Hi All
I've been looking to get myself a Hero and wanted to compare the various deals / options. However, the multitude of variables make it difficult to compare heros with heros. So, I put together a quick spreadsheet showing the various options and a total cost of ownership for each. I also included factors specific to each option that might influence the decision to purchase.
I included the iPhone in there for perspective. It's amazing to see how harshly people compare the Hero with the iPhone given the massive difference in TCO over 18 months. It's a LOT cheaper!
The spreadsheet is here. It only covers 18 mth contracts.
Anyone have any thoughts - other relevant differences / errors to point out?
Cheers
O2 simplicity rolling monthly contract + bought phone outright.
Got contract at £15 month with unlimited data (literally unlimited as far as O2 say, tho I suspect if you start selling bandwidth to youtube they'd get shirty) and bought the phone outright for £400. 500 minutes/600 texts.
Totals £670, and I get the better o2 coverage where I live and their bigger data plans. Also get the felixiblity the contract gives me.
Updated Sheet
Updated the sheet with those 02 details.
Cheers
Hi,
I did a similar spreadsheet when I was looking for the best deal on mine. You can see it here.
VM / Data / Other
Cheers for that. Good to see a more extensive list. I was also trying to include other factors like
- Is Voicemail Included in Free Minutes
- What is the data limit
- What other issues are there with the provider
Vodafone appears to be the cheapest option for me but I know there is a problem with widgets updating. Not sure if the problem is severe enough for me to avoid it altogether though.....
Anyone on Vodafone care to comment?
Is it worth adding to the lists:
Vendor: mobiles.co.uk
Network: Orange
Phone colour: Brown Unlocked, unbranded
Minutes: 1200
Texts: unlimited
data: 500 meg
Contract Length: 24 month
Price per month: £30
Quidco cash back: £40
Vendor cashback: £135
Total is £545, or £22.71 per month for an awesome bundle
Orange
12 month contract
£50 for phone
£50 cashback through quidco
cost / month £32
+ 500Mb @ 4.99/month
= £444
Woop indeed!
I'm on o2 Simplicity where I get 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data (literally unlimited).
Unlike other networks that downscale the image quality over mobile networks, I get full quality with o2 as you would on a wifi connection by changing the username on the APN settings.
I got a T-Mobile G2 Touch unlocked for £360 from a company called Jelly Communications. (No, it wasn't tied into a contract with T-Mobile either).
All in all its great, no limitations.
12 month contract on Dolphin 30 + 30% discount - 200 minutes 500texts (more than enough for me) + 500MB mobile internet browsing for £24.08 per month, i paid £150 toward the phone as it worked out cheaper. 438 total cost.
Related
Hi
Have you seen the price of the universal on www.orange.co.uk ?? madness!! £299 on a £30/mnth contract !!! And they are yet another provider that refuse to sell it data-only.
Here are the costs per year for 200 any network mins + 40MB 3G/GPRS data. (aka webnwalk200) + an HTC Universal for each provider. I will consider consumer products only, and it should all be orderable online (as opposed to speaking to a brain-dead dimwit in a call centre).
Orange
£30+~£25 = £55/mnth + £299 for the device. Cost for 1 year: £959
(they dont do 40MB, they do 80MB or £42)
T-Mobile
12x£16 + 6x£35 + £149.99 Cost for 1 year: £551.99
(and you are actually getting 18 months of webnwalk200 rather than 12 months for this)
O2
£30/mnth for the voice mins incl 1MB data, + £8 for 5MB Data + (34x£3) for the remaining 34MB data = £140/mnth. Device is 139.99. Cost for 1 year: £1819.99
To sumarise:
O2: £1899.99
Orange: £959
T-Mobile: £551.99
I suspect vodafone will be just as bad if they ever release the universal!
T-mobile, would then be a clear winner, trouble is that unless you live in one of about 10 cities in the UK then you'll not get any ruddy 3G off of them. I see zero reasons to choose orange (overpriced data and expensive handset). The only reason to choose O2 is if you never intend to use the unit for 3G/GPRS data.
None of the providers have got the tarriffs for flogging data centric devices correct, but T-mobile comes the closest. If they would offer an option to ditch some mins in favour of some text messages then they would have it sorted!!
Nigel
O2 will sell you a Exec on a data only tariff, the basic is £9.40 per month and the Exec can be between £180 and £230 (with and without a trade-in). I know as I have done this.
I assume that was £230+VAT ??
