[Matt_C]

Right, still want an iPhone, been testing things out on one today in the CPW (nice guy in there asked if I wanted some help so I just said straight - no I want to play with it for a hour or so! He said no worries, it's a slow day! )

So, my problem is this;

I am on a T-Mobile contract, and tied in untill Jan 2010. Buy out fee is £355

I don't want to leave T-Mobile, my contract is good and I've been with them 8yrs and happy with everything (other than not being able to get an iPhone with them )

I also don't really want to go to o2 (several friends and family are on o2 and most don't think much of the coverage or cust service)

Lastly, I don't want two contracts running side by side - I can't really afford, and certainly can't justify having two contracts running, even at £15 p/m for t-mob + £35 p/m for o2 = £50 p/m....

And lastly LASTLY - I want to keep my mobile number, and not have to change it, which I can't do without buying out my T-Mob contract...

So I am stuck!

As I see it I have three choices;

1) Buy second hand 2G iphone, unlock it and run on T-Mob, and lose 3G data speed and GPS - cost, £200ish?

2) Buy a new (UK) 3G iPhone from CPW, and get 12mths unlimited 3G data and Wifi for free (if the salesman is to be belived) without ever having to top up credit untill next year. Cost, £350, plus running my T-Mob phone to make and recieve calls

3) Import a 3G iphone from italy, apple unlocked, and just use with T-Mob sim, but at a great cost of probably £500, possibly more!

Option 1 is the easiest and cheapest, but means I get a "second rate" iPhone.
Option 2 is cheapest for a 3G, but means carrying two phones around for a year and hoping the iPhone Dev Team crack the 3G unlock within the next 12mths.
Option 3 is the most expensive, but I end up with a 3G phone on T-Mob.

AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!

I feel like this!

[asimm]

Originally Posted by Matt_C

Right, still want an iPhone, been testing things out on one today in the CPW (nice guy in there asked if I wanted some help so I just said straight - no I want to play with it for a hour or so! He said no worries, it's a slow day! )

So, my problem is this;

I am on a T-Mobile contract, and tied in untill Jan 2010. Buy out fee is £355

I don't want to leave T-Mobile, my contract is good and I've been with them 8yrs and happy with everything (other than not being able to get an iPhone with them )

I also don't really want to go to o2 (several friends and family are on o2 and most don't think much of the coverage or cust service)

Lastly, I don't want two contracts running side by side - I can't really afford, and certainly can't justify having two contracts running, even at £15 p/m for t-mob + £35 p/m for o2 = £50 p/m....

And lastly LASTLY - I want to keep my mobile number, and not have to change it, which I can't do without buying out my T-Mob contract...

So I am stuck!

As I see it I have three choices;

1) Buy second hand 2G iphone, unlock it and run on T-Mob, and lose 3G data speed and GPS - cost, £200ish?

2) Buy a new (UK) 3G iPhone from CPW, and get 12mths unlimited 3G data and Wifi for free (if the salesman is to be belived) without ever having to top up credit untill next year. Cost, £350, plus running my T-Mob phone to make and recieve calls

3) Import a 3G iphone from italy, apple unlocked, and just use with T-Mob sim, but at a great cost of probably £500, possibly more!

Option 1 is the easiest and cheapest, but means I get a "second rate" iPhone.
Option 2 is cheapest for a 3G, but means carrying two phones around for a year and hoping the iPhone Dev Team crack the 3G unlock within the next 12mths.
Option 3 is the most expensive, but I end up with a 3G phone on T-Mob.

AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!

I feel like this!

If you have a fairly good phone at the moment have you considered selling that to help ease the cost of your other options?

[EEC3]

I'd pick door number 3. Is probably the best option of the 3 as it means you keep your current contract. Like that guy said - selling your phone could help. Also call up t-mobile and see if they can give you a better tariff deal.


I don't agree with all this jailbreaking and really an iphone needs 3G like I need my eyesight so that's why 1 is out.

2 sounds expensive. In my experience PAYG always works out more expensive than you think and do you really want to carry around 2 phones! You'd need to sync contacts between them as well. Again, the iphone is so good because everything is linked and t all works together - if you are using another handset for calls and texts then you are missing the full function of the iphone. I thought you had to top-up £10 per month.


I don't know much about these italian unlocked iphones though, sorry, so maybe get some more info on these. Do they update firmware ok , is warranty ok - can you insure it?

[Matt_C]

asimm - No, it's a Nokia N73, slightly battered, and worth about 20p

eec3 - Option 2 is less expensive than option 3 It makes the most sense as it's the officially unlocked one tho... As for pay and go - I wouldn't be using any of the phone stuff with the iPhone if I did this - I'd have to use my Nokia on T-Mob for that and use the data and wifi on the iphone. Which kinda makes it like having an iTouch, except it can access the web over 3G aswell as wifi.... I don't know about warrenty on an imported phone, the mods here say they don't, but I've not yet seen anyone who has one say a firm yes or no...

As for lowering my T-Mobile contract to the lowest line rental per month - I already have. I pay £15 per month + £7.50 Web N Walk, which can be dropped no problem (wouldn't need it if I got the iPhone Pay and Go)

[Tomdale]

Have any of the T & Cs been changed recently by T-mobile - that might give you the opportunity to cancel the contract.

[Matt_C]

I checked with them only a couple weeks ago about cancelling - and was told it would cost £355 to buy out the rest of the contract

[Tomdale]

But is any of the T & Cs have changed (like charging you for certain telephone nos. that were previoulsy free such as 0871, 0845 etc) then you can cancel without charge.

