Considering that currently only ORANGE UK have a functioning EDGE NETWORK.
And I use the term functioning loosely (Edge works in most city centres),
but its far from faster.)

The current situation on ORANGE is if GPRS is congested
and falls over and you have an EDGE enabled mobile then congrats you have
somewhat slow connectivity, as opposed to getting disconnected on GPRS.
ORANGE recently has been voted by users THE WORST mobile company
in the UK. *See various recent newspaper articles*.

It is rumored that O2 might have a functioning Edge Network Up by
December. (They currently DO NOT) Please note O2 is the only UK Network not to promote 3G AT ALL. (They seem to have it, I did get a 3g sim card, but
there are virtually ZERO services or promotions for 3g on O2)
O2 also have THE WORST DATA RATES/COSTS.


Vodafone/T-mobile both have fully functioning 3g networks and should be able to handle the IPHONE. T-mobile has an acceptable flat rate data cost, Vodafone is catching up. O2 is an ok mobile network (but read old school, lacking in investment and new technology), the lack of EDGE and inability to promote 3G would be more or less like AT&T in the usa.

In is not uncommon for mobile companies Nokia/Sony Ericsson to sell their handsets full cost with no discounts and UNLOCKED and UNBRANDED. I can only hope Apple also offers this option

So as you can see there are many surprises in store for is this fall.
We just have to wait and see.

Thanks
A.
3G Mobile Solutions

o2 freakin' owns mate.
great service and great tarrifs.
o2 doesent have old school stuff mate, the army uses o2 did you know that.
o2 have mobile web, which is basically 3g, fastest mobile internet.

besides, where will you be using mobile internet? wi-fi is now basically in loads of places in the uk.

O2 may provide you with some good service, and yes they are fair, but as far as
innovative and progressive forget it. Im sure O2 now owned by telefonica of spain
views them as france telecom views orange. If O2 uk are not strong enough to resist i fear that O2 will go the same way as ORANGE.

The facts STATE that O2 has the WORST contract data rates of any UK MOBILE
company. O2 has some good month by month contracts online sure. But basically they are an old outfit shoveling old technology.

O2's customer retention policy is a bit of a waste of space - they wouldn't offer me anything better than a new customer could get when my contract period was up last so I told them where to shove it. Nice company to deal with, though I'm now on Vodafone. All the UK networks have fairly widespread 3G networks in place now, and '3' are even trialling HSDPA now... Actually, I've owned no phones that weren't 3G since I got my first, a Motorola A835 in 2003! Been through a lot of phones since then... The next might be an iPhone, but only if it's 3G and the camera is upgraded to at least equal what I have now (a SE K800i with 3.2mpix Cybershot camera, but I think it's the 'real' xenon flash that makes it a good camera above all else)

The iPhone tariff will certainly be a shake-up for O2 as they currently charge normal contract customers £3/MB for GPRS data! Most of the other networks already have some kind of unlimited 'web browsing on the phone' type tariffs, so the iPhone will face stiffer competition in terms of data services here in the UK, especially since it's going to have data transfer 1/10 the speed of most of the devices bundled with such contracts.

The UK mobile market is very aggressive and the majority of contract customers expect to get a new phone every 12-18 months which is the way the mobile companies work based on the handset subsidisation.

e.g. they can expect a new phone free or for a nominal charge after each contract has run to fruition. This includes the latest handsets so most savy customers alway push for the best handset on offer (Handsets with an off-contract value of around £300 upward) if they are on a £25-£30 p/m contract.

The majority of my friends I know on contracts have been taking the Nokia N95 over the last few months.

My concern is, whilst I love the iPhone, most UK phone releases in this £300+ category are all 3g capable nowadays. I seriously doubt Apple would have had productions runs for the USA with EDGE incorporated and intend to have UK productions runs with 3g incorporated only a few months afterwards.

Which in my opinion leaves us with the following scenario:
The iPhone providing a great interface to finally make use of Data services such as Push Email, Google Maps, U-Tube Video etc. but useless Data throughput (via no 3g) making these applications redundant unless you happen to be near an unsecured WAP.

Oh how I wish I'm wrong, but I can't honestly see Apple having two different productions runs in such a short period of time, especially when it took the a couple of years to bring the first production run to reality.