Cheapest iPhone discussion

charltonfan1

rcoxson wrote: »

SNIP

Also if you subscribe to Simplicity for a month or so and threaten to leave they will offer you £150 credit to sign up on the same package for 18 months. This makes the next 7.5 months free and effective monthly cost £11.67 rather than £20

thethinkingman

rcoxson wrote: »

Looking at a lot of the blogs on the cost of the new iPhone 3G S elsewhere, it seems the major complaint about the pricing strategy is the upgrade costs for current iPhone 3G users. O2's (and other carriers) justification is that they can't recoup the cost of handset subsidy if they provide preferential upgrade rates to existing customers.

Mindful of the fact that the iPhone upgrade cycle has historically been a 12-month cycle, and that die-hard iPhone fanatics (myself included) would potentially like to avoid a lock-in contract with 18 or 24 months to run, I've been investigating workarounds. It turns out there is an option which complies with O2's T's and C's - went into a store and the sales representative confirmed there is no problem with this approach. The drawback is upfront cost, but if you can stomach the handset cost, then this will give you a more flexibile option.

The solution is:

• Purchase the iPhone handset on a Pay and Go tariff. Prices are £342.50 for 3G 8GB, £440.40 for 3G S 16GB, £538.30 3G 32GB

• At the same time, purchase an O2 'Simplicity' SIM-only contract, and replace the SIM provided with the handset for the Simplicity SIM. These are 1-month or 12-month rolling contracts, so less onerous than the 18-month or 24-month contracts usually bundled with the iPhone.

• The Simplicity contract priced at £19.54 gives 600 texts a month, plus 600 mins, and can be bought with an inclusive bolt-on of Unlimited Wifi. Alternatively, bought from the O2 website, text allowance is doubled to 1200!

• Those of you already familiar with the iPhone Pay Monthly contracts will note that this gives more generious text allowances than the current contract priced at £34.26 a month!

• Best of all, if you are looking to continue on a 12-month upgrade cycle, you'll be able to do so with no penalties from O2!

• You can then sell on the handset when upgrading at a future date to offset some of the handset costs. Mazuma Mobile provide some pretty hefty cashback rebates on iPhone models: at the time of writing a iPhone 3G 16GB would attract a £200.00 cashback rebate

A couple of drawbacks with this approach to be aware of:

(1) Overall cost of ownership if the handset is kept for 24 months is equivalent to the 'off-the-shelf' Pay Monthly £35 a month contract offerings. You'll only realise cost savings if you're likely to continue early upgrading on a 12-month cycle

(2) O2 do not provide the 'tethering' service for non-contract iPhones. This is new in the latest version of the iPhone software and allows you to use the iPhone as a 3G modem for a laptop. If you need access to this capability, then you should go for a contract phone (it's worth bearing in mind that this is a premium service attracting a surcharge of £10 per month, though)

(3) You may not be able to use the 'Visual Voicemail' feature on the iPhone as this is not available to non-contract users. There is still access to conventional 'sequential' voicemail as usual.

:money:
I'm seriously thinking about buying it on a business contract.

It costs the same as the normal tarriff, however, you can upgrade after a year. You also get the following advantages:


unlimited calls to any O2 mobile

<LI class="nth-child-even nth-child-2">

unlimited calls to 10 UK landlines <LI class="nth-child-odd nth-child-3">unlimited data, email and Visual Voicemail
[*]unlimited Wi-Fi at over 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots through The Cloud and BT Openzone networks.
Obviously this type of contract isn't possible for everyone, however, they don't require much in terms of proof of business. The link http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/business.html provides full details, but option 1 suggests you don't need any evidence of owning a business

"Option 1 - Eligible for an upgrade
You will be able to upgrade to iPhone 3G S when you renew your contract with us. You'll need to move to one of our current O2 Business tariffs if you're not on one already, add the iPhone 3G Bolt On and sign a new 24 or 36 month contract."

