iPhone advice wanted.

[Seedy172]

My contract is finally coming to an end next month, which means I can finally get rid of this w**ky little htc piece of b****cks windows phone i've been forced to put up with for the last 18 months... at a ridicuous price to boot. So, i've been looking around at my options, and quite fancy the idea of going on o2 PAYG.

£15 a month appears to buy you Unlimited Texts AND Internet. Which tbh, is a pretty awesome deal. But, i'm ideally after an iPhone (iJustboredmyselfsayingthat). Can anyone please advise me of where I can get one with a decent deal? T-Mobile are offering me one at for £80, with a £35 a month deal... for 2 years. Not after that.

Or, do I buy just a 3GS? Or, do I hold out till the new one arrives? Which will be... when?!

Any help appreciated.

 

[bmh.01]

I just bought one last saturday after finally caving, whilst its bloody brillant i'll give you that I want my head looking at for spending £450 on one lets be honest.

 

[tyranical]

I'd hold out till the new one arrives but heres info for you:

Option 1.

Pay & Go Iphone 3GS 16gb = £440.40
Simplicity simcard @ £19.58 per month on the 12 month contract gives you 800 minutes + 1600 txts if ordered online. You also get a free bolt on with the simcard, choose Unlimited web bolt on which DOES cover 3G internet despite what some people on here have been saying.

Over 12 months this would amount to:

19.58 x 12 + £440.40 = £675.36

Advantages:

- On this tariff your getting, unlimited internet access, 800 minutes/1600 txts per month.
- You miss out on wifi but unless your an absolute geek you should be able to live without wifi when you go to mcdonalds/starbucks lol, you can use your own/yourmums/ anyones wifi for free except ones in places like mcdonalds that use cloud or btopenworld wifi systems.
- Works out cheaper overall.
- Your not tied into an 18 month contract, meaning that in 12 months time if Apple release another new iphone, you can get it immediately.
- You could sell the iphone when the new one comes out for what, £200-300? So it could work out effectively costing you about £300 for a years use of an iphone.

Disadvantages:

-Is a bit more hassle.
- You don't get visual voicemail or internet tethering (does anyone actually care?!)

Option 2.

£34.26 18 month contract with Iphone 3GS 16gb which gives you 600 minutes and 500 texts = £184.98 for the phone.

£34.26 x 18 + £184.98 = £801.66

Advantages:

- It includes visual voicemail and internet tethering is available for the additional cost.
- Its less hassle.

Disadvantages.

- Alot less minutes/texts
- More expensive overall (if you did the above for 18 months instead that still only comes to £792.84
- Your tied into an 18 month contract.


For people who don't need loads of txts, an iphone tariff is fine, but i need more than 500 and option one gives me that at a much cheaper price.

 

[Seedy172]

I much prefer Option 1. Only id stick to the PAYG Sim instead.

 

[EllD90]

Dont you have to jailbreak the phone for Simplicity?

 

[Christopher]

Be careful about your data usage.

 

[Seedy172]

Why would you need to Jailbreak, to use with o2?

And why data usage?

 

[Christopher]

They don't have unlimited data, like the contract phones do.

You don't need a jailbreak. But you should.

 

[Seedy172]

So it's not really "Unlimited" then?! o2 are pure scum tbh.

Also, Do all networks have White or not?

 

[Scott S]

I went for option 1 (bought the phone direct from Apple insead of going to o2 though).

 

[tyranical]

Christopher i've done option one myself and use the internet ALOT, never gone over, unless your downloading shitloads (which you should do on wifi anyway so its not using your data) you will never go over.

PAYG sim isn't worth having if you do alot of txt/calling it'll cost u far more than £20 simplicity contract, also you don't need to jailbreak or anything you just pop the sim in like any other.

 

[Seedy172]

I'm confused, I ordered an o2 PAYG Sim. It says that as long as I top up £15 a month, Internet and Texting is Unlimited... I don't tend to use that many minutes, so that's not much of an issue. It's looking more and more likely that a contract is the only way forward, although that isn't at all what I want at the minute.

Either way, I'm going to need to sort something in the next couple of weeks. Does anyone have one for sale maybe?

 

[Scott S]

If all is as it seems for the o2 PAYG sim, then you may be onto a winner (providing you remember to keep it topped up).

I just went for Simlicity as the PAYG options at the time of buying weren't up to much in comparison.

The biggest potential drawback (IMO) for a lot of people would be having to pay £440 out in one go.

I was keen to avoid the contract because I didn't want to be tied in for 18 or 24months for a few reasons.

 

[jaleach]

I found this tool yesterday... you tell it how long you want the phone for and how many minutes/texts you want and it goes off and shows you a good tarrif.

http://cow.neondragon.net/iphone/

 

[Seedy172]

Handy, Cheers. Just found an 8Gb 3G one on Amazon for £300 also... Tempted TBH.

 

[Revels]

I'm on the £15 a month top up. Works fine.

 

[Seedy172]

No data usage issues then? How much you pay for the phone... If I can ask?!

 

[Revels]

I'm not a late comer so I bought mine on launch day!

£440.40

No data problems. I think you'd have to be constantly on it 24/7 to get anywhere near the limit.

 

[Vish]

Personally, I'd wait till the next one, likely to be June/July, can't see Apple missing an opportunity to get a new product out, my guess is it'd be a bigger step up than the 3GS was.

On the data front, its not unlimited, it's usually a fair usage policy, from o2 website:

The O2 Web Bolt On can only be used for web browsing on your phone and a fair use policy applies. But if your usage exceeds that of other users, which is normally expected to be below 200MB a month, you'll be charged standard rates for additional browsing. We'll send you a warning text message advising you to limit your usage before this happens, and a text message to let you know when you're being charged.

Strangely, I got a web bolt on on my CPW o2 contract (non-iPhone) and my allowance is about 1GB on my statements but strangely comes up each month as I've used none. I've used 400+ and 500+MBs for a couple of months in a row and not had any extra charges or warnings. I was absolutely whoring it though. Unless you want to watch a load of youtube videos, browse the net and download a load of files all day long on 3G, I wouldn't worry about it TBH.

 

[fUbAr]

how much is apple iphone insurance, and is it quite generous on what it covers?

I'm guessing most people have it?

 

[Seedy172]

Lol, iPhone bored me senseless at the time. Since then i've realised there use's, but have been well and truely tied into my current contract. So is it worth waiting the 6 months? Or, do I find a cheaper one and update it later?

 

[Revels]

Buy a Tesco phone or one from a mate and then buy the new one. If you buy a 3GS now, you'll still get a decent wedge in July if you sell it, but you're losing money for the sake of it.

Fudgey, I think it's £7.50 a month.

 

[Vish]

how much is apple iphone insurance, and is it quite generous on what it covers?

I'm guessing most people have it?

Mine is insured through my house insurance, inc. water damage, no extra fee but £100 excess if I claim.