Mobile Phone Deals: How Much of a Deal Are You Getting?

Can anyone remember the days when a brick-sized Motorola cost as much as a city car? Mobile phones have certainly reached their ideal price point – quite often, next to nothing – but many consumers are still left with deals that just aren’t in their favour. From network locked handsets to expensive per-month calling plans, the number of tricky mobile phone deals out there is truly staggering.

Believe it or not, there are people that would rather just buy their handset up-front. Despite the popularity and proliferation of long-term calling plans, a growing number of mobile phone customers are looking for something else when they browse through the top 10 mobile phones: flexibility.

The Apple iPhone is a particularly well-known culprit – a mobile phone that’s drawn a laundry list of criticisms due to its closed platform, network locked status, and overwhelming anti-’jailbreak’ culture. Customers browsing for an iPhone that meets their needs – simple overseas use, pay-as-you-go calling plans, and the ability to be unlocked and modified – are often met with a sea of complex plans that make it difficult to know just where to find the phone.

UK customers have, quite rightfully, been let off easy when it comes to locked-down phone networks. United States carriers have been using calling plans and long-term contracts for years, not just as a way to subsidize the cost of high-end handsets, but to make unlocking and phone modification difficult for customers.

That means that the once-simple activity of purchasing an international SIM card has been rendered impossible. The rise in ‘phone control’ has lead to a grey market – importers, used phone dealers, and licensed retailers offering ‘unlocked’ phones without specific region information. What was once the norm has become a special case; a market where ‘flexible’ phone plans are available.

Of course, there are millions of consumers that appreciate the simplicity, value, and long-term convenience of a subsidized handset, long-term contract, and secure calling plan. They’ve opened smartphones up to a new market – before subsidized handsets and plans were the norm, the top 10 mobile phones all required a very significant upfront investment.

And despite the cries of inconvenience and ‘evil’ business from technology circles, the locked-down nature of many modern mobile phones isn’t something that’s plaguing consumers. Long-term plans offer some serious calling value, often priced at just a fraction of their pay-as-you-go counterparts. The common criticisms still hold true – inconvenienced and discouraged developers, and frustrating international service – but the end result is clear: cheaper handsets and better mobile phone deals.

It’s a proposition that’s, in reality, quite difficult to argue with. While a number of consumers appreciate the flexibility and power of unlocked mobile phones, the convenience of a subsidized handset often outweighs it. Travellers, ultra-busy businesspeople, and tech developers may disagree, but the public appears to have voted with their feet, or in this case, their wallets: today’s mobile phone deals are what people need.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30691679@N07/3252506530/