The iPhone 5 is available for all, but who has the best deal? We’ve been looking at the best contracts around. The major contenders are EE, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone and Three. We consider Three to be offering the best all-round deal at the moment.
Best Unlimited Data Deal Over 2-Years – 16GB iPhone 5
Three – They have a good deal with their all-you-can-eat data plans over 24-months, here are the options:
Unlimited Internet 500 – This tariff offers 500 minutes, 5,000 texts and unlimited data. This deal is for a 24-month contract. The handset costs £79, then you pay £34 per month.
The One Plan – The One Plan comes with all-you-can-eat data, 2,000 any network minutes, 5,000 texts and 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes. Again the handset cost £79 and then a monthly payment of £36, over 24 months.
Unlimited Internet 300 – This is a 24-month deal with all-you-can-eat data, 300 any network minutes and 5,000 texts. You pay a bit more for the handset up-front with this contract – its £129, with a monthly payment of £32.
Unlimited Internet 100 – This offer provides all-you-can-eat data, 100 any network minutes and 5,000 texts. This one has an up-front handset cost of £159 and £31 per month.
Essential Internet 100 – This offer allows 250MB of data transfer, only good if you’re a very light data user. You also get 100 any network minutes and 5,000 texts. This offer comes in at £189 for the handset and £30 per month thereafter.
Unlimited Internet 1000 – This package come with no up-front handset cost. You get all-you-can-eat data, 1,000 any network minutes and 5,000 texts. This one is £44 per month for the 16GB iPhone 5.
Vodafone
Vodafone’s flagship deal is the Red Data plan, this includes a free 16GB iPhone 5 handset with unlimited calls and texts and 2GB of internet. This deal will set you back £47 per month, on a 24-month contract. That’s £1128 for two years. The 2GB data per month would soon be eaten up, if you intend to use FaceTime over 3G, I would suggest an unlimited plan.
Tesco Mobile
The iPhone 5 will soon be available on Tesco Mobile, however they use O2’s network and like O2, they are sticking to a 1GB data allowance. Tesco offer three 24-month tariffs, the monthly price is the same for all iPhone 5 models.
16GB – Its £25 per month for 1,500 minutes, with the handset costing £300, £30 for 500 minutes, with the handset priced at £200 or £45 for 500 minutes, with the handset at £50.
32GB – The iPhone 5 32GB model will cost £375, £275 and £125 on these tariffs.
64GB – The largest capacity version will cost £450, £350 and £200, on the contracts above.
EE
We have not seen the options from the Orange & T-Mobile parent EE. Apparently they will make it easy for Orange & T-Mobile customers to upgrade to their new 4G service. They have said there will be no additional charge as long as the new plan is equivalent or greater in price.
Orange 24-Months Contracts
They’re a bit stingy with data, if you want unlimited with these guys, you’re going to need to shell out £51 per month. They also offer 1GB for £36 per month and 2GB for £41 per month.
Pay As You Go & Sim Free
You can buy an unlocked iPhone 5 direct from the Apple website, they are priced at £529 for the smallest capacity 16GB model, £599 for the 32GB version and £699 for the top 64GB model. They currently have a dispatch time of around 3-4 weeks.
Tesco – They have confirmed the iPhone 5 will be available on pay as you go at some point in the future.
