Italian customers furious at expensive European iPhone deal

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:08am — Jonny Evans

Just like Canada, Italian iPhone customers are angrily denouncing the deals they're being offered by Vodafone Italy and Telecom Italia for the iPhone 3G. Italian customers reckon they are being stitched-up by both.

Italian users are so angry that they're expected to pay double what anyone in the US or UK must pay for using an iPhone that they've also launched a petition against it. While the campaign hasn't ignited the same level of international interest as that against the deals on offer from Rogers Wireless in Canada, the petition has still attracted 3,000 signatures inside a week.

"TIM and Vodafone prices are way too high and completely beyond any level of acceptability," the petition reads. "For this reason, all we ask is a price adjustment in line with the italian market. Otherwise, we’ll be forced to boicot the 3G iPhone."

Italy has the most 3G users in Europe and 1.58 mobile phones for every citizen, making it a strategically important market for the iPhone, which will also be sold unlocked there. For many Apple-loving Italians, the demand they pay twice what US and UK customers must hand over has raised concerns Apple's Italian iPhone launch could flop.

Only Vodafone has announced its three monthly subscription plans for iPhone 3G users, Entry plan: €49/mo ($92/mo) 400 minutes voice; 400 texts. 600MB data iPhone 8 GB: €199 ($311) iPhone 16 GB: €269 ($420) Special plan: €79/mo ($123/mo) No limits in minutes and texts to Vodafone users, 250 minutes or texts towards other carriers. 600MB data iPhone 8 GB: €99 ($ 154) iPhone 16 GB: €169 ($ 264) Large plan: €99/mo ($154/mo) 900 minutes included 900 texts included 600MB data iPhone 8 GB: €49 ($76) iPhone 16 GB: €119 ($186) 600 MB DATA (for web surfing, emails, Voicemail....)

( Filed Under:

iPhone - iPod

)

Comments

Well am I glad I live in the

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:30am — Jop (not verified)

Well am I glad I live in the Netherlands, T-Mobile offers the best deal.

http://www.t-mobile.nl/iphone/tarieven.html

petition

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:43am — Kiro (not verified)

Hi,

we have a web site for petition in Italy

http://www.iphoneaffossato.com/

Shouldn't feel so bad, check

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:50am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Shouldn't feel so bad, check out the Irish costs on O2 compared to O2 UK. 45euro for 175 mins, 100 sms and 1Gbyte data I think!

This is sad...

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:56am — ruffdeezy (not verified)

This is sad when other countries come out with terrible plans, it doesn't give Rogers a need to change their dismal plans.
http://www.iphoneuser.ca

I'm one of them...here in

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 11:00am — savanaking (not verified)

I'm one of them...here in Italy the problem is not only the double price !!!The real problem is that none of the carriers offer a flat option for the web surfing, 600 mb is a joke!!!what i can do with it?!

600MB a joke? What about 250MB?!

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 12:44pm — Zoltar (not verified)

Here in Portugal the prices have just been announced and a joke it is!

The prices are not all that bad, IMHO. The joke is that ALL plans run at 250MB of data! Yes, sir, that is a joke.

I find it hard to compare

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 11:13am — Ted Farley (not verified)

I find it hard to compare even US plans to one another. Verizon has "IN" dialing. AT&T has "roll-over" minutes. Alltel has "Fav 5". Sprint has "Night starts at 6PM".

Comparing these plans to one another is difficult at best... as some of these ideas are very compelling to some people, but incredibly pointless to some others.

Then there are the "fake taxes" that all the providers seem to charge for complying to the law ... aka "regulatory compliance".

THEN someone wants to compare these plans to plans offered in different countries, where the rules are basically completely different. In the US, people get caller ID for free. In the US, people pay for INCOMING call minutes. Double it for call waiting. In the US, people pay for calls to voice mail. In the US, the currency is in the midst of tanking. In the US, some areas have zero cell service. These things are so completely different elsewhere.

Here in Europe we don't pay

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 12:51pm — Zoltar (not verified)

Here in Europe we don't pay for in-calls, that would be nuts!

