Losing my international texts if I upgrade to iPhone on o2, any advice?

Charliezoo

I've been with o2 for many years on the same contract. The only reason I've stayed with them is because international texts come out of my monthly allowance rather than paying 40p a text like other providers (I spend approx half the month in the USA and other countries outside of the EU so this saves me a fortune).

I've had the iPhone 3G for two years and was waiting for the iPhone 4 to come out. When I contacted o2 to enquire about upgrading they said that I can upgrade to any new handset and keep my old contract EXCEPT the iPhone 3GS or 4 where I would need to sign a new contract which no longer includes the interational texts.:mad:

I'm really disappointed in o2 and I'm considering changing providers. Does anyone have any suggestions that might allow me to have the new iPhone 4 and help me save money on texting when I'm abroad?

Exhortation

Tell them you're going to leave. You'll be put through to retentions and you should be able to retain your text option.

The mobile phone market has reached saturation point in the UK. The only way the big companies can retain market share is by keeping the customers they already have as there are next to no new customers out there to be had. Because of this the customer is king. Just stay strong and you'll get what you want.

Charliezoo

I phoned and said I was cancelling and the best they said they could do was 600 mins and unlimited texts for £35 p/m and 20p per international text instead of the usual 40p. This isn't great really - if I send 50 texts from abroad p/m that's still £10 p/m that I don't have to pay now.

They were pretty firm that this was the best they could do.

jimbms

Not a lot you can do then, you either accept that or look around.

Exhortation

It may be that they know you aren't going to get better elsewhere. If that is the case then as far as I can tell you only have 2 choices:-

a) forget about getting the iPhone

or

b) bite the bullet and pay for the texts

I suppose one other option (it isn't likely to work but you've got nothing to lose by trying it) is to see if you can do a trade-off whereby they give you cheaper international calls in exchange for paying for the texts, or similar. A friend of mine did something like this a couple of years ago with Vodafone. Mind, his typical monthly bill was £300+!!!

Charliezoo

Do any other providers offer a good international text deal that might be better than o2?

BTW thanks for all your advice.

Exhortation

If you spend so much time abroad is it not worth looking at taking out a contract in another country? I have a friend who lives in Hong Kong whose roaming rates are so high (he has an iPhone on 3HK) he finds it cheaper to also have a contract phone in the US for when he's there.

Jon_01

Buy the 4 on payg or sim free and carry on using your current acc the way it is...

Charliezoo

Exhortation wrote: »

If you spend so much time abroad is it not worth looking at taking out a contract in another country? I have a friend who lives in Hong Kong whose roaming rates are so high (he has an iPhone on 3HK) he finds it cheaper to also have a contract phone in the US for when he's there.

I did have a US payg phone for quite a while and it was cheaper. The problem is I tend to have to be abroad for a few days at time before returning to the UK. I do this 4 -6 times per month so found it very inconvienient to have two phones and two numbers and my friends/family were always unsure what phone to call/text as they don't always know if I'm away or not.

I was thinking about popping into the Carphone Warehouse as I've been told they can be quite helpful when looking for another network, don't know how true this is.

jimbms

Have you considered as you want an iPhone that there are several sites around you can send a text to anywhere in the world for free, therefore why do you need international texts when you can do it via the net on your phone.

Charliezoo

jimbms wrote: »

Have you considered as you want an iPhone that there are several sites around you can send a text to anywhere in the world for free, therefore why do you need international texts when you can do it via the net on your phone.

Unforunately I don't always have wifi when I'm out and about abroad.