The mobile phone market is very competitive, arguably more so now that the majority of people who want or need a mobile phone have one. This means that companies want to target consumers to switch to their network. This can work in our favour as there are many companies wanting our business and prepared to offer various goodies in exchange for our money.

Work out your tariff first

The most important thing to work out before buying a mobile phone or switching your current mobile phone is to work out what do you really need? It is important to work out what the correct package should be for you as having the wrong one can seriously cost you money and is a waste straight into the pockets of the company.

First of all you need to work out how much you will use your mobile phone. This will help allow you to find the cheapest tariff which will match your usage and need of your mobile phone. This can be based on how much usage you have made of your present mobile phone, but also think ahead to estimate how many calls you will or may make in the future.

The tariff is the setting of the manufacturer. This will set the costs of your calling from your mobile phone and number of free minutes. However it is the retailer who sets the prices and this can vary with each retailer even though the tariff is the same. The key is knowing which tariff matches your usage. Then you can compare prices and find the cheapest for you.

Are you prepared to switch your network if necessary?

If you find your true tariff is different to what you have at the moment with your present mobile phone, then you can save money by using this new tariff without having to change networks. Ensure your package allows you to call mobiles on other networks in your deals with them.

You can try threatening to leave your present supplier if you can find a better deal elsewhere. Sometimes this works if you are fully prepared and have all your research and prices in front of you when you call your mobile phone company to complain, but not always, so be prepared for all questions, that company will not give you up easily so play on their fears and grab what you can from them which suits you, and you may not get a second chance to impress. If you try this a few weeks before your contract ends, this may be the best time to negotiate with them. Try to stick to as short a contract as possible if this comes up.

If you are offered a discount, add up all the prices to ensure that the amount you will pay in total is good for you. If you are unsure, ask them for a total cost before signing up to anything. Do not sign up to anything unless you are happy and understand everything you are agreeing to, especially if you will be locked into a contract (a minimum of 1 year, perhaps more.).

Then compare companies to get the cheapest price for the same tariff

As prices vary according to each retailer, a bit of research is needed to find out which retailer has the cheapest price for your tariff. Sometimes the smaller retailer will be cheaper than the major one, it depends on what is available. Try E2save and Dialaphone to start off with as they may have cheaper deals to combat the muscle power of the big guns. There is no harm in trying the major players such as Carphonewarehouse, Phones4U and The Link since they will be keen to gain your custom too. You have the power as the consumer to play the companies by comparing prices over the Internet and showing them the prices of their competitors and asking them to beat it.

Calling from mobile phones to landlines

Remember it is far more expensive to call a mobile from a landline than a landline from a mobile. Try to ring from a mobile to a landline whenever this situation occurs, or tell each other this when calling. Try to use up all of your free minutes allocated with your mobile phone deal to make full use of your benefits with your mobile phone. Calling mobile phone to mobile phone is very expensive and should be a last resort if needing to use a telephone.

Questions to ask: Make sure you properly research as many mobile phones packages as possible before you purchase anything and do not buy the first package you see. Find out what mobile phone packages exist and which would suit you best eg pay as you go? For emergency use only? Contract? Will you be making a lot of mobile phone calls to a landline? Or to another mobile? What time of day will you be using your phone? Having a rough idea of what you will want the mobile phone for before you use it could make a difference on the package you eventually purchase (and getting hold of deals which mobile phone providers would not like you to know about).