I cant find this online, and whenever I phone up they say, 'you what?, data only, oooh dont know wot that is mate! try our business lot' I phone the business lot and cannot get a more intelegent response from them either.
bunch of dimwits!
The only time I did speak to someone who would do data only, they wanted to charge me £400 quid for the exec. Also, you cannot get data on a consumer contract, only on a business contract. i.e their data 36,75,200 etc products are business products.
Unless you know different?
Nigel
The prices I mentioned include VAT.
You can only get this deal from O2 stores.
There are lots of references to the Data 5 data only tariff if you do a UK google search: you'll even find a reference at the O2 web site.
I think it depends on how informed the staff in the local store are!! Certainly, they know nothing about it in my local branch! I will re-myther them. Data 5 aint gonna be a whole lot of use tho! I tried to get data200 beforehand.
Why on earth you cant get these online like you can with everyone else I will never know.
Nigel
depends on what you want , if you want an unlocked black version
with either a mainly data ( shop) or mainly voice ( online) tariff then o2 do seem better
If you want a combined ( mid say 200mb) data and voice tariff , T Mobile seem competitive on standard tariff versions, but a trip to the o2 shops might also get you a low voivce and mid data tariff with a reasonable handset price combination
It depends on the tariff and the deal you get.
I got an M5000 added to a business tariff. The phone was about £200 plus cashback of £100 and with another £50 cashback for giving them an old phone (a moto movistar).
Granted, theres the ongoing business cost, but if you get someone in the shop who knows what they're talking about, you can get quite a lot off the price.
But I'll give you ... theres no sensible data tariffs in the UK. The best I've seen is £1 per day GPRS which you can only get on PAYG. Dual sims a go-go.
Ive been searching a few of the UK network websites for internet or data price plans such as o2, vodafone and T-mobile but i'm not to sure which is the best, Web n Walk certainly looks a good option.
I would have purchased the phone on contract but being a student it wouldn't be a wise option, does anybody know any decent price plans?
Aswell as how much would this cost.
thanks.
FREE XDA Exec on 18mth £30 contract:
http://www.mobileshop.com/mobile-phones/o2/contract-mobile-phones/xda-exec.php/PNEWO2EXEC0005
ADD 'Unlimited' (Reasonable) O2 Data for £10 per month
Internet Plan
T-Mobile has a web 'n walk tariff - unlimited download for £7.50 per month, subject to fair use. You get 3G where coverage exists, and drops to GPRS elsewhere...
Regards,
Whats this £10 a month option for resonable data from O2???
^^ This ^^
Carphone Warehouse only!
Tomtooter said:
FREE XDA Exec on 18mth £30 contract:
http://www.mobileshop.com/mobile-phones/o2/contract-mobile-phones/xda-exec.php/PNEWO2EXEC0005
ADD 'Unlimited' (Reasonable) O2 Data for £10 per month
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops!
The Carphone Warehouse sold me a O2 XDA Exec for £149.95 on a £30 400 minutes per month +£10 'Unlimited Data' contract....my contract is Bberry BIS Unlimited & O2 Customer Services have confirmed that CPW IS allowed to offer 'special terms'!
Shame is: I don't think I'm going to keep it - I simply can't get used to using he 640 X 480 screen for the Internet, even with Opera
I've just rang O2 customer services, and they say I can add the £10/month unlimited reasonable data bolt-on to my voice tariff!
It's called: BlackBerry Unlimited Monthly Roaming
I got my Exec on Pay Monthly £35/Month voice tariff for £149.99 so when I can downgrade my voice tariff on 29 January (6 months from contract start), I'll be adding this!
I don't see why they won't offer it to you guys!
r3bel said:
I've just rang O2 customer services, and they say I can add the £10/month unlimited reasonable data bolt-on to my voice tariff!
It's called: BlackBerry Unlimited Monthly Roaming
I got my Exec on Pay Monthly £35/Month voice tariff for £149.99 so when I can downgrade my voice tariff on 29 January (6 months from contract start), I'll be adding this!
I don't see why they won't offer it to you guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odd that they are offering you this as I enquired on Thursday and all O2 had were tarrifs way less competitive than the t-mobile ones. I'd have preferred 02 just for the black unit rather than the ugly silver!
Same here, plus O2 coverage is slightly better.
I had to ask specifically for that one, though; the 'offered' ones, although better than last time I checked, are still a bit pricey and not competitive with Web'n'Walk.
