Best iPhone 5 deal in the UK?

[r-sparks]

I've an iPhone 4 on Three's One Plan, and it's coming up for renewal.

Although the free minutes and texts are good I use the phone mainly for data including the personal hotspot feature for my MacBook Pro when I'm out and about.

Any suggestions for a good iPhone5 deal for me?

ps. I always get stung on 0845 calls to customer service numbers from my mobile. Does any deal include them as part of the plan?

pps. Access to BT OpenZone as part of the deal would be cool too but not essential.

[JaySoul]

I just switched from O2 to GiffGaff SIM only deal.

Can totally recommend, it uses O2's network anyway, and has unlimited data for £12 a month.

Past 2 months have been great, wish I'd done it sooner tbh.

[Ste Nova]

Originally Posted by JaySoul

I just switched from O2 to GiffGaff SIM only deal.

Can totally recommend, it uses O2's network anyway, and has unlimited data for £12 a month.

no tethering

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and to the OP, i'm in the same boat coming off a 24m ip4 contract, i'm just gonna buy a 5 outright from apple and drop to a 12month one plan sim

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

and to the OP, i'm in the same boat coming off a 24m ip4 contract, i'm just gonna buy a 5 outright from apple and drop to a 12month one plan sim

I found this deal on Orange: http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobil...campaign=35637

£19 for the phone, then £36 a month for 24 months. Calls, text and 1GB of data a month, plus BT OpenZone. Orange now allows Personal Hotspot on monthly plans.

Total cost is £883, but if we deduct £12 a month for a similar SIM-only deal on Giff Gaff (as mentioned) then the cost of the phone is £595. Buying it new costs £519, so I'd be paying £76 in "interest" over the 2 years.

[Ste Nova]

i'll easily chew 1gb data so no good for me

[sheppy1]

Not sure if it's the best deal in the world but it's better than my other contract I had..basically I pay £41 a month with o2 and get unlimited texts, minutes and 2gb data and the phone was free got that through carphone warehouse and used quidco to get £50 cashback (which is now £80 cashback for the next 5 days!!)

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

i'll easily chew 1gb data so no good for me

Three lets you see how much data you use each month. Every now and again I'd reach about 800MB but on most months it was less than 100MB.

I also found this deal, which is £36 for two years with no upfront on O2. Apparently all O2 monthly deals include tethering now, and they also do BT OpenZone minutes:

http://www.affordablemobiles.co.uk/c.../45434183.html

[Ste Nova]

three will only allow tethering on the one plan, and thats unlimited data..

i'll go and have a look a O2

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by sheppy1

Not sure if it's the best deal in the world but it's better than my other contract I had..basically I pay £41 a month with o2 and get unlimited texts, minutes and 2gb data and the phone was free got that through carphone warehouse and used quidco to get £50 cashback (which is now £80 cashback for the next 5 days!!)

Can you provide a link? Can't see the deal on their home page right now.

Not keen to give Carphone Warehouse any money (hate them) but a good deal is a good deal...

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

three will only allow tethering on the one plan, and thats unlimited data..

i'll go and have a look a O2

O2 are putting their prices up as of the end of February. That means a £36 deal will increase to £37+.

[Ste Nova]

Originally Posted by r-sparks

Three lets you see how much data you use each month. Every now and again I'd reach about 800MB but on most months it was less than 100MB.

I also found this deal, which is £36 for two years with no upfront on O2. Apparently all O2 monthly deals include tethering now, and they also do BT OpenZone minutes:

http://www.affordablemobiles.co.uk/c.../45434183.html

i'm usually doing 4-6gb a month, i've looked at some of the deals on there most are for 16gb phones, i want at least a 32, also am i right to assume cash is king? i can buy phone outright from apple, is that the cheapest in the long run?

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

i'm usually doing 4-6gb a month, i've looked at some of the deals on there most are for 16gb phones, i want at least a 32, also am i right to assume cash is king? i can buy phone outright from apple, is that the cheapest in the long run?

There's not a huge amount in it by my calculations.

For example, for a 32GB iPhone 5, the best deal I've found so far is £99 up front and £36 a month on Orange. Unlimited calls, texts, and 1GB of data.

(£36 * 24 months) + £99 phone cost = £963 in total

Ouch.

But I think I'm right in saying a Three SIM-only deal with unlimited data is £15.

So over the same 24 month period if you bought a 32GB iPhone 5 up front, you'll be paying:

£599 for the phone + (24 x £15 per month) = £959.

Difference between the two options = £4.

AND Orange gives you freebies like cinema tickets.

[rsnapeuk]

Probably best to buy handset and get a cheap SIMO.

[Aliencowboy69]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

no tethering

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and to the OP, i'm in the same boat coming off a 24m ip4 contract, i'm just gonna buy a 5 outright from apple and drop to a 12month one plan sim

What about Tesco?

They're doing a sim only deal which I thinks ok.

1000 minutes, 5000 texts, 2GB data, £15 per month, and think they run on O2 network.... but not sure

[sheppy1]

Originally Posted by r-sparks

Can you provide a link? Can't see the deal on their home page right now.

Not keen to give Carphone Warehouse any money (hate them) but a good deal is a good deal...

Here you go

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy...6GB_ZB4GJ_WCON

[Ste Nova]

Originally Posted by r-sparks

There's not a huge amount in it by my calculations.

For example, for a 32GB iPhone 5, the best deal I've found so far is £99 up front and £36 a month on Orange. Unlimited calls, texts, and 1GB of data.

(£36 * 24 months) + £99 phone cost = £963 in total

Ouch.

