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Tag: o2

Tech: Apple iPhone 3Gs in the UK

June 8, 2009
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Well, the Apple iPhone 3GS (3G Speed) has been announced on at the Apple WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) and thanks to O2 on Twitter, here’s the key points for UK people wanting the iPhone:

  • The 3GS be available on the O2 Mobile Phone Network in the UK on the 19th of June
  • The 16Gb version will cost up to £184.98 and the 32Gb version up to £274.23 depending on the contract you chose: an 18month contract will be £29.38 for the 16Gb and £34.26 per month for the 32Gb (and these are the highest prices). In the US, the 16Gb version costs $199 and the 32Gb costs $299.
  • You will be able to upgrade to an iPhone 3GS from another O2 contract phone when you are eligible for an upgrade. You will be able to leave your current contract early if you want it the new iPhone asap: however, you’ll need to speak to O2 and they’ll explain to you how much “early termination” would cost.
  • O2 will be supporting MMS (out of your normal text message allowance: one Multimedia Message will cost four SMS from your allowance)
  • O2 will also be supporting tethering (allowing your computer to use the iPhone as a 3G modem). However, this will be an extra Internet Tethering Bolt One costing £14.68 per month for 3G and £29.36 per month for 10Gb. Both include access to The Cloud’s Wifi points.
  • More information will be available on o2’s website at o2.co.uk/iphone as soon as possible

Call costs to 056 VoIP numbers

March 17, 2009
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I’m just relooking at the various Voice Over IP (VoIP) services on offer and I’ve found quite a number offering 056 numbers. Telephone numbers starting 056 are officially classed by Ofcom as “Location Independent Electronic Communications Service” (in the Ofcom National Telephone Numbering Plan) and have been allocated by Ofcom since September 2004 (so they aren’t exactly new!) and are mainly used for VoIP. However, trying to find out how much it costs to actually call these numbers is quite difficult – here’s a list of the call charges I’ve found for UK 056 VoIP numbers: and they vary quite a bit (and sometimes, it’s very difficult to find out how much they actually cost to call from the different telephone networks):

Where the tariff/plan may alter the call costs, I’ve included details:

BT: Call band “g21” (the same band as 03 numbers). 4.784p per minute daytime/1.955p per minute evening/1.150p per minute weekend
o2 iPhone 35 Pay Month: 20p per minute at all times (found via telephone customer services: they had to call back!)
Orange: Pricing unavailable (live chat)
Virgin Media Land Lines: Call band PG21. 7.82p connection fee and 4.79p per minute daytime/1.96p evening Price guide
T-Mobile (Combi plan): 40p per minute t all times (according to telephone customer services)
Tesco Land Line: 6p setup charge, 5p per minute daytime, 2p per minute evening, 1p per minute weekend
Gradwell: 1.36p per minute peak, 0.85p per minute offpeak and weekends
Vonage: 1p per minute at all times

Congratulations to Virgin, Tesco, Gradwell and Vonage for having the most easiest to find price guide (bonus points to Gradwell for having a simple “Telephone number lookup” section), BT next (slightly more difficult) and thumbs down to Orange being unable to find any pricing!

Techy: Mobile Phone Coverage Maps

May 13, 2007
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Thinking about a recent comment I made on Utterly Boring, I thought I’d list the major UK mobile telephone (cell phone) providers coverage maps so if anybody is looking at purchasing a new mobile phone, they can see how good the signal receiption is in their area: