I'm in month 17 of an 18 month contract with T-Mobile.  I have a Friends
and Relatives discount (50%), so unwilling to jump provider if possible.

I went into the My T-Mobile account to look at upgrade prices, and the
price I'm seeing on handsets is very high (£280 for the handset I'd
like).  You cannot get prices for upgrades until you've entered your
17th month, and I did this a day into month 17 and re-checked a couple
of days later - no change.

What I'd like to know is whether doing any of the following would reduce
the handset cost:
1.) Moving up a tariff.  Currently on a £32.50 (before discount) tariff.
 Next one up would be £42.50, though would only cost me an additional
£5 per month due to discount - I don't use my full allowance so I don't
want to do that if it will not have any difference to the price - but if
it was guaranteed to reduce the upgrade price, then I might consider it.

2.) Waiting longer.  Would waiting until I've entered month 18 make a
difference?  Should I expect that waiting even longer than that would
make a difference?

For me, the discount is worth nearly £300 over the 18 months - so it's
probably worth staying, as the handset is about £80 for new customers on
this tariff.  I'd save £200 on the handset price, but pay £300 extra in
rental, so £100 worse off.

Basically, I'd like to know if there is anything I can do to affect the
upgrade price?  Not trying to be unfair to T-Mobile (I do get a nice
discount after all) but just want to know whether being patient or
giving them more money will have an effect.  I've never had an upgrade
before (always switched providers for best deal), so not personally had
any experience at this.

I'm happy to wait a bit as I'm hoping they might introduce a particular
replacement handset (how long it would then take to make it to upgrade
customers (and then its price) is another matter!)

Thanks

David