Apple iphone 5 without contract in the UK?

I live in the UK. I must say first and foremost that I'm a novice when it comes to smartphone. I have a very old Nokia phone with a pay-as-you-go contract, ie. I do not pay any monthly contract charges. This is with EE, formally Orange. I have to pay for any calls or text messages I make and I pay for them monthly. I'm considering purchasing a iphone 5. What I would like to have advice on is, if I were to use the new iphone to surf the internet at home, where I have Wi-Fi, or at any location with Wi-Fi, eg Starbucks, McDonalds etc, will I be charged by EE for using the internet?

Is it possible to buy the iphone 5 from the Apple store, and use the sim card from my old Nokia and use the old EE pay-as-you-go contract on my new iphone 5? I believe I have to cut the old sim card to fit the new iphone.

Is mighty expensive!

You should not get charged for using Wi-Fi if you have separately paid for it, just make sure you turn the 3G setting off so when your Wi-Fi signal goes it does not start charging you for mobile internet as the costs can add up quickly without a mobile internet deal/add on.

You can buy iphone 5's sim-free but they will be very expensive, I'm talking hundreds of pounds. Iphones take micro-sims so you can't just cut your old sim card to fit into the iphone. You would need to buy a micro sim card but if you asked in the EE shop they may offer to transfer your old number onto it.

First and foremost you can't use the SIM card from the Nokia as a iPhone 5 using the smallest SIM card called nano. If you buy the phone directly from the apple store you can choose what network you want to go on, I personally use 3 on my iphone 5 as they have a unlimited Internet plan with 3000 texts and 300 minutes for just £15 a month so you won't need to pay every time for calls and texts, but the choice is yours it depends on your deal whether you pay for your Internet every time you use it.
You can connect the phone to your home Wi-Fi and if you have the correct contract with SKY or BT you can use one if there thousands of personal hotspots. I hope this helps you!
And also a neat feature of the iPhone 5 is you can set up your own personal hotspot like SKY's and BT's this lets you make your phone act as a modem (what produces your home Wi-Fi) so you can use your phones Internet on another device such as a iPad or pc

Wi-Fi does not cost you (anything)
it is only 2G/3G mobile data that costs

All Smart phones choose Wi-Fi over Mobile data if available and if both are enabled.
- You can choose to disable either or both.
So if you are worried about mobile data charges, disable mobile data and leave Wi-Fi on.

I would look at how you are using your phone now (mins of use)
'3' has a new PAYG rate announced a few days ago, very good for text and data
3p/min - calls
2p/text - text
1p/MB - data
so if you make only a few calls, bit of a no brainer.
make 100-200 calls and a basic 3 unltimate 200 rate would be cheaper (genuinely unlimited data - go watch yourtub/netflix without worry)

if you buy an iPhone outright, buy it from Apple it will be world wide unlocked
if you buyt from a network (even 'unlocked' or fullprice) it can be locked to UK networks only or even to the single network still. All other iPhones automatically lock to the network of 1st SIM card that you put in it.

But look at your personal usage,
yo umay be surprised how much cheaper a contract maybe.
not least because an iPhone on a contract can ften work out at effectively 400 pounds not 550 pounds, compared to the same phone bought separately and that same SIM only deal (or worse PAYG)

So some choices out there.

and no, do NOT cutdown your old SIM card, get a a new (free) replacement
The edges on a proper one are smoother and will not get trapped in the slot.

EE will give you a new SIM card, not a problem
or get a new (PAYG) one and transfer your number to it