Are there ANY decent mobile networks in this country?

_Kaiser_ · 28-11-2015 9:30pm #1

So at this stage I've been through the main operators and none of them are great...

- O2 were significantly expensive and offered poor value for it

- Meteor/emobile/eircom are OK when everything works but their billing and support operations are abysmal. Had to get Comreg involved twice and left in the end because they just kept screwing up the billing and cutting me off every time despite it being their fault.

- 3 (business SIM only) were OK but the signal outside Dublin isn't great. It was cheap though but customer care was patchy - they refused to sell me a signal booster because I was a SIM only customer.. my money wasn't good enough apparently!

- Vodafone (my current network) are more expensive, the bundles aren't as good and I don't buy this stuff about their network being better. I leave my Note 4 on 3G as its better than their 4G, signal isn't great at home and calls occasionally just wont connect without multiple attempts

... but honestly, where are you to go now? Sure there's the MNVO's like Virgin, Tesco etc but is that not just creating different issues as they're all sharing the 3 network which is suffering badly since the O2 "merge" (something that our regulators should never have approved IMO)

I'm about 3/4 months from the end of my VF contract and seriously considering buying myself out of it because of the issues above... but IS there a better alternative? I've no interest in PAYG and I prefer an all-in package that doesn't have you watching minutes/texts/data use.. that really just seems to leave me with 3 again!

Or is there any I'm missing?

DopeTech · 28-11-2015 9:40pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

So at this stage I've been through the main operators and none of them are great...

- O2 were significantly expensive and offered poor value for it

- Meteor/emobile/eircom are OK when everything works but their billing and support operations are abysmal. Had to get Comreg involved twice and left in the end because they just kept screwing up the billing and cutting me off every time despite it being their fault.

- 3 (business SIM only) were OK but the signal outside Dublin isn't great. It was cheap though but customer care was patchy - they refused to sell me a signal booster because I was a SIM only customer.. my money wasn't good enough apparently!

- Vodafone (my current network) are more expensive, the bundles aren't as good and I don't buy this stuff about their network being better. I leave my Note 4 on 3G as its better than their 4G, signal isn't great at home and calls occasionally just wont connect without multiple attempts

... but honestly, where are you to go now? Sure there's the MNVO's like Virgin, Tesco etc but is that not just creating different issues as they're all sharing the 3 network which is suffering badly since the O2 "merge" (something that our regulators should never have approved IMO)

I'm about 3/4 months from the end of my VF contract and seriously considering buying myself out of it because of the issues above... but IS there a better alternative? I've no interest in PAYG and I prefer an all-in package that doesn't have you watching minutes/texts/data use.. that really just seems to leave me with 3 again!

Or is there any I'm missing?

Its doesn't really answer your question but why not go for a pay as you go option? then you wouldn't be stuck in any contract, leaving you to switch if signal is bad?

_Kaiser_ · 28-11-2015 9:43pm

FrostyJim wrote: »

Its doesn't really answer your question but why not go for a pay as you go option? then you wouldn't be stuck in any contract, leaving you to switch if signal is bad?

I've never had PAYG (in 18 years

) .. I wouldn't have the patience to be topping it up all the time or overrunning the bundles.

DopeTech · 28-11-2015 9:47pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I've never had PAYG (in 18 years ) .. I wouldn't have the patience to be topping it up all the time or overrunning the bundles.

With most networks you can set up reoccurring top ups so you input your card details once and then you will be auto topped up by e.g. 20 each month. What's your usage like?

_Kaiser_ · 28-11-2015 9:54pm

FrostyJim wrote: »

With most networks you can set up reoccurring top ups so you input your card details once and then you will be auto topped up by e.g. 20 each month. What's your usage like?

Over the years I've found my best option is "unlimited" everything. Back in the day I was spending a fortune on calls and texts and still use a significant amount of both, added with the data requirements of a modern smartphone.. but IMO the real issue is that all of the main networks suffer from poor infrastructure or poor service or some combination of the two and so it seems to be the case of trying to pick the "best of the worst".

