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Uk O2 upgrade not allowed

A

arambol

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 27, 2009
30
0
Hi guys,

My girlfriend went into o2 yesterday with her 9 month old 1st gen iPhone. She wants to upgrade to a 3G, however the assistant told us that o2 only allowed upgrades to the new iPhone for a few months after it's release and now she has to wait until her existing contract expires in another 9 months to be eligible for an upgrade.

Is this correct?

Also seems unfair as when she tried to upgrade when the 3G came out they had all sold out anyway.

Appreciate any suggestions.
 
I don't know if that's correct or not but it's worrying if so - as and when the next iPhone is released I'd certainly like the option of upgrading to it if I decide it's a decent improvement.
 
Isn't it standard that an upgrade is only allowed after 18 months on contract? Has been that way for me with O2 before the iPhone, so I don't see why it would be different this time.

O2's website:
Upgrading your mobile

You can upgrade online if you're a Pay Monthly customer in the last month of your contract. You can choose from a selection of handsets, or if you're happy with your existing handset, choose one of our simplicity tariffs or get a £100 credit to your bill.
Click to expand...

Since the early iPhone offer expired in October 2008 I think iPhone contracts are treated as any other phone upgrade.
 
I know that when the 3G phone came out I was given an option to upgrade to it from my 2G iPhone. This was before I came out of contract with my previous phone and required me to sign up to a new 18 month contract. I beleive most people were offered this option by O2 at the time. I certainly got an email offering me the upgrade.

I have no idea if they have changed this policy now however and the O2 Website would be the place to go I'd suggest. It may have been that when the new phone came out they were encouraging people to switch, but now have sufficient customer base that they do not have to do so any longer.
 
Yes, it seems that she needs to let the 18 month contract run out until she can upgrade. She did try and upgrade when it was offered when the 3G came out but o2 had no stock so they said she'd have to wait. She waited and now they've changed their upgrade offer.

She actually bought the 1st gen iPhone outright. £300 odd or thereabouts and then took out the £35 month contract so it's not like the phone was subsidised.

Seems a bit unfair to me.
 
arambol said:
Yes, it seems that she needs to let the 18 month contract run out until she can upgrade. She did try and upgrade when it was offered when the 3G came out but o2 had no stock so they said she'd have to wait. She waited and now they've changed their upgrade offer.

She actually bought the 1st gen iPhone outright. £300 odd or thereabouts and then took out the £35 month contract so it's not like the phone was subsidised.

Seems a bit unfair to me.
Click to expand...

It may seem unfair, but O2 were very clear about the upgrade options on their website where they always said it was a limited offer until October
 
sunfast said:
I don't know if that's correct or not but it's worrying if so - as and when the next iPhone is released I'd certainly like the option of upgrading to it if I decide it's a decent improvement.
Click to expand...

The iPhone 3G is subsidised so don't expect O2 to let you upgrade to the next iPhone without paying any penalty fees.

There may be a special upgrade available but you don't see this with other makes of phones. You can't break your contract for a N95 on O2 just because Nokia have released the N96.
 
O2 only allowed existing 2G owners to upgrade to 3g without a contract penalty until October 2008. If you missed the 4 month window you have to wait until the full 18th months up before you could attempt an upgrade again.

I got both txt's and emails from O2 themselves telling me about this.
 
arambol said:
Yes, it seems that she needs to let the 18 month contract run out until she can upgrade. She did try and upgrade when it was offered when the 3G came out but o2 had no stock so they said she'd have to wait. She waited and now they've changed their upgrade offer.

She actually bought the 1st gen iPhone outright. £300 odd or thereabouts and then took out the £35 month contract so it's not like the phone was subsidised.

Seems a bit unfair to me.
Click to expand...

I don't think they meant wait 6 months for more stock ;)
If she had taken the upgrade offer at the time she'd have had to sign up for another 18 month contract by the way.

To be honest I wouldn't bother upgrading to the 3G at this point - better to wait for the next iPhone release which is likely to be before summer. O2's 3G coverage is very patchy - I've had colleagues go back to using the iPhone 2G as they've found it more reliable for calls.
 
As far as I know (I can be criticised) but 02 don't do any discounts etc until your 11th month has past.

It may be worthwhile calling back in your 12th month (just to be sure) and ask them to apply some sort of discount on or give you an upgrade.

02 are doing reconditioned iPhone 3G phones, they may give you one of them for a small fee.
 
sparkyms said:
where are they doing the reconditioned 3G phones?
Click to expand...

I was speaking to 02 sales via phone yesterday and they told me they are doing them although they are out of stock at the moment... they are expecting more to be delivered this week... so they told me to keep checking back. Although, I went ahead and purchased a new one.
 
OllyW said:
The iPhone 3G is subsidised so don't expect O2 to let you upgrade to the next iPhone without paying any penalty fees.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'd fully expect to pay a penalty fee to do so (as with any other upgrade) - I just thought there might be no upgrade of any type available
 
arambol said:
Yes, it seems that she needs to let the 18 month contract run out until she can upgrade. She did try and upgrade when it was offered when the 3G came out but o2 had no stock so they said she'd have to wait. She waited and now they've changed their upgrade offer.

She actually bought the 1st gen iPhone outright. £300 odd or thereabouts and then took out the £35 month contract so it's not like the phone was subsidised.

Seems a bit unfair to me.
Click to expand...


to be fair they never changed their upgrade offer, it was always stated that the upgrade was only available until October '08.

hopefully you'll get the upgrade when the next one is out!
 
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