Byrnesys Blabberings

The Desire for an iPhone
As I have mentioned before, Ive had a fair amout of experience negotiating mobile/cell phone contracts and have tried to share some tips on the blog before, but recently I have more or less stopped following the market due to my unsaitable interest in the iPhone.

I set my current phone contract up so that it would expire just at the time when the iPhone was released, as I mentioned back then I expected the price tag for the phone but the UK contracts with O2 were extremely over-priced and so I decided to let the contract price calm down a little before I invested. More recently O2 have adjusted the contracts to make them more appealing and less geared to recouping the expected outlays for unlimited data plans, but on revisiting the idea of buyig an iPhone I am looking at another consideration, how useful is it for travelling.

iPhone for World Travel?

I am wondering how viable it would be to travel with the iPhone? Mobile phones are known for horrendous international roaming charges, add GPRS data onto that and you are looking at one hefty phone bill.

The Case Studies 

My case study then, is this, buying a 16GB iPhone in either the UK or US taking out the base-rate tariff over the minimum term plus an International package. The scenario is being in the host country for 3 months followed by a further 2 different countries over the 6-12 months for a period of at least 3 months in each. I have added 20mins of calls both within and without the country per month which is light use but will give us an idea of how these international call rates send phone bills sky high.

O2 iPhone Case

1. 16GB iPhone - £329
2. Monthly Contract (18mnths) - £630
3. International Traveller Service - Free (Included)
4. Call within the non-host country per min - £1.79 (20 Mins - £35)
   
5. Calls without of the non-host country - £0.90 - £1.20 (20 Mins - £24)
   
6. Data Charges - £variable, extortionate, and prohibitive - Resort to wifi only

Cost over 18 months - £2021 not including any wifi subscriptions or data charges

AT&T iPhone Case

1. 16GB iPhone - $499
2. Monthly Contract (24mnths) - $1439 (equivalent 18 mnths $1079)
3. International Traveller Service -  $5.99 per month (24mnths - $143, 18 mnths - $107)
4. Calls within the non-host country per min - $1.69
5. Call without of the non-host country per min $1.69
6. Data Charges - $24.99 for 20MB a month (optional, and essentially unrealistic limit for iPhone Data)
   

Cost over 18 months - $2945 no including any wifi scubscriptions or data charges

From researching a few different options then, both networks offer some add on international call packages which mean that calls and texts are cheaper than on the original tariffs but the prices would still be astronomical unless you were out of the country for less than a couple of weeks.

I finally came to the realisation that the only cost effective way to use an iPhone with the prospect of being in a number of different countries for extended periods is to call as little as possible and only to use the data services (email, youtube, Internet) in wifi areas. This is still an incredibly expensive way to have an iPhone as all the free minuites that you pay the line rental for, are left in the host nation (US - AT&T, UK - O2) and you then pay premium network rates whilst abroad, not including the non supported hotspots.

The Conclusion

My conclusion from all of this is firstly that iPhones are not cost effective for extended periods of travel. But my next conclusion is that you should buy an iPod Touch!

the iPod Touch has been the poor cousin of the iPhone, much overlooked and by those you haven’t taken much interest in it, people have presumed that it is just a touch screen iPod. But if you look closer the iPod touch does EVERYTHING an iPhone does apart from the obvious phone-related things like visual voicemail and text messages.

If you are travelling in the short term or have an iPhone through a business, it would be a great travel gadget but for the rest of us an iPod touch with a monthly wifi subscription and a second (Quad or Tri-Band) cheap phone with a local pay-as-you-go sim card and local number is the most economical way to travel with most of the benfits of an iPhone.

Let me know your thoughts, has anyone done much travel with their iPhone. How about iPod Touch users are you using the email and internet alot?