True cost of an iPhone 3G

[webfoo]

For a while now, I've been wanting to get an iPhone. The only thing that is stopping me right now is the cost. I know they say $74.99 a month, but can anyone out there who actually has one tell me what they're paying?

[travelin cat]

We are paying $126.67 per month for TWO iPhones so, $63.34 each. I believe there is a small discount for the second phone.

[Swanny007]

Yeah, I pay about $75 / month for a basic plan (voice & data). The up-front cost is peanuts, the overall (service) cost is outrageous (had to sign up for a 3 year term). But cell companies, at least here in Canada like to charge you up the wazoo.

[swa66]

Out here the iPhone is only sold without a contract: 625 EUR VAT inclusive (21%) for the most expensive 3G model (3G S pricing to be announced next week).
Even at today's exchange rates, that's far below your 2 year contract value of almost $ 1800. Those "subsidized" prices look like a bad deal if you ask me.

[fredw]

$75*12*2 does equal $1800, but you must remember, that's including the monthly cellphone plan charge. If you figure a normal plan is about $50/month, then the iPhone cost is $299+($25*12*2) which is $899. 625 Euros=$870. Pricing looks comparable to me. Am I doing the math right?

[swa66]

I'm not sure if the US prices need sales tax added, since the EUR prices include a 21% VAT charge, if it apples the sales tax should be added as well, or the VAT should be removed (businesses recuperate VAT anyway).

Also a plan of 50USD feels expensive. I've an offer from my provider to use a plan of 5 EUR/month for voice (with far more included than I use) and between 12 and 20 EUR a month for data (depending on usage, but we use little of what's allowed anyway) [this isn't at the telco distributing the iPhone for Apple, but at their competitor]
Our business is too small to get to the 0EUR/month voice plans (you need to have enough SIMs to get on) and only pay a very minimal usage based fee only. That would be the cheapest option, but we'd need more SIMs (and I'm looking at making it less by dropping the dedicated data only SIMs we have (in favor of tethering over an iPhone).

I've freedom to switch plans and providers at will, I find that important enough to be willing to pay a bit more if needed.
Committing to a plan for 2 years is just ridiculous IMHO. How would I know what I'll use 2 years from now? I'll always get the wrong deal.

The one distributing the iphone has more expensive special "iPhone" rates between 30 and 60 EUR with huge amounts of voice, SMS and data included (I've honestly never sent 30 SMS messages in a day -ever-, not even on new years eve, let alone on average).