iPhone 3G PAYG pricing and info

[voodooflux]

I know one or two of us on here are waiting for the 3G iPhone on PAYG. From Apple Insider...

O2 has removed one of the barriers to wider iPhone 3G adoption in Britain with news on Monday of when and how it will offer its Pay & Go prepaid service for Apple's cellphone.

The official pricing for the unsubsidized phones is now much higher than for the devices on contract and will require £350 ($631) for an 8GB iPhone 3G and £400 ($721) for the 16GB version.

The service itself expectedly drops the regular monthly subscription fees but offers a certain amount of benefits depending on the money put into the account each month. Paying between £10 and £14 ($18 to $25) each month nets a bonus 500 minutes of call time to any UK home phone or O2 cellphone; paying between £15 and £29 adds 1,000 minutes under the same terms, while £30 or more provides unlimited calls.

Unlimited Internet access within the UK, including 3G and O2 Wi-Fi, is free for the first year of service but will cost £10 per month afterwards. Text messages aren't included with the plan, however, and cost 10p each inside the UK. Calls past the prepaid amount cost 5p per minute.

O2 also cautions possible customers that the iPhone's signature Visual Voicemail and on-the-fly call merging also aren't available through the Pay & Go plan.

Prepaid phones will be available on September 16th from both O2 itself as well as Apple retail stores and Carphone Warehouse.

The move represents a significant scaling back from briefly revealed rates in June and steer customers towards O2's more profitable contract plans, which typically sell an 8GB iPhone for just £99 ($178) but make up for the subsidized price by requiring a minimum £30 per month for service over the next 18 months. More frequent users also receive the iPhone for free with some premium subscription plans.

Pay-as-you-go service is nonetheless widely seen as necessary for the UK, where prepaid devices are more popular for customers traveling to mainland Europe.

[ruth11]

Are they going to be available Sim Free and unlocked anywhere? (Or are they already?)
I saw the Samsung Omnia today and was really disappointed by the screen. I'm totally undecided now as to what's most important to me - function or quality.
Omnia has much better features, but the visual experience of the iPhone is sooo much better - and that helps with the GPS functions which I will be using...
Either way, i'll be buying Sim free, and that price above makes the iPhone cheaper than the Omnia....

[NickFitz]

Umm...

As I've so often mentioned on here, the whole point of the iPhone is the network services. Without those additional capabilities, I might as well carry on with whatever piece of junk it is that I picked up for as little as possible when my last phone was stolen.

If this turns out to be correct (and, of course, the cited article is not an authoritative source) then I shall be emailing Steve Jobs personally to explain that such a misunderstanding of the UK mobile phone market does his company a disservice.

And I mean that

[Ardesco]

I believe the PAYG ones come with unlimited data for the first 12 months as well.

[stingman123]

Originally Posted by ruth11

Are they going to be available Sim Free and unlocked anywhere? (Or are they already?)
I saw the Samsung Omnia today and was really disappointed by the screen. I'm totally undecided now as to what's most important to me - function or quality.
Omnia has much better features, but the visual experience of the iPhone is sooo much better - and that helps with the GPS functions which I will be using...
Either way, i'll be buying Sim free, and that price above makes the iPhone cheaper than the Omnia....

Good luck with using the iphone with 3G and GPS, a lot of my workmates jumped on the iphone bandwagon and cannot wait to jump off again. Many customers are suing Apple for the misleading ads on TV and they have now been pulled from TV altogether.

Also the "visual experience" is usually covered with fingerprints, not very visual at all....

[voodooflux]

Originally Posted by NickFitz

As I've so often mentioned on here, the whole point of the iPhone is the network services. Without those additional capabilities, I might as well carry on with whatever piece of junk it is that I picked up for as little as possible when my last phone was stolen.

That's not so much a deal breaker for me. Visual voicemail and call merging are nice features, but I think the iPhone platform has the potential to offer a lot more besides.

Originally Posted by NickFitz

If this turns out to be correct (and, of course, the cited article is not an authoritative source) then I shall be emailing Steve Jobs personally to explain that such a misunderstanding of the UK mobile phone market does his company a disservice.

The original article links directly to the O2 site where most of the details would appear to be confirmed.

[voodooflux]

Originally Posted by Ardesco

I believe the PAYG ones come with unlimited data for the first 12 months as well.

Yep, that's the "Unlimited Internet access" mentioned in the article. £10/month thereafter, which would come in very handy if "tethering" was permitted/possible.

[voodooflux]

Originally Posted by ruth11

I saw the Samsung Omnia today and was really disappointed by the screen.

I've been considering the Omnia as well - what did you find disappointing about the screen, was it the resolution?

[DaveB]

Originally Posted by ruth11

Are they going to be available Sim Free and unlocked anywhere? (Or are they already?)

No, nor are they likely to be any time soon in the UK. It was possible to unlock and jailbreak the original iPhone but it wont be happening in a hurry on the new version.

Saying that, you can legally buy unlocked, sim free phones in France and New Zealand and possibly Holland but I'm not sure about that last one.

[ruth11]

Originally Posted by voodooflux

I've been considering the Omnia as well - what did you find disappointing about the screen, was it the resolution?

Screen res is woeful, it also seemed very dull - like looking through smoke compared to the iPhone screen. And the dodgy puce colour theme it comes out of the box with is just horrible! (I know you can change that, but first impressions are important...)

I think I'm going to find one sim free where I can return it in 7 days after playing with it for a bit if don't like it. Then I can give it a decent go before making the final decision. I think it's feature set deserves more than a 5 minute play in the shop before discounting it.

I'd have to take out a 3rd contract (already got one personal and one business phone) to have the iPhone now as I've just renewed my 3 contract (was going to port over to O2) after my 14 day play with the iPhone a few weeks ago. Admittedly I did renew at a silly rate and so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to, but I want to keep my number somehow.