Do I Really Want an iPhone?

You would think that if you walked into a shop with the intention of paying out hundreds of pounds you'd be welcomed with open arms.  Right?  Well, that's not the case when you are newly landed in the UK and trying to set up a mobile phone.

I've spent the last few days stopping into mobile shops and studying the internet to decide which of the many providers I wanted to sign up with.  I already decided on the phone.  I was getting an iPhone 4S, but did I want Vodafone, Orange, T Mobile, 3, O2 or what.  And, after some discussion we figured we get Rob one too.

We collected all the booklets on Thursday.  We used the Net to compare and contrast and today was the day.  I'd decided Orange was going to get our business.  It was a toss up between them and O2, but Orange offered access to BT's WiFi network.  O2 may have too I guess, but their site didn't say so.

So, off we went to the Orange Shop in Sloane Square.  While the door was locked when we arrived, it was soon opened after we pushed then pulled with no luck - it was 11am after all.  We were asked what we were looking for.  Having it all worked out, I said two iPhone 4S with two of the £36 monthly plans.  This got you the iPhone for about £50 each. We were also planning to add the £5 a month to make cheaper international calls.

And, then the questions started.  Do you have ID?  Do you have two bills with your address on it?  Do you have a bank account?  Can I see a UK credit card?  We explained having just arrived we can show you a passport and provide a letter from Rob's employer showing our address, but we had no bills to show yet.  Bank account was opened, but no cards yet.  We have the number.  Same story with the UK credit card, but we do have NZ cards that work.

Well, none of that wasn't going to do it.  No, all the gentleman could offer was for us to buy the phones at full price, £499 each, and get a pay as you go SIMs.  Then once we had the cards and the bills we could sign up for a monthly plan.  I pointed out that that would be pretty stupid since we'd be paying full price for the phones and then they's still get our £82 a month for the two plans.

He explained that they couldn't just hand over an expensive phone with no proof of address unless it was fully paid for.  I thought I could explain several ways to fake the address on a letter and get around it, but thought better of it.  I could see his point, but we had a letter from a government agency.  He could have looked the number up in the directory, called it and verified the information.

I started to push on the issue and asked for the manager, but you just knew that in a shop like that even the manager wouldn't get it.  It came down to if we couldn't tick all the boxes we got a phone, if we couldn't there wasn't going to be any thinking outside the box to make the sale.

So, we left in not such a good mood.

As we walked back, I started calculating.  Maybe the stupidity of Orange (and to be fair probably all the other providers) saved us some money.  Considering we don't know enough people in London yet to use 300 or 600 or unlimited minutes or 500 or 600 or unlimited texts.  And, the cost of overseas texts and calls would be extra anyway.  So, why did we need a monthly plan.

So, it was back to the hotel to reassess.  After a couple of hours on the Net it was back out.  The plan now - buy the damn phone out right for £499 and go pay as you go.  With WiFi connections and £10 top ups it was going to cheaper in the long term.

So, it was off to O2 in Kensington High Street.  I was annoyed at Orange and O2 was better for the pay as you go.  So, this was going to be easy.  Right?

No way.  They guy behind the desk this time told us if we buy the phone from them and go pay as you go, then the phone would be locked for a year and you could only use an O2 SIM card.  This meant you couldn't use a different SIM even when travelling abroad.  Funny that the Orange guy didn't mention any of this.

The O2 guy said the best way around this was to buy the phone at the Apple Store and then get a SIM from any provider.  Unlike, the Orange guy, this guy was providing good information even though it was not good for O2's business.

Next question where's the nearest Apple Store?  Answer:  Shepherd's Bush.

How do we get there?  He wasn't sure, but his colleague said it was 3 train stations a way.   So, off we went to the tube station.  We popped up in Shepherd's Bush and headed for the largest mall in the country.  Next task finding the Apple Store.  It wasn't as easy as you'd think because the Westfield Mall there is huge and there isn't mall directory that is easy to find.  Eventually, we found an information booth and after waiting in the queue for 5 minutes we were off to the Apple Store.

It was packed!  Like unbelievably so, there were easily well over 150 people there.  But half an hour later I had my unlocked iPhone 4S.  The Apple guy said all the service providers were located on the lower level, so off we went in search of the O2 store.  While the Kensington High St shop wasn't getting the business, they were most helpful so we stuck with the company.

Five minutes later I had a pay as you go with the text and internet deal for £10 and it was back to the tube station.

Apple had another £499. We'll see how things go before we get Rob's.  O2 had a new customer and Orange was out the £2000 they would have got for the two 24 month contracts we would have signed without a thought had we not been turned away.