Why buy an iPhone 5s from a phone company: Off topic subject
I have been looking at new phones, as I have rather an old phone and as an exercise I thought it would be interesting to compare the offerings from all the phone companies and was shocked, at what I found as the true cost of ownership for the new iPhone 5s and the 5c is not much cheaper. So for me the low cost phone is a wash, a total waste of time. What I found out in my comparisons was that it is cheaper to buy the phone from Apple and buy a Sim only deal. The one that I think looks great is from Three, the other networks charge more for their SIM only deals. Three are also supposed to be not charging extra for their 4G network, when it rolls out latter this year. The only thing, I do not know is if you sign up for a contract on the SIM only deal now, does it automatically move to let you use the 4G network, when it is available. This is something, that I want to find out. I am currently on O2 and I will be changing to Three, whether I change my phone or not now as I can get the SIM only deal and then buy the iPhone 5s later.
Why would I want a new iPhone, now that is a little more difficult. I want more a phone that lets me surf the internet while I am out faster, that means it is not to phone but the connection which is why I want a 4G network, I want to be able to tether the phone to my laptop so I can surf on that and work using the faster speeds of 4G while on location as a photographer, the ability to upload and download images while on the road without a WiFi connection is what interests me. That I cannot do on my current phone and phone company combination, so it will mean a shift. However, what I really want in a phone, no one will ever design or make. I want a big screen for words only, so I can make calls and send texts on a small handset with the ability to use the phone as a WIFI hotspot to connect to an iPad or Laptop via tethering, when I want to see emails and work the internet. This would be my idea phone, but as we have a tendency as a society to design our products with increasing complexity, we will never see something like this.
I want more data than I used too, because I want to be able to tether my computer. Mainly because, when I am teaching in the photostudio at Ida Store Learning I do not have internet access, yet a 4G enabled phone would let me tether my laptop and get the information when I need it. Which, is why I am comparing data plans as much as phone times in this comparison.
iPhone 5S comparison on UK networks
O2.co.uk
iPhone 5s 16GB with: 5gb data + unlimited minute + unlimited Texts
Costs £42-00 per month for 24 months
£1008 24 month contract total
£169-00 phone cost
£1177-00 total cost of ownership over two years.
www.three.co.uk
iPhone 5s 16GB with: unlimited Data + 1000 minutes + 5000 texts
cost £39-00 monthly per month for 24 months
£936-00 24 month contract total
£99-00 phone cost
£1035-00 total cost of ownership over two years.
Sim only Unlimited data + 2000 minutes + 5000 texts + 5000 Three-to-Three minutes
£15-00 monthly per month for 24 months
£360-00 24months
£549-00 iPhone 5s 16GB from Apple
£909-00 total cost of ownership over two years.
Vodaphone
iPhone 5s 16GB with 4GB data + unlimited minutes + unlimited texts
£52-00 per monthly per month for 24 months
£1248-00 for 24 months
£19-00 phone
£1267 total cost of ownership over two years.
EE
iPhone 5s 16GB 2GB data + unlimited minutes + unlimited texts
£41-00 per monthly per month for 24 months
£984-00 for 24 months
£99-99 for phone
£1083-99 total cost of ownership over two years.
Or
iPhone 5s 16GB 10GB data + unlimited minutes + unlimited texts
£46-00 per monthly per month for 24 months
£1104-00 for 24 months
£49-99 for phone
£1153-00 total cost of ownership over two years.