You're missing the fact that you still need to buy a new iPhone4. The £220 just gets you out of your current contract - it does not get you a new phone.
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The U.K. iPhone 4 Thread
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You're missing the fact that you still need to buy a new iPhone4. The £220 just gets you out of your current contract - it does not get you a new phone.
Ask for you stuff to be ported over to the microsim. It's a lot less hassle if you accidentally cut your chip inappripriately.
I agree with your payandgo philosophy - having a locked in contract is so 1984
if your current sim is an o2 sim then it will work 100%
if it is with a different provider (tmobile?) then you will need to unlock it, unless tmobile offer the iphone on payandgo and you buy it from them.
Thanks for the quick responses 
I actually never knew you could do that. I'll probably ask them to do that on release day then. Are they obliged to do it (for free?) since it's a new sim n'all?
I'll end up keeping my Sim to use in my current phone for when i'm at the beach and the like... am I hell taking a brand new iPhone sunbathing.
EDIT: Should have probably mentioned that i'm on o2 and look to be staying with them. Have had zero problems with them, although ive never used their 3G network. But they seem to have a lot of coverage in my area.
I actually never knew you could do that. I'll probably ask them to do that on release day then. Are they obliged to do it (for free?) since it's a new sim n'all?
I'll end up keeping my Sim to use in my current phone for when i'm at the beach and the like... am I hell taking a brand new iPhone sunbathing.
EDIT: Should have probably mentioned that i'm on o2 and look to be staying with them. Have had zero problems with them, although ive never used their 3G network. But they seem to have a lot of coverage in my area.
O2 didn't offer the option to unlock straight away when the 3GS was launched. It was a good few months after I seem to recall. I don't know what will happen this time. We are all in the dark still.
Thanks for the quick response
I actually never knew you could do that. I'll probably ask them to do that on release day then. Are they obliged to do it (for free?) since it's a new sim n'all?
I'll end up keeping my Sim to use in my current phone for when i'm at the beach and the like... am I hell taking a brand new iPhone sunbathing.
their not obliged to do the transfer to a new sim, if your specific tarriff is no longer available they may not be able to do it, or they may want/try/have to make you take a new payandgo tariff, if they do then just say no and you can just cut your sim card down. but it should be free
if they do transfer your old tariff to a new sim your old sim wouldnt work as it will have been transfered to the new sim, like if you lost it and got a replacement if someone found it they couldnt use it.
that was because o2 still have exclusivity when the 3GS was released, but when they lost that they then started unlocking it (that was even their reason for providing the unlock), we can safely assume that because there is no exclusivity now that there should be unlocks provided.
Ahhhh, I see. Makes sense. Might mean i'll need to have two numbers now... I really want to take care of this phone, it'll be the first time i'll have owned an iPhone although I do have a 1st Gen iPod Touch.
So if they do not have the Tariff anymore, I am totally okay just cutting my own Sim card down to size and using that, then nothing has changed, besides the phone itself?
Did you read the terms? The phone isn't free, you still have to pay for it - the £20 per month is just to buy you out of your current contract. Also, there's no guarantee that they will allow the same thing next year, they didn't allow ppl to upgrade from the 3G to 3GS early.
yep, you would just have to find out the generic APN settings and input them into the new iphone so you can use data and mms, they should be the same as your phone is using now and you should be able to find them in you phones settings somewhere or something like this or this, depends on what your tariff needs but as I said it should be in your phones settings somewhere.
Ok, according to my calculations it works out better for me if I buy the payg iPhone. It assumes iPhone prices are same as 3GS.
Early upgrade - £240 to pay off contract + £179 for iPhone + £30 x 18 months = £959
Payg - £440 for iPhone + £30 x 12 months until end of current contract = £800
Of course I'll be selling my iPhone 3GS.
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, or if I've missed something.
Early upgrade - £240 to pay off contract + £179 for iPhone + £30 x 18 months = £959
Payg - £440 for iPhone + £30 x 12 months until end of current contract = £800
Of course I'll be selling my iPhone 3GS.