Best of luck!!!

thethinkingman

charltonfan1 wrote: »

Also if you subscribe to Simplicity for a month or so and threaten to leave they will offer you £150 credit to sign up on the same package for 18 months. This makes the next 7.5 months free and effective monthly cost £11.67 rather than £20

I've just spoke to O2 and they didn't offer me a £150 credit. Mind you, Im on a one month rolling contract.

charltonfan1

thethinkingman wrote: »

I've just spoke to O2 and they didn't offer me a £150 credit. Mind you, Im on a one month rolling contract.

Did you say you would be willing to sign up to an 18 month contract?

They give you the credit for agreeing to this

NRex

Looking at pre-ordering the iphone 3G s today (with quidco cashback through mobiles.co.uk)
Does anyone know if I will be able to port my current number I have with t-mobile over to o2 when my t-mobile contract runs out in November?

Many thanks

Dowsy

I have got a Simplicity 1 month rolling tariff at the moment(600 minutes,1000 free text,unlimited WI-FI use,£19.58) and just looking on the O2 website at the simplicity deals there is also one for £19.58 but it is a 12 month contract and you can upgrade after 9 months with 1200 texts,600 mins and a web bolt on of my choice, which would be unlimited WI-FI. I can also add an additional bolt on ( which would be the web bolt on) for an extra £7.34 taking my total to £26.92. It sounds good and saves nearly £10 a month from one of the actual Iphone tariffs (£34ish) and also saves having a lengthy 18 month contract. I'm thinking of going with the 12 month one but my question is would it be better to have both the WIFI and web bolt ons or just one of them? I forgot to say i already brought an Iphone from Ebay

grant32

troubleonline wrote: »

Have just spotted this offer too and wonder does anyone know if you can use to upgrade? I am trying to get through to ask them but no answer so far! I had a 2g iphone and my original contract expired last month.

I like the idea of pre-order and the cashback - only way I would go via Carphone Warehouse again!

I placed an order at 3pm today with mobiles.co.uk via their website. My order status is still "pending". I phoned the sales and customer service line but they have gone unanswered all afternoon! Fingers crossed the order is processed and has guaranteed dispatch tomorrow (18th) as promised on the website. Has anyone else ordered today and had it processed successfully?

charltonfan1

Dowsy wrote: »

I have got a Simplicity 1 month rolling tariff at the moment(600 minutes,1000 free text,unlimited WI-FI use,£19.58) and just looking on the O2 website at the simplicity deals there is also one for £19.58 but it is a 12 month contract and you can upgrade after 9 months with 1200 texts,600 mins and a web bolt on of my choice, which would be unlimited WI-FI. I can also add an additional bolt on ( which would be the web bolt on) for an extra £7.34 taking my total to £26.92. It sounds good and saves nearly £10 a month from one of the actual Iphone tariffs (£34ish) and also saves having a lengthy 18 month contract. I'm thinking of going with the 12 month one but my question is would it be better to have both the WIFI and web bolt ons or just one of them? I forgot to say i already brought an Iphone from Ebay

Only get the WIFI bolt on if you are often in areas of Cloud wifi network covergae, otherwise it's pointless.

Try calling up and doing what i suggested above. AFAIK they are still offering £100 credit if you sign up for 12 months or £150 for 18 months

Dowsy

charltonfan1 wrote: »

Only get the WIFI bolt on if you are often in areas of Cloud wifi network covergae, otherwise it's pointless.

Try calling up and doing what i suggested above. AFAIK they are still offering £100 credit if you sign up for 12 months or £150 for 18 months

So you reckon if i ring up and say that I might go elsewhere they would offer me £100 credit for 12 months and only go for the WEB bolt on?

charltonfan1

Dowsy wrote: »

So you reckon if i ring up and say that I might go elsewhere they would offer me £100 credit for 12 months and only go for the WEB bolt on?

Yeh thats what i'd suggest. I don't think the £100/£150 credit is available automatically, the retentions team (not upgrades) will only give it to you if you threaten to cancel and they want to keep you. Good luck! :hello: