If I purchased a sim free iphone 4s.....
- Thread starter -Mike-
- Start date
Well cpw 0870 told me to get stuffed and ring apple. I rang apple and apple man told me "the phone was never unlocked and has ALWAYS been a handset destined for o2 sir....
The plot thickens and I'm back on the phone to carphone warehouse!
The plot thickens and I'm back on the phone to carphone warehouse!
Update :
After speaking to cpw again and advising them that apple said it was an o2 handset from word go and that I wasn't informed I couldn't chop and change sims as I wanted to they've agreed to allow me to swap handsets.
I've got the choice of the balance of the 4s against another phone or if the replacement is less they'll refund me the difference as a cheque.
After speaking to cpw again and advising them that apple said it was an o2 handset from word go and that I wasn't informed I couldn't chop and change sims as I wanted to they've agreed to allow me to swap handsets.
I've got the choice of the balance of the 4s against another phone or if the replacement is less they'll refund me the difference as a cheque.
The HOS is £349 and the GS3 is £499
well if you must have something new now with a new iphone round the corner I'd personally probably go One X which is a big deal for me to say seeing as I'm pretty firmly in the apple camp.
Assuming it's pretty easy to put a stock jellybean rom on it eventually.
Assuming it's pretty easy to put a stock jellybean rom on it eventually.
To be honest I'm totally lost in the world of mobile phones, I simply use my old Nokia to make - well the odd phone call. I am however interested in the whole SIM free debate. Is it really better/cheaper to get a SIM free phone? After all if you look say at the iPhone 4S, if you buy from the Apple store it's around the £500 mark yet you still have to purchase some sort of data/call plan. If you go for a contract you pay relatively little up front but of course you are tied to a network for around 24 months. So to sum up, what is the attraction then of SIM free?
you need to employ maths and each persons circumstances are different.
For example if a handset was £500 sim free but you could get it free for £20 a month for 2 years with some free calls and texts then technically you've got a decent deal because you've paid less than the full price and got some stuff free.
The other way is that same phone is £35 a month for 2 years and "free" so it ultimately costs you £760 for 2 years although presumably you'd get more "free" calls and texts.
The final solution is to buy the handset sim free and then get a sim only or pay as you go deal which is normally much less restrictive, no long term tie ins and generally more generous with the "free" things like calls and texts but then you have ti stump up the £500 (or whatever the charge is) which many people just can't do.
So in out and out financial terms it does often work out beneficial to go the sim free route but only if you're in a position to drop several hundred pounds into a handset which many aren't regardless of how it stacks up as finalised numbers.
Bit like it would cost you a million quid or whatever to buy a £300k house over 30 years but most people don't have the £300k to start off with.
Its horses for courses, no right or wrong although there's often a fairly polarised debate on it.
I've gone sim free a few times because I like changing a lot, I've never had a handset for the whole contract term I originally signed up to I don't think and thats over nearly 20 years of ownership. Thats a different debate though, I know I pay a small premium for the freedom to chop and change.
For example if a handset was £500 sim free but you could get it free for £20 a month for 2 years with some free calls and texts then technically you've got a decent deal because you've paid less than the full price and got some stuff free.
The other way is that same phone is £35 a month for 2 years and "free" so it ultimately costs you £760 for 2 years although presumably you'd get more "free" calls and texts.
The final solution is to buy the handset sim free and then get a sim only or pay as you go deal which is normally much less restrictive, no long term tie ins and generally more generous with the "free" things like calls and texts but then you have ti stump up the £500 (or whatever the charge is) which many people just can't do.
So in out and out financial terms it does often work out beneficial to go the sim free route but only if you're in a position to drop several hundred pounds into a handset which many aren't regardless of how it stacks up as finalised numbers.
Bit like it would cost you a million quid or whatever to buy a £300k house over 30 years but most people don't have the £300k to start off with.
Its horses for courses, no right or wrong although there's often a fairly polarised debate on it.
I've gone sim free a few times because I like changing a lot, I've never had a handset for the whole contract term I originally signed up to I don't think and thats over nearly 20 years of ownership. Thats a different debate though, I know I pay a small premium for the freedom to chop and change.
Thanks for the informative response. I have always worked on the principle you cannot afford not to buy things outright. If I can't afford to pay up front then I either don't buy or wait until I can buy outright. Even my house, I paid 80% of it up front then paid it off completely over five years. Whenever I buy expensive items i.e. cars etc. I make a note of the deal to buy on credit against buying cash. What I have saved over the years is truly astonishing. Let's put it this way it has enabled me to bring forward my retirement by around 5 years. Quite simply buying on credit is a mugs game.
To be honest I completely disagree, especially so in terms of handset purchase/contract but thats not a discussion for here!
I see a subsidised handset more as a cost of service seeing as if you buy smart you often pay less than the ticket price of the handset on its own. Its certainly convenient if you can facilitate it but not a deal breaker for me.
We wouldn't have had the explosion in smartphone development/usage if the price of entry was the unsubsidised price of a handset so I certainly wouldn't call that a mugs game. Routinely paying upwards of £3-400 for handsets would totally stifle innovation in that market.
Anyway, I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth here as I do buy sim free as I said..
There are plenty of mugs contracts out there but the whole thing isn't a mugs game in my opinion. Liquidity and cash-flow are not the same as credit and debt IMO.
I see a subsidised handset more as a cost of service seeing as if you buy smart you often pay less than the ticket price of the handset on its own. Its certainly convenient if you can facilitate it but not a deal breaker for me.
We wouldn't have had the explosion in smartphone development/usage if the price of entry was the unsubsidised price of a handset so I certainly wouldn't call that a mugs game. Routinely paying upwards of £3-400 for handsets would totally stifle innovation in that market.
Anyway, I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth here as I do buy sim free as I said..
There are plenty of mugs contracts out there but the whole thing isn't a mugs game in my opinion. Liquidity and cash-flow are not the same as credit and debt IMO.
Well shock horror! 25 mile round trip, time off work and they refused to swap it. The guy even had the cheek to ask me "why is it you want two different networks anyway" - well thats not really any of your business!
I paid for sim free and he assured me it was unlocked just like the Galaxy S3.
CPW head office email now perhaps but I'm stumped.
I paid for sim free and he assured me it was unlocked just like the Galaxy S3.
CPW head office email now perhaps but I'm stumped.
so its locked to o2?
Contact them and they'll likely unlock it FOC and thats that, seriously quicker than thrashing something out with CPW HO.
http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/srvs/cgi...ion,question=ref(user):str(Mobile),CASE=17424
Contact them and they'll likely unlock it FOC and thats that, seriously quicker than thrashing something out with CPW HO.
http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/srvs/cgi...ion,question=ref(user):str(Mobile),CASE=17424
I did mine online with O2 done 2 or 3 actually can take up to 28 days to process but always worked fine and normally complete before that timescale