If you think T-Mobile's Universal is ugly, you should see the Orange one! Rock-grey with RED keyboard backlight! *shudders* Is T-Mobile's backlight pink?
T-mobile backlight is red. Aren't they all?
I use my Orange Uni (with beautiful red keyboard) with a 3G PAYG SIM in, which for £1 a day gives me unlimited use of 3G internet until midnight.
Phone 450 then follow the menus (3,1,1,1,1,1) and you will get it from when you phoned and listened for the confirmation until 00:00 that night.
Seems like a brilliant idea to me.
Mobiles4Everyone have the T-Mobile MDA Pro on a Flext 30 Web 'n Walk for £32.50 p/m with the phone costing £69.99 or
£27.50 p/m on Flext 25 Web 'n Walk witht he phone at £99.99.
http://sales.mobiles4everyone.com/display.asp?hs=mda4
The O2 Exec is £30 p/m on O2 400 tariff with the phone at £89.99 or
£35 p/m on O2 600 with the phone at £49.99.
http://sales.mobiles4everyone.com/display.asp?hs=xdaexec
DHarman said:
T-mobile backlight is red. Aren't they all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
O2's is looooovely blue
Hi guys,
I bought my Exec in February 2006. I have the 12month contract(£19) and i also bought the 4 meg GPRS bundle(£4)
O2 however have never charged me for using any data. Whenever I go onto the online bill the amount of data usage is always 0.
£24 a month unlimited data usage + some free minutes and txts (although i'm not a crazy data sucker so probably dont use any more than 15-20 megs)
Don't suppose anyone has any ideas on why it's free? or for how long ? don't want to query it just incase
stualpha said:
Hi guys,
I bought my Exec in February 2006. I have the 12month contract(£19) and i also bought the 4 meg GPRS bundle(£4)
O2 however have never charged me for using any data. Whenever I go onto the online bill the amount of data usage is always 0.
£24 a month unlimited data usage + some free minutes and txts (although i'm not a crazy data sucker so probably dont use any more than 15-20 megs)
Don't suppose anyone has any ideas on why it's free? or for how long ? don't want to query it just incase
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am looking for a good data plan in Canada. I really like to use Skype to make calls because its cheaper than GSM price plan. On skype you can have $15 for full year unlimited outgoing calls. I think it is $100 for 1 year for incoming calls. But i dont think i will have to worry too much about incoming calls. Anyone know any good package that will support skype calling?
it transfers a LOT of data compared to other GPRS applications. even if you get an "unlimited" deal, you'll probably exceed the fair use limit.
Tomtooter said:
Oops!
The Carphone Warehouse sold me a O2 XDA Exec for £149.95 on a £30 400 minutes per month +£10 'Unlimited Data' contract....my contract is Bberry BIS Unlimited & O2 Customer Services have confirmed that CPW IS allowed to offer 'special terms'!
Shame is: I don't think I'm going to keep it - I simply can't get used to using he 640 X 480 screen for the Internet, even with Opera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Re web browsing with a small screen - do you guys know about the google portal for mobiles? It's a web proxy that reformats websites for small screens. The data transferred is much smaller than going direct.
save this site into your favourites and then when you want to brows just tyoe the url into the google window in the middle of this page:
http://www.google.com/gwt/n?q=
This proxy has transformed my browsing on the XDA.
evilv said:
Re web browsing with a small screen - do you guys know about the google portal for mobiles? It's a web proxy that reformats websites for small screens. The data transferred is much smaller than going direct.
save this site into your favourites and then when you want to brows just tyoe the url into the google window in the middle of this page:
http://www.google.com/gwt/n
This proxy has transformed my browsing on the XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i do that too. VGA display mode. Really awesome feature by google. There goes 1 more stock of google in my bank. Also I like oZVGA with that display mode from google ^^
O2 vs O2 Online
I've had my XDA Exec for 15 months, bought through O2 Online (i.e. the website) and I've been frustrated with envy since the Web'n'Walk tariff on T-mobile came out. Every month I ring O2 to ask if they can compete, and every month they tell me that the only unlimited tariff is the £70 all-you-can-eat tariff, designed for businesses. When I read the post about the Blackberry Unlimited bolt-on above, I was over the moon! I immediately called O2 Online customer services, only to be told that they don't support Blackberry and it's only tariffs bought via the O2 shops that offer that tariff - is that utterly infuriating or what? O2 simply don't want my money...
I'm going to wait out the remaining three months and then go to T-Mobile for one of those tastly little Varios with a slide out keyboard thingy.
