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Iphone - pay as you go

18 replies

babysbreath · 18/03/2011 13:42

I've at the moment got a pay as you go mobile, and I was thinking of getting an Iphone, but want to stay with 'pay as you go', as I don't want to be tied into a contract.

Has anyone got any advice, such as, is this a good idea?

Also, how much would it cost to go on to the internet etc.

Thanks

OP posts:
caspered · 18/03/2011 16:35

Hi, I have a pay as you go Iphone, in terms of costs, it costs me £10 a month to access the internet and I am on the 'simple' tariff for text which costs me £5 a month and as many texts as my fingers can manage at no extra cost. I have to say I hardly ever make phone calls on my Iphone, BUT I use (and abuse it) for everything else, playing games watching videos etc!!

I have been very very happy with mine and this arrangement and I have had it for 3 years. I know that when I first got mine they were also giving free access to the internet for 12 months, so my costs in the first year were tiny!! (after the expense of buying the phone in the first place of course!!) Grin

Niceguy2 · 18/03/2011 23:13

I know that Orange & Vodafone both offer "free" Internet if you top up by £10 each month. Obviously the months you don't get the Internet.

I did hear that Orange have an iphone tariff which gives you a year's free Internet. I'm going to try and get this for my daughter who's on Pay as you go with her iphone. If I get it, i'll pass on the details.

If you do get a second hand iphone, make sure you get one which is on the same network as you are OR factory unlocked. Avoid jailbreak unlocked. If in doubt, ask the seller.

Niceguy2 · 19/03/2011 19:20

Update

I called Orange today and they do indeed have a "pay as you go" tariff for iphone's. You have to either upgrade or connect an iphone but essentially you get 250MB mobile internet and free wifi with BTOpenworld for 1 year. The lady also mentioned they would give you £30 starting credit.

But after talking about it with my daughter, I've agreed to put her on a 3 SIM only tariff instead. For £10 a month she will get 100 mins, 3000 texts and 1GB data which works out better value. Plus I can request a cap too so she won't be able to give me a shock!

I did look at O2 who I think are a bunch of numpties. Apparently I can get an SIM only Smartphone/Blackberry tariff for £10.21 but as soon as they hear you have an iphone, it's suddenly £15. For the same thing. Their justification is that the software on the phone is different....yeah right!

FreudianSlippery · 19/03/2011 19:33

I recommend giffgaff - it's a payg company (covered by O2 but run by peer support) and is fantastic.

Tariff is cheap, but as well as credit you can buy 'goodybags' - bundles of free mins/txt which last a month. Internet is free til next month, but then will be included on the goodybags.

I'm on one called hokey cokey which rewards me for accepting calls - say someone calls me for 10 mins, I get 10 mins added to my airtime! :o

It's all done online, my card is registered to my profile and I just choose what I want (there's autotopup available too).

giffgaff.com if you are interested :)

seriouslycantbebothered · 20/03/2011 11:15

yes but by reccommending giff gaff you get money back so even if they are rubbish you get the money .. Poor show when someone is asking for help . be up fron in the first place .

ajandjjmum · 20/03/2011 11:19

Niceguy
You can 'request a cap' - as I did at Carphone Warehouse for DD. They don't actually have to do it, which is why I ended up with a £100+ bill for one month!!!
They told me that they could offer it, but couldn't guarantee it would happen.

FreudianSlippery · 20/03/2011 11:23

erm, sorry?

I only get credit if I know the OP you realise? They would have to put my username in when they register, and I have no intention of giving the OP my username.

Get a grip, I was recommending it because it's good. FFS. Biscuit

NetworkGuy · 20/03/2011 11:49

seriouslycantbebothered - bit of a harsh accusation - the link doesn't have any way to identify who has suggested it, and plenty of users seem to think it is OK. I have not used it myself, but would look to compare it with any others and see - after all, so many of these things are no longer 12 month contracts, and there are other aspects such as speed, signal coverage, whether your mobile is unlocked or not, to consider, too.

seriouslycantbebothered · 20/03/2011 12:03

Yes sorry about that I was wrong . Sometimes you get people plugging things (groupon ) and they get a bonus for reccommending things . I was wrong this time so please accept my apology .

FreudianSlippery · 20/03/2011 12:09

Course I do seriouslycant thank you for saying that :) I've heard of that groupon thing, keep seeing stuff on an old friends FB Hmm

My friend actually recommended it to me - so he got some credit back - but he's an uber geek so I really trust him with all this stuff :o he's actually the one who gave me his old iPhone. I can't remember if it was already unlocked or if he did it specifically for me though.

seriouslycantbebothered · 20/03/2011 12:14

Thank you for accepting my apology . I have just got my Ds a replacement iphone for his birthday (june ) because his one was stolen . £ 235 in excellent condition . So I am now looking around for good deals . Have a nice day

ReshT · 18/02/2012 22:03

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

wannaBe · 18/02/2012 22:07

I have an iphone on pay as you go with orange. I am on the animal package which means that if I top up by a minimum of £10 I get 400 texts plus 100 mb of data. that leaves the £10 free to use for minutes etc, and if you use wisely you can use that credit to buy extras i.e. 100 minutes for £5/250 mb of data for £5 which works out much cheaper than the flat rates.

RecursiveMoon · 18/02/2012 22:13

I was going to recommend giffgaff too. It's pretty good, and seems cheaper than other options. You can't yet set it up to pay for a goodybag monthly though, so you have to remember to queue the next one. And you have to buy credit for texting photos etc. You also have to cut down the Sim that they send you to micro- Sim size! Otherwise, I like them. And if I change my mind, I can leave really quickly.

alibubbles · 19/02/2012 13:49

I was a bit sceptical about giffgaff, don't kow why, but now I have used giffgaff for a micro sim for my ipad. £5 a month, but can use it in my Iphone too if I want. I was sent a cut down card and it worked immediately, you just request it and the giffgaff community get someone to do it an send it.

I'm going to move DS contract from o2 to giffgaff, far cheaper.

OlympicEater · 19/02/2012 13:54

Just to add to what Freudian said. DS is on giffgaff and it seems like good value for money. Runs on O2 network so pretty good coverage.

SoupDragon · 19/02/2012 14:11

This is a zombie thread from last March.

DavidaCottonmouth · 19/02/2012 17:55

Pay as you go is a bad deal on most networks, let alone smartphones.

If you really want to have a weak tie to a contract, try giffgaff.com

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