Orange UK getting iPhone 3G and 3GS "later this year"

Orange will look to add more value to their plans but unlikely that the cost will come down a huge amount. Price war may begin though if Voda tries to undercut Orange and O2 in new year.

Apple have been pretty firm with carriers on (not) branding the handsets, a stance I wish more manufacturers would take. The O2 iPhones aren't branded and AFAIK neither are AT&T.

Now Vodafone have announced that they're getting it early next year. So that's three networks carrying it in the UK, noble land of the mobile phone price war. It's going to get awesome, for people who want a cheap iPhone anyway.

I would not go back to Orange even if they paid me to have an iPhone and gave out free blow jobs.

They are worst than cr*p.

While O2 may not be the cheapest supplier, their coverage is (in my experience) a bit more consistent that Orange.

Having said that, competition is a good thing and it may shake O2 out of its complacency. I don't put any of the problems other users may have had with O2 down to devious practice, just inefficiency.

As an ex-Orange customer, I can advise potential switchers that they aren't much better. Mind you, you can get reduced entry to the movies with Orange....

This can't happen soon enough! O2 recently ripped me off royally for my 'web & wifi' bolt-on to the payg contract I'm on. I didn't top up enough to cover this in time due to being on holiday, and when I got back I found my entire credit had vanished. They had automatically rolled me onto a licensed-robbery "default" charge of £4 (c. $6.50) per meg whenever my phone checked email etc. meaning my credit vapourised in hours. To put this in context, it's about TWENTY TIMES what a competing network ("3") charges for ad-hoc web access. They won't let me have payg without the threat of this happening again. It's not the cash I object to, but the unscrupulous customer abuse. This was the second time in a few months my credit simply vanished (it was about 20 quid the time before, which they never explained, and refused to give me a detailed statement.) So I'm off to unlock my phone. Never again will I use 02 for their devious business practices.

What is the likelihood that Vodafone UK will also launch the iPhone in the UK this year?

Yeah, a bit of competition! Like when TUAW offers competitions to the UK-

Oh.

i hope orange provide better customer service. my iphone 3 gs suddenly started dropping mail prog. hardware says apple. either 5 days no phone or next day if you pay £30. ok we'll wave that but still need credit(not debit)card just in case? can o2 help ? no!!!!!!!!

Orange are the most expensive provider in England... I don't expect the price to change very much.