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Bad news for prospective UK iPhone owners!

S

Source

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 9, 2002
83
1
Engadget is reporting that o2 have won the rights to be the Apple iPhone European carrier.

Now, when I thought T-Mobile was going to be the exclusive carrier, I was cool with it, because they offer 'Unlimited internet browsing' with their tarrifs. But o2 charge £3 for every megabyte of data downloaded!

I really hope that I'm being completely retarded and reading this incorrectly, because if that's the case, then there is absolutely no way I can justify buying iPhones for myself and my colleagues/employees - hell - I wouldn't even consider it!

£3 is an absolutely outrageous price per meg! I may consider unlocking the iPhone and going with T-Mobile, if they are offering anything but unlimited internet browsing with the iPhone. This phone was practically made for browsing on the go, with the best mobile browser available, so to charge those kind of prices is quite frankly, a joke.

Let's hope I'm just being blind and missing some text somewhere, or that they'll offer a different tariff with the iPhone.
 
Source said:
Engadget is reporting that o2 have won the rights to be the Apple iPhone European carrier.

Now, when I thought T-Mobile was going to be the exclusive carrier, I was cool with it, because they offer 'Unlimited internet browsing' with their tarrifs. But o2 charge £3 for every megabyte of data downloaded!

I really hope that I'm being completely retarded and reading this incorrectly, because if that's the case, then there is absolutely no way I can justify buying iPhones for myself and my colleagues/employees - hell - I wouldn't even consider it!

£3 is an absolutely outrageous price per meg! I may consider unlocking the iPhone and going with T-Mobile, if they are offering anything but unlimited internet browsing with the iPhone. This phone was practically made for browsing on the go, with the best mobile browser available, so to charge those kind of prices is quite frankly, a joke.

Let's hope I'm just being blind and missing some text somewhere, or that they'll offer a different tariff with the iPhone.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that that price is what you'd pay with an american, AT&T activated iPhone, if you were getting online through O2 in the UK. Those are the international roaming rates.
 
Jade Cambell said:
I'm pretty sure that that price is what you'd pay with an american, AT&T activated iPhone, if you were getting online through O2 in the UK. Those are the international roaming rates.
Click to expand...

Hi Jade,

Those prices are from their website for their UK Pay Monthly Tariffs. If those prices were international roaming prices, that would be more understandable. But I'm sure you can appreciate - paying £3 ($6) per meg of data downloaded, is ridiculous.
 
Source said:
Engadget is reporting that o2 have won the rights to be the Apple iPhone European carrier.

Now, when I thought T-Mobile was going to be the exclusive carrier, I was cool with it, because they offer 'Unlimited internet browsing' with their tarrifs.
Click to expand...

Rumors have been all over the place since a month or two that o2 will carry the iPhone in the UK.

Source said:
But o2 charge £3 for every megabyte of data downloaded!
Click to expand...

o2 will offer special data plans for the iPhone.
 
Even if they do offer better data plans, their calling plans are a huge rip-off and in no way competitive.
 
Source said:
Hi Jade,

Those prices are from their website for their UK Pay Monthly Tariffs. If those prices were international roaming prices, that would be more understandable. But I'm sure you can appreciate - paying £3 ($6) per meg of data downloaded, is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I thought you of the EU were more accustomed to metered telecommunications services? We have contracts for any decent service, which are their own special kind of burden and require good credit, etc., but no meters on lots of services, which I suppose is the upside of contractual obligations. I'm in at least two contracts for telecommunications services right now, three if you count my wife's iPhone separately from mine, which AT&T does.

If it's any consolation, I recall reading that it was a huge deal for Apple when negotiating the iPhone carrier in the States that they offer an unlimited data plan at an affordable rate -- tariff, to you. Tmobile's unlimited stateside plan is about US$40, whereas AT&T's is only US$20.

Perhaps o2 will justify an unlimited usage plan for the iPhone at a reasonable price since their current prices, I assume, are based on 2G and 3G network usage and the UK iPhone is only going to operate on 2G (I'm convinced Apple will not yet release a 3G iPhone, for the EU market or otherwise).
 
Source said:
Hi Jade,

Those prices are from their website for their UK Pay Monthly Tariffs. If those prices were international roaming prices, that would be more understandable. But I'm sure you can appreciate - paying £3 ($6) per meg of data downloaded, is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Well, if you ask me, O2 doesn't have another option, considering that $2.50 of the $6 go to Cupertino according to Engadget.
(Yeah, I know, blaming it on Apple is is an act of sacrilege :D)
 
On O2 in ireland we get 10Gb of 3G downloads for €30 a month.

I don't see why England is so much more expensive.

Although i'm pretty sure that O2 will bring out a special price plan for the iPhone (if they are the carrier).

Anyway why have a heart attack over it... relax and wait until tomorrow before complaining about something that no one knows yet :)
 
weg said:
Well, if you ask me, O2 doesn't have another option, considering that $2.50 of the $6 go to Cupertino according to Engadget.
(Yeah, I know, blaming it on Apple is is an act of sacrilege :D)
Click to expand...

I can't really believe O2 would be stupid enough to be gouged in that way, but if they are, that's their problem and they shouldn't have agreed to the contract and definitely shouldn't take it out on their customers (although they obviously will).

With all of the unlimited online browsing tariffs out there at the moment, it would be quite shocking to see them charge for it.
 
TBi said:
Anyway why have a heart attack over it... relax and wait until tomorrow before complaining about something that no one knows yet :)
Click to expand...

Fair point. :D But tomorrow if it comes out and turns out to be that they are charging ridiculous prices, can I throw down then? Cheers. ;)

CD3660 said:
I may be wrong but I don't think that T-Mobile U.K. has EDGE, only 3G and GPRS. If so it would be painfully slow browsing with GPRS on the iPhone.

