O2 finds new way to bind iPhone users
Downgrade your tariff, lose Visual Voicemail
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O2 might yet refuse to unlock iPhones at the end of contract, but the operator has admitted that even customers who stay will have to do without Visual Voicemail.
O2 has confirmed to El Reg that customers who choose a cheaper tariff once they've paid off their iPhone won't be able to get Visual Voicemail, which remains a premium feature only available to those willing to sign up for 18 months at 35 quid a month.
Visual Voicemail - the ability to show a list of voicemail messages - was touted as a great innovation when the iPhone was launched, but it's also one that needs operator compliance and dedicated servers, and O2 has decided that those who opt for a cheaper tariff at the end of their iPhone contracts shouldn't be entitled to access.
Quite why O2 would be so bloody minded about it we are left to speculate - it could be a ploy to encourage customers to upgrade given they'll have to spend 35 quid a month anyway, or a conspiracy to encourage unlocking, and jailbreaking, to drain revenue from Apple, but most likely is that O2 has to pay Apple for every Visual Voicemail user, and O2 doesn't want to pay any more.
Especially as the capability is far from unique these days - Hullomail will put your voicemail into your e-mail, achieving the same thing, and other services provide similar functionality.
It hardly seems likely that many customers are going to pay £35 a month for the privilege of having official Visual Voicemail, but equally it's unlikely many customers are going to change networks due to the lack of it, so O2 avoids paying Apple a few quid while encouraging a few people to take on a new 18-month contract - seems an obvious decision when you look at it that way. ®
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COMMENTS
Vodafone here I come
I can't wait to change networks to Vodafone; decent coverage and a proper attitude to customer billing.
iphone brag
I don't understand this constant blathering about the iphone being a status symbol. My 3G cost 100 quid with the contract, and I believe you can get them for free with the £35 quid contract now. Pretty much anyone in the UK can afford this. The iphone is NOT a status symbol - if you're green with envy, bloody get one!! (But wait for Orange/Voda cos O2 are full of anti-consumer policies of late - like no unlocking)
@Law
"you just have a bit of an issue with an operator and can't contain the rage, but going off your comments alone, your issues seem to be mental, not signal related!"
What rage? I've obviously hit the nail on the head somewhere and probably by mentioning 'hairy knuckled engineers', a term I read in an Arthur C Clarke story, it has got a few a little upset, something which I didn't intend.
It was no big deal asking people whether they had O2 access just something I did to see if the O2 lack of coverage was consistent, which it was. The reason I stay with O2 is that I wanted an iPhone and hoped O2's coverage would improve. I'm now working more from home and therefore yet more keen on getting coverage from home. Soon the iPhone will be on Orange & Vodaphone so I will be able to jump ship hopefully to a network that does what is says on the tin.
And no I don't test Wordpress themes as many don't work and therefore fail from the get go but I do test software for a living and have done for quite a while.
More flames and logic-chopping this way please......
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