Still torn as to whether to buy an iPhone on Orange, go with O2’s old-school package, or hold out for Vodafone’s deals in 2010? Well, it all comes down to the minor details, with Orange and O2 asking you for to slap down the same monthly fee for Apple’s blower. So let us guide you through those all important extras that could make all the difference.
Tethering:
O2 asks for a wallet destroying £14.68 for 3GB of data if you want to tether your precious new iPhone to your laptop. Orange’s number crunchers have managed to come up with a far cheaper deal though, asking for just £4.89 for 3GB. And that’s just for regular punters. Nearly every Orange business deal costs £4.25 a month unless you’re on the Business Infinity deal getting you unlimited data for £95.
Winner: Orange
Data usage:
Orange isn’t renowned for its generous data plans. And the iPhone offering is no different. While O2 offers truly unlimited data, Orange is capping its fair use policy at 750MB. Fine if all you’re doing is incessantly checking the footie scores or loading up your homescreen with rafts of shonky free apps. However, if you have Spotify, it means you’ll be limited to 13 hours of music a month. That works out as right songs a day. If you want next-gen streaming music, O2’s where it’s at.
Winner: O2
Dedicated apps
O2’s My O2 iPhone app is a handy way to know exactly how many minutes and texts you;re ploughing through. Tap in and you can access tariff and contract gubbins normally buried in a pile of crumpled papers at the back of your wardrobe. However, the Orange Wednesdays iPhone app is a real winner. You can request and redeem your 2-for-1 movie tickets straight from the app and even invite your pals. O2 owners can get it too, but only to check listings and tell everyone what’s on. Vodafone says it will have “iPhone surprises” in the New Year, so expect something similarly useful.
Winner: Orange
Tariffs:
The Orange iPhone is cheaper than the O2 iPhone. But not by much. The cheapest monthly deal clocks in at £29.36, just 2p less than O2’s offering. Every other deal is just 1p below what O2 asks for every four weeks. However, you can get the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS on the cheapest deal on Orange, while you need to pay a minimum of £34.26 a month on O2 to play nice with the top notch version of the blower. In fact, you can pick up an iPhone 3GS 16GB on Orange for £125 on Orange compared to £184.98 on O2. Orange wins out here, but only just.
Winner: Orange
Roaming:
Pay a massive £122.34 a month for an iPhone on Orange and you get 100 roaming minutes and 20MB data. Otherwise you’ll be subject to Orange’s standard roaming charges, starting at 38p per minute for calls from the EU. On O2, pay monthly deals include the International Traveller Service (ITS) , as long as you get over 600 minutes a month. O2 says ITS will save you as much as 80 per cent on regular roaming costs. Calls start at 35p a minute. If you pay for less than 600 minutes, you’ll need to stump up £2.99 for ITS access.
Winner: O2
Overall winner: Orange
If Orange won 3 out of 5 tests why did o2 win overall? :S
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Not sure it’s quite so clear-cut. There are a couple of big topics that haven’t been covered…
MMS/SMS – Orange will charge 25p per MMS message (photo and video) regardless of your tariff or remaining allowance, and will also charge international roaming rates for SMS messages sent from abroad – up to 50p per message in some cases. In both cases, O2 will reduce your allowed bundle for the services.
It’s also worth considering customer service in all of this too.
Decided to take my upgrade with Orange and plunge with the cheapest tariff with the 3GS 16GB…
all aside, Orange provides the best 3G coverage and also customer service excellent (experience with using current 3G phone).
As for charging extra for MMS/SMS? Why sending MMS when you can use the iphone to send pictures/video’s via emails, or upload videos onto Youtube and then forward link to friends via email.
Check with orange customer services. £4.89 a month for teathering does not get you 3GB its gets you 500mb for the 3GB service you have to pay around the £14 mark.
Also anyone want to send picture messages with the iphone? On Orange its going to set you back 25p a message, O2 just takes two standard messages from your price plan. Oranges data limits also seem a little unfair, especially when o2 describer their data useage as 3Gb (or so i hear). And as a decider after visiting the o2 shop at the trafford centre, manchester an o2 rep has told me that from monday the 9th o2 will be reducing its teathering prices to around the £10 mark for 3Gb.
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Iffy facts here- just signed up to orange partly on the fact that they are doing 3gb tethering for a fiver..sounded amazing. Juts a pity this incorrect review got it completely wrong. £5 for 500mb is rubbish. To the author – get your facts right first fool.
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