My contract has expired and I want an iPhone - what's the best deal out there?

[3become4]

Am with vodafone but my contract has expired. Anyone know what the best deal out there is at the moment? Was pretty impressed with Three when I looked. Am hoping to use any info to haggle hard with vodafone (I assume they don't want to loose my custom after 14 years!) but failing that I'll switch. Thanks

I think orange are quite good. My friend has just been given a free ipad for being a loyal customer. She had an i phone and a BB for her daughter on contract. Shes only been on about a year

SERIOUSLY?!?

I've been with Vodafone for 14 years and they won't even give me a cheap deal on an iPhone upgrade!!!

Yeah she got it last week, i could not believe it. I am with Virgin and get nothing

forgot she also has a £5 pm dongle for her daughter which with Virgin would cost £15

Yeah, not sure how you do it though. I think you just tellthe new provider and they do it

If you go through Quidco (cashback site) you can get £60 cashback on a iPhone contract.

Apple are being right arses/very strict about the contracts with the iphone, which is why vodafone can't give you a good deal!

Look at three. That was the best deal available by far when I got mine a month ago. I asked O2 if they could match it ad they could not get near it.

3 was the best that I could find. Switched DS and DD over from O2 to them earlier this year and I shall follow suit.

Impressed at the iPad!!

I got an iphone 3 through o2 for £10.50 a month last month.

Obviously not the latest iteration of iphone but it does me nicely. I think I get 500 texts, 100 mins and 500 mb of data.

I've been with orange for over ten years, not a sniff of an iPad!

They are good though.

3 are the cheaper ones but in my experience the worst coverage. Even in city centres we found signal to be choppy. After a month we ditched it.

Vodafone's customer service is SHOCKING.

If you want a good phone I'd seriously consider a HTC Sensation or a Samsung Galaxy S2 instead. Vodafone probably have more leeway to haggle on one of those and both phones are better than the iPhone in terms of hardware.

In terms of the overall usabilty & experience I'm still of the opinion Apple beats Android....just but there's not much in it and I'm mindful of the fact the new Iphone will be out in 4-6 weeks. At which point the current iphone 4's will drop in price anyway. So taking the plunge now means getting a phone which will be the old model in around a month's time.

I've just come off PAYG with Vodafone and haggled with them to go onto a competitive contract. I got a 24 month deal on a HTC Desire S with 300 mins, unlimited texts and 500mb data for £18.50 per month.

And I love my phone.

Thanks niceguy - I decided not to risk dodgy coverage with 3 so have stuck with Vodafone. And I've got a Mac so it's definitely an iPhone I want but thanks for the advice on the androids. So, I should have waited for the new iPhone to be released, but I couldn't and have managed to haggle a deal at £36 per month with a free handset which I'm pretty happy with. Not the best deal out there but there wasn't a lot in it and I really couldn't be bothered with the hassle of terminating one contract and taking out another! And to be fair the service I got this time was a great improvement.

blowthewindsoutherly - that's the kind of deal that would suit me - how do you go about getting an old iphone - will the high street shops be able to offer this?