[cendrillon]

Originally Posted by PDLM

A bit heavy though, and I think I'd be worried about carrying something like that around all the time, at least until they become a lot cheaper/commonplace/less attractive to thieves.

I got mine last Saturday and threw it into a case protector straight away. Now it looks like a regular 2G iPhone. I guess you lose the show off factor, but it certainly helps to deter thieves

BTW I think they're fantastic. Internet is fast, the games are great (almost on par with PSP), music, movies, ebooks, instant posting of photos to your website, syncing email and calendars automatically by push technology... I'm very impressed.

If you really want an unlocked version you could pick one up in the UK prepaid for 300 pounds (about $4500 HKD) and crack it. But the 3 iphone contract is the cheapest 3G contract around so I don't see the point:

e.g.
prepaid iphone from UK $4500
500 MB 3G $298
3G voice plan $138

Total over 2 years = $14,964
(assuming you can find a way to crack the phone)

or just sign a 3 contract

legitimate phone from three $2900
500 MB 3G plus voice plan $188

Total cost over 2 years = $7412

At around half the price for a legitimate phone, why bother cracking???

[jimbo]

Cendrillon

Ah but not all of us want to take up a second contract just for the iphone.

500mb is not much to be honest you really need unlimited.

[BenderLives]

yeah...and based on the 3 website...i thought the phone was free if you do unlimited data....no?

[BenderLives]

also...any word on trade in prices for 2G iphone?? and where i can trade it in? it would be great if 3 gave trade in for old ones and gave good money for them.

[cendrillon]

Originally Posted by jimbo

Cendrillon
Ah but not all of us want to take up a second contract just for the iphone.
500mb is not much to be honest you really need unlimited.

What do you mean by 'second contract'? Are you already on a contract from your existing phone? Then I guess you're stuck.

Personally I find 500 MB to be more than enough. Doing a bit of web browsing and watching the odd video on youtube I barely scratch 100 MB. I guess if you really love youtube then you might need more, but I don't really think it's worth paying $300 extra per month just to watch more youtube videos.

But if you've got the money then by all means go for an unlimited contract, it's $498 per month.

Then the iphone is free and the total cost works out to $11952 over 24 months.

Alternatively you could buy a prepaid one from the UK for $4500, then go on a regular 3G contract for $138 voice plus $488 data. Working out to a total of $19524, assuming that you can crack the phone.

Although why you'd want to pay $7500 extra to have an illegitimate phone is beyond me. I'm sure you could terminate your existing contract for less than that?

[campas12]

Originally Posted by cendrillon

What do you mean by 'second contract'? Are you already on a contract from your existing phone? Then I guess you're stuck.

Personally I find 500 MB to be more than enough. Doing a bit of web browsing and watching the odd video on youtube I barely scratch 100 MB. I guess if you really love youtube then you might need more, but I don't really think it's worth paying $300 extra per month just to watch more youtube videos.

But if you've got the money then by all means go for an unlimited contract, it's $498 per month.

Then the iphone is free and the total cost works out to $11952 over 24 months.

Alternatively you could buy a prepaid one from the UK for $4500, then go on a regular 3G contract for $138 voice plus $488 data. Working out to a total of $19524, assuming that you can crack the phone.

Although why you'd want to pay $7500 extra to have an illegitimate phone is beyond me. I'm sure you could terminate your existing contract for less than that?

i just chcked my data plan usage from my usa att account- over the past 1.5 yrs (using data phones - but iphone for the past year), i used an avg of 350 mb a month...i peaked at 450 (using iphone), and 1gb (when using a windows phone with slingbox)...

this is using the iphone for email pulling every 15minutes for 5 email accounts and a decent amt of web browsing...

so 500mb seems to be enough for most....then again with faster net speeds, one might potentially use more data...

[BenderLives]

its not just using it for youtube...theres the appstore, online games, streaming music/movies from web or slingbox, etc

i think 500 is a good start, as long as you can easily upgrade when you go over the limit.

so any word on the quantities?
is it possible to go to three shops and get an iphone this weekend? or do you think its sold out with long waiting list?

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by cendrillon

What do you mean by 'second contract'? Are you already on a contract from your existing phone? Then I guess you're stuck.

Most people here are probably on an existing contract with a different service provider, Thus it does not make sense to have two contracts running at the same time. I'm only 3 months into a 12 month contract thus am not going to move anytime soon.

Don't forget that three only have first dibs on the iphone not an exclusive contract thus it will be only a matter of a few months till its available on the other networks. Thus I can wait till then or just buy an offline handset from mongkok next week.

[cendrillon]

Yeah, I tend to think 500 MB is plenty, at least for my usage pattern. And $498 per month is way too much for me.

App store you can access over wifi at home, online games, well there arn't really any so far and I think the bandwidth required would be pretty small. As for streaming movies, music, that might be cool when Orb etc. comes out on the iphone, but for a saving of $300 per month, wouldn't you rather just sync your phone at home in the morning and copy across whatever you plan to watch for the day?

And with push mail no need to poll your 6 mail servers every 15 minutes

You can go on their auto-upgrade plan, for extra bandwith, but you're still looking at $288 for an extra 500 MB.

As for quantity, there at 60,000 on the waiting list, but if you go down to the store and try your luck then you never know

[cendrillon]

Originally Posted by jimbo

Don't forget that three only have first dibs on the iphone not an exclusive contract thus it will be only a matter of a few months till its available on the other networks. Thus I can wait till then or just buy an offline handset from mongkok next week.

Yes, but then you're still looking at an extra $7000 cost of ownership over the life of the phone. Apart from the iphone plan, 3G plans in general are just so damn expensive. You can't really get 500 MB for less then $400 per month.

I don't know about you but most people I know are just on monthly contracts with no commitment. This is generally alot cheaper than the 1 year or 2 year contracts they force you to sign when they give you a 'free' or 'discounted' phone. If you add up the extra cost of your contract over the 1 or 2 years you'll find it's often more than the value of the 'free' phone they've given you.

A friend of mine was happy he got a phone for $1600 until I pointed out that his contract with three cost $60 per month than mine for the same nuber of minutes, which over 24 months brought the real cost up to $3000 which was more than the phone was worth prepaid.

That's kind of why I was pleasently surprised to see that the iphone contract are actually cheaper than regular 3G contracts.