Upgrading early through o2 refresh or CPW

[Anonymous]

Hey! i havent been here is a while! 

I wanted some advice on upgrading!

I recently lost ( stolen) my fairly new iphone6+128gb that I bought straight up from apple. uninsured

Luckily my contract runs out in october but i want to upgrade early as I wont be in the country. 

- I will be unlocking my phone through GAME from o2 so i can use a foreign sim card whilst i am abroard -( this is important) 

o2 have offered me to upgrade through refresh for around £200 inc upgrade fee and £49 a month

CPW offered me up upgrade with them for £164 inc upgrade fee and £49 a month

I know it is not a big difference but i want to know what will be better? i have heard not a lot of people like o2 refresh as its much more expencive in the long run and the CPW manager advided me it would be cheaper to upgrade hrough them ( he is a dear friend and is honest) 

Im stck in a rut with who to go with so id love someones advice who knows all the hiddens costs and stuff about both companies!

thanx in advance 

look forward to hearing from anyone 

[jonsie]

Good luck, there are cheap smart phones out there that will tide you over.

[Anonymous]

Hey again! I just phoned an apple store and asked about upgrading through them on o2 ( they did assure me that the phone will be sim free which is a plus!)  but they couldn't give me any more information on any thing else I asked unless I came into store which is difficult at the moment as its quite a journey just to ask a question.

If anyone has upgraded on o2 directly through apple store, do they allow you to pay an early upgrade fee to them? If NOT then am I able top pay the remaining fee of my contract to o2 ( £84 ) then go to apple and take out my fresh 24 month contract with my desired phone? 

The lady on the phone told me a upfront cost of a new contract would be roughly £50 or so which sounds too good to be true to me...unless im missing something? im after the 6+ 128gb 

I will be making my way down sometime this week but if anyone knows anything about this then please let me know! 

thanx again 

[MI5]

You can make a payment directly to O2 in advance to clear your current contractual obligations. This will leave you free to upgrade as and when you wish.

[Cleoriff]

I could be wrong here but I thought if you bought from Apple, to get an unlocked iPhone you had to pay for the phone in full? You can certainly get one on an O2 contract....but that wouldn't be unlocked? I am sure someone will confirm or not if this is the case..?

[jonsie]

It was always the case if you upgraded or took out a network contract that it was locked to that network with Apple, unless they have changed that policy now?

[MI5]

Apple have said that all their phones are unlocked, sim free, regardless of how they are purchased.

[jonsie]

Good to know 

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5 wrote:
Apple have said that all their phones are unlocked, sim free, regardless of how they are purchased.

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Ok....but what would happen if you purchased it on an O2 contract from Apple @MI5...would it then become locked to O2...(genuine question)...

[Anonymous]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

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@MI5 wrote:
Apple have said that all their phones are unlocked, sim free, regardless of how they are purchased.

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Ok....but what would happen if you purchased it on an O2 contract from Apple @MI5...would it then become locked to O2...(genuine question)...

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This... 

ive not taken out a contract directly through apple on a network before so I dont even know how their credit checks  work or pay monthly device and airtime costs etc etc 

[MI5]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Ok....but what would happen if you purchased it on an O2 contract from Apple @MI5...would it then become locked to O2...(genuine question)...

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No, all phones that Apple sell directly are proper sim free phones.