Need a new phone?

You don’t need to purchase from a telco or the manufacturer to get the best deal on a premium handset. In fact, a quick look around for the latest iPhone can save you up to $100.

Even so, don’t be sucked into deals that are too good to be true. If the site looks dodgy, it probably is. If in doubt, look up the name of the site on Whirlpool, ProductReview or Reddit to get an idea of the customer experience. If there are more complaints than you’d like, then it’s probably not a good idea. The phone stops being cheap after you’ve spent more than you paid for it on shipping it back, paying for repairs and shipping it once again. A lot of these sites can afford to sell cheaper products because they import them from countries such as Hong Kong.

Always check the frequency band specifications of the device against the Australian specifications, which will ensure (hopefully) that it works under 3G and 4G networks.

(See “Cheap phone picks from WhistleOut”, left.)