PAYG iPhone

Has anyone found out which network will be offering PAYG SIM only for iPhone 4 from launch and what the terms are??

Vodaphone seems to have a SIM only contract- admittedly from a '30day' period to 12month, but when I click for more info I get a 404 error

O2 are only offering to current customers and for reasons of inactivity on my part I have been a T-Mobile sufferer since I got a phone in ~1994 (OK it was Mercurey One-2-One then)
but they don't appear to be offering SIM only at launch anyway.

On Orange it isn't clear whether there'll be SIM only plans [cust serve "have no further information at this time"]

The point is I've ordered an unlocked one direct from Apple but don't think I will need to use as much as even £20 per month on a contract

A

Edited by nonymouse (Wed 23-Jun-10 20:10:18)

The problem here is the SIM. If you are already PAYG your iPhone 4 will work if you cut the SIM down. What the data costs may be is another matter entirely! There are guides as to how to chop the SIM to be found if you Google for them.

I have had no end of haggles with Vodafone, which resulted in me ultimately getting an O2 micro SIM with a £15 a month/30 day contract on Monday. You won't find this deal online or promoted in store and you're likely be too late now. I haggled in a store using my Vodafone bills as lever (lots of roaming costs attached to them that I bill back to my employer). It's also the current unlimited data deal that expires with the launch tomorrow. The number was transferred today. Thankfully, my current phone is unlocked! I'd have preferred to stick with Vodafone, but they don't do visual voice mail and they seemed utterly clueless about Micro SIM availability for tomorrow unless I could be asked to go and queue up outside a store at 7am! I could have cut down my SIM, but why should I - their loss albeit that they were offering me a £10 a month deal with 500K of data.

PAYG for iPhone will arrive, but with so many premium customers chasing so few phones this month you can understand why the networks are holding back! My advice to you would be to get a 30 day contract and then switch when PAYG arrives. That's if they are a better deal for you. I suspect that few, if any, PAYG contracts are. They may seem to cost less, but they claw back those costs all over the show with charges for using voicemail and charges for out of agreement calls of all sorts. I once heard them described as a licence to print money as far as the networks are concerned.

I'm astounded that anyone is a T-Mobile customer. I dumped them years ago. They offered poor service and bad value all round.

What's the point when you only save about £70 over a fully unlocked one. Then have all the hassle of getting it unlocked.

3 seems to be doing what you require from 25th June.

check Here

Ooh, thanks for the link - hadn't spotted that, and I intend to go with 3, after using them for the iPad and finding their coverage is excellent.

Those are very impressive tariffs...... and would have made me think twice even though have had poor experience previously with Three.... already bit the bullet with O2 this morning 32gb version arriving tommorrow.....

Yay!!

iPhone 4 ordered from Apple Store on 15th (but late in the day) was due to ship on 2nd july but shipped today

I assume someone out there already has one, but is having too much fun to post and tell us how it's going?


A

Was wondering the same.

Don't like the fact that it has A[ssisted]-GPS. And the connectivity issue... :?

Added: O2 took a tenner out my PAYG account for the continuation of the free web & wi-fi bolt-on. Stopped further ones. It was hardly used really, prefer home wi-fi.

Edited by deleted (Thu 01-Jul-10 00:57:09)

I believe Assisted-GPS is enhanced GPS. As well as using the normal GPS satellite signals, it triangulates off the local mobile transmitter masts to home in on your position faster when you switch it on. A non-assisted GPS has to wait for less frequently transmitted satellite data (ephemera?) to work out which of several theoretically possible positions on the globe it is currently at. .... I think!

And the connectivity issue... :?

Reading around the analyses from people with some actual expertise, it seems that Apple made an engineering choice in favour of a high performance antenna that is susceptible to degradation in certain circumstances, rather than a lower performing but less susceptible one (and all seem to conclude with "you know what, I'm getting one of these").

Playing around in the O2 shop, I could sometimes replicate the phenomenon, but cannot for the life of me think of any way I am ever likely to hold it that would cause the issue in use.

My guess is that those who tend to use a "bearpaw" grip are most likely to have issues, those enlightened souls who use the talon grip (much more secure anyway) least likely.

I suspect that a lot of the lost calls are the (apparently easily fixed) screen-off proximity sensor problem causing people to accidentally terminate calls with their cheeks.

(and as Alan says Assisted GPS is enhanced GPS - this is a good thing)

I have noticed that on iOS4 location services are much faster and much more precise than before.





5...4...3...2....

Edited by ian_c (Thu 01-Jul-10 02:42:45)

Thanks for that, but as far as I knew it uses your connection to get any maps - it isn't automatically all built in with the maps?

Edited: Was mis-informed. D'oh!

Thanks for that.

Edited by deleted (Thu 01-Jul-10 11:30:33)

In reply to a post by nonymouse:

Yay!!

iPhone 4 ordered from Apple Store on 15th (but late in the day) was due to ship on 2nd july but shipped today

I assume someone out there already has one, but is having too much fun to post and tell us how it's going?


