It has been recently announced that Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile network, have been pipped to take over domestic home and broadband operations of Tiscali here in the UK.

Since the broadband bubble burst here in the UK, we have seen massive market consolidation, with formerly independent internet service providers being snapped up left right and centre by big name brands like Virgin, Orange, Sky, O2 and the Carphone Warehouse, each of them vying to offer consumers a one-stop solution for all their communication and entertainment needs; digital TV, fixed-line calls and mobile phone services.

Mobile broadband, which allows laptop users to surf where ever there is signal, has also taken off big time over the last year or so, with T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone leading the way.

As such, the main mobile networks, who own and run their own fixed-line and/or mobile broadband platforms are viciously competing for subscribers, and as such, are throwing some pretty crazy deals around right now.

A friend of mine was approaching the end of her mobile phone contract and was contacted on her mobile by a sales team offering a better deal than the one she was currently one if she switched to a new network. She contacted her existing network and they immediately offered her unlimited cross-network texts provided that she stay with them for another 18 months for the same rate (£30 a month) but with unlimited messages, and slightly more minutes. She didn’t even have to haggle.

If you get itemised bills through the post, check to see if you are going over your allowance for texts, or end up with hundreds of unused free minutes at the end of the month – if you aren’t using up all of your texts or are going over the limit, then it is well worth giving your network operator a call to see if you can change your tariff – chances are they might even offer you a contract upgrade for no extra cost, but be wary of the fact that they this will probably require you to sign on for an extended contract.

This isn’t really a problem if you’re not bothered about staying with the same provider, but it could be trouble if you want to upgrade to a new phone later in the year – some handsets, such as the new 3G Apple iPhone will only be available on selected networks (O2 in this instance). Think about what you want to use your phone for (just for standard calls and texts, or as a mobile PDA and email device) and for how long you envisage keeping hold of it, before giving your network a ring.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Budgeting, Savings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.