Currently T-Mo are offering 25% off for life - which means you can get flext + web n walk for £20.62 a month. That's unlimited data and £34 worth of calls/texts/video calls, hard to beat.
Also if you aren't concerned about video calling give the Crossbow ROM a shot - Internet Explorer has gained a hi-res mode and looks amazing. Its as close to desktop browsing as Opera and about four hundred times faster...
There has been an ongoing sporadic discussion regarding the best data plan in the UK, with the suggestions that T-Mobile (who have HSDPA but only 84% coverage) and Orange (who are expected to announce £8pcm unlimited internet) are the cheapest.
I have just spoken to O2 as my contract with them is coming to an end. Their retentions department says that they have realised that they are no longer competitive on data and will be making an announcement in the next month or so (it was suppiosed to be by the end of this month), with a view to offering more competitive data allowances - presumably to compete with T-Mobile.
they already do £10/month unlimited data but they don't shout about it.
"blackberry unlimited monthly roaming"
from 3g.co.uk/3gforum they say its £10 for 20mb on o2. Rip off.
I've just moved to Three, they're brill!! £5 a month for unlimited (1 gig) or
£10 (sign up for 12 months and u get a free slingbox!!) for slingbox and orb on the move as well as your gig data.
I got a crap phone (LG u300) so i got half price line rental for 18 months and put the sim in my xda exec.
I'm paying: £27.50 a month for 18 months which gets me:
£17.50 (hplr) 300 mins, 1000 texts a month
£10 x-series gold which gives me:
80 hours orb & slingbox use (more than 2.5 hours a day!)
5000 skype minutes (more than 2.6 hours a day!)
1gb data
Unbeatable tbh!! i'm just setting up my 3g settings (if i can find them) and I've just setup my slingbox, sky tv on the move!! plus my music/videos on my pc through orb!! how awesome!!
3 ftw!
You guys think thats a rip off, be glad your not in canada? $1 CDN = 0.454 GBP.
Canada Data Plans
10 GBP = $22... for $25 we get 3MB
O2 Unlimited Blackberry roaming
Be careful
O2's blackberry unlimited roaming doesnt include data , just email - the only one the unlimited is on is a RIM Blackberry device, blackberry connect devices which the xda exec is does not include it.
I took out a contract with CPW O2 (Car phone warehouse managed the aaccount but the same conditions apply) and was sold the unlimited blackberry bundle, I noticed that my online credit allowance was going down when I queried this I was advised that the charge was for data and I had run up £30 (the unlimited £10 pm brings down the mb charge to £1 per meg)
I fought this and was advised that I was mis sold the item , as I love my xda and also have paid for the insurance policy via the CPW which allows a cancellation of contract as 6 months on a 18 month policy I have stook with it.
I could have got a blackberry 8800 but I use tomtom and the blackberry doesnt support this and I dont like the blackberry maps.
Be careful when asking for the unlimited roaming as it is not what it seems - I have found out to my cost , I use wifi at home on the phone so im not bothered about the internet whilst out ....
The plus's outweigh the negatives !!
stualpha said:
I've just moved to Three, they're brill!! £5 a month for unlimited (1 gig)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if there is a 1GB cap, where does the unlimited part come in?
they advertise it as unlimited, as soon as you hit 1gig they don't just stop the service, you get a SMS alert to warn you of approaching the limit, then if you continue to "abuse" the service they restrict it.
So it's not a cap per se but more of a fair usage policy. But in all fairness the other mobile carriers do the same. 1 gig on a phone is a lot of data though! that doesn't count towards the slingbox or orb usage either!
So, I'm looking around frantically to find the best deals and order my HD2. I know there are loads out there and many people looking, so why don't we collate them all together and post here, in a kind of format that is easy to read.
Company: Mobile Phones Direct (http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk)
Network: T-Mobile
Plan (Cost per month): Combi 30 + Web'n'Walk (£35)
Phone Price: Free
Term: 18 Months
Minutes / Texts / Internet: 700 / Unlimited / Unlimited
Total Cost: £630
Ok, so found another, not as good minutes wise, but still not bad for the money...
