Paying an upfront fee to lower contract installments

[Sumen]

Hi, does anyone know if any of the networks allow the customer to pay some money towards the device in order to lower their monthly contract fee?

 

[Ockie]

With Vodacom, just tell them you want the once off device payment deal. You then only pay the monthly package subscription and no handset installment on top of that per mont. The more expensive the phone, the move the once off fee will be.

 

[Arthur]

Decided years ago to separate the buying of SIM and device. So, SIM-only contracts, and separately get the device I require.

 

[Swa]

Not really. The device packages have an allowance for a device. Get a contract with a lower value and then just pay in the difference.

 

[Dairyfarmer]

Some SIM only contracts have higher voice/sms/data bundles than their "with device" counterparts. My wife is on a VC sim only and her bundles were doubled. I'm on MTN sim only and get similar bundles but a lot cheaper.

Also remember that on contract you only own the device at the end of the contract. At no time during that contract do you own the device, even though you pay a monthly fee.