Free caller-id? Yes!
Pay for call waiting? Nope (WTF?)
Call to voice-mail? Of course, it is like a regular call, only the clock starts ticking after the 1st 20 seconds or so in order to give you time to hang up.
Zero cell service in Europe? Not in my country. But there are areas, of course, like in very hidden away beaches that the cell coverage tends to be feable or non-existent. Still, you don't want cell coverage that much when you're at the beach on holidays, more like a Do Not Disturb signal :D

Thank yo 9to5mac Iphone-Italy

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 11:16am — Mattia (not verified)

Thank you 9TO5 to widespread the news..
We hope that things will get better in Italy..
.. we know Mac cost.. but this is a sufferance..

Vodafone Portugal is worse!!

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 12:35pm — Lourencovc (not verified)

In Portugal, Vodafone only allows 250 MB a MONTH, no matter what plan you choose!!!!

stop cmplaining... jees... in

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 12:39pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

stop cmplaining... jees... in the uae... we have to pay 8 dollaRS per megabyte of LOCAL data... or a 1gb data plan goes for about 150 bux! so stop damn complaining...

p.s- local voice is 10 cents a minute..., texts are 6 cents... and we dont have any contracts or plans...

Stopping the windfall

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 1:03pm — MadMike

Mr. UAE,
We complain so we don't REACH that point. Yes, in the United Arab Emirates you have some crappy plans - but you are in the middle of the desert. That and you live in a constitutional monarchy. Which is like Dictator-Light. They can't just shoot you for being loud and complaining about the government run corporations that charge you can arm and a leg - just don't be too loud because you can't be 100% sure that they won't shoot you.
In the United States, if we think we are being bent over the couch and given it hard and stiff in the behind by a company - we have recourse. The Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communication Commission & the Better Business Bureau are just a few that can intervene. If you get enough people – we do have the courts and you can file a class-action lawsuit.

Again, we might have it good - but its getting less and less so. For instance, "Unlimited Data" now being dropped to 5GiB. True, it's 5x the data for 1/2 the price - but it used to be much more. We complain to stop it from getting to be $150 for 1GiB.

"Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but..." - Dennis Miller

Stop complaining!

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 1:18pm — Jon (not verified)

An iPhone is not a necessity. Many of you sound like two year olds whining throwing temper tantrums over your toys.

Seriously people if something is too expensive for you DON'T BUT IT. Apple and your carriers are not charities. They are corporations out to make a profit. So long as you consumers seem to think you have to have one then retailers are going to charge accordingly.

...

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 4:14pm — Pedro (not verified)

iPhone = iLlusion

Hey Pedro... confusing the

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 5:11pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Hey Pedro... confusing the phone with your crappy carrier? Go live in a better country and stop living next to chickens.

What makes you think Pedro

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 6:36pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

What makes you think Pedro lives next to chickens? It's commentary like that that gives "Noob" as in 9to5Mac Noob more meaning!

So is New Zealand

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 9:56pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iphone_rip_off_New_Zealand/

Portuguese Companyes on their Best!!! prices for insane people!!

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 1:10am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Portugal Vodafone

Plano Custo Custo SMS(para (MB)
Mensal Voz e Optimus) Internet
SMS Incluído /Mês
/Mês

iPhone Total (pré-pago) €20 €0,169 250 250
iPhone 15 (pós-pago) €15 €0,149 100 100
iPhone 30 (pós-pago) €30 €0,129 300 300
iPhone 50 (pós-pago) €50 €0,099 500 500

Em qualquer um destes planos, os preços dos telefones são os seguintes:

iPhone 8GB - €499,90 + Plano
iPhone 16GB - €599,90 + Plano

Switzerland has terribly

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 6:13am — 9to5Mac Lurker (not verified)

Switzerland has terribly expensive data plans. Swisscom includes either 100 Mb or 250 Mb in its iPhone contracts, then charges Fr. 1.- per 10 Mb. WiFi is no better - monthly access (1,200 hotspots) costs Fr. 230.- / EUR 143 / GBP 113 / USD 224. Or you can pay Fr. 4.- for an hour. As for International roaming, that's an even bigger joke - three times the price IF you pay for the monthly extra cost option, FOURTEEN times the price if you don't!!!

Yeah, well....

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 2:00pm — ChrisS (not verified)

http://www.telcel.com/iphone/planes.html
our plans here in Mexico with Telcel aren't much better. We get screwed daily by Carlos Slim and Co. The Mexican Way!!!!!!! Screw everyone is their motto.

The Best Technology Phones

Wed, 07/09/2008 - 5:07am — music world (not verified)

Really now a days the world is running with a mobiles.And iphones are usually the best technology phones.The human are using Latest Mobile Phones in these days.