Might consider 3 but get £5 off my O2 home broadband and like visual voicemail. Also get money off with O2 through my employer.
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Which UK Provider to go with (4G)
- Thread starter Macaroooon
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Might consider 3 but get £5 off my O2 home broadband and like visual voicemail. Also get money off with O2 through my employer.
I have probably the cheapest samsung you can buy, I'm only using it as a spare until I get the iphone, as I loathe texting on it.
If I waited a year though, surely I could perhaps get a 12 month sim only contract with say, gifgif/ tesco now, and in a year get one with a network that supports 4G, when they've fleshed out a bit.
It is - my point was that you won't get the Sim-only offers, as I understand it.
You can do, but you'll have to put up the money upfront to pay for one now, then either sell it (iPhones have very good resale value) and buy SIM free again or get a contract next year.
If you're happy to wait, then that would be a good way to go, yes.
I'm still weighing up whether to go with the 5 or not. May well do if it means having DC-HSDPA
(SOrry to ask all this)
Why would I have to sell it? It would be sim free as it is?
And, couldn't you be on a Sim Only Contract with a 4G compatible provider to use 4G?
Ah sorry , thought you meant putting off the purchase. If you get the 5 now, you would still be limited to the 4G systems that it supports. May still be limited in 1 year's time.
Hmm, weight up your options. I use PAYG and that more than suffices my needs. £15 pm.
How do you mean? Do you mean in a years time a new iPhone may be out which supports a better 4G? Or that if I buy an iPhone 5 in a year changes will have been made to it?
Next year, the next iPhone may support a large variety of LTE networks i.e spectra.
I see, problem is, I'm really routing to get one now, but this has stirred up a load of confusion with me, as now I'm not sure which to get and whether to wait.
Hmm.
But wouldn't this iPhone, eventually support more LTE networks? If not, why?
There are different frequencies that the networks use, and the iPhone 5 only supports some of these. The frequencies that Vodafone and O2 can bid on next year are not those that are supported by the iPhone 5. So only EE and 3 will be able to support the iPhone 5 even when other networks launch 4G.
O2 and Vodafone will probably get Apple to support the frequencies they need for the iPhone 6.
I don't think we will see everybody on 4G until the next iPhone. I'm on Vodafone and it looks certain. We won't see an Improved 4G till the next iPhone.
Does LTE really mean that much to you? It's great to have but how much would you notice it? I for one would love to have it but just having 3G will do as my main usage comes on wifi.
Orange and T-Mobile are rolling it out as well, it's only Vodafone that doesn't have any published plans for DC HSDPA so far!
I'm pretty sure Orange were mentioned in the keynote when talking about DC HSDPA?
That's the likelihood yes. The current 4G chip in the iPhone5 only has support for 3 bands of wavelength. They are, I recall, looking at one that supports up to 7. I heard from someone that they reckoned that Apple could activate additional support in the iPhone5 at a later date. I think this is wishful thinking.
As I say though, my expectation is that even if the current model doesn't support future 4G, that won't come on O2 (therefore also Tesco and giffgaff who use O2's network) until at least late 2013.
Ah, I see.
So, if I was on a contract/ Sim Only Contract with Three, could I use the Iphone 5's 4G?>
So, if I was on a contract/ Sim Only Contract with Three, could I use the Iphone 5's 4G?>
I don't think it does, to be honest, but it's one of the things that's making me choose the 5 over the 4S (saying that I don't know much about all the ins and outs)
Does LTE basically mean, you can go on the internet without using your Contracted, for example, 500mb of data?
Does LTE basically mean, you can go on the internet without using your Contracted, for example, 500mb of data?
I agree that 4G is possibly a red herring in the UK for another 12 months.
EE are supported but their implementation is on the slow side of 4G (as I understand it, happy to be corrected).
Three and O2 - and maybe others- are implementing 3G+ as a stopgap measure. This could easily be faster than EE's 4G
My only concern is the re-sale value of the iPhone 5 in a year's time if seen by some to be obsolete.
EE are supported but their implementation is on the slow side of 4G (as I understand it, happy to be corrected).
Three and O2 - and maybe others- are implementing 3G+ as a stopgap measure. This could easily be faster than EE's 4G
My only concern is the re-sale value of the iPhone 5 in a year's time if seen by some to be obsolete.
Apparently not everyone's 4G networks will use the same network bands, so they will be incompatible with each other unless a phone specifically supports all of the different bands, which the iPhone doesnt.
No you would still expect to have a data cap and would probably pay more and be locked into a contract with EE
Seems like buying a 5/Sim-only on Three gives you the best options. You get faster 3G or 4G and are not tied in.
Thank you all
Nice to be on a thread where people are generally in agreement and not trolling for a change!