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Useful info. I bought the iPhone 3GS last June and benefit from the 12 month free web/wifi, which sadly ends this month... I'm on the Your Country PAYG tariff. The way I read the above is that the internet allowance only applies to the Text & Web tariff, which is disappointing.

Indeed, I too was disappointed by this. Luckily Orange have free internet for 12 months, even if it is limited to 250MB.
 
Nice speech (I'm being sincere) and what you say is completely true... I just want to explain that what I meant by way of the world is that there will always be people who will do that type of thing (buy two to sell one at a higher price)... It's a shame, but lets be honest... it's basically a normal business tactic... Businesses buy materials and build something out of it, and charge more to make a profit... (or buy something and sell it at a higher price, like a distributor, or use it in a service etc.) All these ppl are doing is selling the creating a scenario in which they can offer a service (offering the iPhone earlier than apple can by the time they restock/sell it in a market where it's not yet available) and they can therefore basically get there own iPhone cheaper than most ppl...

Anywho... basically I agree with you, haha

Good good, it wasn't aimed at you in particular ;) Some people do use "it's how the world works" as an excuse for doing something that might be frowned upon but of course that's not always the case. I was just calling whoever it applies to on it.

I can certainly accept that in some cases the seller is basically offering a premium service of getting the product faster than Apple. I don't know if it applies here, as if it hadn't been bought up by profiteers then it would've still been available on Apple's website for delivery on the 24th ;) (Or still in the store for the people queued up there as the case may be)
 
Shops buy the stock then mark the price up from the factory/wholesale price, do they not? So if you were to buy something from a shop and sell it in a market where this product is in limited supply but has a high demand, the rules of supply and demand (which are absolute) dictate that there will be a markup from the price at which you purchased it, simple as.

It's greedy and perhaps unfair for consumers, but no one's forcing you to buy marked up iPhones, are they? If you're in the US and want an unlocked iPhone, you may actually see the markup as worth it, and in that case a markup is also needed to cover extra costs.

So those that missed out on pre-orders or reservations due to the mayhem etc. tough luck. You can always get one at a higher price from someone who grabbed more than one? I suppose it's the same as if you were in the queue in a shop with two cakes left. The guy in front sees this and buys both before you and smiles and says. I can sell you one but it will cost you. I think even Alan Sugar would frown on those tactics.
 
So those that missed out on pre-orders or reservations due to the mayhem etc. tough luck. You can always get one at a higher price from someone who grabbed more than one? I suppose it's the same as if you were in the queue in a shop with two cakes left. The guy in front sees this and buys both before you and smiles and says. I can sell you one but it will cost you. I think even Alan Sugar would frown on those tactics.

Why not just wait a few more days to buy the bloody phone? If you don't want to pay extra when there's little supply and high demand then wait until the supply increases and the demand starts to decrease.

Let's face it, Apple know these things will sell lots, and they will be quick at delivering high levels of stock to shops and for their online store anyway.
 
So those that missed out on pre-orders or reservations due to the mayhem etc. tough luck. You can always get one at a higher price from someone who grabbed more than one? I suppose it's the same as if you were in the queue in a shop with two cakes left. The guy in front sees this and buys both before you and smiles and says. I can sell you one but it will cost you. I think even Alan Sugar would frown on those tactics.

thats how alan sugar got rich. why buy loads of property unless you plan on flipping it for a profit

i agree it's ****, but we live in a capitalist society. even one iphone per customer wouldn't stop it - people who didn't want one would queue and the price would be even higher as the demand would be greater
 
Be careful about jumping ship because of data. I thought I was a heavy data user and then went to take a look at my data usage. The HEAVIEST data load I've every used is 389,000 KB (less than 380MB).

Companies can be rather deceptive and I think o2 are simply coming clean. Orange for instance place a cap of 750MB on their 'unlimited' data usage. In Orange's case, they count BOTH upload and download, whereas o2 do not count your upload. I'm pissed with o2 as well and I am tempted to jump ship to Vodafone. But I will not base the decision on data usage, it will be based on cost and signal quality (an area I'd knock o2 down for).

