iPhone 5 best sim only deal discussions

sturgeon

I don't want to be locked into a 24 month contract having experienced issues with some network providers before, plus the high monthly cost with limited minutes/texts etc.

I don't want to commit to a 12 month sim only contract as that negates the point of not buying a contract deal, plus 3 may be awful (from past experience) and I don't want to be stuck with them for 12 months-hence I'm only looking at 1 month rolling contracts.

Therefore I ordered a 32GB iPhone 5 for £599 today, but it actually seems like buying sim-free would seemingly not result in a lower cost over 24 months?

The O2 deal looks best and works out as £923 over 24 months (£26 x 24 plus £299 phone) for the 32GB. The best priced 1 month rolling contract is 3 mobile for 600 mins/2000 texts/1GB data for £15.90 a month. Total cost for 24 months is £980.60 (24 x £15.90 plus £599 phone). Therefore more expensive plus the O2 deal gives unlimited minutes vs 600 (admittedly unlikely to go over that though).

Am I missing something here?

grumbler

This is already being discussed in this thread: MSE News: Mobile networks reveal iPhone 5 prices

And of course airtime is generally more expensive on 1-month contracts than on 6- and 12-month.

1200+Unltd+1Gb cost 1x£12 at Virgin mobile

Spend-a-holic

Do virgin mobile offer the nano sim required by the iPhone 5?

I was under the impression that these can only currently be purchased from the main providers, I have only seen that 3 have them so far. Presumably other companies will catch up but how long that will take is another matter.

diamonds

Sure T-Mobile/Orange will eventually have to as that would be distorting the mvno market.

Wonder if EE have to even give 4G access to Virgin & the likes, given its the same licence bought for 3G that is used in 4G.

Very interesting train of thought you have set me of on lol.

[Deleted User]

Just in case no one has done it I put together a quick spreadsheet detailing all the headline costs and a 2 year TCO based on what is currently listed on the mobile company websites.

http:// goo.gl / kKqZZ

Hope this helps.

Note - You can click file, download in the top left hand corner if you wish to download the excel file and play with it.

Another note - These are just headline prices, always read the fine print!!

Edit - Apologies if breaking any rules, if the mods feel this is useful I'd be grateful if they could make it a proper link.

grumbler

http://www.google.com/kKqZZ

404. That’s an error.
The requested URL /kKqZZ was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

espresso

rupert56 wrote: »

Just in case no one has done it I put together a quick spreadsheet detailing all the headline costs and a 2 year TCO based on what is currently listed on the mobile company websites.

http:// goo.gl / kKqZZ

Hope this helps.

Note - You can click file, download in the top left hand corner if you wish to download the excel file and play with it.

Another note - These are just headline prices, always read the fine print!!

Edit - Apologies if breaking any rules, if the mods feel this is useful I'd be grateful if they could make it a proper link.

Link to spreadsheet here

Spend-a-holic

There are some even cheaper sim only options which are not included in the spreadsheet. However, the spreadsheet is very useful. If your not a heavy user you can get a plan from 3 for £6.90 p/m (12 months sim only contract) (200mins, 5000 texts and 500mb data), theres £50 cashback through Quidco too and then buy the phone from Apple.

The problem is you have to wait 2-3 weeks to get the phone from Apple, unless its already on order, whereas you can get it on Friday with a contract.

Hughesy84

Best deal sim only wise has to be Giff gaff's sim via uswitch.

£10 a month - 250 mins, unlimited texts & unlimited data - on a 1 year contract

grumbler

Hughesy84 wrote: »

Best deal sim only wise has to be Giff gaff's sim via uswitch.

£10 a month - 250 mins, unlimited texts & unlimited data - on a 1 year contract

Why uswitch and why "1 year contract"?

diamonds

uswitch seem to be be muddled up then lol