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, or if I've missed something.
though not 'wrong' it's probably a little misleading to compare a 12 month and an 18 month contract. assuming you stayed on a £30 tariff, you should technically be adding on 6 x £30 = £180 onto the PAYG total.
but then again...in my case the option of having just a 12 month contract is worth the difference given that come next june, i'll just do what I did this time around and sell my iPhone (~£300) to buy the new one. you end up with a system where you invest around £150 each year in a new phone and just keep a steady simplicity contract going (unless apple changes their product update schedule of course).
yeh I read the terms.
I take a 24 month contract @ £45 a month which makes the phone free.
Last year they still had exclusivity and had little reason to make offers to retain their customers. now that they have competition it is more than reasonable to expect there to be some offer each time.
Well, your current phone was "free" - to get a new one (assuming the same terms apply) you'd be paying the £20 per month to get out of your current contract *and also* signing up to another 24 months @ £45 per month. It depends what your definition of "free" is, I suppose!
I think you will be able to pre-order the PAYGO handsets yes. Contract probably not.
One thing I don't quite understand is why is the iPhone any different to any other kind of phone which almost demands such an offer even exist every time a new iPhone comes out and why do people think they 'deserve' an offer in the first place?
You see new phones coming out all the time from Sony, Samsung and no one kicks up a fuss because they are in a contract and cannot get the latest and greatest gadget and they accept that.
I think regardless of how O2 have done the special offer the fact they have done it and let customers get out of a contract early in my eyes is incredibly generous they could of just said you have to pay all the line rental remaining instead of the £20 a month offer.
This will probably set precedence now with the other networks as Vodafone and also Orange will be feeling the pressure now because of what O2 has started.
So for anyone complaining about O2's generous offer just be grateful you have a way to get out.
By the way I am not trolling just voicing my thoughts and I am also eagerly awaiting the contract pricing as well
You see new phones coming out all the time from Sony, Samsung and no one kicks up a fuss because they are in a contract and cannot get the latest and greatest gadget and they accept that.
I think regardless of how O2 have done the special offer the fact they have done it and let customers get out of a contract early in my eyes is incredibly generous they could of just said you have to pay all the line rental remaining instead of the £20 a month offer.
This will probably set precedence now with the other networks as Vodafone and also Orange will be feeling the pressure now because of what O2 has started.
So for anyone complaining about O2's generous offer just be grateful you have a way to get out.
By the way I am not trolling just voicing my thoughts and I am also eagerly awaiting the contract pricing as well
One thing I don't quite understand is why is the iPhone any different to any other kind of phone which almost demands such an offer even exist every time a new iPhone comes out and why do people think they 'deserve' an offer in the first place?
You see new phones coming out all the time from Sony, Samsung and no one kicks up a fuss because they are in a contract and cannot get the latest and greatest gadget and they accept that.
I think regardless of how O2 have done the special offer the fact they have done it and let customers get out of a contract early in my eyes is incredibly generous they could of just said you have to pay all the line rental remaining instead of the £20 a month offer.
This will probably set precedence now with the other networks as Vodafone and also Orange will be feeling the pressure now because of what O2 has started.
So for anyone complaining about O2's generous offer just be grateful you have a way to get out.
By the way I am not trolling just voicing my thoughts and I am also eagerly awaiting the contract pricing as well
Correct me If I'm wrong but most phones like that are available on a 12 month contract. Maybe not from O2 but other providers I'm pretty sure of it.
O2 could stop all this if they just offered a 12 month contract. Hell most people would be happy to pay say £5 a month more for the luxury of that!
@stiss
If there is it would be the most basic phone ever on 12 month contracts (well for me anyway as I am a gadget snob!) I think even 18 month contracts are going the way of the dinosaur and soon they will be pushing 24 month contracts only.
I think Tesco do a 12 month one but the cost of the phone is pretty expensive when compared to pay as you go + simplicity.
