iPhone 4S - the deal you got

Soldato
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It's cheaper for me to get it on contract, so you crack on with your willy waving on the internet.

Maybe the guy doesn't have £1400 in his bank to spend on phones. I know I don't have £700 yet alone £1400 yet I can justify a contract.

BTW, I personally do have that to spend, but I'd rather spend it on something else and spread the cost of the phone on an overall cheaper deal for my situation.

I don't think you're in any kind of position to question someone's finances an internet board without knowing anything about them.

I still have that ladder if you need it?

I wish i could upvote this post.
 
Soldato
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It's cheaper for me to get it on contract, so you crack on with your willy waving on the internet.

Maybe the guy doesn't have £1400 in his bank to spend on phones. I know I don't have £700 yet alone £1400 yet I can justify a contract.

BTW, I personally do have that to spend, but I'd rather spend it on something else and spread the cost of the phone on an overall cheaper deal for my situation.

I don't think you're in any kind of position to question someone's finances an internet board without knowing anything about them.

I still have that ladder if you need it?
[like]

I have the cash, easily (look at mah willy!) but no chance I'll spend it on an iPhone, would rather spread the cost with a contract :)
 

Imy

Imy

Soldato
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I tend to go for whatever has the lowest TCO for the amount of minutes I require. Whether that's sim-only or like in this case, contract.

On the issue of 24 month contracts, yes I hate em as much as the next guy but since everyone has a taste for expensive smartphones these days but at the same time don't want to increase their monthly spend, it's become a method for networks to help keep the subsidy on the phones at the same level.

As someone said earlier, the contract I went for means if you deduct the cost of the phone, over 24 months the average for the line rental is £11.67/month instead of £25/month sim-only. But you can look at that another way. If you first deduct the cost of the line-rental it means you are getting a £599 phone for £279.02, which you could even sell after a year at a profit as iPhones hold their value quite well.

p.s. There's nothing stopping you selling your phone whenever you want on a 24-month contract and putting the money towards a new phone so you're not "stuck" with your phone for 2 years.
 
Soldato
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It's cheaper for me to get it on contract, so you crack on with your willy waving on the internet.

Maybe the guy doesn't have £1400 in his bank to spend on phones. I know I don't have £700 yet alone £1400 yet I can justify a contract.

BTW, I personally do have that to spend, but I'd rather spend it on something else and spread the cost of the phone on an overall cheaper deal for my situation.

I don't think you're in any kind of position to question someone's finances an internet board without knowing anything about them.

I still have that ladder if you need it?

Haha nice one MilanoChris :)

I too have gone for the Three option, exact same as a few on here. With the Quidco cashback, it actually works out on a par, if not cheaper, than purchasing the 32GB phone outright and then going on a £15 per month contract, because I actually get more for the money on the contract plus the Quidco cashback. To all those saying 24 months is far too long, I've had my 3G since release, and have never felt the need to upgrade until iOS 4.0 came along and slowed the crap out of my phone. I'm hoping that the 4S will fare far better with it having a dual-core A5, but I'm fairly confident that come next year, whatever Apple have to offer, I won't feel the need to upgrade to it immediately.

I use the phone to make calls, check my emails, send texts, take pics and everything else that current smartphones offer. We don't even know what the iPhone 5 will have over the 4S, so hedging my bets and buying a phone outright just in case I want to sell it on seems false economy. Right now I don't know enough to want the 5, but if it did ever get to the point where the 5 was clearly the better upgrade, then what's wrong with just selling the 4S prior to the launch of the 5, and then buying that outright if you're really desperate to get the extra features, whatever they might be?

I feel that buying the phone outright just in case you want to purchase the 5 when it comes out is a bit silly really. You can get really great offers on 24 months, and I'm sure that the 4S will outlast that timeframe just like the 3G has done.
 
Man of Honour
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It's cheaper for me to get it on contract, so you crack on with your willy waving on the internet.

How do you mean 'for you', out of interest? (also what willy waving was he doing?)

Maybe its rose tinted from my end but I'm sure the contracts used to be better deals a few years ago or maybe the sim free option has just improved a lot. When I bought my 3GS I went for 18 month contract as within a couple of quid, it didn't make any difference if you went for 12, 18 or 24, you either paid a little more upfront or paid more per month, the end result was very similar.
 
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Man of Honour
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How do you mean 'for you', out of interest?
I'm a shift worker and access the internet via 3G in work, and currently use 5GB minimum per month.

So I can keep my current mifi, or use Three's One plan and get unlimited data and free tethering, this means I can put the mifi on a PAYG deal for emergency use.

SIM only option on Three for the One Plan is £25 a month, so TCO including a 32GB phone over 24 months would be £1199.

That vs The One plan on a contract, with Quidco cashback works out the following:

£35/month - 24 month contract
32GB iPhone 4S - £189 upfront cost
£149.98 Quidco cashback

TCO = £879.02 (average £36.63 PCM, £11.67 of that is for the contract, the rest for the phone.)

