Caveat Emptor - Irish iPhone Early Adopters, Part 2
I keep on coming across the same Pat Phelan reaction to the iPhone pricing and wondering…
Am I the only one who has ever noticed how expensive ALL of the mobile phone tariffs are (especially the data charges), on ALL of the networks in Ireland, in comparison to the U.K? The phone prices are also very different, and the range of phones.
It’s nothing to do with the iPhone itself, it’s the same old adage in this country it’s “what the market can bare” rather than “best value for money”. O2 keeps its prices high because they can, and people are still going to buy the iPhone despite the download cap and excessive pricing.
As far back as September 2007 I suggested that those desperate for an iPhone would be better off with an iPod Touch instead. The iPod Touch has everything the iPhone has except it’s not a phone (though the iPhone isn’t exactly brilliant at being an actual phone - no MMS messaging, difficult SMS input etc.,) oh and let’s not forget that the iPod Touch doesn’t have that god awful 2 megapixel camera, what a loss.
Buying the iPod Touch is even better advice today because of the Joikuspot Software. Or, you could take Pat Phelan’s advice and go to the North, buy the iPhone and get it unlocked to use on any network. But that means being stuck in an 18-month contract and paying a monthly fee for minutes you will never get (though I doubt this is possible as you need to be a resident of the U.K to sign up to a mobile contract IN the U.K).
Even if you DO have an unlocked iPhone and use it on another network - you will still have to pay the high prices for Edge mobile data, so what’s the point?
March 5th, 2008 at 11:24 am
HUH???
Of course you can configure it to another network Sinead
Works perfect on Meteor, thanks for the mention.
http://codex1.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/iphone-edge-problems-on-meteor/
March 5th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Ah yes, my mistake. Pity Meteor charges crazy prices for their Edge Data too!
March 5th, 2008 at 11:29 am
no they don’t
look at the packages, lots of free add-ons from meteor also
http://www.meteor.ie/personal/bill_pay/add_ons/data_add_ons/
I have nothing to do with Meteor by the way but 250mb for 9.99 a month :-)
March 5th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I suppose that’s debatable.
Personally I think that it’s still expensive in comparison to data packages available from Vodafone and 3 on a 3G Network.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
that it is
Unfortunately the phone wont run on those networks so Meteor for me is the only solution.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Any idea if Meteor will launch those edge data bundles for pay-as-you-go?
July 19th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Nice blog, i have added it to my favourites, greetings