I don't really want to pay anymore than 30 quid per month either. Things were getting cheaper and better value there for a while but it seems it's starting to slide back the other way now?

DopeTech · 28-11-2015 10:21pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Over the years I've found my best option is "unlimited" everything. Back in the day I was spending a fortune on calls and texts and still use a significant amount of both, added with the data requirements of a modern smartphone.. but IMO the real issue is that all of the main networks suffer from poor infrastructure or poor service or some combination of the two and so it seems to be the case of trying to pick the "best of the worst".

I don't really want to pay anymore than 30 quid per month either. Things were getting cheaper and better value there for a while but it seems it's starting to slide back the other way now?

Why not try tesco mobile? They use the ex-02 part of 3 which is meant to be better coverage wise. €25 per month on a 30 day sim-only contract gets you unlimited everything.

ED E · 29-11-2015 10:15pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Over the years I've found my best option is "unlimited" everything. Back in the day I was spending a fortune on calls and texts and still use a significant amount of both, added with the data requirements of a modern smartphone.. but IMO the real issue is that all of the main networks suffer from poor infrastructure or poor service or some combination of the two and so it seems to be the case of trying to pick the "best of the worst".

I don't really want to pay anymore than 30 quid per month either. Things were getting cheaper and better value there for a while but it seems it's starting to slide back the other way now?

The irish consumer is to blame. We all opted for the cheapest possible bundles and said f'ck network quality, thats led to the rise of the cheap as chips but no so functional three and led Vodafone to come down to their level (or close to).

With everyone choosing €10 TM and 48 deals operators simply can't afford to build out properly.

_Kaiser_ · 30-11-2015 2:27pm

ED E wrote: »

The irish consumer is to blame. We all opted for the cheapest possible bundles and said f'ck network quality, thats led to the rise of the cheap as chips but no so functional three and led Vodafone to come down to their level (or close to).

With everyone choosing €10 TM and 48 deals operators simply can't afford to build out properly.

I don't know if I agree with that to be honest... O2 were traditionally (along with VF) the most expensive networks and offered the poorest value, but despite this they did pretty well (especially on the business side).

Yet despite the increased revenue O2 stopped investing in the network long before they sold the whole lot to 3.

As I said above I don't buy the advertising about VF being much better either. Customer service went downhill about 2/3 years ago (when they started outsourcing it to some crowd in NI) and the network is pretty average-poor in my experience.

Eircom on the other hand have a fairly solid, if unremarkable, network.. but I couldn't ever deal with their appalling billing and care sections again.

Kensington · 30-11-2015 3:09pm

There's a lot of different factors.

The government want to charge as much as they possibly can for license bands.
Licensing costs per band have increased astronomically in the last 10 years.
Net Result = more cost compared to before for same spectrum.

Usage patterns have changed dramatically in the last 10 years.
When phones only did calls and texts they'd be using a few hundred kilobytes per minute at most.
Now 3G and 4G technology can see demands for a few hundred MEGAbytes per minute at least.
Net Result = multiples more bands of spectrum required (each of which cost multiples more than before, as above) = €€€€€€

Meanwhile customers want to pay less and less for more service.
In the last 10 years we've gone paying from up to 63c for each and every minute and 15c for each and every text to as little as €20 a month to cover you for a whole month's worth of unlimited usage of calls, texts and data (and cheaper again if you need one of those service aspects).

Add to this:
Roaming charges are being driven down and down.
Interconnecting charges are being driven down and down.

In summary, it's costing the networks more and more to run their services while on the opposite end customers are willing to pay less and less for these services.

In return, the networks must cut their costs to meet ever-reducing revenues - and they do that by stretching their cell coverage areas, curtailing preventative maintenance, offshoring customer support and administration to lower wage economies, severely limiting or severely overselling their infrastructure, introducing stealth charges like paying to call their customer support lines, using voicemail services, out of allowance charges, hidden "Fair Use" policies and making it harder to get in contact with them in the first place.

