Sorry for the TL; DR ness, but I'm still weirded out by this whole thing and it has been a couple of months now...
I had a text message from O2 about two months ago saying I was eligible for an upgrade from my "2.5G" iPhone to an iPhone 3G - which I was very happy about (wasn't too bothered about a new one being announced). I wandered into my nearest O2 store and showed them the message. I was shown to a nice seating area and talked through my upgrade options.
No problems with the sales assistant at all, but he informed me that "O2 central" sends the upgrade messages and is nothing to do with "O2 retail" so I was a little confused, thinking that "O2" was simply "O2". He told me I had two months to wait before "O2 retail" would let me upgrade and I would have to pay "full price" (well, the price for a new contract as it turns out) on top of that for the upgrade, but I "shouldn't worry" as there's "no new iPhone coming out for at least a year", so it was worth it apparently. I was then informed that if I changed to the 24 month £45/m contract (up from the 18 month £35/m contract) I could get the 8gb 3G for free. This was "the best choice" as an upgrade option for me, completely ignoring that I wanted a 16gb one.
I came out of O2 feeling a bit let down. Just under £200 to upgrade on the contract I was on, or move to a more expensive, longer contract giving me a phone that would be 4 years old by the time my contract finished. I went shopping around for new contracts and came to T-mobile, who had an online special, where I could have a new phone (a T-mobile G1/HTC Dream) free, on an 18 month £40 a month contract (reduced by 10% so £36/m) with unlimited text messaging and internet included. I understand that O2 has the exclusive rights to the iPhone, but don't they reward loyalty anymore? Or have I been out of the loop of mobile contracts for too long?
I took out the plan with T-mobile and received the G1 the next day. I've had the phone for about two months now (I ordered it pretty much the day after my O2 visit) and it's fantastic. I have noticed a few dropped calls being on T-mobile (I was being a bit over enthusiastic with multitasking though) but over all, the network has been much more stable. In short, no, it's not an iPhone and there are somethings I do miss, but I'm happy with it.
What I was wondering, was how can O2 charge me £200 (now £274 for a 32gb 3G "S") to upgrade when I had paid £269 for the phone when it launched and have paid £35 a month up to now? I may have been a bit rash in giving my custom to T-Mobile, but am I missing something here?
I had a text message from O2 about two months ago saying I was eligible for an upgrade from my "2.5G" iPhone to an iPhone 3G - which I was very happy about (wasn't too bothered about a new one being announced). I wandered into my nearest O2 store and showed them the message. I was shown to a nice seating area and talked through my upgrade options.
No problems with the sales assistant at all, but he informed me that "O2 central" sends the upgrade messages and is nothing to do with "O2 retail" so I was a little confused, thinking that "O2" was simply "O2". He told me I had two months to wait before "O2 retail" would let me upgrade and I would have to pay "full price" (well, the price for a new contract as it turns out) on top of that for the upgrade, but I "shouldn't worry" as there's "no new iPhone coming out for at least a year", so it was worth it apparently. I was then informed that if I changed to the 24 month £45/m contract (up from the 18 month £35/m contract) I could get the 8gb 3G for free. This was "the best choice" as an upgrade option for me, completely ignoring that I wanted a 16gb one.
I came out of O2 feeling a bit let down. Just under £200 to upgrade on the contract I was on, or move to a more expensive, longer contract giving me a phone that would be 4 years old by the time my contract finished. I went shopping around for new contracts and came to T-mobile, who had an online special, where I could have a new phone (a T-mobile G1/HTC Dream) free, on an 18 month £40 a month contract (reduced by 10% so £36/m) with unlimited text messaging and internet included. I understand that O2 has the exclusive rights to the iPhone, but don't they reward loyalty anymore? Or have I been out of the loop of mobile contracts for too long?
I took out the plan with T-mobile and received the G1 the next day. I've had the phone for about two months now (I ordered it pretty much the day after my O2 visit) and it's fantastic. I have noticed a few dropped calls being on T-mobile (I was being a bit over enthusiastic with multitasking though) but over all, the network has been much more stable. In short, no, it's not an iPhone and there are somethings I do miss, but I'm happy with it.
What I was wondering, was how can O2 charge me £200 (now £274 for a 32gb 3G "S") to upgrade when I had paid £269 for the phone when it launched and have paid £35 a month up to now? I may have been a bit rash in giving my custom to T-Mobile, but am I missing something here?