Anyone know otherwise?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that most UK providers don't have edge, which is exactly why the iPhone here will have to be 3G compatible.
 
TBi said:
Although i'm pretty sure that O2 will bring out a special price plan for the iPhone (if they are the carrier).
Click to expand...
It seems pretty clear from various news articles over recent weeks that o2 will be the carrier and that they will announce new data rates later this month, possibly tomorrow.

We don't have long to wait now, but rumour and gossip is fun in the meantime!
 
Source said:
I'm pretty sure that most UK providers don't have edge, which is exactly why the iPhone here will have to be 3G compatible.
Click to expand...

The fact that o2 have been 'upgrading' their system to EDGE in recent weeks is accepted by many to mean that they have got the iPhone contract and that it will not be 3G.

Don't forget that 3G coverage in the U.K. is not good outside cities and major towns.
 
Source said:
Fair point. :D But tomorrow if it comes out and turns out to be that they are charging ridiculous prices, can I throw down then? Cheers. ;)
Click to expand...

Sure thing, but have a friend present with a defibrillator!

CD3660 said:
It seems pretty clear from various news articles over recent weeks that o2 will be the carrier and that they will announce new data rates later this month, possibly tomorrow.

We don't have long to wait now, but rumour and gossip is fun in the meantime!
Click to expand...

Nothing is clear, everything until tomorrow evening is a rumor.

I heard a rumor that apple are bringing out a levitating iPod. That doesn't make it clear that they will though...
 
TBi said:
Nothing is clear, everything until tomorrow evening is a rumor.

I heard a rumor that apple are bringing out a levitating iPod. That doesn't make it clear that they will though...
Click to expand...

Very funny and oh so clever: I'm splitting my sides. :rolleyes:

I didn't say it was clear, I said pretty clear, which is not the same thing. There have been many snippets of information from reliable sources to suggest that what I have stated is correct. Tomorrow may prove me and many others wrong, in which case I will retract and apologise, but let's wait and see.
 
No 3G tommorrow, my contact at 02 confirms this. Othwise they are being suitably professional and revealing nothing else. However, with T and now Voda both offering unlimited data plans, I think its likely 02 will too, maybe exclsuivley for iPhone users to begin with...
 
memesmith said:
No 3G tommorrow, my contact at 02 confirms this. Othwise they are being suitably professional and revealing nothing else. However, with T and now Voda both offering unlimited data plans, I think its likely 02 will too, maybe exclsuivley for iPhone users to begin with...
Click to expand...

You guys will be okay on the data I truly think. Unlimited data really was a *big* deal for Apple for carrier negotiations over here. They wouldn't sign a carrier without it.
 
Source said:
Engadget is reporting that o2 have won the rights to be the Apple iPhone European carrier.

Now, when I thought T-Mobile was going to be the exclusive carrier, I was cool with it, because they offer 'Unlimited internet browsing' with their tarrifs. But o2 charge £3 for every megabyte of data downloaded!
Click to expand...

That's obviously why O2 got the deal. Most iPhone customers use around 1GB (1000 Megabyte) of data each month, so they will have to pay about £3,000 per month to O2. Even if only 250,000 iPhones are sold in the UK, that is £750,000,000 per month or £9,000,000,000 per year, most of it profit. There were rumours that Apple gets 40% of those revenues, that makes £3,600,000,000 per year, or about 7.5bn dollar. Sucking that amount of money out of the UK will lead to the country being bankrupt within three years, so better move somewhere else right now.

Alternatively, Apple may have convinced O2 to supply an unlimited data tariff at a reasonable rate. It doesn't seem entirely impossible. :D
 
gnasher729 said:
That's obviously why O2 got the deal. Most iPhone customers use around 1GB (1000 Megabyte) of data each month, so they will have to pay about £3,000 per month to O2. Even if only 250,000 iPhones are sold in the UK, that is £750,000,000 per month or £9,000,000,000 per year, most of it profit.There were rumours that Apple gets 40% of those revenues, that makes £3,600,000,000 per year, or about 7.5bn dollar. Sucking that amount of money out of the UK will lead to the country being bankrupt within three years, so better move somewhere else right now.
Click to expand...
Very good. I suspected that Steve Jobs wanted to take over the world. Now I know how it will be achieved! :D :D :D
 
gnasher729 said:
That's obviously why O2 got the deal. Most iPhone customers use around 1GB (1000 Megabyte) of data each month, so they will have to pay about £3,000 per month to O2. Even if only 250,000 iPhones are sold in the UK, that is £750,000,000 per month or £9,000,000,000 per year, most of it profit. There were rumours that Apple gets 40% of those revenues, that makes £3,600,000,000 per year, or about 7.5bn dollar. Sucking that amount of money out of the UK will lead to the country being bankrupt within three years, so better move somewhere else right now.

Alternatively, Apple may have convinced O2 to supply an unlimited data tariff at a reasonable rate. It doesn't seem entirely impossible. :D
Click to expand...

LOL! But it does have a brand new multi-touch interface so it will be worth it!
 
joe8232 said:
LOL! But it does have a brand new multi-touch interface so it will be worth it!
Click to expand...

Oh I totally agree. But I think they might offer an unlimited data plan contract for US$5,000 per month, give you a little break there if you're willing to pay a flat rate on a contract.

Seriously, I bet you Brits get an unlimited data plan on o2 equivalent considering exchange rate and cost-of-living to our US$20 plan.

But right now I don't care how much you have to pay because *your* launch may be holding up *our* iPhone update. You people over there go to bed early or something so they can go ahead and release this thing stateside. We'd 'ppreciate that mighty fine.
 
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