Where to buy unlocked 64GB iPhone 5 in London?

Lit_Up

Apple website says it's a 3-4 week wait - is there anywhere in London that it can be bought same day for RRP? If not, then online for a shorter wait but same cost?

Also - is it true that it will be cheaper overall if I get it on SIM only rather than contract?

grumbler

Lit_Up wrote: »

...Also - is it true that it will be cheaper overall if I get it on SIM only rather than contract?

Do you mean use it on sim-only? Usually it's true for iPhone, but feel free to do the maths and prove me wrong.

gjchester

Lit_Up wrote: »

Apple website says it's a 3-4 week wait - is there anywhere in London that it can be bought same day for RRP? If not, then online for a shorter wait but same cost?

Also - is it true that it will be cheaper overall if I get it on SIM only rather than contract?

Only place you are likely to find stock coming in on a regular basis is an Apple store, you can try and reserve on online.


Will it be cheaper sim only, Hard to say. It depends on your use pattern whcih determines the cost per month. Basic Tesco or Virgin Mobile SIM only plans start at £10 a month with 200 or so mins, if you are a big talker you'll need to spend more. It also depends how often you upgrade phones and if your likely to change plans up or down in the future.

Lit_Up

I think that if I'm conscientious about checking out new sim-only deals say, once a month, then over the course of 12 months i could make some major savings.

Lifeforms

You need to call around the apple stores in London and see if you hit lucky on one having one in stock, then shoot off and get it. That will be your only option, unless you look at second hand cash from a user of one (and with the risks that come with that) Very few places are in stock, look at the website for a few weeks delivery, and that's pretty much the same with the stores. It's popular, and apple never release enough of them at the right times. You might get lucky if you buy a contracted one however, but wont be unlocked.

As has been said, you need to look for a contract that would cover your usage (data, text, calls) that include an iphone 5 and cost up over the contract period (often 24 months) and whether buying outright then also a sim only contract is the same or less. If you don't want to be tied to a contract, then buy off apple, thus said, buying on a contract, if you're happy with the deal of mins, text, data, doesn't stop you going and changing the phone in future. The iphone 5 in a years time being sold wont give you full money back, but they do hold value pretty well in private sales, so would give you a chunk towards next phone.

Just remember that it is a nano-sim in an iphone 5 phone, and therefore check before signing up to any separate contract that they can actually offer you a nano-sim (not a micro sim like the iphone 4S and backwards)

Lifeforms

Lit_Up wrote: »

I think that if I'm conscientious about checking out new sim-only deals say, once a month, then over the course of 12 months i could make some major savings.

With all due respect to this, people with best intentions think they'll do it, and then they wont, too much trouble. Most decent ones are sim only monthly rolling contracts which still need the 1 month cancellation period. You would be constantly porting your number, along with the quirks that come up, it would be a source of irritation of having a few days each month (or 2 basically) of not having a working phone. It's impractical to do it.
very rarely do new deals on sim only come out on a monthly basis, you'd never get the timings right, you;'d have to give your notice the day you sign up and hope that next month another good one comes.

Save some hassle, sometimes loosing a few pennies or a pound or two a month is better than being constantly on the go looking and moving for deals.

grumbler

Lit_Up wrote: »

I think that if I'm conscientious about checking out new sim-only deals say, once a month, then over the course of 12 months i could make some major savings.

12 month sim-only deals are usually better value for money and you will have to check only after 12 months.
For 12x£15.50 you can get everything unlimited on t-mobile (chitter-chatter). Check for a cashback.

Lit_Up

OK. 12 month sim only sounds good. I was anticipating, though, in the next 12 months that an affordable 4G option would come up... thoughts?

grumbler

Talkmobile do 6 months, but their tariffs are now not as good as they used to be a few months ago. Virgin sim-only deals are very good, but they are 1 month, so can get worse at any time.

visidigi

grumbler wrote: »

Virgin sim-only deals are very good, but they are 1 month, so can get worse at any time.

I don't follow what you mean by this statement, can you explain?

grumbler

I mean that 12 month deals give you some peace of mind. 1-month deals can be withdrawn (get worse) at any time - like this happened with talkmobile sim-only tariffs recently. Virgin deals look too good to last forever.