But I think I'm right in saying a Three SIM-only deal with unlimited data is £15.

So over the same 24 month period if you bought a 32GB iPhone 5 up front, you'll be paying:

£599 for the phone + (24 x £15 per month) = £959.

Difference between the two options = £4.

AND Orange gives you freebies like cinema tickets.

that £4 is worth it for only being tied in for 12 months not 24

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

that £4 is worth it for only being tied in for 12 months not 24

Totally agree that you should buy if you can but I thought it was genuinely interesting that it's not so clear-cut.

[bucksaddle]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

and to the OP, i'm in the same boat coming off a 24m ip4 contract, i'm just gonna buy a 5 outright from apple and drop to a 12month one plan sim

If you are going to buy the phone outright I suggest Three's Ultimate Internet 200 for £12.90 a month and add the £5 per month tethering cost. This way you are saving money and also have the benefit of only having a 30 day contract. It does assume that you can get by with 200 minutes though, which is fine by me because it's all about the data.

Edit - Just realised you only get 1Gb of tethering data with this plan which probabaly wouldn't fulfill your needs

[nickchallis92]

Once you go on Three's one plan, you can't swop. Just loving the fact the data is truly unlimited

[cambookpro]

Originally Posted by r-sparks

There's not a huge amount in it by my calculations.

For example, for a 32GB iPhone 5, the best deal I've found so far is £99 up front and £36 a month on Orange. Unlimited calls, texts, and 1GB of data.

(£36 * 24 months) + £99 phone cost = £963 in total

Ouch.

But I think I'm right in saying a Three SIM-only deal with unlimited data is £15.

So over the same 24 month period if you bought a 32GB iPhone 5 up front, you'll be paying:

£599 for the phone + (24 x £15 per month) = £959.

Difference between the two options = £4.

AND Orange gives you freebies like cinema tickets.

Don't 3 do an internet plan for £12.90 with tethering? Or at least tethering works, not sure if it's officially supported though.

Plus, you're only tied in for a month at a time.

[Ste Nova]

Originally Posted by cambookpro

Don't 3 do an internet plan for £12.90 with tethering? Or at least tethering works, not sure if it's officially supported though.

Plus, you're only tied in for a month at a time.

"SIM plans with All-you-can-eat data do not allow tethering (except for the One Plan). If you would like to tether, you will need to choose a Pay Monthly plan and / or an Add-On that does allow tethering."

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if you want tethered and all you can eat its £25 minimum

so over 24 months thats.. £600 their ip5/16 deal with the same package is £963, so your paying £363 for the phone which is £529 from apple, ouch £176 more

[cambookpro]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

"SIM plans with All-you-can-eat data do not allow tethering (except for the One Plan). If you would like to tether, you will need to choose a Pay Monthly plan and / or an Add-On that does allow tethering."

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if you want tethered and all you can eat its £25 minimum

so over 24 months thats.. £600 their ip5/16 deal with the same package is £963, so your paying £363 for the phone which is £529 from apple, ouch £176 more

Don't want get bogged down in morals etc, but my friend had the £15/month SIM only plan last year and it let him tether to his iPad.

Obviously not condoning it, but it works (or did work, anyway).

[MrMister111]

Originally Posted by r-sparks

Three lets you see how much data you use each month. Every now and again I'd reach about 800MB but on most months it was less than 100MB.

I also found this deal, which is £36 for two years with no upfront on O2. Apparently all O2 monthly deals include tethering now, and they also do BT OpenZone minutes:

http://www.affordablemobiles.co.uk/c.../45434183.html

do they how? how can I check? Can you go back months and months to check? I'd be interested in my usage, and how it compares to what my iPhone 5 says (I reset it at changeover date)

cheers

[hvfsl]

deleted

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Ste Nova

"SIM plans with All-you-can-eat data do not allow tethering (except for the One Plan). If you would like to tether, you will need to choose a Pay Monthly plan and / or an Add-On that does allow tethering."[COLOR="#808080"]

I'm not sure you're correct here. For my iPad I got a Three SIM from eBay that has 3GB, or three months of use, and I could use Personal Hotspot (tethering). They cost around £10 and are technically PAYG -- I never registered any personal details with Three.

In fact when the Internet went down at my office this is what I used for several days to get my MacBook online.

As I said above, my research so far indicates most of the major companies allow you to use Personal Hotspot/tethering provided you're on monthly contracts. The exception appears to be companies that "piggy back", like Giff Gaff and maybe Tesco (?).

I just got a T-Mobile/EE SIM for my iPad, again from eBay, and again it's technically PAYG. Personal Hotspot is deactivated.

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Originally Posted by MrMister111

do they how? how can I check? Can you go back months and months to check? I'd be interested in my usage, and how it compares to what my iPhone 5 says (I reset it at changeover date)

cheers

It's mentioned in your online bill (PDF). Typically for a sh**ty mobile phone company they only keep six months of bills online for you, but I regularly download them so have them going back for the two years of my contract.

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Originally Posted by cambookpro

Don't want get bogged down in morals etc, but my friend had the £15/month SIM only plan last year and it let him tether to his iPad.

To be honest they keep tight control of these things. The whole 3G/4G network is built with this in mind. In other words they wouldn't let you tether if they didn't want to.

As mentioned I bought a PAYG T-Mobile/EE 12 month SIM for my iPad that allows unlimited browsing and 500MB of downloads each month. When I inserted it, the Personal Hotspot option disappeared. It felt very odd that somebody else has deactivated a feature of hardware that I own. It's a bit like putting petrol into your car and suddenly finding fifth gear has been deactivated.

Morals only really arise when people jailbreak to allow tethering.