Britain gets awesome iPhone pay-as-you-go deal
British carrier O2 plans to sell iPhones unsubsidized (about $620 for the 8GB model and $710 for the 16GB model) and in return, buyers get unlimited data on a no-contract £10 monthly plan. The minimum voice top up is 500 minutes a month, but even that costs only another £10 a month (for a total monthly outlay of about $40).
Getting cheap service without a contract is priceless, but more practically, my back-of-the-brain TCO calculation suggests a saving of a couple of hundred bucks over the two years (at least compared to AT&T's plans) even with that hefty up-front hardware hit. Here's the details:
Pay & Go customers can now enjoy the iPhone 3G without a monthly contract. The new iPhone 3G 8GB for Pay & Go will be available for £349.99 and the 16GB version for £399.99.This also includes unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months after you activate your iPhone 3G*. At the end of the 12 months you can continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for just £10 per month. We'll notify you before the end of the 12 month period by text and you can easily unsubscribe if you choose to do
Minimum top-up each month: £10, 500 mins to any UK landline or O2 mobile from a registered postcode; £15, 1000 mins; £30, unlimited. Standard calls made in the UK outside of your allowance cost from 5p per minute and UK text messages cost 10p each
Bastards.
Pay & Go plan for iPhone [o2 via Gadget Lab]
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Comparison of UK packages over 18 months:
8GB iPhone on £30 a month contract (75mins+125sms)
£100 + 18 x £30 = £640
8GB iPhone on £35 a month contract (600mins+500sms)
£100 + 18 x £35 = £730
8Gb iPhone on Pay as you go (500mins+0sms*)
£350 + 18 x £10 = £470 + 6 x £10** = £710
*Other plans available where you can choose from inclusive text messages, calls abroad, etc. But not a mix.
**unlimited data and wireless after free period
Unless you are bothered by the 18 month contract it isn't that good a deal. Especially considering you will end up either paying for calls or paying for text messages.
No, compared to the contract you really don't save much. But damn, that's less a month than I'm paying for 300 mix and match and 1G data on Three. And I have the POS Amoi Skypephone.
Good, but far from the great PAYG deal as most rehash-the-press-release-without-checking-a-few-facts-first websites would have you believe:
"O2's Favourite Place tariff is valid only for calls made from a registered postcode. So, to benefit from the 500 included minutes, you'd have to make the calls while in the vicinity of your registered postcode (your 'Favourite Place'). Step outside that postcode and calls will begin to be levied on O2's Talkalot tariff (which start at 25p/min for standard calls). That's why you might end up topping up £10-14/month, because your 500 mins are only useful when you're in your Favourite Place."
http://tinyurl.com/65rq5p
Thanks for the adds, chaps. I should definitely have pointed out that this is only really a good deal for people who don't make too many outgoing calls.
lust
Yeah I'm not sure this is that good a deal either. I'm contemplating getting an iPhone in the UK soon and I still think I'd go for the £45 a month option which buys you the 16gb model for £60, then dropping the tariff to £35 a month after 9 months. It all seems rosey until you consider the terrible PAYG plans O2 have on offer, which as noted above would have you topping up by a lot should you actually want to, you know, make calls when you're travelling around or something.
What kind of 'mobile' tariff chains you down to one specific postcode? What clever clogs came up with that brainwave?
What kind of pay as you go mobile requires you to top up £10 a month?? When I had one you only had to make a call at least once every 30 days to stay connected.
The whole unlimited data thing doesn't really work very well with pay as you go, I feel.
is it me, or is the math in the first comment off just a wee bit?
I'd be content if AT&T here in the States offered a data-only plan with pay-per-minute talk time. I don't even use remotely near 450 minutes of talk time on my land line *or* my cell phone a month, but I do a lot of IMing and e-mailing.