O2 - Free text to ANY network ANYtime

dmn · 31-01-2008 4:00pm #1

With the majority of Irish mobile users on prepaid price plans, existing and potential O2 customers will be happy to hear the mobile operator has a new price plan that offers free texts for life to any mobile network at any time.

The new price plan, O2 Experience, is for prepaid customers who top up their phone credit by at least €20 per month and will be available from tomorrow, Friday 1 February.
While new customers can sigh up for the O2 price plan until 30 April 2008, existing O2 customers can also switch over from the existing prepaid Speakeasy model.
This free text offering makes O2 the first mobile operator to give its prepaid customers the option to avail of free texts, no matter the network or time they call at.
The O2 Experience plan also provides for mobile users who do not text heavily: again, it is for those topping up by a minimum of €20 per month and they can choose the ‘free unlimited calls’ option allowing them to make free calls to ten O2 numbers of their choosing.
Also, for those who spend a minimum of €30 per month, the free calls and texts come together as a bundle.
Vodafone currently offers its prepaid customers free texts for life for a minimum top-up of €20 per month, but this is only for texts sent to other Vodafone customers.
By Marie Boran

I usually hate O2 because of their overpriced tariffs etc but I am very tempted to move from Meteor to O2 for this offer.

krudler · 31-01-2008 4:30pm

they kept this pretty quiet, hadnt heard anything about it

Thirdfox · 31-01-2008 5:04pm

interesting...as a Meteor customer

wba88 · 31-01-2008 6:25pm

very interesting, free calls AND texts

Random · 31-01-2008 8:18pm

When I heard it was a billpay price plan I was impressed. Not as eager to jump for the prepay one.

Great deal though, should stab Meteor in the eye and make them move along too.

fatal · 31-01-2008 9:11pm

as a meteor customer i will be thinking of switching to 02 now

Davy · 31-01-2008 9:44pm

If o2 were clever they could have offered this in the run up to Christmas rush, would have beaten what the others were offering, especially for younger people would be texting mostly, free texts to any network and the €20 would do on calls for the month

colmranger · 31-01-2008 9:48pm

I just had a quick look at the O2 site and i think this offer is only valid at weekends?

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Personal/Price+plans/Speakeasy+prepay/O2+Freedom

Davy · 31-01-2008 9:52pm

colmranger wrote: »

I just had a quick look at the O2 site and i think this offer is only valid at weekends?

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Personal/Price+plans/Speakeasy+prepay/O2+Freedom

Thats freedom, a different package. the new package is called 'o2 experience'

joe316 · 31-01-2008 10:42pm

what about billpay? they dont seem to get the same offer

Mimikyu · 31-01-2008 11:01pm

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tenchi-fan · 31-01-2008 11:24pm

Quite interesting!

Most people I know ported to Meteor in the past year, and a lot of them were o2 beforehand. Too bad o2 were so slow acting, they lost a lot of business they'll find very hard to get back.

Even if they are offering free texts to any network, anything more than 25c per call to other networks will put a lot of people off porting back. Based on their previous pricing strategies, chances are they will have 50c peak calls to other networks.

Mikel Jr. · 31-01-2008 11:36pm

sounds good

may switch over if they also have a decent prepay data plan

foggy_lad · 01-02-2008 1:06am

makes o2 more attractive than meteor as they have 3g in most areas now! and much more online content than meteor.

apollodjs · 01-02-2008 9:54am

They have 3 new price plans LINK

Some things to note:
*** Calls to other Irish mobile networks 49c per min (Anytime).
*** A minimum charge of 5c applies to all connected domestic calls.

steve 0 · 01-02-2008 12:51pm

WTF

A few obvious selling points but as apollodjs said according to the new price plans no matter what you sign up to if you want to call another network its 49c per minute all the time.
Also voicemail is 15c all times now too, @ least on the old plans its reduced to 12c for the weekends.
Do they really think this will attract people from other networks?

foggy_lad · 01-02-2008 1:04pm

seems they are not as attractive as meteor anymore! unless of course you cut your tongue out and dont make any calls but o2 continue to FORCE voicemail on customers at exhorbitant rates!

also just noticed they now have a minimum call charge of 5cent! just another way to rip off loyal customers!

apollodjs · 01-02-2008 1:14pm

Don't forget about the 5c connection fee for all calls even if you get through to someones voicemail and hang up you'll be stung for 5c Vodafone do this too but its 3c

MartMax · 01-02-2008 6:16pm

having read that 49c charges to another networks, i rather stick to my current 20c flat rate. plus i don't use text that much thou.

