Filed under: iPhone
O2 announces iPhone 3G S pricing
OK, UK iPhone fans, O2 has released its iPhone 3G S pricing plans for monthly and Pay & Go customers. Depending on your plan, your 16GB or 32GB iPhone 3G S could be free (but you'll be paying a healthy monthly tab).The full details for monthly and Pay & Go plans are on O2's site, but here's the rundown:
The 16GB iPhone 3G S will cost you anywhere from £184.23 (about $300US) to £0 on an 18-month contract. If you are willing to sign a 24-month contract, you'll pay either £87.11 (about $141US) for the 16GB iPhone 3G S or get it for free.
The 32GB iPhone 3G S will range between £274.23 (~$444US) and £96.89 (~$158US) for an 18-month contract and £175.19 (~$283) and £0 for a 24-month contract. Contract prices range between £29.38 (~$48US) and £73.41 (~$120US) for 18-month terms and £34.26 (~$55US) and £73.41 (~$120US) for 24-month terms. All plans include unlimited UK data and WiFi.
UK Pay & Go customers can get the 16GB iPhone 3G S for £440.40 (~$715) and the 32GB iPhone 3G S for £538.30 (~$874). If you purchase an iPhone 3G S with Pay & Go, you'll get a year of unlimited web and Wi-Fi for free.
As in the US, your upgrade options will depend on when your contract is up, though the O2 site says that you can usually upgrade during the last month of your term.
So UK readers, will you be getting an iPhone 3G S on June 19th? Let us know in the comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Christian de Saint Preux said 3:45PM on 6-09-2009
Hope ATT follows suit.
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rohan narula said 3:47PM on 6-09-2009
its still to expensive compared to the competition. being a apple fan got macbooks, ipod touch, time capsule etc.
i went for a blackberry curve the price difference is quite a lot.
free blackberry for a good amount of minutes and texts £20 a monht
where as an iphone with the equivalent contract would costs £35 and £99.
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D. Toliver said 3:47PM on 6-09-2009
I'm in the US. I tell you, if I were across the pond, I'd have my eye set on the 24 month contract with the 16GB at £87.11 ($142US). 600 min, 500 messages, unlimited data and wifi… So much better than America's "Death Star."
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D. Toliver said 3:49PM on 6-09-2009
£87.11 for the iPhone. About $55US/month for the plan.
Cycomachead said 6:44PM on 6-09-2009
yeah, looks good. Let's see something:
1. cheaper phone than AT&T
2. cheaper plan
3. more minutes - I think AT&T is 500...
4. MMS sooner
5. I think 02 was on the tethering list.
"NO FAIIIIRRRRR"
rcopus said 3:50PM on 6-09-2009
No, it's a rip-off!
So are their tethering prices for that matter - talk about a smack in the face.
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collide007 said 10:02PM on 6-09-2009
To be fair, I thought the same, then I researched other carrier's dongle based solutions, what O2 are charging is on par.
Meridimus said 4:08AM on 6-10-2009
iPhone 3Gs isn't a proper update. It's just the same phone with a better CPU, memory, compass and camera.
It doesn't look any different, sure it has a slightly increased battery life but really it doesn't define itself as a new device — only an update. The iPhone 3.0 software is where all the changes are, and rightfully so! Those are things we should have always had and now they're finally here I'm not about to be burned on 3Gs contract charges — no way!
I was going to give my 3G to my little brother and that would have been another o2 customer since he'd have to move from Orange to o2. Alas, it was not meant to be!
rcopus said 4:12AM on 6-10-2009
Whilst this is true, the matter is they shouldn't be on par.
Many carriers are offering free dongles, laptops or lower prices when you have multiple services. So the fact we've already paid for the phone and monthly contract is nothing less than disgusting and pure profit.
glad said 7:16AM on 6-10-2009
I expected better pricing on the iphone 3GS so I wont be mnaking a purchase after my contract runs out in fact I might even switch carrier depending on what the deals are and get my iphone unlocked. If the prices get reduced by o2 i might reconsider but at the moment no.
