You’ve probably seen that Tesco have announced the availability and pricing of the iPhone on Tesco Mobile. You’ll be able to pick it up from any Tesco store that sells phones Tesco Stores that contain Phone Shops (there’s a list here) from December 14th. PAYG iPhones are available online from Tesco Phone Shop, and from from Customer Services on 0845 600 4411.
There are a few things that their iPhone page doesn’t mention, such as whether tethering or an unlock will be allowed. I’ve been in touch with the very helpful Jo at Tesco Mobile PR, and here is some info that may swing your decision to chuck an iPhone into the basket with your Christmas turkey.
OK, no messing, in a quick-and-dirty style:
Tethering
– No add-on is available.
MMS
– This is available, at 25p per message. There’s no extra charge if you’re on the £60/month unlimited tariff.
Visual Voicemail
– Not available on PAYG or any Pay Monthly tariff.
Call Merging
– Not available on PAYG or any Pay Monthly tariff.
Checking your balance
– Pay monthly customers will be able to check their usage in real-time through a website (I don’t know, but doubt, it’s iPhone-optimised). PAYG customers will get a text telling them how much credit they have left after each call.
Unlocking
– All Tesco iPhones are sold locked. PAYG phones can be unlocked after 12 months. Pay Monthly phones can be unlocked at the end of the contract. There will be a £25 charge for any unlock.
A note on data usage
– Unlimited sort of means unlimited. The small print at the bottom of the Press Release mentions a Fair Usage policy, but there are no details on what that actually means. But, I was told that the unlimited policy hasn’t been a problem so far. Then again, they haven’t had the iPhone on their network yet.
Extras
– If you buy the iPhone in-store with your weekly shop of £40 or more, then you’ll save an extra £20 off the initial cost of the iPhone. I think that Clubcard points throughout the life of the contract or top-up will also be quite attractive.
Tesco will be promoting their Tesco Finder app alongside iPhone sales. It’s a pretty good add-on, I believe, but of course isn’t restricted to Tesco iPhone customers.
There is a hefty up-front fee on most tariffs, but Tesco believes that their iPhone deals will appeal to people buying them as gifts, so that fee is not such a problem, especially if the alternative was buying an iPod plus a cheap mobile.
In terms of the services available, it’s missing a bit. If I’m paying £60 per month, I’d expect Visual Voicemail and Call Merging, plus a cheap or free tethering option. Their iPhone offering does have a slight feel of “get it out in time for Christmas, at any cost”, so it’s lacking these bells and whistles. But, tethering, Visual Voicemail and Call Merging can be implemented later, and I don’t think these omissions make a difference.
Clearly, they are appealing to budget-focussed customers. Tesco Mobile is about a value offering, and I think they are going to shift a lot of iPhones.
It does indeed look like a rushed to market before Christmas effort, but they prices are interesting.
I’d think they might do an intermediate tariff (say £35/month) after the Christmas rush?
They could do a £35/month tariff as an intermediary. It’d have to be better than O2 or Orange’s tariffs to make any difference though.
What would be really attractive is the PAYG deal as a SIM to put in your existing phone.
If you like me got your iPhone on Day 1 then you are out of contract today (well 7th) – so you could end your contract and go PAYG without buying the handset.
Surely this is a very attractive offer. As opposed to selling out £300 for a 3G (not 3GS) phone!?
I’m not sure buying the SIM alone is an option Andrew, but they’d be silly not to, as they could take on quite a few network switchers that way. It’s a pretty good deal. Could it be the cheapest unlimited data package on any network?
I’ll have a word with their PR about the SIM-only option and report back.
Anthony – I’ve had confirmation from Tesco Mobile PR that iPhone tariffs are not available as SIM-only deals.
I think that’s a missed opportunity for them, as they could have attracted a lot of unlocked iPhone owners.
I hope that the SIM only option is available soon and Tesco is best placed to offer this. O2 is focussing on Palm Pre and orange is not offering competitive tariff.
I`ve just brought this phone as I worked it out to be the best value over a 12 month period and seeing as its a 12 month contract I am looking forward to an even better tariff this time next year!
dave, where did you find the iphone on pay monthly from tesco? All i can find on the tesco mobile website is the payasyougo iphones, cant find the £20pm contract option anywhere! help!
Just called tesco mobile. You can get one in any tesco extra or tesco mobile shop. But CS couldn’t tell if the iPhone is in stock.
this is rubbish – phoned up my local tesco extra store in swindon, they don’t stock them, i asked where DID stock them, and they didnt have a clue! I can’t find them online, and i have no idea which tesco stores theyre meant to be stocked in!!
I need to get one of these for my son for christmas – don’t know what to do now
Dave – I’ve phoned my local Tesco Extra (in Reading), and they don’t have any either. It seems the in-store launch date has been pushed back to Monday 21st. You can already buy the PAYG (but not pay monthly) iPhone online from Tesco at http://direct.tesco.com/q/N.2000278/Nr.99.aspx
I will contact Tesco PR tonight to find out what’s going on.
And you’re right – the in-store staff didn’t have a clue. The lady I spoke to did find some info off the internet for me though, but said, “Are you sure? The iPhone is terribly expensive!”.
Dave – there’s been some confusion about where iPhones will be available. Tesco PR have told me that they are actually only available at Tesco stores with Tesco “Phone Shops” within them. There’s a list of them here: http://phone-shop.tesco.com/phone-shop-opening-hours.asp
Neither Swindon nor Reading are listed, which is surprising. Your best bet is to find the nearest Tesco Phone Shop to you.
ive found out that you can actually order them from tesco customer services telephone – 0845 6004411!
Theyre systems are down at the moment, but apparently should be up tomorrow – i shall try again tomorrow!
Thanks matt
the fair use policy is a limit of £500 spend per month. says so on the flyers in store.
As for sim only if you already have an unlocked iphone you can put your tesco sim only card in it but you cannot buy them sim free/unlocked from tesco.
Just rang them about contract and its either 20 pounds a month for 600 minutes and the iphone ranges from 230 to 330 or 60 pounds a month for a 16gb 3gs for free and unlimited minutes,texts,internet.
i think 60 pounds is a bit steep!
oh and the 60 pounds one is for 24 months