O2 beats rivals to iPhone 3GS exclusivity
New upgrade plans revealed and tethering costs
O2 has confirmed to TechRadar that it will still be the exclusive provider of the iPhone now the new 3GS version has launched.
It seems that reports that Vodafone or Orange would nab it are wide of the mark, although no price has been announced although it will be coming on the 19 June.
O2 has also announced it will be supporting tethering and MMS from 19 June for the iPhone 3GS, with users needing to pay for an Internet Tethering Bolt On costing £14.68 for 3Gb of data per month, with 10Gb coming in at £29.36 per month, while both include The Cloud's Wi-Fi.
However, there will not be the same option to break the contract as last year, although users will be able to pay up to jump to the next iPhone iteration.
Upgrades
Users will be allowed to upgrade to the new iPhone 3GS at a cost of up to £184.98 for the 16Gb version, and the 32Gb will be up to £274.23 depending on tarriffs.
The highest tarriff prices will be on an18 month contract at £29.38 and £34.26 tariffs, so no two year deals here like we saw on the iPhone 3G.
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This will likely rankle with those that have just signed up to a 23 month deal wiht O2 to get the new iPhone, so it will be interesting to see how the network deals with that backlash.
Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grew with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.