Upgrade upfront costs question

[Anonymous]

I think I might be being a bit dim here but hoping someone can help.
I can now upgrade my phone, I have an iPhone 3GS and planning to upgrade to an iPhone 4S. This will cost me £360 upfront cost plus my monthly charge with O2.
But, I looked on Carphone Warehouse and I can get the same phone for either £29.99 or free upfront cost (depends on minutes etc) and the network is still with O2.
Why such a difference?
Obviously I'm thinking of getting my phone through Carphone Warehouse but will have to go through the rigmarole of canceling my contract. I also want to keep my number, I have the old sized sim so will need to change over to a micro sim but this can be done, yes?
Why such a huge difference in price? I've been with O2 for many years and have been very happy with them and the coverage had always been great so not really wanting to change from them.
My husband says to go and talk to them but I really don't think they are going to drop £360!

Thanks

[Anonymous]

This comes up quite a lot independent retailers can often do deals the networks can't it's still with O2 and you don't have to cancel you can upgrade through carphone warehouse and keep your number it's very easy

[Anonymous]

The independants can give better deals.

You can upgrade through CPW and keep your number.

All you do is perform a sim swap from your old sim to the new sim card.

This moves the number across. http://swapmysim.o2.co.uk/

Dont do anything until you have your new sim card to hand.

[adamtemp64]

Can you link to the 4s offer on o2 website please as I cannot find it

[Anonymous]

Wondering if it was a one off retentions deal offered direct by o2 to the OP ?

[adamtemp64]

no found it refresh tariff now to look at cpw offer

[Anonymous]

https://www.o2.co.uk/upgrade/refreshTariffs/apple/iphone-4s-8gb-white/

Hope you can see it as obv I'm logged in so might not open up properly.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
https://www.o2.co.uk/upgrade/refreshTariffs/apple/iphone-4s-8gb-white/

Hope you can see it as obv I'm logged in so might not open up properly.

---

The price asked for by O2 for the 4s IMO seems inflated especially as its been succeeded by 3 newer iphones !

[adamtemp64 · Accepted solution]

O2 refresh tariffs are not the same as the cpw tariffs.

Remember that with o2 refresh you pay seperate charges handset plan (credit agreement) and line rental with cpw they are lumped together.

Now with the new t&c and price rises as discussed elsewhere sign with cpw and your whole bill counts to the tariff rise but with o2 refresh it is only the line rental.

But by the deals I can see and compare with no up front fee and unlimited calls and sms 1gb data o2 are £32 a month combined and cpw are £27 so cpw are £120 cheaper over 24 months but you are tied to 24 months.

With o2 refresh you can pay the handset credit agreement at any time and then only pay the line rental fee.

Just a few things to think about

[Anonymous]

That's what I thought! I can probably pay out more monthly for newer iPhone with little or no upfront cost!
Thanks for your help. I thought I was missing something!
So I can just go into CPW and basically switch?