Cost and signal quality - I'm with you there. I also want low as possible monthlies. Generally speaking, I want it all - but I'm happy to compromise on the lower call time and higher per-call and per-text charges of PAYG in order to get it.

O2 require £120/year on the low end and in return for this you get the shakiest 3G experience of all the networks.

If I jumped ship to say, T-Mobile, I could spend £90/year, get double the data allowance and subjectively, double the reception around the places I frequent most often.

If I jumped to Orange, I could spend £50/year, but would end up hitting the tiny 250mb/mo FUP limit.

Staying where I am, on O2, paying £10/month for Text & Web - is unacceptable to me.

In any case, I don't mind getting an unlocked iPhone and really wished I was quicker off the mark since it looks like I missed the first available batch of phones. My best bet now is to queue up outside one of the retail outlets next Thursday morning.
 
o2 do, i suspect most will. your logic is flawed, just because orange haven't announced it, how the hell is Apple at fault?

Did i say it was Apple's fault?

I just don't see their logic in selling Sim Free phones, that people then have to commit to 12 month / 18 / 24 month contracts or minimum term PAYG contracts. It nullifies the logic of getting the phone sim free, if i am then committed to a network.

Is that flawed logic?
 
So those that missed out on pre-orders or reservations due to the mayhem etc. tough luck. You can always get one at a higher price from someone who grabbed more than one? I suppose it's the same as if you were in the queue in a shop with two cakes left. The guy in front sees this and buys both before you and smiles and says. I can sell you one but it will cost you. I think even Alan Sugar would frown on those tactics.

^ That is pretty much what happens in Capitalism. It's just when people talk openly about buying two to sell one to someone else at an inflated price, it sucks for those of us who - for store unavailability or page timeouts - couldn't place our pre-orders in time for June 24th delivery.
 
I have been on the iPhone simplicity 20 for 6 months now and i tried to downgrade to the simplicity 15. That wouldve meant i kept my unlimited data and texts and simply cut my minutes down from 600 to 300. However the guy on the phone said that i was not able to do this as £20 was the minimum plan they offer if you have unlimited data. They consider this a £5 bolt-on, and so they would not downgrade me to Simplicity 15.

Has anyone been able to sign up to the simplicity 15 (with unlimited data) recently?
 
Did i say it was Apple's fault?

I just don't see their logic in selling Sim Free phones, that people then have to commit to 12 month / 18 / 24 month contracts or minimum term PAYG contracts. It nullifies the logic of getting the phone sim free, if i am then committed to a network.

Is that flawed logic?

Well good luck using any phone, SIM free or not, without a network... :rolleyes:

If you want no commitment, use PAYG, it's what I do, so I can change networks or sell the phone at any time.
 
Did i say it was Apple's fault?

I just don't see their logic in selling Sim Free phones, that people then have to commit to 12 month / 18 / 24 month contracts or minimum term PAYG contracts. It nullifies the logic of getting the phone sim free, if i am then committed to a network.

Is that flawed logic?

but you're not commited to a network, thats the point


try an o2 sim. don't like it? get an orange one instead
 
Did i say it was Apple's fault?

I just don't see their logic in selling Sim Free phones, that people then have to commit to 12 month / 18 / 24 month contracts or minimum term PAYG contracts. It nullifies the logic of getting the phone sim free, if i am then committed to a network.

Is that flawed logic?

Or you could get a rolling 30 day contract like the O2 simplicity.
 
There is a difference in making a profit and taking the chance away from someone else. It's called black market for a reason.

It's a market distortion, not a black market.

Consumer only buys as many of the devices as they need (to maximise utility) which would be 1. When the consumer buys 2, they are not fulfilling extra utility by owning a second device, which will not be used, thus they are distorting an excludable market (i.e. for one person to buy that extra iPhone, another has to lose out as there are a finite amount of them).

