Mobile phones have become a necessity in modern life, something seemingly indispensable rather than an optional purchase. We need our mobile phones like we ended food and oxygen - literally everyone has a mobile phone and we need to upgrade and change these phones on an annual basis. The mobile phone market is one of the largest consumer markets in the UK simply because it is a captive market. Why then do mobile phone shops insist on giving us the hard sell when we come to buy or renew our mobile phone?

The Mobile phone retail market is competitive - of that there can be no doubt. But they have tens of millions of consumers to target who will always need to buy or upgrade their phone. From an outside perspective this would seem to be an advantageous position akin to shooting fish in a barrel. It seems unnecessary then that on two separate occasions I have been quite literally accosted and backed into a corner in a mobile phone shop while some over enthusiastic nee desperate sales 'executive' practically rams handsets down my throat. Considering a) I'm already in the store and b) I'm there because I wish to purchase a new phone the hard sell approach is not only unnecessary but frankly off putting.

This year I avoided the high street altogether in my search for a new mobile phone. My past experience of mobile phone shops forced me to look to new methods of getting a new mobile phone deal. I had done a spot of online shopping previously but had not really considered shopping for a mobile phone online until my network sent me some literature that mentioned 'web exclusive' offers. Most of the major networks such as Orange and T-Mobile provide such offers to existing customers so checking out the deals when the time comes for you to switch phones might work our to your advantage.

The online equivalent of the high street stores also fare well from a customer centric point of view. Online mobile phone shops such as Dial-a-Phone combine deals from all major networks to give you an idea of the best deals across the market - so you can switch network if you find a better deal.

The real advantage of this is these options is the complete absence of sales staff, jargon and rhetoric and borderline aggression that you can find with high street mobile phone shops.