Due to issues with my previous phone caused by an excess of slobber when our youngest got his hands on it, I yesterday paid for an early termination of my existing phone contract, traded in the broken phone and took out a new contract and got a new phone. All of this would be absolutely fine if later yesterday evening, the Wench suddenly realised that as we are planning on moving to France (potentially as early as September) that there's going to be a hell of a lot of contract to run that's still going to be useless.

As this was only yesterday I can still cancel the contract and return the phone, but this then leaves me without a phone of any description, and I could really do with something that allows for data tethering until we go to France. I'm going to ring O2 in a bit and see if they have any bright ideas, but I thought I'd enquire of the forum if there are any alternative suggestions?

You could always buy a Nexus (or similar)online and go for a rolling one month sim only contract to go with it. That way you could cancel when you want and take th ephone with you to France as it would be unlocked.
Not the cheapest way of doing things, but it would work.

Go without data.

Honestly, you'd be surprised. You're in a big town with tons of wifi places and you're at work or home most of the time. Save your money, pay for that Mac and spend on more interesting things. Phones have gotten out of control. (Oh and then drag Prof down here for a pizza )

Where did you get the phone from? You won't be able to cancel if you got it in store. Only if you got it online.

You get a 7-14 day cooling off period on all contracts

Get the phone unlocked and use it in France when you move? I advise going for Free
for a while I had an unlocked phone and 2 sims.

Bought from Carphone Warehouse, have confirmed I have a 14 day cooling off period.

I've been trying to find something on a 12 month contract, but they just don't seem to exist any more, which is quite annoying. Essentially trying to minimise any upfront payment. Woman at O2 that I spoke to was staggeringly incompetent and lied about what their Refresh contract allowed. Which was helpful.

I'm wondering if the best option is to keep the phone, bite the bullet on the extra contract time and do as TheFrenchun suggests. It means I'll get to keep the nice phone. I'm also aware that whilst the plan is to move in September, there's a lot that has to happen between now and then as well, so there's every chance it won't happen until the new year. It also means that I'll still have a sim that I can use whenever I return to the UK until the contract ends.

What network did you get the new phone on? [url="https://selfhelp.carphonewarehouse.com/SelfHelp/request.do?view()=c{11a18a50-bcb7-11de-e56d-000000000000}"]clicky[/url]

no you don't. Not if you bought in store.

See link https://selfhelp.carphonewarehouse.com/ ... t.do?view()=c{11a18a50-bcb7-11de-e56d-000000000000}

O2 still offer a 7 day return

If you have an O2 Refresh Phone Plan and change your mind.

Within seven working days, you can cancel your O2 Refresh package as part of our change of mind policy. This means you cancel both the Airtime Plan and Phone Plan, get a refund on your upfront phone payment and return the phone to us.



However, if you’ve signed up to O2 Refresh by buying out of your previous contract early, there is no change of mind.

You have 14 days to change your mind about buying the phone with a credit agreement. You can’t return the phone to us after the 7 day Change of Mind period ends so you’ll need to buy it outright. You can still carry on with your Airtime plan.

Need to check on that. As I paid to terminate the old contract early, I don't see that this is an upgrade. Will need to check the small print.

Unless you really really need data, get a simple PAYG feature phone so if junior slobbers all over it then it will not be expensive to replace.

tesco mobile use the O2 network and have a 1 year contract for £10 a month
500 mins, 5000 texts, 1GB data. it also can be capped.

get the 99p pay as you go sim from any large store then phone them and change it to the above ...

Oli alas hit the nail on the head; it was still an upgrade and not a new purchase, so there's not return period, which really kind of answers the problem. It's not the end of the world in terms of the wasted money will be split out over the second half of the contract, and it means I can just switch sims when I am ever back in the UK.