Apple Retail Preparing for iPhone 3G Activation Procedures

[allymac]

I bought a Nokia 82 someting and that was locked. Even though I bought it as PAYG. So, it depends. 02 usually have all contract phones unlocked, however, the iPhone was the exception.

Ah now you've reminded me. Why is this fair? If O2 sell all their contract phones unlocked, then how come the iPhone is locked? As I said earlier I'm on O2 at work and all of my work phones I've been able to put any SIM in. I can only use T-mobile at home it's the only signal I get.

I really do wish they would just sell an unlocked version and have done with it. Or maybe I should just persuade work that I need one

 

[tbohlsennswssrg]

For £350 I expect the phone to be unlocked - wishful thinking I know BUT at that price it's the least they can do. In the UK when you the buy the phone unsubsidized it usually comes unlocked.

Unlocked because I don't want a contract and I don't want to pay roaming charges of $2 per minute!!

Time will tell - roll on July 11th.

£262.50 (£350 Including VAT) = $545 Australian Dollars + GST = $590

 

[Urban Splash]

Ok, I have been thinking about the o2 tariffs -


Monthly Charge £30 £35 £45 £75
Cost of 8GB iPhone £99 £99 Free Free
Cost of 16GB iPhone £159 £159 £59 Free
Minutes 75 600 1200 3000
Texts 25 500 500 500


It states in the terms and conditions that you can change tariff at ANY time. There is no mention of a minimum period on the initial tariff.

So, as a new customer, if I sign up to the £75 tariff, can I change to the £30 tariff the next month? This would be cheaper than paying £159 for the 16GB

 

[witchdrash]

Ok, I have been thinking about the o2 tariffs -


Monthly Charge £30 £35 £45 £75
Cost of 8GB iPhone £99 £99 Free Free
Cost of 16GB iPhone £159 £159 £59 Free
Minutes 75 600 1200 3000
Texts 25 500 500 500


It states in the terms and conditions that you can change tariff at ANY time. There is no mention of a minimum period on the initial tariff.

So, as a new customer, if I sign up to the £75 tariff, can I change to the £30 tariff the next month? This would be cheaper than paying £159 for the 16GB

I do this quite a bit to get a phone a little cheaper, but if you read the small print when you sign up you will have a 3 month limit, and only be able to drop by 1 grade a month max, so if you get a £75 tariff you have to pay that for 3 months at least, although this was on 12 month contracts, 18 will probably be different.

 

[Project]

Ok, I have been thinking about the o2 tariffs -


Monthly Charge £30 £35 £45 £75
Cost of 8GB iPhone £99 £99 Free Free
Cost of 16GB iPhone £159 £159 £59 Free
Minutes 75 600 1200 3000
Texts 25 500 500 500


It states in the terms and conditions that you can change tariff at ANY time. There is no mention of a minimum period on the initial tariff.

So, as a new customer, if I sign up to the £75 tariff, can I change to the £30 tariff the next month? This would be cheaper than paying £159 for the 16GB

You can change to a more expensive tariff at any point, but you have to wait 9 months before you can move to a cheaper tariff.

 

[shiunn]

No - you're screwed basically.

Insurance claim (on the phone policy if you took one out or your home policy) or you have to pay the full whack for a new one.

No kidding! That's gonna hurt!
any recommendation on a straightforward insurace which protects phone and laptop for students?

 

[Lershac]

They still have to do credit checks because of security reasons. The same reason you have to do a credit check for cable.

No, they do a credit check to make sure you are going to pay your bill.

Same as cable, telephone or electric utilities.

You would not believe the number of people who still run up RIDICULOUSLY high cell phone bills. I was in an ATT store getting my plan switched over from corporate to personal (omg that takes forever and an act of your favorite Diety) and watched people stream in all day long feeding $100 bills into an automated payment machine. One woman paid $1700.

Hers was a special case, some sort of prepay so she could talk to her son in the slam, she said. Thats pretty expensive.

 

[midwich]

£350!

Pay as you go phones are subsidized a little but, look at SIM free phone prices and look at pay as you phone prices, saying that the price will be the same as a completely unsubsidized iPhone is not true, and honestly, who will buy a phone for that much anyway? If the price is like that I will go and get myself a PlayStation 3.

Too true, I am HUGELY disappointed by this, credit card was at the ready but no longer

Did Jobs deliberately mislead when he only announced the subsidised prices? Either way, massive letdown, a stupid amount of money to spend on a 'phone.

 

[jennyp]

payg iPhone ?

Is price going to be the only disadvantage of a pay-as-you-go iPhone? If I want to be able to use it for everything, will I likely get hit for extra payment somewhere?