Mart

tenchi-fan · 01-02-2008 7:46pm

mart_max wrote: »

having read that 49c charges to another networks, i rather stick to my current 20c flat rate. plus i don't use text that much thou.

Mart

Same here! Can't believe they're charging 49c at all times to call non-o2 customers, that's the most expensive rate they've charged in years.

jesus_thats_gre · 01-02-2008 8:17pm

The other networks will come out with similar offers soon. That I am sure of.

Lady Lainy · 01-02-2008 9:04pm

yeah they have me on flate rate too but i never ring ppl and when i do its land line to land line. i text everyone like non stop, its great for ppl like me. cos i used to have the 800 text bundles and i'd go thru that like water. that including the 250 text messages online. so i'd easly go through 1200 - 1500 messages a month. i get bored and its a long distant relationship with my boyfriend so we text and talk alot.

O2 also doing O2 Experiece + Favourites,

Where you nominate 10 ppl to get FREE CALLS & FREE TEXTS to for life. Though the catch with that option is that all nominated friends have to be on o2.

Walkman · 02-02-2008 1:06pm

Although I am a happy 3 bill pay customer they really need to change their 3 pay pricing now. They are the only network not to have at the very least free calls OR texts to their own network.
They are pricing themselves out of the market, not something they can afford to do..

The_Hustler · 02-02-2008 2:10pm

From the looks of it, with the €30 top up option to get free calls and texts, the texts are just to your nominated numbers. The free texts to any network seem seperate.

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Personal/Price+plans/Speakeasy+prepay/My+favourite+numbers

cormie · 02-02-2008 2:17pm

So what options do I have if I'm on the 20c flat rate any time any network option with regards texts? I'm currently getting texts for 5c with the 400 bundle, so every call I make is just 20c per minute and every text I send is 5c (in Ireland).

Sully · 02-02-2008 3:30pm

I text about 1,300+ a month according to o2. Iv been on their max text bundle (800 a month) at a rate of about 40euro per month. That was a huge saving but I always ended up spending a good bit more cause 800 texts were always gone half way through the month. I make very little calls.

This new price plan will be a huge saving for me. I cant see myself spending much on credit (outside of the 20euro a month) as 90% of my phone use is texts. I was just getting started on o2 Freedom - so the prices for calls will end up around the same for me. I only really call o2 numbers and landlines.

For people who do a fair bit of calling - to non-o2 numbers - you will make your savings on texts but still end up spending a lot of credit due to the price to call other networks.

In short: The price plans are of main benefit to those who text a lot, and not so much those who call a lot.

Stench Blossoms · 02-02-2008 5:43pm

I am flipping that my 800 text bundle was added to my account on the 31st of Jan. That's an extra 20e that I could have done with.

Mimikyu · 03-02-2008 6:03pm

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JTMan · 03-02-2008 7:41pm

As always be careful with any Telco tariff. woo2 are using a headline discount while pushing up all other charges. This tarrif plan is bext avoided by most usage profiles ...

On this new tariff woooo2 have
One of the highest cost per minute for calls - 49c per minutes - 150% more expensive that Meteor Anytime Plus
They are still the only networks to charge you for your own voicemail - Free on Meteor Anytime Plus
International texts are 25C per minte - 75% more expensive than Meteor Anytime Plus
International calls are typically 150% more expensive than Meteor Anytime Plus.

