My iPhone 3G contract with O2 ran out a few weeks ago, and while I wait for the next model to be announced, I thought I’d see if the other networks were any better. Now that O2 is no longer the only network for iPhone, there’s the opportunity to switch provider – O2 has been ok, but sometimes texts are delayed, calls don’t reach me, and 3G performance has not been great.

Fortunately, O2 have made it quite easy for iPhone owners to switch provider, so anyone can give it a try. And, since I’m not actually ready to switch provider just yet, I’ve got a couple of tips if you’re thinking of staying with O2 after your contract has expired.

Read on to find out how you can set up your iPhone with another provider, or switch your O2 contract to something cheaper.

How to unlock your iPhone

First things first: you need to get your iPhone unlocked. This not as scary as it sounds – you don’t need to visit one of the dodgy little shops you find on most London streets these days, or answer some dodgy eBay advertisement – it’s dead simple, and O2 will do it for you. If you’ve heard about jail-breaking, don’t worry – this is NOT jail-breaking your iPhone; it’s perfectly OK and O2 are actually the ones doing it, so there is NO PROBLEM AT ALL.

If you’re on contract, you can unlock the phone at any time FOR FREE; if you’re a pay-as-you-go customer it will cost you £15, and if you’ve had the phone for less than a year you’ll also lose the web & wifi bolt-on. Obviously if you unlock the phone before your contract runs out you’ll still need to pay O2 for the remainder of the contract – you can’t just stop paying the monthly contract charge – but that just means you keep paying your monthly bill as normal. There’s no lump sum or sudden charge if you unlock your contract iPhone, whether it’s after 19 months or after just one month.

All you need to do is fill in this iPhone unlocking form on the O2 website and they’ll take care of the rest; you’ll receive a text a week or two later telling you that your iPhone is now unlocked. It’s that simple – no phone calls, and you can do it even if you’re perfectly happy with O2; but now, if you travel, you’ll be able to put a local SIM in your phone and cut your overseas calling costs when on holiday.

Using another SIM

Anyway, once you’ve received the “We’ve unlocked your phone” message from O2, put in another network’s SIM (use the little tool that came with your iPhone to get the SIM tray out) and connect the iPhone to iTunes – you’ll get a message confirming that your iPhone is now unlocked. You should now see the new network in the top left of your screen. If you don’t, go into your Settings screen, tap General, and then Network – try switching off 3G. I couldn’t get a Vodafone signal until I turned off 3G – this was because the 3G signal was very faint, so my iPhone kept trying to connect to it; as soon as I told it not to use 3G, I got a full-strength GPRS signal instead.

Job done? Nearly…

Check your cellular data connection settings

There is one more step. When you put in another network’s SIM, the phone will recognise it and change the network settings for you. However, it’s worth checking the data settings for your new network – the Vodafone settings that were automatically applied to my iPhone were incorrect. I kept getting the message “you are not subscribed to a cellular data plan” whenever I tried to access the Internet.

For Vodafone in the UK, the “Cellular Data” section should have these settings:

APN: wap.vodafone.co.uk
Username: wap
Password: wap

Want to stay with O2 after your 18/24 months, but not pay as much?

Although my O2 contract has run the 18 months, I’m going to wait until the new iPhone is announced later in the year before I decide if I want to switch networks – but I don’t want to keep on paying £35 a month.

My wife and I mainly use our iPhones for texting and surfing; we don’t use all of our voice minutes, so it’s not really worth paying that much every month. Well, it turns out that O2 have a new range of iPhone tariffs called “Simplicity for iPhone”, and they’re ideal for people like us – prices start at just £15 a month for 300 minutes, and you still get the unlimited data, free wifi and visual voicemail! That’s for a 12-month contract, and from what I can tell it’s the best deal around at the moment; Vodafone PAYG would work out at £15 just for data alone, no calls (they charge 50p per day for data).

My wife has switched to the £15 plan for 12 months, whereas I’ve gone for the 1-month rolling contract (which means I can cancel at any time with 30 days’ notice) in case I do want to switch network later – that’s £20 per month but don’t forget, it’s just a 1-month contract – I’m not locked in. And it’s still cheaper than PAYG. Even the equivalent contract to the £35 one we both had is now only £20 (per month for 12 months; the one-month version is £25) – and that’s with unlimited texts, not the 600 we originally had.

So, unlocking your iPhone is easy, and assuming your contract is now finished – which a lot of them will be around about now – you can either switch to another network or save yourself some cash! Simples!