It's actually cheaper than what I pay right now, which is £20 PCM SIM only with Vodafone and £17 PCM for my 3 Mifi with 15GB of data.

Plus I get to sell the 3GS which will help to recoup the initial outlay.

Personally speaking, I prefer the 'S' model of the phones over the first release, since they seem to fix the "bugs" that come with the first release, and because of that, a 24 month contract doesn't seem that bad.

Besides, as already mentioned, Apple products hold their value really well, and there's nothing to stop me buying a new phone during the contract term.

Winning all round, for me anyway! Obviously some people don't need unlimited data hence buying the phone outright and getting SIM only is the better option (retention deals even more so).

Everyone is in a different situation and different deals work out in different ways for each individual case, sometimes SIM only and buying the phone is best, other times a contract is best.
 
Associate
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Re Three Online Store

MilanoChris said:
Just gone through fine on my home number, how odd, maybe my mobile number was blacklisted or something due to multiple attempts?

OMG, THANKYOU!

Exactly the same for me. Spent 2.5 days trying with Three's Online store in complete bamboozlement as to why i couldnt get my order through.

Tried changing my mobile numbers to the landline and i got it confirmed a few mins later! Crazy!

Also have Quidco tracking at 149 quid, maybe it's taxed?
 
Man of Honour
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OMG, THANKYOU!

Exactly the same for me. Spent 2.5 days trying with Three's Online store in complete bamboozlement as to why i couldnt get my order through.

Tried changind my mobile numbers to the landline and i got it comfirmed a few mins later! Crazy!

Also have Quidco tracking at 149 quid, maybe it's taxed?

No worries, just wish I could spread it out more for other people as I bet loads are in the same situation.

I'm not sure either why Quidco has tracked at a higher rate, it's not VAT either as the sums don't add up.
 
Man of Honour
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If someone were to order the 64GB the same way and got a higher amount we'd know it was version related discount.

I did toy with the idea, but I only have about 8GB used on my 3GS so thought 64GB is overkill.

But I think you may be correct, QC does not specify size, just One Plan for £35 a month.
 
Associate
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Hi guys, I calculated that I was better off buying the phone out right because of the quidco money you get for signing up for 12 month sim only deals. For example I got £115 for signing up for vodafones £15 per month deal.

Taking that into consideration it's cheaper for me tk do that, and also an unlocked iPhone is worth more when you come to sell and is more flexible, ie stick any sim in it :)
 

Imy

Imy

Soldato
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Some of the sim-only deals are excellent for people who need no more than 300 or 600 minutes.

It costs around £15 to £20 to get your phone unlocked via a request to your operator. They then inform Apple who keep a list of locked phones to remove the operator lock which takes up to 14 days.

There are free but unofficial ways of doing it also.
 
Soldato
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To all those saying that they haven't received their email confirmation from Three, check your spam. Mine was sent to my GMail account and it ended up as spam. Same for my wife's and a friend of mine too.
 
Man of Honour
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To all those saying that they haven't received their email confirmation from Three, check your spam. Mine was sent to my GMail account and it ended up as spam. Same for my wife's and a friend of mine too.

Only email I have is:

Hello Christopher,

Thanks for placing an order with us. If any of these details are incorrect, please call us on 0844 481 2353* quoting your reference number.

Your reference number: ##########

What you've ordered: iPhone 4S 32GB Black

One-off cost: £189.00

Price plan: The One Plan

What you'll pay: £35.00 per month.

Has there been a second one?
 
Associate
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Got my tracking email through eventually. £149.98! That's a pleasent surprise.

If that turns out to be true then the deal ends up like this:

2,000 minutes X-NET
5,000 minutes ON-NET
5,000 texts
Unlimited Data
Unlimited Tethering
£35/month - 24 month contract

32GB iPhone 4S - £189 upfront cost

£149.98 Quidco cashback

TCO = £879.02 (average £36.63/month)

How long until the cashback is paid?
 

Deleted member 651465

D

Deleted member 651465

Quido/Topcashback work by using affiliate links and cookies.

I usually clear my cache, browsing history etc, and do the purchase "fresh", to avoid problems without tracking. I don't use Quidco because of the £5 annual charge, but with Topcashback you can see a list of your purchases, so if you don't get paid you simply pick the purchase from a dropdown, and let them know.

It can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to track. Several weeks or months to pay out.

The cashback won't vary by size of the device, just by the contract you took out. 12 months, 1 month etc.
 
Soldato
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Only email I have is:

Has there been a second one?

Nope, just that one for me too, but if you call them on the number in the email then they will confirm that it has all gone through. Just noticed a bunch of peeps here saying that they hadn't received any confirmation that the order has been placed, and that mine went to spam when I placed the order on Saturday.
 
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