Contract Phones and the Great Network Swindle
Copyright 2006 Michael Hanna
It's familiar conversation amongst friends gathered in the pub
on a Friday night. Someone got a new mobile phone which does
this that and the other, but what a trauma they had to go
through to get it. Their mobile phone contract was up for
renewal and they were offered a package with 100 free minutes
and 200 text messages per month. All well and good, but why is
the same contract on offer to new customers with 200 free
minutes for 6 months? Why am I, an existing network customer any
different to a new customer? Why does my mobile phone contract
have different rules and features than a new customer? Heads nod
in agreement - we've all been there.
The major mobile phone networks appear so desperate to compete
with their rivals for the affections of new customers that they
seem to neglect their existing customers. What the networks fail
to realise is that once your mobile phone contract is up then
you become a new customer yourself and suddenly the networks are
all salivating over the potential of your custom. Phone contract
offers pour from newspapers, billboards, online adverts - 200
free minutes, unlimited text messaging, the latest handsets all
for