For most usage profiles Meteor Anytime Plus with 20c calls represents the best value package on the market. For a small number of usage profiles it is worth taking advantage of the free texts while paying a lot more for everything else.

As always with these complex telco tariff games ... beware

Random · 03-02-2008 11:25pm

You're on Prepay - it's so easy to switch between networks that I'd suggest you try it out for a month or so and see what your spending is then - see if it makes a difference to you.

*provided you don't have some for life deal that you can't get back, but I think it was just some older Meteor people had plans like that.

neilled · 07-02-2008 1:21am

foggy_lad wrote: »

also just noticed they now have a minimum call charge of 5cent! just another way to rip off loyal customers!

We have full number portability here. Nothings forcing you to stay a loyal o2 customer. If you don't like it you can always take your business elsewhere. When i was with o2 online (aka genie) in the uk i got stung for a 5 pence minimum call charge a month. I lived with it because of the various freebees that were offered, mainly the 300 inclusive texts per month and the lowest international texting rate.

GBX · 07-02-2008 1:31am

Im with o2, on the speakeasy rate. I might change to 3 now. they do cheaper calls and texts are 5c to any network - text, mms and video. I have been buying 400 o2 texts approx every 1.33 months. so the 20 euro monthly top up wouldnt be good value for me as I text more than I call.

In general is 3 ok?

jordainius · 07-02-2008 12:19pm

GBX wrote: »

Im with o2, on the speakeasy rate. I might change to 3 now. they do cheaper calls and texts are 5c to any network - text, mms and video. I have been buying 400 o2 texts approx every 1.33 months. so the 20 euro monthly top up wouldnt be good value for me as I text more than I call.

In general is 3 ok?

Um, if you text more than you call does it not make more sense to stay with o2 and have unlimited free text messages to all networks?? Yes, 3 do 5c texts to any network, but o2 are 0c to any network....

Regarding 3, do a search. There's plenty of topics here related to 3.

cupthehand · 08-02-2008 5:17am

Lets the games begin............

Vodafone strike back against O2

Vodafone Ireland customers who top up their phone by EUR20 or more can get free calls and texts to other Vodafone subscribers for the following month from Monday onwards. The mobile operator's latest promotion is running until the end of April. It is open to all pre-pay subscribers, including those who are on the Vodafone Free Texts or Free Weekends for Life plans. Customers can register for the free calls and texts by sending a text message with the word "Free" to 50222.

squidgey · 08-02-2008 9:53am

In response:

One of the highest cost per minute for calls - 49c per minutes - 150% more expensive that Meteor Anytime Plus

This priceplan is aimed at high text users. Ireland has the highest text sent per capita in the world. Obviously if you make many calls to other networks you should consider another plan or moving to billpay. I think the number one reason many people switched to Metoer was for free texts within that network. Free texts any network > then that.

They are still the only networks to charge you for your own voicemail - Free on Meteor Anytime Plus

How many voicemail does the average prepay user get in a week? I think the latest figure I read was .7. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's an irrelevant cost.

International texts are 25C per minte - 75% more expensive than Meteor Anytime Plus
International calls are typically 150% more expensive than Meteor Anytime Plus.

You get 250 free webtext a month with O2 that you can send to anywhere in the world. With regards international calling if you take the top 2 countries called from Ireland due to foreign national presence namely Poland and China, O2 seem to offer a competitive deal. There is always international call cards available for the few people that would be calling countries outside of O2's "discounted" list.

Poland - Meteor 50c p/m
O2 19c p/m

China - Meteor 50c p/m
O2 5c p/m

Also when my O2 phone went faulty, I brought it back to the store and they swopped it out for another one there and then free of charge, I didn't have to wait for a repair or anything. For me with my high text usage - they're deffo the right network to be with at the moment.

foggy_lad · 08-02-2008 1:14pm

jordainius wrote: »

Um, if you text more than you call does it not make more sense to stay with o2 and have unlimited free text messages to all networks?? Yes, 3 do 5c texts to any network, but o2 are 0c to any network.....

but when you take video messages into the equation and those 49cent calls three are still far cheaper than o2

foggy_lad · 08-02-2008 1:20pm

squidgey wrote: »

In response:

They are still the only networks to charge you for your own voicemail - Free on Meteor Anytime Plus

How many voicemail does the average prepay user get in a week? I think the latest figure I read was .7. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's an irrelevant cost.