I would scrutinise the contract for any changes since you took your contract out till the present day and check for ANY get out clause.

[Saldawop]

drop w&w from your t-mob contract, cancellation should be around £ 240.
Buy 8gb iPhone for £99 on £35 contract.
Will cost you £10 extra per month, but getting 600 minutes and 500 txts. And you only have to carry one phone.

That is based on the £15 you pay now,plus the £10 you will have to pay per month on PAYG to get the free data(I think)

[Saldawop]

must read more carefully.
My experience of o2 has been pretty positive. Have had a couple of times where I couldn't make a call but a minute or so later it was fine. Certainly no worse than t mob. Haven't had to deal with CS so cannot say what they are like.

[Matt_C]

Salda - the £355 buy out is based on my line rental of £25 per month. The Web N Walk is a bolt on and not part of the contract, so that can be dropped any time, so doesn't affect cancellation charge. My line rental has been dropped from £25 a month to £15 cos I took a non-hardware "upgrade" (instead of taking a phone, I took a £10 a month loyalty discount) which also doesn't affect the cancellation charge - the cancellation charge is based on the £25 per month line rental

So it would be cheaper to run the contract to it's end than cancel it, but without cancelling I can't transfer my number, which I want to, as I don't want to change it (it's a pain changing numbers!!!!!)

And I'd need to be on the £35 a month o2 contract minium, as the £30 one won't include endough mins and texts. My T-Mobile contract gives me £60 usage of whatever mins and texts (inc free voicemail and pic messaging - basically everything except premium rate numbers/texts and data usuage) coupled with the WnW bolt on (£7.50 p/m) see's me paying £22.50 a month compared to the £35 p/m on o2, and the T-Mob deal is slightly better, as no limitations on calls or texts....

See my quandry?

[Tomdale]

Buy a 2G version of the iphone. Unlock it or buy it unlocked. Keep it in good condition, sell it in a few months and upgrade to the 3G version.

Doing it that way means you should not lose too much.

[Matt_C]

That won't really help me.... 2G gonna cost about £200ish, no point upgrading to a (UK) 3G model till the Dev Team cracks it, by which time the 2G will be worth less than it currently is, and the 3G will probably still be selling around £350.... Sure, sell 2G for £200 and then buy 3G for £350 looks like it only cost £150 more, but in reality it still cost £350;

0 + 200 = 200
200 + 350 = 550
550 - 200 = 350

Or look at it this way;

0 -200 = -200
-200 - 350 = -550
550 + 200 = -350

[Tomdale]

Originally Posted by Matt_C

That won't really help me.... 2G gonna cost about £200ish, no point upgrading to a (UK) 3G model till the Dev Team cracks it, by which time the 2G will be worth less than it currently is, and the 3G will probably still be selling around £350.... Sure, sell 2G for £200 and then buy 3G for £350 looks like it only cost £150 more, but in reality it still cost £350;

0 + 200 = 200
200 + 350 = 550
550 - 200 = 350

Or look at it this way;

0 -200 = -200
-200 - 350 = -550
550 + 200 = -350

But it only costs £99 for an 8g iphone when you take out an 18 Month contract.

So buy 8Gb 2G for £200; sell it for £150 and buy the new 3G £99.

[Matt_C]

Ah I see where you are going..... Use the 2G unlocked with my current T-Mob contract till it ends in Jan 2010, then start new contract with o2 and get a new 3G, and transfer my number....

Thats something to think about, yes....

Currently I have a pal in Greece on holiday and I'm badgering him to go to a Vodafone shop and get me an Apple-Unlocked 3G and bring it back, but thats £395

[Tomdale]

Yes exactly.

Use the 2G - on edge I think that using the internet is fine. Sell it then upgrade to the iPhone 3G.

OK you will loose the benefit of 3G and GPS but you will have access to all other aspects of the iPhone.

I have just upgraded my unlocked 1.1.4 2G to the 2.1 firmware. So far so good and access to all the apps via itunes.

[jmsjabb]

Originally Posted by Matt_C

Ah I see where you are going..... Use the 2G unlocked with my current T-Mob contract till it ends in Jan 2010, then start new contract with o2 and get a new 3G, and transfer my number....

Thats something to think about, yes....

Currently I have a pal in Greece on holiday and I'm badgering him to go to a Vodafone shop and get me an Apple-Unlocked 3G and bring it back, but thats £395

Are you sure Greece phones are unlocked? I thought only Italian ones were properly unlocked?
Does anyone have a list of unlocked country's?

[mikeossy]

I was in the same predicament as you about 12months ago with the inception of the original 2G model of the iPhone, at the time I was just entering i mean days before its realise I got and upgrade on T-Mobile before the iPhone went live, on being happy well more than happy with T-Mobile i stuck with them hoping the iPhone would be realised on more networks! It didnt happen, I imported mine from a US vendor Jailbroken and Unlocked for then around £330 which wasnt too bad.
To be honest I still have it now and has to be said probably the best phone ive had for the UI, and look at my phone appeal!.
Im just on the upgrade stage again and this time im ditching the 2g and getting something that will let me send multi texts has HSDPA and pic messages.
Remember although the 3g has HSPDA it cant do the other two!!.
Its a great phone and if in your shoes again i;d do it again still even now going with the 2G its gonna be cheaper for you and in probably the time you have found the novelty wear off the 2g you could or should be in a position to get the 3g version and hopefully by then Apple will have sorted all of the above!.
Good luck, i think you can still get 2gs for under £170!!.