Do you want the latest mobile, like the newly released iPhone 3GS 16GB, but don't want to pay the £440.40 for an unlocked, SIM free version direct from Apple?  

You could look to the Internet to get a bargain, and there are always deals to be had on sites such as eBay, but with a phone that costs as much as the iPhone, we would always advise caution when buying off unknown retailers from the Internet, because of the problems with imitation devices, and lack of warranty when you are not buying from a known source.  

So how do you get the mobile of your dreams, without taking out a finance loan, or wracking up a hefty overdraft to pay for it? The 'Pay Monthly', long term contract may seem just the answer - sign up with an airtime provider and receive a new iPhone for nothing, or next to nothing. So where is the catch?  

In signing up you effectively defer paying for your new camera phone, and spread the cost over the term of the contract - likely to be 18 or 24 months. In the UK, O2 are offering plans at a hefty £73.41 per month, so a £440 iPhone will cost you around £1,320. Not quite so Free!  

But there are upsides. This is much like an extended credit plan, with the perks of free talk time and texts thrown in every month. 

Using the above example, if you are likely to use the 3000 minutes talk time that comes with the Free iPhone plan, each and every month then each minute will cost you between 2 and 3 pence per minute over an eighteen month contract and the cost of the your iPhone will be nothing.  

Now 3000 minutes is a lot of talking, fifty hours worth each month to be precise, or over one and a half hours on the phone each day. If the time you spend on the phone is likely to be significantly less than this, then paying more up front for your new mobile and getting a reduced call plan, or a Pay As You Go SIM, may be a better choice to make, but it is worth doing the math to work out how free your new mobile actually is.  

One other consideration to bear in mind is that eighteen months is a long time in the world of mobile technology, and there are sure to be a number of new desirable handsets released in that period, so your new phone will need to stand the test of time.  

So in summary, select the phone you want, check how much you will be paying over the contract and work out if the 'free' mobile package is really the right price you want to pay.