Cheapest iPhone discussion

Primus

johncalvin1 wrote: »

£25
600 minutes
unlimited texts
Magic Numbers
unlimited UK mobile internet browsing *
unlimited Wi-Fi *

I assume this is with Orange, is it for a iPhone 4 16 or 32GB? and how did you manage to get that deal for £25pm?

jonthedog

~daisy~ wrote: »

i have seen on the 3network that you get a 3gs black 8gb or white 32gb for £29 and then a £30 a month contract which would suit my needs - what im confused over is how come theres no price difference but a huge capacity difference ? is it a mistake or are white ones of any size not so popular on this model ?
seems rather to good to be true ??
thx

I asked 3 and they said it was a mistake...no idea why they are taking so long to correct it.

jonthedog

I think that the ‘total cost over duration’ column is a bit misleading if people are just going to look at that for the ‘cheapest’ iphone. If people do get a 12/18 month contract and then cancel, they will need at least a SIM only contract (probably at roughly £15/month) or their iphone will be pretty useless (obviously this doesn't apply to those of you who already have a 'works' phone and just want it as a gadget, but I would think most of use would want to use it like a phone and would need some sort of unlimited internet deal).
I think an additional column showing the total cost over 24 (and maybe 18) months, which adds an assumed £15/month SIM-only cost for the remaining duration of the period for the 12/18 month contracts would be useful in allowing people to make a fairer comparison with the longer contracts. Obviously £15/month is a fairly arbitrary figure, but that seems to be the rough consensus for a SIM-only unlimited data plan at the moment.
A quick calculation on the cheapest deals listed reveals that, over 24 months:
Tesco = £769 (589+180)
O2 = £840 (749+90)
Vodafone = £849 (749+90)
3 mobile = £819
Orange = £949 (859+90)
Apple = £860 (499+360)


So Tesco are still the 'cheapest', but with half the amount of minutes that 3 gives you over the 1st 12 months. The others look pretty close (apart from Orange!) until you factor in the appalingly small amount of minutes on O2 and Vodafone's cheapest pakages. So for my money, 3 seems to be the best value overall as I know I would probably go over Tesco's 250 minutes every month...although it's a close run thing, but the fact that 3 have the best 3G network coverage swings it; I'm already with them and very rarely have issues getting 3G when friends on other networks fail.

Max_1066

jonthedog wrote: »

So Tesco are still the 'cheapest', but with half the amount of minutes that 3 gives you over the 1st 12 months. The others look pretty close (apart from Orange!) until you factor in the appalingly small amount of minutes on O2 and Vodafone's cheapest pakages. So for my money, 3 seems to be the best value overall as I know I would probably go over Tesco's 250 minutes every month...although it's a close run thing, but the fact that 3 have the best 3G network coverage swings it; I'm already with them and very rarely have issues getting 3G when friends on over networks fail.

I've not looked at 'Three' before ... whats their wifi deal I can't see anything on the site ?

Also, if their 3G coverage is so good why aren't people switching over to them .. am I missing something or is it just brand loyalty ?

space_rider

3 doesn't work very well in my house. But o2 is fine. My daughter is on orange and it's fine. 3 said it was the phone but signal still wasn't reliable with a new phone.

ichiban

I only get 3 out of 5 Bars on Three using 2G but on 3G I get full bars which kinda weird as its usually the other way round.

Darge_2

Ok guys, here's a question:

I'm quite happy on O2, as my family are all on O2 and thus far I have had a good service from them, however the new iPhone4 tariffs are in my opinion extortionate.

Is it possible to buy a phone outright from apple, then sign up to O2's iPhone simplicity tariff, then use a sim cutter to cut down my sim card?

I know this will work out slightly more expensive than tesco mobile, however it offers the flexibility of not being on a contract whilst also keeping O2 as my service provider.

Has anyone had any experience using the sim cutters?

Max_1066

Darge wrote: »

Is it possible to buy a phone outright from apple, then sign up to O2's iPhone simplicity tariff, then use a sim cutter to cut down my sim card?

Has anyone had any experience using the sim cutters?

Yes you can buy an iPhone from Apple and its not SIM locked to anyone. This has always been the case.

I use an unlocked 3GS on a SIM only monthly contract with O2. I have a micro SIM which I obtained from O2 and use a SIM carrier. It would be the same deal for the iPhone4 (although without the carrier).

liubeliu

ichiban wrote: »

I only get 3 out of 5 Bars on Three using 2G but on 3G I get full bars which kinda weird as its usually the other way round.

3G Three network
2G Orange network

Oscar_The_Grouch

Darge wrote: »

Has anyone had any experience using the sim cutters?

Hi there

You are an existing customer of O2, so if you either pop into an O2 shop or call Customer Service they will give/send you a micro sim.

On their website, O2 have provided a guide on how to switch from a normal to a micro sim (clicky).

One of the things it says (click "yes" then "no") is:

If you have pre-ordered iPhone 4 directly from Apple you can get an O2 micro sim from any O2 shop. Simply go to an O2 shop any time from Monday 21 June and bring along your pre-order confirmation email from Apple. You'll need to show it in order to get your micro sim.

Meaning that you can order your phone from Apple now and get the ball rolling on the micro sim too.

The O2 micro sim comes in a "normal sim" frame, so provided you don't break it out of the frame you can use the micro sim in a normal phone. Then when you get your iPhone, you simply break the micro sim out of the frame and you're off!!