[Ben]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile-phones/news/2008/01/29/O2-Simplifies-Tariffs-Improves-iPhone-Contracts/p1


In theory the whole caboodle looks rather good, six minute/SMS plans are available: 75/125, 200/200, 400/500, 600/500, 1200/500 and 3000/500. The monthly price for each of these plans depends on whether you take out a 12, 18 or 24 month contract or a Simplicity (phone-less) deal. From here you add your bolt-ons, which are all priced at £7.50pm (one will come free on all contracts 18 months or longer) and should you go outside your allowance calls, texts and picture messages are charged at a standard 20p, 12p and 25p respectively. Voicemail is completely free on all tariffs.

As for the iPhone, new and existing customers get perhaps the biggest benefits of all with O2 massively increasing the amount of minutes and texts given to users at each price point to bring them in line with its new simplified tariffs.

Consequently, £35pm plans see allocated minutes and texts leap from 200/200 to 600/500 (the old £45pm allocation) while £45pm plans jump from 600/500 to the previous £55pm entitlement of 1200/500. The £55pm tariff itself is scrapped and replaced with a £75pm plan for ultra heavy users which offers a monstrous 3000 minutes per month along with 500 text messages. All iPhone contracts remain 18 months in length and come with free unlimited data and WiFi access, plus the handset's own Visual Voicemail.
Wow. iPhone suddenly becomes an attractive proposition.

You could have received a free text message alert of this news. Click here to learn more! (https://talk3g.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4874)

[3GScottishUser]

Not before time. A measly 200 mis and texts was never going to keep customers at £35 a month once the novelty value of the i-phone wore off. I bet there have been many i-phone customers looking over their shoulders and tutting when they see what you get with an N95 or Viewty on rival networks for the same cost.

Interesting to note that about 1/3rd of i-phones have now been unlocked in the USA according to latest research. A big headache for both AT&T and Apple who revenue share although the latter is unliely to be the loser as i am confident they will more than have covered their costs supplying the hardware alone.

BBC News Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7214873.stm

[Ben]

Yeah, I doubt Apple really care about the unlocking either. They have to look like they do (hence the software relocks) but at the end of the day the goal with any new product is to get to mass market - they can pull a Microsoft and start to lock it down once it has established a lead ;)

[miffed]

Excellent !

What a good week - First Three's HSDPA coverage creeps into my area , then o2 decide to 'bump up' my iPhone tariff :D

As I have stated before , I never found that old iphone tariff that bad anyway ,when you consider the data/hotspot inclusion
But now I would have to say they are pretty damn good !

All I need now is a litle EDGE coverage and I'll be a happy man !

[Hands0n]

Blimey! Good grief! Hell, yea! :D And other such positive assertions. What staggeringly good news :cool: I can barely contain my excitement at the news.

I saw this on the iPhone a few mins ago and had to shoot upstairs to the Mac Pro to see it in full glory on a 19" monitor :D

Okay, calm down lad. Phew!

But seriously, I have been on the £35 200/200 tariff and tried to be careful with my use. In fact too careful as I well underspent this past month :rolleyes: And that is something that I have never had to even think about with Vodafone's 500mins (but measly 100 text) or T-Mobile's Flext35 (900 mins, 1800 txt or any mix between).

I rather fancy that this new tariff is not only a bit of a hook to get new punters, and keep existing iPhone users, but also to pave the way for - dare I say it - a 3G iPhone whenever that arrives.

The new Mins/Texts (600/500) will be hard for me to use up - I'm not that much of a texter, although the iPhone does seem to encourage long texts by way of not telling you how much you've used.

This is good news indeed though and shouldn't be looked down at. Will it light a flame under the competition? Who knows. But this is such a leap in value that it just has to be a shot across the bows of the competition.

Ooooh, I love it when this happens :D

[getti]

AND IT GETS BETTER!

Bolt-Ons have now also changed (well from 1st Feb)

£7.50 gets you 1 of either:


Unlimited O2 – O2 calls
Unlimited anytime texts
Unlimited weekend calls
Unlimited fixed line calls
An extra 200 anytime minutes


Or you can add some together for a bundle deal so for example

£50 a month
800 mins
Unlimited Texts
Free WiFi
Free EDGE
Visual Voicemail

Unlimited texts has pretty much sold me now if i can get over the fact its not 3G and i can also pass the credit check lol

[Hands0n]

Some chat elsewhere .... as people start to dig in to the tariff details.