A

Hi Nonymouse,
I've been using a 2g phone since they first came out: I unlocked it and just used if as PAYG with Tesco mobile. I resisted the urge to buy the 3G and 3GS versions, but succumbed when I saw the decent camera and video of the 4G.
I bought it outright from the Apple store for £499 and then attempted to cut down my SIM to size, but when I put in in my phone, it didn't work
-I think this was because my SIM wasn't a 3G SIM, but I don't know for sure. I was able to use the cut down SIM back in the 2G with the help of an adapter, so it wasn't that I had knackered it up completely.
So...............phoned Tesco mobile and asked them for a micro SIM. The guy that I spoke to hadn't done this before, but was reading from a script and said they would send one out and de-activate my current SIM just before receipt. This they duly did and my shiny new phone now works.
Synched it with the Mac and I have kept all the info that was on the 2G
I'm not much of a data user, since I only have a 20 minute commute to work and I have computers at home and work, so don't often feel the need to access data (Although I sometimes connect via WiFi at home, if not near the computer). There is the facility to get a week's worth of data on the PAYG phone by texting PASS to 28948 and the charge for this is £2, which I think is very reasonable.
So far I've only hit 2 problems:
1/ The dock charger on my HiFi which I use to charge the phone, worked prior to synching with the Mac, but since synching I get a message saying it isn't an approved bit of kit.
2/ I keep getting the Register your mobile screen when I connect up to the Mac and I'm already fed up with clicking 'register later'
Anyone get any workarounds for these problems?
Made up with the phone though! -I particulary like the screen resolution and battery life as well as the aforementioned camera/video (LED particularly good)

*cough*

I stand corrected. Thanks to you also that too. It must've been some residuals of PC use - I mean, I've not cut it out completely, but...

*sobs*

II.. STILL.. *bawls* do P.C.. stuff, ok?!? I have a problem, OK?!
=====================================================

Don't know where to get the iPhone 4 - Apple, or wait for O2's PAYG offering. Just don't know what to do. No phone companies are doing it pay & go atm (phone reception fault blamed) but they don't have many, so...

What you should do is DE-authorise the Mac, then authorise it again. It's in the Store tab up the top.

Maps and GPS are two separate components of a complete navigation system.

The GPS (Global Positioning System) can tell you your latitude and longitude on the earth's surface, using GPS satellites as artificial 'stars'. A sextant, compass and chronometer can provide equivalent capability if you can see the sun and stars. But like those instruments, GPS (and GPS with added radio towers) can't tell you what the earth's surface looks like near your location. For that you need a map.

An iPhone can get a map from Google (the Maps app), which dos indeed require an Internet connection; or you can buy a SatNav app such as Navigon, TomTom etc, which have built-in maps that can work without an Internet connection.

I already have Navigon and TomTom for my 3GS - All GPS gets their info from US military satellites.

Had a TomTom for my car years ago. My Moto A780 wasn't compatable with it for updating maps / traffic info - and the TT battery wouldn't hold a charge. They saw that and I got a full refund.

In reply to a post by Guest_Again:

What you should do is DE-authorise the Mac, then authorise it again. It's in the Store tab up the top.

Thanks for this Guest_Again.
Before I try it, I just wanted to check with you that it won't affect the other users on the computer (rest of the family) or the itunes purchases in my/their accounts.

No, it shouldn't, ALL the music will stay and everyone will just log-in as usual.

It's safe.

In reply to a post by Guest_Again:

No, it shouldn't, ALL the music will stay and everyone will just log-in as usual.

It's safe.

I didn't see any difference when I tried this, I still got the screen saying:

Welcome to your new iphone
Lets get started
1/ Register your iphone

Then I realised (after the third attempt) that there was an option never to register.
Ticked this and I've not been asked again
Thanks!

Glad you got it sorted.

>1/ The dock charger on my HiFi which I use to charge the phone, worked prior to synching with the Mac, but since >synching I get a message saying it isn't an approved bit of kit.

Hey, (I know I'm replying to my own post, but) I now believe I know what's going on and have a solution for others who are similarly affected.

Apparently newer iPod and iPhone models use USB charging circuitry to charge their batteries. Older chargers provided power through the FireWire portion of the connector. My iPhone 2g must have been able to charge via FireWire, whereas my newer iPhone 4 must charge via USB. However, this doesn't explain why it charged on the old dock, before I connected it to the Mac (in order to download my old iPhone 2G music/apps et cetera).

Anyway, some firms have made converters to put between old docks and newer iPhones:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewire-t...

This particular one has been discontinued, but I've managed to pick up a used one on eBay.

Sorted

I get the same message syncing my 3GS on the PC, but it still works / syncs ok.

It doesn't say it when I use my MacBook Pro.

Strange, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Post deleted by billford

Note that the restriction on advertising includes linking to schemes where you receive a commission or benefit of some kind from a user signing up.

Have you looked at giifgaff?

Thanks for both responses Adam...

TB is a bit sensitive to advertising!!

A

Giifgaff runs on O2- not best choice for my location/ office location/ PAYG options

Edited by nonymouse (Wed 07-Jul-10 20:41:43)

Having flirted with other networks, namely Three which are great for mobile broadband, I found them to be really bad for the iPhone.

I got more bars, more 3G but the speeds weren't brilliant, the data connection and reception kept dropping out and I found there to be big holes in reception where I would at least of had signal on O2.

Also, there is no Edge, so when 3G isn't there you drop to GPRS.

I'm on GiffGaff and it's brilliant, I've earned £3.65 in a few days with a few posts on the forum helping people out.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/coming-soon/iphone4/

Well having looked at the coverage maps ( I know they may not be that accurate) and reviewing all the available tariffs for PAYG, I plumped for Three and have been pleasantly surprised.

Their customer service (from Indian sub-c) has been good so far, I got extra credit for joining from another network (t-Mobile) and network coverage whilst in car has been good.

I have joined home network and Hotel Network easily.

And have had lots of envious from people who still have 3G and 3Gs but who aren't eligible for upgrade yet.

A

A friend gave his iPhone 3G to his partner, stuck a T-Mobile SIM in. Download speeds aren't impressive according to him.