Iphone help please.

squibbs25

Wonder if anyone can help.

I want to get an iphone but have a question if anyone can help.
I am currently with orange on a 12 month sim only contract (half way through) i managed to get the half price deal that was advertised on here ages ago so i pay £7.50 pm- for that i get 600 mins, unlimited texts, i then have the bb package on top that brings it up to £12.50 all in.
Am i better off getting a sim free iphone, changing the contract or getting a PAYG (have o2 sim)

Tried to phone orange but lines really busy- something to do with faults on the line yesterday.

smartphone

I think you'd need to find out what Orange could do for you and then do your sums from that. If you can afford to buy an iPhone SIM free then it does give you the flexibility to move network whenever required.

poshparrot

I'm in agreement with smartphone, call up orange or pop into a store because they might be able to terminate the 12 month sim only and move you onto an iPhone contract as after all, they'll be making more than £12.50 out of you each month.

An alternative, like you said, would be to purchase a sim free iPhone and changing your current sim-only tarriff on orange (if they'll let you do this).

Guys_Dad

Putting aside the fact that I believe all Iphone packages are rip-offs, let's deconstruct your contract.

If the BB is a bolt on, then you should be able to give 30 days' notice to terminate it.

That leaves you, say, 6 months at £7.50 = £45. If you cancelled the sim only, that's the maximum you would be down the river, although you might lose your number.

You could look round to see if any cashback site is offering a decent Iphone deal. Don't know if there are any Iphone deals for them.

Or you could really look hard at why you want an Iphone in particular and compare the value /facilities with Androids or even the new Nokia Lumina Windows phones which seem to be pretty well loaded.

And, of course, analyse your use and see just how many texts and minutes you actually need each month. Personally I have 10 times as many texts and twice as many minutes, plus way too much data for my use. Why don't I downgrade? I can't get a less than the £10 or so I pay each month!

sdduk

Why Not get a Sim free iPhone ring Orange and change the bb pack to a data pack and stick with what you got if you are happy with Orange then will not cost you No more or No less.

grumbler

It depends on what iPhone you want.
Deals for 4s are uncommon and it is usually cheaper to buy it sim-free and use on a sim-only contract.

However, iPhone 4 8Gb is £429sim-free (minus 3% cashback = £416) , but ATM is available for 12x£36=£432 on Vodafone from P4U. After £50 cashback (TCB) it is [STRIKE]£282 [/STRIKE]£382 and this includes 12 months of 300+3000+500Mb.

NFH

Wait until the iPhone 5 is released and get that SIM-free. Stick with SIM-only tariffs, as it works out cheaper overall in the long term, gives you more flexibility and you can use local SIMs when abroad to avoid hefty roaming charges.

lordra

To quote Guys Dad, +1, only get what you REALLY need. People like to show off and say, oh, look, I have 5000 mins, unlimited text and data. Out of which they don't even know how much they use and I rub that in their faces!
@grumbler: It should be £382, not £282, please edit!

@OP: Buying an iPhone now is moot. Its already old tech. You'll have a new iPhone in 6 months and that means your 4's second hand value will drop substantially.
2nd hand prices (through phone recycling websites) for a
3GS, White, 32GB is now £101
4, Black, 16GB is £250

So you could just get yourself a good 2nd hand iPhone and switch to sim only, PAYG, with GiffGaff or someone and then get the iPhone 5 when it releases.

It depends on what type of user you are. Are you an advanced power user who wants the latest tech(jailbreak/develop code), a show off who only wants to say "look at me, I have the latest iPhone but don't really know how to use it" or someone who just needs a smart phone to get through the day?

classixuk

lordra wrote: »

To quote Guys Dad, +1, only get what you REALLY need. People like to show off and say, oh, look, I have 5000 mins, unlimited text and data. Out of which they don't even know how much they use and I rub that in their faces!
@grumbler: It should be £382, not £282, please edit!

@OP: Buying an iPhone now is moot. Its already old tech. You'll have a new iPhone in 6 months and that means your 4's second hand value will drop substantially.
2nd hand prices (through phone recycling websites) for a
3GS, White, 32GB is now £101
4, Black, 16GB is £250

So you could just get yourself a good 2nd hand iPhone and switch to sim only, PAYG, with GiffGaff or someone and then get the iPhone 5 when it releases.

It depends on what type of user you are. Are you an advanced power user who wants the latest tech(jailbreak/develop code), a show off who only wants to say "look at me, I have the latest iPhone but don't really know how to use it" or someone who just needs a smart phone to get through the day?

How about a 4th type of person (i.e. me) who wants a phone you can speak to and have it understand you perfectly?

I never had a phone for over 10 years, but as soon as I saw the advert featuring Siri I went out and bought an iPhone immediately.

The manager at the Carphone Warehouse tried to tell me that the Android phones can do the same thing. I asked him for a demonstration. His own Galaxy Note was still thinking about what "Text Steph" actually meant while the iPhone whizzed through a ton of commands and questions with no problems.

A few friends I have met since then have claimed their HTC or Samsung can do the same thing, yet when I ask them to get their phone out and send me a simple text or make an appointment in their diary they instantly see that there is nothing else like Siri ... nothing even comes close.

It's not just techies or wannabes who own iPhones. Some of us buy them because the functionality isn't replicated in any other handset to the degree that Apple have achieved.

DUTR

classixuk wrote: »

How about a 4th type of person (i.e. me) who wants a phone you can speak to and have it understand you perfectly?

I never had a phone for over 10 years, but as soon as I saw the advert featuring Siri I went out and bought an iPhone immediately.

The manager at the Carphone Warehouse tried to tell me that the Android phones can do the same thing. I asked him for a demonstration. His own Galaxy Note was still thinking about what "Text Steph" actually meant while the iPhone whizzed through a ton of commands and questions with no problems.

A few friends I have met since then have claimed their HTC or Samsung can do the same thing, yet when I ask them to get their phone out and send me a simple text or make an appointment in their diary they instantly see that there is nothing else like Siri ... nothing even comes close.

It's not just techies or wannabes who own iPhones. Some of us buy them because the functionality isn't replicated in any other handset to the degree that Apple have achieved.

How strange, the voice command on my android xperia ray works absolutely fine, as does the voice command on my parrot mini and some of my old sony ericsson handsets.
So I'm afraid that your argument doesn't wash with everybody, there are plenty of reviews that compare siri with iris that disagree with your findings.

classixuk

DUTR wrote: »

How strange, the voice command on my android xperia ray works absolutely fine, as does the voice command on my parrot mini and some of my old sony ericsson handsets.
So I'm afraid that your argument doesn't wash with everybody, there are plenty of reviews that compare siri with iris that disagree with your findings.

Really? Show me a professional review that states Siri is lacking when compared to offerings on Android or other mobile platforms.

I tried both and nothing came close to Siri. Siri understands what I am saying ... all the others seem to expect you to understand what the phone wants you to say! I don't have time for that.

P.S I used Siri to write this post.