iPhone 5S and 5C won't work on O2 4G network at launch
O2 staff may have a headache on their hands come the launch of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C handsets. Despite both phones supporting 4G bands, and O2’s 4G network launching late last month, it appears the latest smartphone hardware coming out of Cupertino will not work on O2’s 4G network, at least not at first.
“The iPhone 5C and 5S will ultimately work on O2′s 4G network, but we are currently waiting for Apple to enable the carrier bundle for our network. We’ve been advised this will be in the coming weeks,” said O2.
Essentially, this looks to mean that, though you’ll be able to buy the new iPhones on a 4G contract from O2, you won’t actually benefit from the superfast speed.
It’s all sounding like a bit of a kerfuffle then, and to slow the tide of complaints sure to flood its way, O2 will be offering £5 off the first month of new iPhone 4G contracts.
“We want to be transparent about this with customers, so we are giving £5 off, and clearly they’ll still have 3G connectivity until the carrier bundle is enabled to allow 4G on our network,” it states.
O2 will also be offering the new iPhones through their O2 Refresh deals, letting current contract customers upgrade to the new handsets before their current contracts run out. A £120 upfront fee using O2 Refresh would bag you the iPhone 5S on a £37 a month tariff, with 1GB of data and more minutes and texts than any human would/should be able to get through.