 

[Kremner]

UK Travel

I travel from the U.S. to the U.K. on business and would like to avoid paying international rates for voice and data transfer. So, does anyone know if a U.S. Iphone on ATT can be used with a "pay as you go" account in the UK - without violating my ATT contract?

Thanks from Jonathan Kremner for any and all input on this. All comments most welcome!

 

[PowerFullMac]

Too true, I am HUGELY disappointed by this, credit card was at the ready but no longer

Did Jobs deliberately mislead when he only announced the subsidised prices? Either way, massive letdown, a stupid amount of money to spend on a 'phone.

Yep and infact for £350 I can get a 40GB PS3 and 3 games!

 

[aristobrat]

I travel from the U.S. to the U.K. on business and would like to avoid paying international rates for voice and data transfer. So, does anyone know if a U.S. Iphone on ATT can be used with a "pay as you go" account in the UK - without violating my ATT contract?

With the original iPhone, the answer was no. AT&T would never "officially" unlock it for use with other carriers SIM cards. Computer programs popped up that allowed you to "unofficially" unlock it, but if something happened to your iPhone where it needed service, Apple would not service AT&T iPhones that had been "unofficially" unlocked.

Now that AT&T seems to be treating the new iPhone 3G like how they treat their other phones, I wonder if the will unlock it for you after 90 days of being a customer, or whatever their policy is nowadays.

 

[wizbang-fl]

Import an network unlocked phone?

And do you think Apple will sell an unsubsidized/unlocked iPhone? Are there any laws mandating it in the U.S.?

-Clive

Apple and AT&T signed an agreement in the US making AT&T the only alternative for phones sold in the US. Jail breaking a phone voids the warranty on a phone purchased in the US.

But, I wonder if you were to purchase a phone from a country where it is not network locked if you could bring it back to the US and use it with any carrier?

 

[weckart]

For £350 I expect the phone to be unlocked - wishful thinking I know BUT at that price it's the least they can do. In the UK when you the buy the phone unsubsidized it usually comes unlocked.

Dunno. I've only bought PAYG and they have always been locked. I think 'unsubsidised' is not quite correct here. There is usually a small subsidy of £10-30 on PAYG phones and you are frequently obliged to 'top-up' on purchase. The difference being that most phones, though not all, are unlockable by either yourself or a third party for a small charge.

 

[saxamoophone]

not sure if you can draw any conclusions from this, but the unsubsidized price is expected to be higher than the previous iPhone cost.

If this holds true in the U.S. the unsubsidized 8GB iPhone price here would be more than $399.

arn

yep, and if that's the case, I won't be getting one for over another year.

The changes they made have pretty much screwed over any current at&t customer (within the past 2 years) into buying their first iPhone.

$399/$499 I was willing to pay for.

$635 for a 16 gig? Yeahhhh...I think I'll pass.

Guess apple doesn't want my money (at&t already has it..so they don't care either way..)

 

[Willis]

But, I wonder if you were to purchase a phone from a country where it is not network locked if you could bring it back to the US and use it with any carrier?

I thought about this. I'm off to Italy this year and according to their site, its €499 for the 8GB and €569 for the 16GB. Thats £394 and £449! (Both Vodafone and TIM)

When you compare that to the £99 and £159 us Brits have, it's insane. That blows the idea I had to get a phone from there and bring it back with me then get an 02 iPhone 3G sim.

End of the day, they have to acknowledge people will get hold of 3G iPhones in an after market. How easy that proves to be is up in the air. I'm sure you could phone up and enquire, but saying that, I can imagine the resounding 'no'

edit: these are contract prices remember

 

[ACDeag]

i'm from the states studying here in the uk.

i am interested in the PAYG plan for the 3g iphone. someone mentioned that with a minimum monthly top-up, i may be able to get free o2-to-o2 calls and unlimited data? i'm not at all familiar how PAYG works here. any other tips?

£350 sounds steep up front, but it would be nice not being tethered to an 18-month commitment.

More info here:

http://www.o2.co.uk/mobilestariffs/tariffs/paygo/paygotariffs

What we don't know is whether iPhone PAYG will be any different.

 

[captain kaos]

this is interesting as a couple of months ago I was chatting to an apple reseller (not cancom, but apple logo'd shop in brighton, uk) and he was saying that it would make sense for the new iPhone to be sold at reseller, not just the offical regents street shop. Doubt he had prior notice about this story, but its funny they may well sell the iPhone in these shops. Adds another place to get hold of one come the 11th!

Also the pricing for the payg is ok, better then getting locked into another 18 month contract. You just have to fork out the cost in one go rather then over the 18 months!