better to buy a new phone from the store or online?

So Im currently on a contract with EE from Carphone Warehouse. im thinking about upgrading as my Samsung S3 broke last week and my contract ends in December. I usually just go to carphone warehouse with one of my parents and just get a phone and contract there but I've been told that its much cheaper to buy it online. if this is the case i'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me how i'd go about doing this. I'd really like opinions on which is the best way to go- buy online or at carphone warehouse?

Thanks in advance

Do you have a phone in mind, and would you be staying with EE? I'd say look on the websites of the appropriate networks and the Carphone Warehouse and see who is giving the best deal at the time, the prices in the shops should be the same as on the website.

Or, if possible, to save even more money buy a phone outright and go pay as you go/sim only.

Thankyou for the reply

I'm thinking about getting the samsung S5 and yeah my mum's been saying the same thing, that it might be better to buy just the phone and then get a sim separately.

Yeah, just had a quick look on Amazon and the S5 is being sold there for £380, and then you could go sim only/payg on top of that for something like £10 a month. That's going to be considerably cheaper than the contracts on offer, most of which come to about £1000 over two years.

Also, have a look at the Three network, they're cheaper than EE and from my experience their network is faster. You won't find their deals in the Carphone Warehouse, so have look on their own website.