Apparently there is now a data cap on the unlimited
http://www.hs4cl.com/2008/01/29/a-better-deal/

When this is all going to happen - from O2
http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/o2tariffsforiphone/existingcustomers
(check out the * caveat on the page!!)

[miffed]

It's here on o2's site - under iPhone tariffs - feb 2008


# UNLIMITED DATA / WIFI EXCESSIVE USAGE POLICY
Your O2 tariff for iPhone allows you unlimited use of O2 UK's Edge / GPRS networks and The Cloud's UK Wireless LAN network, for personal internet use, email and Visual Voicemail (VVM) on your iPhone only. All usage must be for your private, personal and non-commercial purposes.
You may not use your SIM Card in any other device, or use your SIM Card or iPhone to allow the continuous streaming of any audio / video content, enable Voice over Internet (Voip), P2P or file sharing or use them in such a way that adversely impacts the service to other customers of O2 or The Cloud. If O2 reasonably suspect you are not acting in accordance with this policy O2 reserves the right to impose further charges, impose network protection controls which may reduce your speed of transmission or disconnect your tariff at any time, having attempted to contact you first.




Looks to me that the EDGE is still unlimited , and that the wifi is subject to FUP - and even then it is about restricting service rather than caps

[Ben]

Hmm, no, reads to me like EDGE is included in the 'excessive' usage policy too (I love it when they get creative with language).

Basically it's all fine and understandable with two exceptions.
1) Streaming. YouTube anyone? How about Google Maps?
2) Impose further charges? At your own discretion with no specification of what you technically consider to be excessive usage?

Don't get me wrong, the new tariffs finally make iPhone an attractive proposition (those of you who bought before are, really, quite bonkers), and all networks seem to have ridiculous terms because they're so scared that somebody might actually use some data. Those two items just seem sillier than usual.

[Hands0n]

Bonkers? Nah. Prescient? Probably :D

For me the 200/200 sort of worked - espesh as I am such a user of data to the handset, and lesser so to the Lappy. The latter requirement is met by my T-Mobile [effectively] all you can eat 3GB/pcm tariff.

But I have to say that since having the iPhone I do pretty much all of my outside browsing and email on the handset itself. Something that I have never been able to comfortably do on the N95! Although you can indeed do these things on an N95 - it is just so much less painful on the iPhone, well not painful at all really.

The new tariff changes by O2 just make a good thing sooooo much better in respect of freeing me up from even considering how much use I am making of the device. I'll likely not hit the 600 minutes per month unless I take on a mistress or something :D

The usual caveats/exceptions are not at all unusual or unexpected. The mobile network operators are just beginning to come to terms with what we've all been banging on about for several years. We actually do want unfettered Internet on the go, to use pretty much how we wish. But just to get affordable tariffs in 2008 is a start - and they've got to head off WiMAX or get left in its wake. So I anticipate much softening of these rather extreme conditionals during 2008/9.

[miffed]

But I have to say that since having the iPhone I do pretty much all of my outside browsing and email on the handset itself. Something that I have never been able to comfortably do on the N95! Although you can indeed do these things on an N95 - it is just so much less painful on the iPhone, well not painful at all really.



I hear ya !!

Glad it's not just me - I have an array of portable devices , most of which are equipped with HSPDA .... yet when I am out and about and want to check a webpage quickly and easily - I reach for the 2.5G device !!
OK so the others 'outspeed' the device by over 20 times in terms of connection speed - but even so , it seems the iphone , with its 'pathetic' data speed will have the info on screen , readable in the quickest time with the least amount of key pressing , fiddling etc
I don't expect any of you non iPhone users to even begin to comprehend that - but it is true !
The addition of shortcurts on the homescreen is brilliant - it takes one touch of the screen to get to "Talk3G - new posts" - no opening of browsers , no locating bookmark folders and scrolling through bookmarks , nothing - just touch the screen , wait a few seconds and there it is - it is as simple as that !
Got to be tried to be believed IMO - imagine what it would be like with HSDPA behind it ! ?

[getti]

GUTTED TODAY!

