Filed under: iPhone
O2 offers free iPhone 3G with some plans
It looks like our friends across the pond (as pretentious bloggers say) are getting a pretty good deal on the iPhone 3G. O2 released their iPhone 3G service information last night, and here are some highlights:
- For a monthly service fee, or tariff, of £45 you get a free 8 gig iPhone, or the 16 gig version for £59.
- For £75 a month you get either an 8 gig or 16 gig iPhone 3G for free (I'd go with the 16 gig model myself).
- For a monthly fee of £30 or £35 the 8 gig iPhone 3G will cost you £99 while the 16 gig will go for £159.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
miketomasello said 9:37AM on 6-10-2008
How is it known UK buyers will be able to buy on-line? A friend told me this morning that we would have to go to the stores. Perhaps he was getting confused with AT&T (or just makin' stuff up!), but I'd like to be reassured. I loved home activation.
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Paul Lloyd Johnson said 9:46AM on 6-10-2008
We know because 02 is a little more forthcoming with information than AT&T is. Go and look on their website.
P said 10:04AM on 6-10-2008
Where on the O2 website does it say that? I can't see it anywhere.
If you can buy the phone for £99 and not have to take out the contract, that would be almost unbelievably good...!
Mike said 10:12AM on 6-10-2008
It says it under 'Where to Buy?' on the 'New to O2' tab. I'm not sure whether this means there is still home activation or if it is pre-activated by O2 somehow?
Brian said 1:27PM on 6-10-2008
Buy from o2 which means either contract or pay as you go. No mention just yet of availability in Apple stores so I am guessing that even web orders will require some online activation before you get the phone.
bryon brock said 3:51PM on 8-13-2008
Anyone can get a free iPhone not just the europeans it's all explained here http://www.iphone-hacks.com/free-iphone.php
Paul said 9:45AM on 6-10-2008
It's a great deal for new users or users who have had their 8GB iPhone for a while. But I upgraded to the 16GB model only a few months ago and it looks like O2 are going to force me to pay full price AND hand back my 16GB iPhone (which cost me £329)AND extended my existing 18 month contract......Which is a rough deal I feel.....I think I'll be trying to buy mine off eBay unless they change how new phone are activated against existing accounts!
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Adam said 9:53AM on 6-10-2008
o2 have an upgrade path for the 8gb, and depending on your plan, it could be free to upgrade, plus you keep your existing phone, not sure about the 16gb, but going to ask in the o2 store in manchester on my lunch :)
tukan said 10:09AM on 6-10-2008
huh? it's almost certain (based on the website) that you will be able to upgrade your 16GB for £159 or £59 (which hardly is "full price") and nobody said anything about handing back your old device! also, replacing your contract for another 18 months seems only fair, considering you just got a brand new subsidized phone :)
what did you expect? free iPhone and a pat on the back?
donnacha said 10:27AM on 6-10-2008
No, you won't have to hand them your 16GB - you should read their site, it is all very simple.
You essentially get to restart your 18 month contract, swap your existing number to a 3G iPhone and you are free to sell or give your old iPhone to someone else.
Whoever gets your old iPhone can either:
1. Unlock it for home-brew apps - the 3G iPhones are expected to be unlockable for at least the first couple of months and, of course, it will be impossible to get the new, subsidized prices without signing up to a contract, defeating the purpose of unlocking for most people. In fact, the lack of that strong financial will remove a lot of the momentum from the search for an unlock, possibly delaying it for several more months. A first-gen 16GB iPhone will remain the best option for anyone with an interest in home-brew or pirated apps
2. Export - for any of the 125 countries in which the iPhone will not be available this year, the first-gen will remain their only option until the 3G is unlocked.
3. Sign up to any of O2's iPhone packages, including the new Pay and Go, bring-your-own-iphone tariff which does not include an iPhone but will include all the special iPhone features such as visual voice-mail and SMS. This means that second-hand first-gen iPhones will be perfect for people who don't want to get tied to an 18-month contract.
