iPhone 4 Tariff Comparison

If you’re hoping to get the new iPhone 4 when it launches later this month you’ve got a big decision to make – which network do you go with? In the past this hasn’t really been too much of a problem, as every iPhone release prior to this one was exclusive to O2. This time round we’ve had announcements from every UK network and Tesco Mobile, with rumours that Virgin Mobile are also going to be offering it.

Tariff and handset pricing is slowly starting to become available and while all networks are pretty close, there are a few differences between them. There are also a couple of other things to bear in mind when you take out a new contract on the iPhone 4.

18m or 24m contract?

As much as I don’t really like the idea of a 2 year contract, they do actually make sense when it comes to iPhone. The main reason being that if Apple stick to their annual iPhone update, there will be a new iPhone every June/July.

If you opt for an 18 month contract, chances are that when you’re out of contract in January 2012, you won’t want to upgrade to what ever iPhone is current as it means you won’t be able to upgrade again in June/July with out paying a heavy penalty. So, if you’re going to wait for the newer one, you might as well sign for 2 years in the first place and save yourself some money.

Several friends of mine that have an iPhone 3G held off upgrading to the iPhone 3GS for this very reason, and like me, they’re going to be first in line for the iPhone 4. Those who ran out and upgraded to the iPhone 3GS at the end of their contract in January are now kicking themselves as it means they’ve got to shell out a lot of cash to get iPhone 4 or wait until this time next year for iPhone 5.

16GB or 32GB?

As with any device that has fixed internal storage, always get the largest capacity device that you can afford. If your budget allows it, go for the 32GB. You might not have enough music to fill it now, but you’re going to have this phone for another 18 – 24 months. Just think how much extra music, photos, videos and apps you’re going to be carrying around with you in the future. If your phone can’t store it all, it means you’re going to have to constantly update your play lists and transfer videos on and off the phone.

Which Network?

This is the big question and one that there isn’t a straight forward answer to. Tariffs from O2 and Orange have been confirmed, Vodafone have had some pricing leaked, but this isn’t confirmed yet.

UPDATE: Vodafone have confirmed their tariffs now and the charts below have been updated to include them.

UPDATE 24/06/10: Three have now released their tariffs, but haven’t confirmed if these are 18m or 24m, but given the aggressive pricing, we’d assume 24m. Charts updated with new pricing.

In terms of services and supported features, O2 are the only network to currently support Visual Voicemail, so if this is something you want/need, you’ll need to stick to O2.

Most tariffs include unlimited texts, but not unlimited internet. Even those that say unlimited have an asterisk next to it that says there’s a MB limit on your data. Vodafone were the most generous with the iPhone 3GS, giving 1GB of data each month. O2 are introducing a data cap of 500MB on most tariffs and Orange sit in the middle on 750MB. In all cases this should be more than enough for most users, so long as you try and stick to wi-fi for data intensive apps or video streaming.

I’ve put a pricing comparison below that shows the differences between the networks, but with so many combinations available, I can’t list them all and you’ll need to take a look at the network’s websites for full details.

To try and give a more accurate reflection of cost, you’ll see that there’s a total contract cost and an average monthly cost in the tables below. The total contract cost is the cost of the phone plus your line rental, and the average monthly cost is this figure divided by how ever many months are in your contract. This makes it easier to see the savings of a 24m contract over an 18m one.

iPhone 4 32GB

The value for money is just a quick way of working out whether you’re getting enough from your contract. The 24m £30 deal may look like the cheapest way of getting an iPhone 4, but the reduced number of minutes, text and data make it an expensive way to run the phone. The higher this number is, the more you get for your money.

iPhone 4 16GB

Again, the value for money table shows if you’re getting enough from your contract. The 18m £30 deal again looks like it’s the cheapest way of getting an iPhone 4, and although the contract cost is the lowest, you don’t get much in the way of minutes, texts or data.

Remember though, the Vodafone prices are based on those that were leaked earlier in the week and I’d expect these to change to fall in line with O2 and Orange. As soon as pricing is confirmed for other networks, I’ll get this updated.

While you’re waiting for more details to come out, why not go shopping for a case to protect your shiny new iPhone 4? We’ve got over 150 to choose from already, with even more due in coming weeks. Take a look at our iPhone 4 Cases.