Iphone 4s, carphone warehouse?

elsien

I have an old iphone 3gs which I've been quite happy with but is now getting a little past its prime eg volume button broken off.
I've seen the 4gs at CPW on talkmobile for £15 pm, but am wondering if having it locked to talk mobile is a bad thing given that it seems almost impossible to unlock at the end of the contract period. (I know the 4 is being discontinued but as I'm still getting apps I can use for the 3 I don't see this as a massive problem.)

I don't want to pay lots (current phone is sim only deal as it was someone else's cast off.) Any other deals for the 4s or 5c that might be better in terms of not locking to silly networks that anyone is aware of?

Edit - what is EE like for unlocking iphones - I've found a site which suggests it may be difficult with orange so I'm guessing EE is the same?

mobilejunkie

I saw the Iphone 4s for under £10 on another cpw site a couple of days ago. It's almost certainly a cashback contract (my speciality!) but without checking I don't know which network it was on.

gjchester

elsien wrote: »

I don't want to pay lots (current phone is sim only deal as it was someone else's cast off.) Any other deals for the 4s or 5c that might be better in terms of not locking to silly networks that anyone is aware of?.)

Honestly go for a 5 or higher, 4S may still l work but is pretty much end of life. What ever you get buy it from somewhere legitimate to be sure it does not end up blacklisted later on. Also bear in mind the only place you can buy a new fully unlocked iPhone is Apple, everyone else will lock to the first network used, its possible that if you buy a used one it will already have been unlocked but that's the gamble. Most networks will only unlock the iPhone for the original purchaser.


Look at the costs, and how long you intend to keep it, it may be better for you long term to buy a 5c (or better) from Apple, and use that for 4/5 years than buy a older model that will be soon obsolete and get no updates. 5c's only have 8GB of memory but so is the 4S deal (also 8GB memory) , although you have to keep your sim only deal too wo will work out more over the contract. Its not hugely money saving, but then Apple generally isn't..

elsien wrote: »

Edit - what is EE like for unlocking iphones - I've found a site which suggests it may be difficult with orange so I'm guessing EE is the same?

Now they are merged EE/TM/Orange are similar, Pay the £20 fee and they unlock them, nothing complicated about it. They can be slow through.

grumbler

gjchester wrote: »

... Also bear in mind the only place you can buy a new fully unlocked iPhone is Apple....

Giffgaff is reportedly another place.

alisont

I would advise looking at the 5c or higher prices for 5c seem to be dropping now.

I've got an iPhone 4 8gb - its been great and I've had it from new for 2.5 years - it still works but last few months its getting slower and slower and there's no storage space left - Ive left it on iOS 6 but a lot of updates and apps need iOS 7 now or higher.

I had it on a 12 month contract originally, them moved to a 12 month sim deal for next 12 and once 2 years was up put it on a pay monthly sim deal - all with Vodafone so I'm ready to move once I upgrade.

I don't want to be tied to a 24 month contract so next time which will be in a few months I shall buy an unlocked handset I think and looking at the 5s as don't really need a 6 but I'd not look at the 4s or 5 now as it does seem they are slower handsets and updates don't always work.

Today I removed the Facebook app from my phone as realised it was using 3GB of storage space! Have added it again and that's helped with the handset.

I shall also look for a 16GB handset as have found 8GB is easily filled.

Worth checking on GiffGaff - I shall be moving from Vodafone as the signal by me has really dropped despite a text from them saying the work on the local mast is complete and I'm meant to have excellent fast service - according to the signal checker its gone from 3G to 2 g!

I'm really going towards an unlocked handset with the state of the signals in my area I can see me needing to swap providers from time to time.

If I spot what I think is a good deal I'll post it on here.