on their website I have to start a new contract. I said I'm already with ee but unfortunately you still have to go through the process as though you were a new customer to ee - port number over etc etc. I appreciate what they are saying, and I'll possibly do this - It's been such a long time I've switched suppliers so forgot the obvious, but just pees me off ee can't just turn round and say "OK, we can match that." They would with the XR, but not the XS.

The deal direct through ee on the XR isn't too bad. There are no deals with the XS (through ee) and ideally I want them both on the same bill, so I'm thinking just go and buy an unlocked XS and continue with my £15/month sim-only contract.