Maybe no o2 PAYG 3G iPhone this Friday but what about iPhone Pay & Go SIM cards?

[afd]

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about whether or not 3G iPhones will be available this Friday possible understandably as o2 probably make more money with contracts and will want to divert supply that way initially. I would imagine most original un-hacked iPhone users, that were prepared to pay £269, will want to upgrade for a subsidised 3G iphone. This would mean there are likely to be a deluge of iPhones given to family members or sold on ebay that o2 could sell iPhone Pay & Go SIM cards for.
Do you think these SIMs will be available on Friday?
Am planning to sell mine before then and wondering whether to hack it or not.

AFD

 

[johnwin]

Is there such a thing as an "iPhone Pay & Go SIM card"?

Surley it's just a payg sim - the mins are not a different shape or anything are they.

 

[TonyHoyle]

Presumably it's a payg sim possibly with the ability to sign up to the £10 unlimited data/wifi plan.

OTOH I strongly suspect O2 will try to get these 'spare' iphones to sign up to new 18 month contracts.

 

[zeasar]

Is there such a thing as an "iPhone Pay & Go SIM card"?

Surley it's just a payg sim - the mins are not a different shape or anything are they.

According to O2's "leaked" PAYG tariffs, iphone 3g PAYG gets unlimited data, so I guess its a little different from other O2 PAYG tariffs.

 

[livelikeasam]

I emailed O2 asking about the Pay & Go iPhone:

Hello Samuel,

Thanks for your email showing your interest in the Pay & Go iPhone 3G.

I'm pleased to tell you that although the iPhone 3G won't be available on our Pay & Go network when it's launched on our Pay Monthly network (11 July 2008). But it will be available on our Pay & Go network on a date which is yet to be confirmed.

Once the date has been confirmed it will be made public and information will be available through the media.

I'm sorry for your wait Samuel and thank you for your patience. I'm sure that once you have the phone you've been saving up for you'll love using all the fantastic features it has to offer.

Thanks again for taking the time to send your email. Please reply to my email if you've any other questions and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Don't forget, for us to answer your query faster, please provide your mobile number, two numbers that you call or send text messages to regularly and the date, amount and method of your last Top-Up, every time you email us.

Kind regards,

Angela
Team EC4
O2 Customer Service.

So the date is unconfirmed, and once it has been it will be available through the media.
Oh and this is my first post, Hey everyone! lol

 

[Petoz]

Why would o2 give away iPhone 3G sim cards before they have an iPhone 3G to go in for pay & go customers? Also, I am pretty sure there is nothing special about the sim itself. It will merely be a sim card with 6 months free data attached to the phone number. So essentially, 6 months with a free data bolt-on attached. Nothing else special about it. People can buy that already.

 

[afd]

Why would o2 give away iPhone 3G sim cards before they have an iPhone 3G to go in for pay & go customers? Also, I am pretty sure there is nothing special about the sim itself. It will merely be a sim card with 6 months free data attached to the phone number. So essentially, 6 months with a free data bolt-on attached. Nothing else special about it. People can buy that already.

But current o2 PAYG SIMs require the iPhone to be hacked in order to work. Presumably iPhone PAYG SIMS will work in a similar fashion to the contract ones that were inside existing iPhones and just need to be activated via iTunes.

Iphone PAYG SIMs are mentioned on 02s website -

Don't need 2 iPhones!

We want to make sure you find a good home for your existing iPhone once you upgrade. If you've a friend or family member already on an eligible O2 tariff, they'll be able to transfer to one of our new tariffs for iPhone. If they're not already with O2 or on an eligible O2 tariff, they could get one of our new iPhone Pay & Go SIM cards.

I would imagine there a few kids that will be saying "if you get a new iPhone, can I get your old one?". Pre-pay SIMs would be ideal for them.

 

[Petoz]

But current o2 PAYG SIMs require the iPhone to be hacked in order to work. Presumably iPhone PAYG SIMS will work in a similar fashion to the contract ones that were inside existing iPhones and just need to be activated via iTunes.

Iphone PAYG SIMs are mentioned on 02s website -

Don't need 2 iPhones!

We want to make sure you find a good home for your existing iPhone once you upgrade. If you've a friend or family member already on an eligible O2 tariff, they'll be able to transfer to one of our new tariffs for iPhone. If they're not already with O2 or on an eligible O2 tariff, they could get one of our new iPhone Pay & Go SIM cards.

I would imagine there a few kids that will be saying "if you get a new iPhone, can I get your old one?". Pre-pay SIMs would be ideal for them.

Hmm...I may be wrong then. However, I was under the impression, that any O2 sim would work in the iPhone, as it was locked to the O2 network, not iPhone specific. Other threads on here state simplicity sims work in the current iPhone no problem.

 

[jennyp]

No iPhone 3G PAYG on 11th?

I'm pleased to tell you that although the iPhone 3G won't be available on our Pay & Go network when it's launched on our Pay Monthly network (11 July 2008). But it will be available on our Pay & Go network on a date which is yet to be confirmed.

Does this mean for definite that I can't get an iPhone 3G PAYG on the 11th?


Disappointed!

 

[TonyHoyle]

Hmm...I may be wrong then. However, I was under the impression, that any O2 sim would work in the iPhone, as it was locked to the O2 network, not iPhone specific. Other threads on here state simplicity sims work in the current iPhone no problem.

They used to, but at some point apple fixed itunes so you could no longer activate with a different SIM inside.

If you'd activated before that you were OK.

 

[sara123456]

Does this mean for definite that I can't get an iPhone 3G PAYG on the 11th?


Disappointed!

Your have to wait until the 11th to find out unless 02 update there site in the mean time, but all the info on here is not 100% so just wait and see what happens

 

[urban469]

They used to, but at some point apple fixed itunes so you could no longer activate with a different SIM inside.

If you'd activated before that you were OK.

So if you activated the new iphone with a pay&go sim, you should be able to put a simplicity sim inside, right?

 

[TonyHoyle]

I guess so although I had to jailbreak mine to use a Simplicity SIM as it had never been 'properly' activated.

Edit: Tested by downgrading to iTunes 7.5.0, Firmware 1.1.

iTunes recognizes the Simplicity SIM *but* the moment you connect you get a message "you will be charged a one-off fee of £219 to transfer your existing contract" (!!!)

Needless to say I cancelled at this point!

I can't test a 'legitimate' upgrade as I don't have one to do.. in the past every time I've upgraded the firmware it requires re-activation but don't know if that's always true.

 

[urban469]

I guess so although I had to jailbreak mine to use a Simplicity SIM as it had never been 'properly' activated.

Edit: Tested by downgrading to iTunes 7.5.0, Firmware 1.1.

iTunes recognizes the Simplicity SIM *but* the moment you connect you get a message "you will be charged a one-off fee of £219 to transfer your existing contract" (!!!)

Needless to say I cancelled at this point!

I can't test a 'legitimate' upgrade as I don't have one to do.. in the past every time I've upgraded the firmware it requires re-activation but don't know if that's always true.

That's very interesting - the £219 seems to be approx the amount the contract iPhone is being subsidised (if you compare the 3g contract price with the 3g pay&go price).

Has anyone else activated in the normal way, and then been able to try putting a different o2 sim in?