02-12-2015 12:07am

I've been asking the same questions as the OP for the last few years too. Here were my experiences:

O2 - Generally good but ridiculously expensive.
Vodafone - Surprisingly poor coverage in my apartment in north Dublin
Meteor - Push data would randomly stop working on two different iPhones and they blamed the phones. I found it hard to accept that two different phones had the same problem and I believed it to be a network issue of some sort.
Three - Sub-par performance that was only slightly better than O2's DC-HSPA in many cases. That also rules out any of their MVNOs, e.g. Virgin and ID.

I'm on Tesco Mobile at the moment. It's okay here in Dublin and has been much more reliable than before, but I find myself on 2G a lot outside Dublin. I'd like to have broad 4G coverage, but the only network that any way meets that criteria is Vodafone. And there's probably no point if they don't have good coverage at home for me. On the old O2 network I get about -70dBm on 3G in my bedroom but Vodafone was more like -115 and dropped back to 2G a lot.

_Kaiser_ · 02-12-2015 11:42am

Cheers for the feedback guys.. I ordered a Tesco PAYG SIM the other day so I'll test it on a spare phone at home in the various places I do be and if its better I might just switch over to their SIM only plan for €25

blinkey 101 · 03-12-2015 9:22am

Why not try 48.ie ?

10 euro a month 300 min 60 min land line 1gb data and unlimited text .

Ps I am not affiliated in any way to them I'm just a customer .

_Kaiser_ · 03-12-2015 2:04pm

blinkey 101 wrote: »

Why not try 48.ie ?

10 euro a month 300 min 60 min land line 1gb data and unlimited text .

Ps I am not affiliated in any way to them I'm just a customer .

Cheers for the suggestion but 1GB data wouldn't work for my needs.

I tried Tesco at home last night and the signal is pretty bad unfortunately so it's looking like it'll be back to 3 (not great either) or sticking with Vodafone and paying more for less with iffy quality as well.

I'll probably leave it over Xmas and then decide at the end of January (payday

)

Joey99 · 19-01-2016 3:12am

I'm on eirmobile with a small business account. Have had some awful experiences with customer service in the past but seems to be getting better. Their staff are most/all ROI based and generally seem like real humans most of the time

They suffer from the same process issues as all the operators (eg called up today to see if I'm eligible for upgrade, not for two days - asked me could I call back (instead of making the sale before I thought further about looking around)).

Network generally is good (wouldn't you just know that my office in Dublin city centre is in a bit of a deadzone though?) and I've gotten strong 4G coverage in various parts of the country.

If you might qualify for a small business account (not sure if they're too fussy really) it could be a good option.

Alternatively, my better half is on VF and has a decent plan (Red Extra). Gets good coverage. 7GB data but you can't get that on SIMO (why?)

Nonoperational · 25-01-2016 1:37am

Regularly get 50-100Mbit on VF 4G. I find the service incredibly good.

_Kaiser_ · 25-01-2016 9:07pm

Just to update..

Finally had enough of VF but even moving back wasn't easy as they managed to mess up my final bill/DD which I'm still escalating through their shockingly bad customer service.

Still have poor 3G/4G at home but discovered that if I restrict the phone to 2G calls and texts work fine.. my fibre BB does the rest

ted1 · 25-01-2016 9:12pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Cheers for the suggestion but 1GB data wouldn't work for my needs.

I tried Tesco at home last night and the signal is pretty bad unfortunately so it's looking like it'll be back to 3 (not great either) or sticking with Vodafone and paying more for less with iffy quality as well.

I'll probably leave it over Xmas and then decide at the end of January (payday )

It's only 3 euro for each additional Gig. Set it to auto top up.

Are there ANY decent mobile networks in this country?

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