KarlW said 11:37AM on 6-10-2009
@glad
Same here. I would have upgraded if they weren't so damn expensive. I think the 3GS is in line to be a major flop. It's biggest competition isn't the Pre, it's the iPhone 3G. Lots of people already own the 3G and upgrading is prohibitively expensive, so I don't see the 3GS shifting many units.
O2's tethering prices are also ridiculous. Maybe they are on par, but that just means all the prices are ridiculous. How can they claim to give you "unlimited data" and then sell you that same data again? It'd be like my ISP charging me extra because I have a router.
O2 used to be sort of fair - lowering prices and giving you more minutes to remain competitive. They should at least give us X Gb free tethered data. As ridiculous as it is to charge people extra for tethering, at least it wouldn't be as outrageous as it is now (£15 per month extra for 3Gb, 20p per Mb over that).
sockatume said 1:28PM on 6-10-2009
To put his comment in context, you need to know that the iPhone 3G now costs... exactly £4 less than it did before. The iPhone 3GS 16GB costs as much as the iPhone 3G 16GB did, and the iPhone 3GS 32GB is even more expensive than that.
So put it antoher way, in the US, the iPhone 3G has been repriced as "iPhone Lite", and the iPhone 3GS is the current hotness. Here, the aging iPhone 3G continues to soldier on at the same old price point, and the 3GS has been introduced at an "iPhone Pro" price.
Dave M said 3:52PM on 6-09-2009
I was planning on upgrading, but as my contract is not up for another 6 months it does not look likely as there is no reasonable method for current owners to upgrade.
I can live with this though as it's just what you have to put up with when you are on a contract for a subsidized handset.
What I can't accept though are the ridiculous rates O2 are going to charge for tethering. Criminal! It is practically more cost effective to buy a USB dongle on a monthly contract.
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glad said 12:45PM on 6-10-2009
I agree with Dave M, I have a mobile dongle 1GB per month via Virgin mobile cost me £5 per month and guess what I hardly use it. so there's no way I am paying £14.99 per month for something I don't really need. Anyway tethering will eat your Iphone battery. It seems that o2 are trying their best to claw back the money they spent on the original iPhone perhaps? I still think the new iphone 3GS will sell but not in the numbers they expect.
Uborz said 3:52PM on 6-09-2009
Well done, these were posted yesterday.
Nice to see us being ripped off at Apples stupid custom made exchange rate. Not that il be upgrading anyway. All the good stuff is in the free 3.0 software. Not fussed about the camera, i have always kept a digital camera with me longer then i have actually had a phone on contract.
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rcopus said 3:58PM on 6-09-2009
Well said!
Its not long since Apple increased the prices of laptops/desktops/routers etc in the UK claiming that the Pound was no longer as strong against the Dollar, even though they never reduced the prices when it was!!!
This happened on the same day they reduced prices in the US and they have even further again yesterday.
Currently the exchange rate is at the normal level and the prices still remain high - and they wonder why their market share is so low?!
Cardy said 3:54PM on 6-09-2009
I will be running down my current contract ( 6 months ) with o2, then buying a PAYG 3GS. This is the cheaper option long term, and means I won't be tied to o2.
This means I can get a new phone when I want one, not when o2 dictate to me.
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Shaun said 7:17PM on 6-09-2009
The PAYG iPhones are locked to O2.
You also can't tether the PAYG phones, not that you'd want to at the prices O2 charge.
collide007 said 10:11PM on 6-09-2009
You don't get Visual Voicemail or call merging either, so the reasons not to Jailbreak are gone, so it doesn't matter that they're locked to O2.
My contract also runs out in January, I read somewhere that if you don't get a new phone at the end of your contract, you get put on a 'rolling contract' meaning you can upgrade whenever. So I'm gonna wait till the 4th iteration the following June/July, might as well, if they're gonna make me wait 6 months, what are 6 months more?
graham barnes said 3:55PM on 6-09-2009
I surely won't be getting it, o2 are a joke and their business practise is very much worse they need to pull something out the bag for me as im considering going elsewhere.
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