International texts are 25C per minte - 75% more expensive than Meteor Anytime Plus
International calls are typically 150% more expensive than Meteor Anytime Plus.

You get 250 free webtext a month with O2 that you can send to anywhere in the world. With regards international calling if you take the top 2 countries called from Ireland due to foreign national presence namely Poland and China, O2 seem to offer a competitive deal. There is always international call cards available for the few people that would be calling countries outside of O2's "discounted" list.

Poland - Meteor 50c p/m
O2 19c p/m

China - Meteor 50c p/m
O2 5c p/m

Also when my O2 phone went faulty, I brought it back to the store and they swopped it out for another one there and then free of charge, I didn't have to wait for a repair or anything. For me with my high text usage - they're deffo the right network to be with at the moment.

they also refuse to allow customers de-activate their voicemail!

web texts are only of use to people with access to a pc/laptop or people with aft's!

you need a seperate sim for those cheap international rates!

and that swop out service is not great you get a used fixed phone after one month instead of getting your own phone fixed and returned-what if the previous owner of the repaired swop out phone had T.B. or the plague??

all in o2 are still the most expensive networx across the range of mobile services!

missmatty · 08-02-2008 1:23pm

Finally the penny dropped with me, saw all this on their website today. They had me tortured ringing me constantly about 6 weeks ago about changing to 02 freedom and I agreed mainly just to stop them calling me! They neglected to mention that they were completely stopping the nightowl and earlybird plans.... That's really annoying as my parents would be on nightowl and now they'll be pretty confused about the whole thing. They did keep it VERY quiet. Luckily most of my family and friends are on o2 so I'll be giving the Experience+free texts plan a shot.....

jesus_thats_gre · 08-02-2008 2:10pm

cupthehand wrote: »

Lets the games begin............

Vodafone strike back against O2

Vodafone Ireland customers who top up their phone by EUR20 or more can get free calls and texts to other Vodafone subscribers for the following month from Monday onwards. The mobile operator's latest promotion is running until the end of April. It is open to all pre-pay subscribers, including those who are on the Vodafone Free Texts or Free Weekends for Life plans. Customers can register for the free calls and texts by sending a text message with the word "Free" to 50222.

As with 99% of these offerings, they will constantly keep extending it as well. Not a bad offer at all. Wish this sorta stuff existed when I was in college back in the day - would have saved a fortune.

slegs · 08-02-2008 4:19pm

cupthehand wrote: »

Lets the games begin............

Vodafone strike back against O2

Vodafone Ireland customers who top up their phone by EUR20 or more can get free calls and texts to other Vodafone subscribers for the following month from Monday onwards. The mobile operator's latest promotion is running until the end of April. It is open to all pre-pay subscribers, including those who are on the Vodafone Free Texts or Free Weekends for Life plans. Customers can register for the free calls and texts by sending a text message with the word "Free" to 50222.

This is onnet Vodafone only. Text element of O2 Experience is ALL networks. Big difference.

squidgey · 08-02-2008 6:07pm

they also refuse to allow customers de-activate their voicemail!
Not true. Ring c.care ask and ask them to it. They can extend your ringtone indefinetly if you wish.

web texts are only of use to people with access to a pc/laptop or people with aft's!
Ie - nearly everyone. Point is O2's webtext are to any mobile in the world, the other networks are only to Irish phones.

you need a seperate sim for those cheap international rates!
Em.... No you don't. They are the automatic rates on all speakeasy sims.

and that swop out service is not great you get a used fixed phone after one month instead of getting your own phone fixed and returned-what if the previous owner of the repaired swop out phone had T.B. or the plague??