Company: Mobile Phones Direct (http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk)
Network: T-Mobile
Plan (Cost per month): Combi 30 + Web'n'Walk (£35)
Phone Price: £127.99
Term: 12 Months
Minutes / Texts / Internet: 300 / 200 / Unlimited
Total Cost: £547.99
And another. Anyone else chip in at anytime
Company: Mobile Phones Direct (http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk)
Network: T-Mobile
Plan (Cost per month): Combi 30 (£30)
Phone Price: £151.99
Term: 12 Months
Minutes / Texts / Internet: 300 / 200 / n/a
Total Cost: £511.99
nicelad_uk said:
So, I'm looking around frantically to find the best deals and order my HD2. I know there are loads out there and many people looking, so why don't we collate them all together and post here, in a kind of format that is easy to read.
Company: Mobile Phones Direct (http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk)
Network: T-Mobile
Plan (Cost per month): Combi 30 + Web'n'Walk (£35)
Phone Price: Free
Term: 18 Months
Minutes / Texts / Internet: 700 / Unlimited / Unlimited
Total Cost: £630
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering that data is pretty much a must, this is the obvious choice, and the one I went for last week.
mr_Ray said:
Considering that data is pretty much a must, this is the obvious choice, and the one I went for last week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, but its not to some people.
I was just looking at the options of this rather than buying sim free. With sim free, you still buy the phone and pay your existing line rental (or payg) but if you can get it £40 more with minutes / internet, surely it must be worth it that way and you pay monthly rather than in one chunk.
Just thinking of alternatives.
I'm going for the 12month Combi 30 + Web n Walk I think
Makes me said I cant get this phone in the US... Why must the US be so far behind with phones!!
If you order online from Vodafone then the phone is free and for £40 a month you get 1200 minutes, unlimited texts, "unlimited" Internet, and unlimited calls to UK landlines. (I think it's 1200 minutes anyway - it's not entirely clear if the extra 300 you get for ordering online is included in the 900 figure). £45 a month gets you an extra 300 minutes. This is on an 18-month contract: £5 per month less for a 24-month contract.
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/cat...nitialFilters=flt_paymonthly&_requestid=64351
nicelad_uk said:
With sim free, you still buy the phone and pay your existing line rental (or payg) but if you can get it £40 more with minutes / internet, surely it must be worth it that way and you pay monthly rather than in one chunk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but when another tasty phone comes out in 6 months, you can sell the SIM free one and buy it. I've been a fan of buying outright for a few years now, and it's really nice not being tied to a service provider. It basically means you get a SIM because of the service, not the phone they offer. As well as that, I can cancel my "contract" with a month's notice, at no cost.
Each to their own, but now that I buy I couldn't go back to a contract unless there was something VERY special out there!
Anyway, I got my HD2 from Expansys.com. It was the usual £500, but comes with £30 of Expansys vouchers. Should be delivered tomorrow
johncmolyneux said:
Yeah, but when another tasty phone comes out in 6 months, you can sell the SIM free one and buy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but you can you do that on contract too: sell your contract phone, use the money to buy another one SIM-free, and then carry on using your contract SIM. That way you don't have to pay any money up-front for the first hand-set - the cost is spread over 18 months, or two years. If the first one you buy is SIM-free then you have to come up with £500 in cash up-front. If the first one is on contract then, when you buy the second, you've got the resale value of the first handset to offset the cost.
Tempted by the Voda deal at £40 over 18 months.......how unlimited is their data I wonder? And apparently it's in stock there
AGxM said:
Tempted by the Voda deal at £40 over 18 months.......how unlimited is their data I wonder? And apparently it's in stock there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vodafone's data limit is 500MB per month.
Shasarak said:
Vodafone's data limit is 500MB per month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And from what I've heard, they usually charge when you go over!
Shasarak said:
Yes, but you can you do that on contract too: sell your contract phone, use the money to buy another one SIM-free, and then carry on using your contract SIM. That way you don't have to pay any money up-front for the first hand-set - the cost is spread over 18 months, or two years. If the first one you buy is SIM-free then you have to come up with £500 in cash up-front. If the first one is on contract then, when you buy the second, you've got the resale value of the first handset to offset the cost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats exactly my point.
I can get the phone for £511.99 with a contract for 12 months and get some free minutes. Then I can still sell the phone at any time and buy another, but I still get free minutes.
You're paying whatever a month for your month by month contract and then £500 on top for the phone, which works out more.
If you're sim free is £20 a month and you sell your phone after 6 months, you've still paid £120 in line rental, which is more than I'll be paying for 12 months line rental and a phone.
£511.99 (12 months) vs £620 (6 months)
Got an upgrade from Vodafone web site as the following:
12 months at £25
phone £100
total cost: £400
100mins / Unlimited Internet (500 Mb fup)
Have been using the internet a lot and have not yet been warned or charged by vodafone regarding the FUP.
