Phones, phones phones! The bane of most students’ bank accounts. As a student myself who is known to run up ridiculous phone bills (£90 anybody?); it is crucial to my survival that I get the lowest possible deal. Luckily I was able to talk to my network provider over what allowances I could be given to suit my needs. Which typically is lots of texts and lots of minutes, I had to forgo internet on the go because that was a tad excessive for my budget. But if you are a student do not give up yet! There are still some nifty deals out there for you.

One of the best things being that there are many deals out there which get you other free technological items. For example, top of my list is from Mobiles.co.uk deals from roughly £30 where you get a brand new free Samsung laptop. A sweet little deal like this is ideal for students beginning university; phone and a laptop from one place. It saves a lot of hassle and stress (particularly on parents). However, the phones provided in these deals are not the best of the bunch. They are phones like the Nokia 1800 which does the job in ringing and texting, but does not have much more than those basic functions. So if you desire a fancier phone you will need to shop around or fork out a bit more. It also possible to find similar deals from The Carphone Warehouse for a bit less at £25 which again is a bargain because you get a Samsung Netbook   as long as you don’t mind a more basic phone.

One phone that has to be mentioned is the iPhone in any form that it comes in. I know several people who have the iPhone and it is expensive! Nearly all these friends also have a job which supports the iPhone habit. Three offer a decent start up deal of £25 with plenty of texts/minutes/internet, but you have to stump up a lump sum for the cost of the phone. The lump sum decreases with the increase of the package. If you can afford it – it’s yours.

There are deals out there that seem too good to be true; like the ones that offer you cashback when you contract yourself to an amazing phone like the Nokia E5 on Phones4u. They genuinely do give you the said £250 for taking part, but that is how they draw you in then rob you of £40 per month for 2 years. And this deal does not appear to have internet either.

So, in conclusion, as a greedy thrifty student the best deals are the ones that get you free stuff and a phone with enough minutes to phone home at three in the morning (just to let them know you are alive of course). If you don’t need a new laptop, you can always go for a free Wii with a blackberry at The Carphone Warehouse. Remember whatever you go for to read up before hand and check for the pitfalls. You want what will suit you. Which in my case is a veggie fry up thank you.