Whilst selling on the second iPhone for an inflated price may be considered 'entrepreneurial' by those who have no idea what true entrepreneurship is or 'unfair' by those who fail to differentiate between subjectivity and objectivity, all it really does is temporarily distort the market.

Those same people will probably feel very stupid when the supply of iPhone 4s is nowhere near as limited as Apple may have you think and they are unable to get the exorbitant mark-ups they may be unrealistically dreaming of.
 
Did i say it was Apple's fault?

I just don't see their logic in selling Sim Free phones, that people then have to commit to 12 month / 18 / 24 month contracts or minimum term PAYG contracts. It nullifies the logic of getting the phone sim free, if i am then committed to a network.

Is that flawed logic?

Many companies including o2 and T-Mobile have 1 month Sim-Only Plans (albeit you get better deals when you sign up for a 12/18 month contract).

Also when going Abroad, you can swap the Sim from a local Country into iP4.
 
What? Reselling a legally purchased phone isn't a black market. :confused:

I am using the term to describe a deviation from the normal market route to one that can at best be described as unethical. As I am sure the people that lost out on ordering will agree. Still doesn't matter they can pay a higher price from the guy who got in before them. Shame he couldn't have grabbed 1000, he could have made a real killing.
 
thats how alan sugar got rich.

Probably so, and I don't think very much of Alan Sugar as a particularly likeable human being either ;)

Well I've stated my opinion on the matter. People are entitled to re-sell as they wish, just don't go thinking those who missed out (unless they pay you some crazy premium) won't dislike you for it.

Me, I have one reserved. Just one.
 
I have been on the iPhone simplicity 20 for 6 months now and i tried to downgrade to the simplicity 15. That wouldve meant i kept my unlimited data and texts and simply cut my minutes down from 600 to 300. However the guy on the phone said that i was not able to do this as £20 was the minimum plan they offer if you have unlimited data. They consider this a £5 bolt-on, and so they would not downgrade me to Simplicity 15.

Has anyone been able to sign up to the simplicity 15 (with unlimited data) recently?

yes i got it yesterday with unlimited data for 12 months.
 
Did i say it was Apple's fault?

I just don't see their logic in selling Sim Free phones, that people then have to commit to 12 month / 18 / 24 month contracts or minimum term PAYG contracts. It nullifies the logic of getting the phone sim free, if i am then committed to a network.

Is that flawed logic?

Yes it is. Because if Apple weren't sell unlocked iPhones, it's people like you that'll be crying "WHY APPLE WONT U GIVE US WHAT WE WANT!!!111one"
 
For those planning on getting their iPhone 4 direct from the operators next week, I popped into the Vodafone store and was told that they won't have a seperate batch of stock on the day.

IF all the stock is allocated through pre orders then that's it,
 
Anyone else noticed it says its available in Black or White on those Orange plans......?
 
seriously how many times, just cut the damn thing to size.

Like i said, i have no interest in cutting down to size. I want to port my number from one network to the next, the number is too vital to lose.

Let's wait and see, the networks will cut the accounts of sims used in iPhone 4, that are not iPhone mirco sims. Simple analytic tests will show this to them, then we can all moan about how unfair they are.

So seriously, how many times - the average user does not want to piss about cutting sims.
 
I am using the term to describe a deviation from the normal market route to one that can at best be described as unethical. As I am sure the people that lost out on ordering will agree. Still doesn't matter they can pay a higher price from the guy who got in before them. Shame he couldn't have grabbed 1000, he could have made a real killing.

Unethical is hyperbole. Using slave labour would be unethical, reselling phones at a higher price so that people who want it cheaper have to wait a few days is merely frustrating at the most.
 
Probably so, and I don't think very much of Alan Sugar as a particularly likeable human being either ;)

Well I've stated my opinion on the matter. People are entitled to re-sell as they wish, just don't go thinking those who missed out (unless they pay you some crazy premium) won't dislike you for it.

Me, I have one reserved. Just one.

me too, and for the record i agree with you. I didn't say it was fair, i just said it was the way things were, and a side effect of capitalism.
 
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