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How to get the iPhone 3G £30 a month 1200 mins/1000 texts

PowerFullMac

PowerFullMac

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 16, 2006
4,000
2
Yes, you read it right! You have to wait for the PAYG iPhone 3G ('coz then you wont have to worry about contracts) to come out, but when it does you can buy it, unlock it, get a O2 simplicity SIM (the second one on this list is good) and use it in your iPhone! You need to pay a bit extra for a web browsing add-on, but its only £7.50 and its much better value then the price plans that come with the iPhone normally! ;)
 
You get one free bolt on with simplicity so you could choose free web browsing and get 1000 text/1200mins and unlimited web browsing.

Who thinks O2 are going to stop this somehow although if you unlock the phone it should work.

Where/How to unlock a 3G iPhone?
 
So what you're telling us is how to do something that we won't be able to do for some unspecified length of time (if ever, depending on whether the 3G gets unlocked)? Thanks for that. :rolleyes:

Oh, and whether the PAYG is good value for you compared to the monthly plans depends totally on your amount of call usage, so you can't say as a blanket statement "PAYG is much better value than the usual plans".
 
the pay as you go iphone 8gb will be at least £300, so the total minimum cost over an 18 month period is £840

the iphone 8gb on pay monthly with the £45 tariff (same number of calls/minutes) comes to a total of £810 for 18 months

so its cheaper to go on the official contract for that number of minutes
 
You save money because you get more minutes and texts, if you tried to do that on the £35 a month plan you get with the iPhone it would be more expensive because you would run out of minutes and texts.

The iPhone 3G has been unlocked, the software is being debugged so its safe for public release.

No one knows for sure what the price of the PAYG iPhone 3G will be, the prices that came up on O2's site for a minute then disappeared could easily change seeing as they did disappear...
 
on the £35 iPhone tariff, you get 600 minutes and 500 texts
on the £45 iPhone tariff, you get 1200 minutes and 500 texts
on the £30 simplicity tariff, you get 1200 minutes and 1000 texts

the iPhone 8gb is free on the £45 tariff, and it will cost at least £300 (look at the international price of the unlocked iPhone, and the price announced and then taken down from the o2 website)

to make a totally fair comparison, the cost will be calculated over 18 months
cost of £45 iPhone tariff for 18 months: £810
cost of iPhone 8GB: £0
Total: £810

cost of £30 simplicity tariff for 18 months: £540
cost of iPhone 8GB: £300
Total: £840

MAKING IT MORE EXPENSIVE on the simplicty tariff
 
philgilder said:
on the £35 iPhone tariff, you get 600 minutes and 500 texts
on the £45 iPhone tariff, you get 1200 minutes and 500 texts
on the £30 simplicity tariff, you get 1200 minutes and 500 texts

you get the same number of minutes and texts on simplicity for £30 as you do on the £45 tariff

the iPhone 8gb is free on the £45 tariff, and it will cost at least £300 (look at the international price of the unlocked iPhone, and the price announced and then taken down from the o2 website)

to make a totally fair comparison, the cost will be calculated over 18 months
cost of £45 iPhone tariff for 18 months: £810
cost of iPhone 8GB: £0
Total: £810

cost of £30 simplicity tariff for 18 months: £540
cost of iPhone 8GB: £300
Total: £840

MAKING IT MORE EXPENSIVE
Click to expand...

But you only get 500 texts, say if you texted a lot and needed a plan with more texts... In that case, the simplicity tariff would be cheaper.
 
philgilder makes a valid point. Yes you can wait, but that PAYG date will slide. And don't be thinking the PAYG option will always be in line with the most recent iPhone, they may well pull the same number again come v3 iPhone.

SMS and minutes may be more like mute points, if wifi VoIP and email become more prevalent. Plus, don't forget that you get free texts with O2 via the website, so that's another few hundred if you're counting the pennies.

Heck, there may be a fair few that got £35 odd quid off (at least a month's worth on what ever plan you are on) due to the O2 blunders if they raised a valid complaint ticket. Given a valid hassle, there may well also be some form of prioritisation for the next model to Pay Monthly owners also. Heck - we can drop our plans down after 9 months.

So that'd be an easy £55 off the contract by getting a month's free and dropping from 45 to 30-35 if you had hassle on launch.

Plus, let's not forget that BTOpenzone and the Cloud won't I imagine be free to PAYG - it's an iPhone only feature currently.
 
O2 PAYG UNLIMITED:

£15 topup a month. Activates:

Unlimited Calls to O2 Phones
Unlimited Texts to O2 Phones
You still have the remaining £15 Calltime

Get the unlimited web and wifi bolt on for £10.

The bolt on is taken out of your balance, leaving you with £5 to spend on anything.

Texts are 10p to other networks, on contract they are 12p.
Calls are 20p for the first 3 minutes, then 5p/pm for the rest of the day to other networks, on contract they are 20p.

On the minimun simplicity plan of £15 a month, to get the unlimited wifi, you have to add the £10 bolt on ontop of the monthly fee, working out to be £25 per month. Not forgetting you only get a certain small ammount of texts and calls.

All in all... For £15 PAYG a month you are left with:

Unlimited Calls to O2 Phones
Unlimited Texts to O2 Phones
Unlimited Web and Wifi
£5 Calltime Balance
Cheaper Calls to other networks than Contracts
Cheaper Texts to other networks than Contracts

And you are not stuck in a contract, isnt that good?
 
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