4. Use it as an iPod Touch - don't forget the 16Gb Touch costs £269!
I have a 16GB too and reckon the extra £60 I paid was a good decision because, in terms of second-hand values, the first-gen 16GB will be considered the gold-standard - 8GB is practically useless if you download videos from the BBC iPlayer or intend to have a lot of apps.
matthew.comp said 9:54AM on 6-10-2008
Well, I might actually buy one if they're going to have Pay as you go, I don't use mobiles enough to make a monthly fee worthwhile.
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donnacha said 10:52AM on 6-10-2008
It is highly unlikely that you will be able to buy a 3G iPhone as a PAYG and, if you are, you certainly will not get those highly subsidized prices.
PAYG IS INTENDED FOR OLD IPHONES.
The PAYG option is a gutsy move by O2, aimed at mopping up 250,000 extra customers. It decisively answers the question "what do I do with my old iPhone", making the decision to upgrade a no-brainer; we all know someone who would like to own an iPhone but can't afford to get tied to an 18-month contract.
Ensuring that all those old iPhones remain out there, visible on the streets this summer, will increase the perception that "everyone" is getting an iPhone and add further momentum to sales. By Christmas, O2 will have pretty much wrapped up the entire market.
PAYG is not, however, intended to be an option for customers, requiring a new, 3G iPhone - if you want one of those, O2 want you on a contract. In the US, the carrier is not offering any PAYG options at all, so, we should be happy that O2 is and propping up the second-hand value of our old iPhones.
matthew.comp said 11:04AM on 6-10-2008
Oh, I don't care if it's 3G or not, if I'm getting pay as you go I won't be browsing the internet using a mobile network, only with wifi, I'd really only use the mobile network for calls and texts.
tukan said 11:10AM on 6-10-2008
@donnacha - wow, that is highly specific news especially considering it's not based on any source - I mean o2 website is pretty obvious that it's the new iPhone is coming to PAYG (not old one, which they don't even have anymore), so if you could share your sources (other than yourself) it'd be lovely
donnacha said 11:34AM on 6-10-2008
@tukan - If you take a few minutes to read the O2 site, you'll see that they specifically mention the PAYG option in the "Don't need 2 iPhones!" paragraph of the Existing iPhone Owners page.
If you think they are going to hand out £100 iPhones to people without a contract, you are on crack. The whole point of forcing people to sign up in the store (rather than at home, via iTunes, as before) is that the low price is based upon a subsidy.
You can check Wikipedia for more info on how the mobile phone industry works.
tukan said 11:55AM on 6-10-2008
@donnacha - OK, I have missed that bit (cause I'm not an existing iPhone owner I guess ;), but the only thing that it proves for sure is that indeed you will be able to re-use your old iPhone as a PAYG phone
I think that if this was the ONLY option to get PAYG on the evice, they wouldn't be so jolly proud about it and put stuff like "all the great features of iPhone without a monthly contract with the iPhone for Pay & Go" and "what you need to do to be one of the first to get your hands on the new 3G iPhone." next to each other :)
Now, I don't expect them to subsidise the PAYG iPhones fully (in fact, I guess that they'll be available at 2G prices, otherwise they're cutting into Touch territory), but knowing how mobile industry works, they'll want to boost the sales as high as possible (esp that they haven't been stellar in UK so far)...
matthew.comp said 9:54AM on 6-10-2008
Woops. Plus, offering it free if you take a monthly plan brings the iPhone into line with pretty much every other phone on the market, which you can get free with a plan.
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Matthew Dearden said 9:56AM on 6-10-2008
i have had an iphone since the release date in UK, if i cant upgrade , considering the lame overpriced 18 month contract i signed up to at the start, i will be a tad annoyed.
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John Russell said 10:01AM on 6-10-2008
This post reminds me of how much I miss Nik Fletcher.
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Adam said 10:05AM on 6-10-2008
Problem is, its not so sweet a deal as they make out
In this country (the UK), on a £30/month deal, we expect
a) Free phone
b) Unlimited (or stupidly high number) of texts
c) Huge number of minutes
ok, the lack of a) I'm going to ignore, since it has the iPod feature, so saves on the iPod
But, 75mins and 125 texts for that amount of money is a complete rip-off in the UK
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