Cheapest iPhone discussion

BarGin

Sneaker wrote: »

Thanks for this. Is there anywhere I can get the Iphone on Pay as you go with cashback?

4% Quidco if you buy directly from the Apple online store.

Sneaker

Excellent. Thanks.

Kim_s

Ive ordered my iphone from mobiles.co.uk and although was showing in stock at time, they are saying they no longer have stock. Does anyone know how long it takes for the stock to come back in?

jimbow25

Based on the past few weeks before and after my order - a few days max.

leonpopham

Hi guys,

I'm keen to buy a new iphone 3gs 16GB but am a bit undecided as to the best way to do this. Firstly, what's the difference between buying through quidco/mobiles.co.uk with o2 or with the carphone warehouse.

If I buy through quidco/mobiles or CPW i'm a bit concerned I won't get the priveleges an o2 customer may get. Can you let me know what the difference is?

Also, it's important to me to keep my existing number (i'm leaving vodafone). Is this free regardless of how I buy the iphone?

Now, it's gonna cost a lot of money to buy an iphone so I want to get the best deal.

The way I see it I can either just go to O2 shop or carphone warehouse and sign up for what I want at the going rate - 18 month deal, 3GS 16GB and the 600mins 500 texts deal (£35 a month) - total cost over 18 months £815

I could do the same through mobiles.co.uk and get £60 cashback leaving the total cost at £765.

Or I could buy outright from apple getting 4% back from quidco (£423 for phone) and get a simplicity sim through quidco saving £100. Having looked on 02 website there's a 12 month sim offering 300mins/600text for £15 a month.

So that way I would only be tied in for 12 months and total cost would be £503. Or if I kept my sim for the full 18 months (for comparison) total cost would be £593. A saving of £222 against 02/CPW or £172 against quidco/mobiles.

I appreciate I'd be getting less minutes but this is more suitable for me. And who knows, after 12 months instead of 18 I could get another SIM through quidco and save more or upgrade to the next iphone if it's around!!

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this?

Also, thinking about it. If I had a simplicity SIM would I have to have a new number or could I still transfer my number?

And are there any benefits of having a contract iphone vs a pay as you go?

Phew, sorry for the length of this!

meinnit

leonpopham wrote: »

Having looked on 02 website there's a 12 month sim offering 300mins/600text for £15 a month.

You only get £100 Quidco on 12 month contract (cheapest is £20 per month)

jimbow25

leonpopham wrote: »

I'm keen to buy a new iphone 3gs 16GB but am a bit undecided as to the best way to do this. Firstly, what's the difference between buying through quidco/mobiles.co.uk with o2 or with the carphone warehouse.

If I buy through quidco/mobiles or CPW i'm a bit concerned I won't get the priveleges an o2 customer may get. Can you let me know what the difference is?

I'm no expert on this but as far as I've ever seen, it doesn't make any difference. You will be charged for the phone by the reailer (CPW, mobiles.co.uk, Apple store) but you still get your bills from O2 every month. You don't have any more dealings with the retailer after the point of sale. You are an O2 contract customer either way so there is no difference in privilidges.

leonpopham wrote: »

Also, it's important to me to keep my existing number (i'm leaving vodafone). Is this free regardless of how I buy the iphone?

This is always free. You will only have a problem if you are already on O2 as you can't port O2 to O2 (which is irrelevant to you!) Also mobiles.co.uk cannot port to Vodafone (which is irrelevant for iPhones!).

leonpopham wrote: »

Also, thinking about it. If I had a simplicity SIM would I have to have a new number or could I still transfer my number?

You can still transfer your number with SIM only.

leonpopham wrote: »

Now, it's gonna cost a lot of money to buy an iphone so I want to get the best deal.

The way I see it I can either just go to O2 shop or carphone warehouse and sign up for what I want at the going rate - 18 month deal, 3GS 16GB and the 600mins 500 texts deal (£35 a month) - total cost over 18 months £815

I could do the same through mobiles.co.uk and get £60 cashback leaving the total cost at £765.

Or I could buy outright from apple getting 4% back from quidco (£423 for phone) and get a simplicity sim through quidco saving £100. Having looked on 02 website there's a 12 month sim offering 300mins/600text for £15 a month.

So that way I would only be tied in for 12 months and total cost would be £503. Or if I kept my sim for the full 18 months (for comparison) total cost would be £593. A saving of £222 against 02/CPW or £172 against quidco/mobiles.

I appreciate I'd be getting less minutes but this is more suitable for me. And who knows, after 12 months instead of 18 I could get another SIM through quidco and save more or upgrade to the next iphone if it's around!!

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this!

You've summarised the comparison between the 2 possibilities well so I'm not sure what others can add - many people in this thread have done the SIM only route so don't be put off by the fact that it may seem a bit unusual. I'll leave them to say whether there were any downsides to the service they get, but yes if you can afford the £400 for the phone up front that does seem to be a better deal.

I've just gone down the £35 18 month contract + £180 up front route as the SIM only cashback was not available 2 weeks ago and the 18 month tie in was not a big deal for me. Maybe I'd have been better off with the SIM only option..

The only thing I would say with SIM only is - remember the £100 cashback is a one time only thing. If you want more cashback: An existing customer may not be able to get that sort of cashback in 12 months time, if any offers like that exist, and your iPhone will still be locked to O2 so you can't just jump to a different network's SIM only offering.

leonpopham

Thanks Jimbow25 and Meinnit (nice user name!)

Meinnit - I don't mind the fact that it's 12 months - it's less than the 18 month tie in you'd ordinarily have under iphone.

Jimbow - you've clearly answered my questions on the change of number and how i'd be billed by O2 as opposed to the retailer.

So overall, it seems there's a significant saving to be made if I can afford to stump up more cash up front. So assuming I got all the cashback i'd save at least £172 over the 18 months by buying a pay as you go iphone.


My only real concern now is if I receive a different service as a simplicity iphone customer compared to being a monthly contracted iphone customer - anyone have any ideas?

Unless there's something else i'm missing?

leonpopham

Ah, I think I misunderstood your point there a bit meinnit - you're saying the quidco deal means you have to have a minimum £20.

Also, having just looked at the deal on quidco, you cannot use this with the iphone.

Looks like the best route is to order through mobiles.co.uk via quidco. That way at least i'll save £60!

Looking back on some previous posts it seems people are having difficulty getting their cashback and also that there is a possibility that you could have a free bluetooth headset also with quidco.

Would someone mind giving me a summary of:

1) How I get the cashback deal using quidco (I haven't used quidco before)?
2) How long it takes roughly to receive the iphone?
3) Whether I can and how do I get the bluetooth headset also?

Thanks again!

Abz_2

I have a 24 month contract paying £44 p/m, I've got the iphone 3gs 32GB. Can I downgrade to the £35 p/m, if so, when?
Thanks in advance