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Continuing the saga of fair usage of my iPhone 3G and o2. Quoted direct from an o2 representative, sic “We are not ripping anyone off” – meaning : we are ripping everyone off as fast as we can before the legislation takes hold. The premise is simple. The iPhone 3G was previously only sold by o2 in the U.K. One SIM available and it was the only one that would work legally and practically for all but the highly computer literate. Then Vodaphone came along and started offering PAYG. Now there is the dilema of allowing the phone user to switch from one company to another. For this Apple have to allow the user to ‘unlock’ their phone, enabling it to be used with different SIMS, especially those abroad for which people were already dismantling their iPhones. Now, Im a life long Apple user from times when Microsoft had to bale them out, and even before then when Apple had to bale out Microsoft. It will take a very long time for me to start to see Apple as anything but the underdog, but now my previously unmovable faith has started to show cracks. Being tied to one of the phone companies like this has definately caused a lot of grief. Then there is the small matter of roaming abroad and being charged crippling sums for very light downloading. I recently tried to use Brightkite whilst abroad in France using the app. For the three times I used it 02 tried to charge me £10. Now I know that SFR – the French equivelant of Vodaphone are currently charging £1 – unlimited download PAYG – which seems very reasonable.
I immediately phoned 02 ( on one of the few numbers that are in my allowance I sincerely hope ) to question this. It turned out that one of the charges actually happened at a time when I was asleep! This was brushed off needless to say with the excuse that it was the French network sending the item late – which of course could not be checked. This is of course a load of rubbish much the same as anything uttered by the spokespeople for the banks. Anything said is with a line toed to not being shot in the foot and is nothing whatsoever to do with honesty until some reliable member of the press picks up on them and starts digging.
Eventually I got a refund, but it took me threatening a complaint. Now the dilemma of the iPhone 4 looms. 5M pixel camera and HD video footage. Forget the HD video footage, who is going to risk trying to upload a photo via a Euro let alone Asian / American / African upload without trying to organise a new SIM from that country. Any U.K. tariff is totally opaque, except for the companies to say £X amount for 1MB which is a total joke. Different apps use differing amounts let alone the fact that different jpegs cannot be totally different in size. This is a fact that all the phone networks know only too well. Their tariff is design as a short hold to capture the maximum amount of revenue before things go against them. Like the banks – If only I could set up my own. The rules would be fixed by national mandate. But then, I may as well hope for a second wave of communist revolution. For now, Ill change my SIM for the country Im in, and would suggest anyone else do the same…

Tags: Charges, Data, Europe, o2, PAYG, Roaming, SFR, Vodaphone

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Apple, iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.