Went to O2 to buy an iPhone. Had my laptop and Vodafone modem im testing. Got to the till and they cant take Solo cards or cash which was what i had. Guy said no point getting someone to buy for me was pointless as O2 wont allow me to signup through iTunes as it asks for a card and SOLO is not there.

Thats bull! O2 online will allow me to order with solo. hope i pass now when it comes friday

[Hands0n]

Culled from the O2 forum

If you bought your iPhone from CPW,and the amount of txt's available to you are not enough? you cannot take advantage of the £7.50 un-limited txt option? But, you can have any of the others, not sure of o2's logic on this.

Not sure how true this is, I don't care 'cos I bought direct from Apple and registered on-line through iTunes. So no direct connection with CPW's T&Cs. But why would they be so restrictive? Greedy and Bar Stewards are three words that spring to mind :)

@Getti - tough break man. Not entirely sure baout that No Solo thing. Have you thought of giving O2's sales line a bell or does this help:-

Eligibility

Once you've got your iPhone, the next thing to do is activate it. This couldn't be simpler. All you have to do is enter into an 18 month minimum term Pay Monthly contract with O2 on one of our exclusive iPhone tariffs. These start at just £35 a month.

You need to be over 18, pass a credit check and have a bank account for the monthly Direct Debit payments. If you already have an iTunes account, perfect. If you have to create one, you'll need a debit or credit card. And an email address you access regularly because billing is online only.

You sign up for a Pay Monthly tariff and airtime agreement as part of the activation process so just make sure that you have this information to hand when you are ready to activate your iPhone.

If you're an existing O2 customer and want to upgrade to iPhone, get more information here (http://shop.o2.co.uk/promo/iphonebeforeyoubuy)

I recall that when I got my iPhone home all I had to do was enter my Bank details - it got my authentication from the iTunes account that already has a Debit Card registered against it. The iTunes activation did run a credit check on me though - its a scary moment because if you fail there's no way but to take the phone back for a refund.

[getti]

I checked with someone i know at Apple and what O2 said is a load of bull****. Yes ok to buy from THEM in store i have to have a credit/debit card which is not Solo or Electron which in a way i can sort of understand coming from a phone store.

However the bit about if i manage to get an iPhone not being able to setup because it asks for a bank card it crap. All they need is my .Mac login or/and Direct Debit details and they can credit check me.

My view is the store just wanted to put me off getting it as they could not sell to me

[Hands0n]

There you go geezer. Sorted :D Now hurry up, before they're all sold out :rolleyes:

[getti]

Ordered about 15 mins ago. Paid the extra to get it delivered before 10am on Friday. Only problem is i put home address and not work address and i will be there because of a visit. So will be at work hand on my current phone awaiting to be told its arrived.

Then i have the problem of a credit check which i 99% of the time fail but ah well worth a try

[miffed]

Hmm, no, reads to me like EDGE is included in the 'excessive' usage policy too (I love it when they get creative with language).




Actually , when I read it back again , it does look to mean both as you say - Don't know why I thought it was just the wi-fi

Hopefully they are just covering their backsides , and it appears they have concerns that us loyal customers would take our iPhone sims out , put them into a modem capable device and spending the day watching BBC iplayer (as if we would do such a thing)

Having previously used o2's GPRS for free for years , while others were charging £3.50 -£7 an MB , I don't reckon they are going to get funny over a bit of youtube TBH

[Hands0n]

What a nice way to start a day. I'll never get to use all of my allowance each month, but it is nice to know that I have so much buffer space around me now. It was always a bit of a worry that I'd go over and have to pay the ex-allowance fees.


O2: We are really pleased to let you know that we have upgraded your iPhone tariff today.

Your new tariff gives you 600 anytime minutes and 500 anytime texts a month. You will also get the same unlimited UK data as you had before allowing you to surf the internet on your iPhone.

If you would like to see the other iPhone tariffs that we have just launched then click www.o2.co.uk/iphone/o2tariffsforiphone

Thank you for being an O2 customer


New customers have been enjoying these tariffs since 1 Feb 2008.

[Hands0n]

Ordered about 15 mins ago. Paid the extra to get it delivered before 10am on Friday. Only problem is i put home address and not work address and i will be there because of a visit. So will be at work hand on my current phone awaiting to be told its arrived.

Then i have the problem of a credit check which i 99% of the time fail but ah well worth a try

Did you ever get yours Getti?