iPad best deal

prowla

It seems that the prices of iPads are fixed in the UK, eg. 16 GB Wi-Fi + 3G £499, so that pretty much everywhere sells for the same price.

Looking at the options from the phone companies, Orange and Three have similar pricings, but Three's 3G includes 15 GB per month whereas Orange's only includes 2 GB (1 + 1 off-peak).

Buying a 16 GB iPad from the phone providers costs £199 + £25/month for 2 years, which works out at £800 TCO over two years including 3G.

So, it ain't cheap, but it would be good to have some advice on options:

• Are there any better deals to be had?
• Do any of the cashback sites include iPads?
• Who includes extended warranties or insurance?

Thanks!

jayme1

dont waste your money going the network route, you would be able to buy the ipad2 and be able to upgrade to the ipad3 and afford the month on month sim only data, and maybe even get the ipad4 all within the 2 year agreement and if you play it write it wouldn't cost you much (if any over £800)

ie buy ipad2, and a sim only sim for like £5-£10 a month
ipad 3 comes out, sell ipad2 for a big chunk of the ipad 3 price, buy ipad 3, carry on with the sim only data,
(AND this way if you dont require the data for a given month you dont have to waste your money just wait till you need it)

as for cashback I think I'm right when I say you can get cashback from the apple site.

other than that you won't really find it any cheaper.

fiendishlyclever

Do you need 3G data? I bought a 3G iPad (no contract) but I've only used it on wifi. You might be better off with a mifi or similar?

I bought mine at PC world purely because they had it in stock and I wanted it for my holidays, topcashback shows £12.xx in tracked cash back.

prowla

Ah yes, I can see that the mobile providers bundled deals charge an up-front £199 plus about £10 per month (for a 16 GB model), which adds up to £449, as opposed to buying one for £399.

And Quidco gives 4% cashback on AppleStore.

althas

If you are in the market for a new contract phone, and don't really want a flash one, there are some online mobile companies that have the ipad2 (IF you REALLY want one) or things like a Motorola Xoom *cough*betterthanipad*cough* as a free gift on contract phones

The one I got was £30 a month phone for 24 months (£720), Free Motorola Xoon (£499 at that time) = £220 cost for the phone

They have cheaper deals on if you are lucky

Not 100% sure if they do a 3G model as part of that, but a wifi one + mifi unit (such as the one 3 sells) is a great set up. Thats how I do mine, and use BT Fon wherever I can