Have you got a link for this offer please?
For the upgrade, you need to log in to your VF account and then select upgrade option (must be within the last 70 days of your existing contract).
Then they require you to fill in a form and if you are allowed to upgrade, you are forwarded to upgrade section to pick a phone. HD2 is not there by default so you need to view all phones and select HD2. I think before doing so, you need to select the duration from the top. For me the phone showed up for £100 on existing contract. I heard some people get different quotes and would like to hear what others get.
On the confirmation emails, it is specified as 12 months so the deal seems to be right.
However, this morning also received an email from vodafone back orders apologising that due to the demand it is out of stock and they are expecting new stock in 7-10 days. If it is true that they had stock and it sold out, perhaps they have prioritised new contracts as opposes to upgrade deals like I had.
It is a little disappointing but the deal seems to be worth the wait.
Just ordered mine from Vodafone. Apparently, they had 500 phones come in today, and there were 53 left when I placed my order.
Got a pretty good deal I think, especially as I'm a new customer.
900 minutes, unlimited text, unlimited landline, unlimited internet
18 month contract, £35/month.
Phone should be here on Monday. Well chuffed.
Bagpuss.
Hi Bagpuss,
Did you phone to get this deal or order online? Contact number please......
Ordered direct from Vodafone via their sales line. 08080 408 408.
Spoke to a nice lady called Emma Morgan.
Initially was told that the lowest price for a free phone was £40/month on an 18 month contract. Kept insisting that I needed them to match the deal I was currently getting from O2, which was 1200 minutes for £35/month. Eventually, she agree on the £35/month, but couldn't match the minutes. I was happy with that.
I've heard reports of some new Vodafone customers getting the phone for free on a 12 month, £35/month contract, but I'm a bit sceptical as that doesn't even cover the cost of the handset.
Bagpuss.
Thanks will try them on Monday..........
My Contract Ends In December And I Was Wondering What Carriers Will This Be On? I Am On Orange (EE or something now) The Nexus 4 is Listed On O2's website.. But the signal for O2 here is terrible.
Anyone Know Anything?
Thanks.
Just buy it from the Play Store
Michealtbh said:
Just buy it from the Play Store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's a Brit, he's been brainwashed. New phone = New contract or paying a fortune off contract.
To the OP
If you can't afford the upfront costs save up. Or pay hundreds of pounds more.
The carrier contract lock in model is dead.
The quicker more people go to SIM only on rolling monthly deals the quicker the public get a better deal.
Looks like O2 will have an exclusive on this http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/01/o2_touts_extortionate_tariffs_for_nexus_4_exclusive/
I agree with Michael, get it on the play store. Get an interest free credit card or something and pay it off monthly if you can't afford the phone outright.
Most of the networks have some good SIM only deals that mean that you would be better off within 12 months.
The numbers speak for themselves:
Cheapest o2 Contract: £36 per month
Includes 16GB Nexus 4, unlimited texts & calls and 1GB data
Total cost £864
Nexus 4 off contact: £279.00
Thee UK contracts
200 minutes, 5000 texts, unlimited data = £9.90 p/m (2 years cost = £237.60)
600 minutes, 5000 texts, 1GB data = £12.90 p/m (2 years cost = £300)
600 minutes, 5000 texts, unlimited data = £15.90 p/m (2 years cost = £381.60)
If you don't need a lot of minutes, you can save yourself £347.10 over two years. You could buy the phone a second time and still have £70 spare! Think about that, if Google release a new phone at the same price point next year, you can buy it from what you've saved just by not going on contract (as you can actually do it, cause your not tied into a contract). Or buy a nexus 10, or 2 nexus 7s... it's that big a difference.
Even if you do need the minutes, you can save £285 with the same data cap you have on o2. If you only want the 8GB nexus you can save a further £40 as well (o2 don't offer this option). Also bear in mind that the longest of the three contracts is 12 months some are rolling 1 months so you can get out whenever you want.
Three aren't the only network either, GiffGaff do unlimited texts, unlimited data and 250 minutes for £10, or the same with 400 minutes for £15.
It means finding £280 upfront, but the number speak for themselves, you'd be mad not to!
EDIT: The really crazy part of the o2 contracts is that you can get a sim only contract from o2 themselves for £20p/m which includes unlimited texts & calls and 1GB data. So exactly what they are offering over two years, but only over 12 months, and £105 cheaper... right....