i-phone people. Are you on a contract or pay as you go?

[willyoulistentome]

My very oldy fashioned phone is on it;s way out. I currently pay as you go, and top up about £20 every few months. I'd like an i-phone to replace the dying one, but think all the contract sounds expensive. I think it would be an i-pod plus camera too ? Am I right?

Sooo. all you folks who have them. Did you buy it and pay as you go? Or are you on contracts, and if so - how much do you pay monthly?

Hi
I got the iPhone 4 a year ago on a 2 year contract. I pay £36 per month and get unlimited Internet, calls inc landlines and texts so never go over £36 each month.

Yup, it's an iPod plus phone but it also gets 3G which means you can access net without wifi.

I bought mine outright and have a three contract at 6.90 a month ( just started this week) google billmonitor and it'll help you choose a contract.

There are many, many benefits to smartphones but I think you need to be pretty restrained not to get obsessed with them and find you spend hours a day on them.

Personally, I'd think twice about buying an iPhone again ( financially speaking) but mine has devalued so much it's not worth selling ATM. When time comes to replace ill likely get a cheaper smartphone.

I've always been on a contract, approx £35 per month including all internet, landline and cross-network.

DH has had to generations of Iphone donated by my very rich early adopter sister, and he just popped his pay-go sim into it. He used it for about two years or so like this, only using wifi networks for internet etc, but it would take a hammering when not on wifi.

My contract provider offered me an extra sim with my identical allowances for £6 per month which suits me as I feel the cost split by half seems more reasonable for what we both get!

OK I'm in Ireland so different rates, best one here for iPhones is with 3.

?42 pm (plus ?8.99 insurance - the insurance isn't obligatory but GET IT!!! I dropped my ?600 phone down the loo and got a brand new phone & paid an excess of ?30 for it)

I got an iPhone 4, no money down
(it's ?50 deposit and same mthly rate for iPhone 4s, ?140 deposit for iPhone 5)

2 yr contract, then I own the phone (which will be July this year, and it has held about ?300 of it's value)

350 free units (each unit is 1 min talk time, or 2 texts)

Free data - I use the phone with my laptop so don't need to pay for broadband.

The phone is an OK camera (good for outside photos, not so good on nights out) and an iPod. I also have my personal email account and my college email account set up on it.

I love love love my phone. I watch Netflix on it, Mumsnet on it when commuting, wouldn't be without it.

McNo - so what happens after 2 years? You have to give it back?

Bluecarrot - I am a bit worried about spending so much money on something that will be pretty easy to lose!!!! If I bought a second hand one, would it be supported. hohw come everyone doesn;t do that?

What happens if you lose one on a contract, that you have not bought outright? Do you have to pay for it?

Kato-how did you get the extra sim? Which provider is this with please as we pay £36 a month each!

If you loose phone yes you still have to pay the monthly charge until contract ends.

I'm with O2 on pay and go - I have their text & web bolt-on. If I top up by £10 a month I get 'unlimited' texts, or for £15 I get 'unlimited' text and internet. I put unlimited in ' ' because although it describes itself as unlimited when I top up, when I look at my balance it is actually counting down from (I think) 500Mb and 3000 messaging units. - but as I do most of my internet on the wireless, it isn't counting down very fast, and I've still got 480 Mb left to last till next Friday. I rarely need more than £15 a month talk time (it gets cheaper the more you use each day) so this suits me pretty well.

This was through T-Mobile, they kept calling me while we were moving house and I was getting thoroughly peeved, until I actually listened to the 'excellent deal' they were offering!

They wanted him to get a new phone too (which would have cost more of course) but I told them he had an Iphone 2 on Paygo which he only spent about £20 per quarter (honest! He knew every free hotspot in town, even to the level of walking to outside particular office blocks!)

I'm confused about the 'internet' use here. Wireless? 3G?. Whaaaaaaat?

Can someone please talk me through how this works in terms an idiot would understand?

£36 x 2 years = £864. Cheaper to buy one, insure it, and pay as you go?

Will - at home I use our wifi to go on the internet on my phone, when I am out and about I use the 3G data that comes with my package. I bought a 3GS just before the 4S came out so got it really cheap - £18.50 per month for 2 years - so I'll pay overall £444 for phone, 100 mins per month, 500 texts per month and 100MB of data.

Still confused - so you buy the 3g separately? what is a 4s?

I've got a very low £ contract but was given the phone. I would have bought it if not.
You can get a reconditioned one that seemed to me to be a good deal. I might look into that if this one ever conks it or gets lost.

I tend to use landlines when I'm at home or in the office and don't need that much internet use as I do it all from home.

There are ways to work out a cheap contract, but it will limit you if you want a mobile computer rather than a phone for texting, calls and playing the odd game. It doesn't bother me - I can't be bothered to type on a small phone anyway. But I do love apps and games.

3G just means the phone will use your location and wifi signals around you. I turn mine off as it uses the battery and I started to get all these notifications of restaurants in the area, weather reports etc (prob ones my sister had set up) Actually I don't really know what 3G is! I turn it on if I need to use Google maps!

It's 3rd generation or 4th generation or whatever.
The newest will have all the latest stuff and is apparently worth queueing in the cold for (muppets!)
But I think it realtes to what the phone can do wifi wise.

Someone who knows needs to help.
Ask in a shop?

3G is your data that comes as part of your line rental if you choose it, it means 3rd generation cellular data - previous versions of cellular data were much slower.

Latest iphone (and therefore most expensive) = iphone 5
Iphone 4s is the one before that, and the iphone 4 is the one before that.
Previous models have been discontinued

OK then. So tell me about i-phone insurance??

I've got an iphone 4 from t mobile

£26 a month
unlimited text & internet and a healthy amount of minutes -can't remember how many because I rarely use it to actually phone people!

Contract £12.50 per month I phone with tesco!

Melissa - is that just the insurance?

I've an iPhone 3GS. Contract was18 months so recently got a new £12 a month contract. Phone is now mine. I use Vodaphone and they were a bit baffled as to why I didn't want a new handset but I'm used to my phhone and like it!!