Yup, exactly! Also if you signed up for an 18month contract, it makes it harder to ugprade earlier. With mine, as soon as the new phone is out I can buy it, or wait for someone to sell it second hand like I did. Warranty is transferable so no issues.

Same as standard, I get 30% off contracts with o2 at work or through my brother in law.

no more bitching about prices for UK people, here is what 20 GBP buy you here:


1 GB data and no free SMS or calls, our companies can go F*** themselves

One thing we have always had is good mobile contracts and generally phones much quicker than the US. Although Orange suck as they tie you in to 2 year contracts!

I am pretty sure UT is not Emerican.

In the US, the plan structures are:

39.99USD
450 "anytime" minutes with rollover.
Unlimited nights and week-ends starting at 9PM.
0 SMS/MMS each text sent OR received is $0.20
0 MB Data

30.00USD (Mandatory with the reduced price of the iPhone along with a 2yr contract)
Unlimited Data usage

5.00USD 200 SMS/MMS
15.00USD 1500 SMS/MMS
20.00USD Unlimited SMS/MMS

Around 12USD in taxes and charges.

Over 100USD for 450 minutes, unlimited data and unlimited messaging.

So, please, all of you Stoo foo about cell phone price gouging.

Yikes! You guys get robbed! Never mind everything else is cheaper over there. [no]

The UK seems to be the only market with fantastic tarifs and phone deals, which is why we all seem to have up to date phones compared to the rest of the world on us and not just on display in store!
I believe Europe you buy the phone and then the contract seperately?

When I bought my 16gig iPhone 3G it was either

£400 PaYG
£160 w/ 18month contract @ £30 (lowest they offered) a month and some pathetic amount of texts and calls

Since buying my iPhone my monthly cost has plummeted - top up a tenner and I get 200 free texts anyway plus that £10 worth of credit. Furthermore the cost of the phone included a year free internet and WiFi which replaced so much of my usage of phone calls / texts as I could just hop on MSN or Skype and do it for free.

I think I've ended up spending around £450 total on my iPhone (so £400 + £50 credit) over 12 months, against a minimum of £520 it would have cost me on contract. Buying the phone outright certainly isn't for business customers or those who use the (phone part) a lot, but for light / medium users or those want an internet / gaming / iTouch / shiny gadget it can be useful http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/smile1.gif

That said, Simplicity also isn't for me ^^ but it is a pretty good deal if you were say running to the end of your contract now - you could extend it on Simplicity for 6 months until the new iPhone launches without getting tied down and retaining the discount of having lots of minutes and texts contracts afford over PaYG.

Is it me or is the only difference between these two tariffs visual voicemail? It therefore doesn't differ 'quite a bit' at all?

I've had the same £20 Simplicity contract for at least 2 years but it's now been updated to allow legacy iPhone users to stay with O2? What's amazing?

Some people would like to use Visual Voicemail, so its a nice addition?

600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited data.

(in answer to lang).

I just signed a new two year agreement with Sprint and I pay $65 a month for:

Unlimited talk to any mobile phone on any network
450 minutes to landlines (i think the only person I know on a landline is my mum)
Unlimited Text, Picture, Media etc mail
Unlimited Internet
Unlimited Sprint Navigator (it's quite nice!)

I also got a black berry tour for $150 bones [thumbup]

This is what I was referring to:
The only difference is visual voicemail, which has been added to keep legacy owners with O2. It's no different from the usual £20 tariff so I can't see what the big difference is?

Hmmm i just got 4 O2 simcards through the door...

unlimited text and internet as long as you top up with 15 quid each month,,,


I think that shits all over every tariff in here.....

It's good but you get no phone. I'd rather pay a tenner more get loads of free minutes and a free phone thanks.

That £15 only equates to 60 minutes of cross network calls though, and voicemail isn't free, so it's swings and roundabouts.

better than paying 30 odd quid a month in a contract...

Yep, I see what you're saying...and you're absolutely right!

But you get no phone, so the equivalent is a SIM free 30 day rolling contract. You're essentially pinned to a £15pcm "contract" to get the PAYG benefits, hence why I said swings and roundabouts.

It's not that great a deal. The £45 per month comes with a free 3GS 16GB. Including the cost of the iPhone the simplicity contract is £930 for two years and the normal iPhone tariff is £1,080. A significant amount more, but then you remember that the more expensive contract will have a free upgrade at the end of it, the simplicity contract will sting you for another £400-500 phone.