That would certainly make things a lot easier when it comes to upgrade time but with the prices of phones going up every year and customers demanding more and more features means something has to give.
I am certain that an iPhone 4 on a 12 month contract would cost more than an extra £5.00 a month but if any network offered that then they would make a killing!
If there is it would be the most basic phone ever on 12 month contracts (well for me anyway as I am a gadget snob!) I think even 18 month contracts are going the way of the dinosaur and soon they will be pushing 24 month contracts only.
I think Tesco do a 12 month one but the cost of the phone is pretty expensive when compared to pay as you go + simplicity.
That would certainly make things a lot easier when it comes to upgrade time but with the prices of phones going up every year and customers demanding more and more features means something has to give.
I am certain that an iPhone 4 on a 12 month contract would cost more than an extra £5.00 a month but if any network offered that then they would make a killing!
@stiss, I doubt an extra £5 a month would pay for how much the carrier subsidises the contract phones. It's only an extra £60 over the course of 12 months.
Does anyone know how much notice you need to give 02 to cancel a current contract that has run out? Their site says new users get the exact same discount as upgrading users so there is no incentive for me to stay on with them. I'm about 21 months into an 18 month £35 per month iphone 3g contract and if they aren't going to do me a deal, I was going to cancel today so I can pre-order with whoever I want and probably payg on tuesday. I don' use many minutes or too many texts (get 600 mins + 600 texts, never use more than 50 mins + 200-300 texts) so reckon if I get payg I will barely have to top up and 02 did free data for a year on payg last time.
Does anyone know how much notice you need to give 02 to cancel a current contract that has run out? Their site says new users get the exact same discount as upgrading users so there is no incentive for me to stay on with them. I'm about 21 months into an 18 month £35 per month iphone 3g contract and if they aren't going to do me a deal, I was going to cancel today so I can pre-order with whoever I want and probably payg on tuesday. I don' use many minutes or too many texts (get 600 mins + 600 texts, never use more than 50 mins + 200-300 texts) so reckon if I get payg I will barely have to top up and 02 did free data for a year on payg last time.
If I was O2 though I'd do it in the faith that next year that customers is going to come right back and buy the next iPhone on another contract.
Ok maybe £5 was a little less but It was just a figure I pulled out of the air. There are other ways to do it, make the user pay more for the handset like Tesco. But I'm sure a 12 month contract is something most Apple fans would kill for.
Paddy if your 21 months in to a 18 month contract you are out of contract and could upgrade naturally.
Do you mean your 12 months in? You may as well just pay the £20 a month. Usually to buy yourself out it's your monthly bill X the amount of months left.
Tesco did a 12 month iphone contract for a bit and it looked really good but you had to pay almost as much for the phone as payg. Even if a carrier worked it out so they got the exact same profit from 2x12 month contracts with a new iphone in the middle as 1x24 month contract with no new iphone, with the 2 year contract, that's 2 years the customer is locked in and can't go with a competitor. That's why I'm going to go payg or 12 month simplicity, I'm bored with long contracts and just going to treat this iphone like a new computer, expensive to buy but less of a monthly pay out.
The iPhone is a bit of a special case. It appears that there is an update every year and the followers like to get the latest model as it comes out. O2 know this now, so why don't they offer a 12 month contract and up the price of the initial purchase and increase the rental a little to compensate. They are either stupid of very shrewd and know that a lot will buy out and sign up again. They pissed me off last year with the 3GS so I vowed no more contracts with O2. Their loss. I will go PAYG again this year in the knowledge this time next year I am not under their thumb hoping for a so called "generous" offer.
I am looking at surprising my girlfriend by buying her a 3GS or a 4 if the price is right but to do that I will have to open up 2 contracts and move my number from sim only to an 18 month one or possibly even 24 months.
Hope Orange can do me a good deal if I get out 2 contracts in one go.
Hope Orange can do me a good deal if I get out 2 contracts in one go.