They may have been one of the last to declare their tariffs, but as always, 3UK have come out rather competitive with their offerings, to the extent that even non-iPhone users may want to consider their Apple iPhone 3GS SIM-Only tariffs for any phone (obviously avoid the iPhone 4 tariffs as they, although identical, come with a microSIM, which is more hassle using in a normal phone).

So, most importantly, you can’t actually buy an iPhone 4 from them today, although it’s coming soon (and they have declared their tariffs).  You can buy a SIM free iPhone 4 from Apple and order and use one of their iPhone 4 SIM only tariffs though (technically you can’t order the iPhone SIM Only tariff until tomorrow).

So, what are the options? Well, let’s start with the iPhone 3GS, available in 8GB Black or 32GB White, and will cost somewhere between nothing and £129 upfront to purchase, and then they are a range of tariffs at different prices (as always) ranging from £25 to currently £35, although there will be a £40 per month option from 1st July.  Of course, all these contracts are 24 months, although they do all include 1GB Internet, 5000 texts and 5000 3UK-3UK minutes, and:

• For £25 you get 500 cross network minutes
• For £30 you still get 500 cross network minutes, but pay less for the phone
• For £35 you get 900 cross network minutes and the phone for free (although there will be an option on 1st July to pay more for the phone and get 2000 cross network minutes instead)
• When that option arrives on 1st July, you’ll also have the option of £40 per month for 2000 cross network minutes and getting the phone for free.

In a similar way, there will be multiple price options for the iPhone 4 (when available); again, all tariffs include 1GB Internet, 5000 texts and 5000 3UK-3UK minutes, and then:

• For £99 (16GB) or £189 (32GB) upfront & £30 per month you’ll get 500 cross network minutes
• For £99 (16GB) or £189 (32GB) upfront & £35 per month you’ll get 900 cross network minutes
• For £169 (16GB) or £259 (32GB) upfront & £35 per month you’ll get 2000 cross network minutes
• For £59 (16GB) or £149 (32GB) upfront & £40 per month you’ll get 2000 cross network minutes
• Finally, for £0 (16GB) or £89 (32GB) upfront & £45 per month you’ll get 2000 cross network minutes

I will say a couple of things about these offers; firstly, 3UK have avoided the use of the work “unlimited” anywhere in their marketing, and for that I congratulate them for being open clear and honest about their options.  Secondly, it’s nice to see a range of options where in essence you can pay less for the phone upfront and 3UK will recoup that cost across the life of the contract with a higher monthly premium, although I would advise you to do the sums to work out the total costs over the 24 months as to whether it’s the right way to go…

However, 3UK’s SIM only plans look even better value.  Okay, you need to buy the phone upfront and SIM Free direct from Apple, but in that case the options are:

• For £15 per month and a 1 month rolling contract, you’ll get 300 cross network minutes, 3000 texts, 2000 3UK-3UK minutes and 1GB Internet
• For £25 per month and a 12 month contract, you’ll get 2000 cross network minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 3UK-3UK minutes and 1GB Internet

As stated before, the 3UK SIM only options will (from tomorrow) come available for the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4, so in essence in either normal or microSIM sizes; the £15 per month option is similar to the old SIM Only 15 plan 3UK used to have, although it comes with more Internet that most other options today (although not as much as you could have got last year, when the fair usage limit was 2GB).

Finally, if you already have an iPhone 4, you can ring 333 and 3UK will supply a microSIM to replace your existing SIM to allow you to use your current tariff with the iPhone.

Although all these deals seem better value than the other networks, at this stage it appears the 3UK tariffs don’t include any WiFi access when out and about (with 3UK feeling their network is able to cope and therefore there’s no need to use WiFi instead), which may be a factor for you.

UPDATE: 3UK have confirmed that you can get these iPhone plans direct from Apple Stores today.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at 11:42 am and is filed under Gadgets. 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.