You have the option of a refurbished phone on the spot, or a repair on your original phone where you wait the required amount of waiting time. I chose the swop out. The phone I was given looked brand new, it's a whole new outer shell on the phone only the inside parts are recycled from the previous owner and it's working fine.

squidgey · 08-02-2008 6:10pm

missmatty wrote: »

Finally the penny dropped with me, saw all this on their website today. They had me tortured ringing me constantly about 6 weeks ago about changing to 02 freedom and I agreed mainly just to stop them calling me! They neglected to mention that they were completely stopping the nightowl and earlybird plans.... That's really annoying as my parents would be on nightowl and now they'll be pretty confused about the whole thing. They did keep it VERY quiet. Luckily most of my family and friends are on o2 so I'll be giving the Experience+free texts plan a shot.....

You're parents phone stays on night own or early bird unless they change it. They can't force you to change your current priceplan. I reckon there are people who rarely text and will stay on NI or EB forever.

Thirdfox · 08-02-2008 6:37pm

True - I'm with the original Meteor priceplan (no longer available) and as long as I don't change it I get to reap its rewards every month

foggy_lad · 08-02-2008 8:33pm

squidgey wrote: »

they also refuse to allow customers de-activate their voicemail!
Not true. Ring c.care ask and ask them to it. They can extend your ringtone indefinetly if you wish.

and that swop out service is not great you get a used fixed phone after one month instead of getting your own phone fixed and returned-what if the previous owner of the repaired swop out phone had T.B. or the plague??

You have the option of a refurbished phone on the spot, or a repair on your original phone where you wait the required amount of waiting time. I chose the swop out. The phone I was given looked brand new, it's a whole new outer shell on the phone only the inside parts are recycled from the previous owner and it's working fine.

they will not de-activate voicemail for speakeasy customers! and those refurbished phones are just repaired phones! not with new covers if anything the card inside is new but the body of the phone is not!

Doctor DooM · 08-02-2008 8:36pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

they will not de-activate voicemail for speakeasy customers! and those refurbished phones are just repaired phones! not with new covers if anything the card inside is new but the body of the phone is not!

They did when I worked for them.

squidgey · 08-02-2008 10:05pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

they will not de-activate voicemail for speakeasy customers! and those refurbished phones are just repaired phones! not with new covers if anything the card inside is new but the body of the phone is not!

Dude - You cannot argue against the swop out service. An instantly repaired phone is much better then waiting a few days for your phone to be repaired. And even if you would prefer your original phone to be repaired then that is still an option. Other networks will only offer you a repair, O2 offer you the choice, a repair or a swop out - what are you suposed to do when your phone is away being repaired. A choice is better then no choice no matter how you look at it. The outside shell of these refurbished phones are new, and spotless. The phone looks brand new.

And you CAN deactivate your voicemail. You must ring c.care to do this, but it's a straight forward thing.

I think you are getting you're facts wrong.

jesus_thats_gre · 09-02-2008 4:40am

slegs wrote: »

This is onnet Vodafone only. Text element of O2 Experience is ALL networks. Big difference.

Tis a fairly substantial difference alright on the face of things. That is until you factor in the other call charges that are included in the O2 tariff that you must change too. Tis obviously perfect if you are a text but it would prob hit someone with an average usage profille for quite a few quid.

Either way, it's good to see that likes of Meteor being responsible for O2 and Vodafone having to come out and compete like they are. Will be interesting to see what Meteor do next.

krudler · 09-02-2008 12:58pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

they will not de-activate voicemail for speakeasy customers! and those refurbished phones are just repaired phones! not with new covers if anything the card inside is new but the body of the phone is not!

pretty much everything you've complained about on this thread is incorrect, you can EASILY deactivate voicemail for prepay just ring customer care, i do it about 5 times a day for people,they simply remove a feature from your account and it deactivates your voicemail inbox, it only activates again if you ring 171 which automatically sets it up or you get a price plan changed as its a standard feature, just ask an agent to leave a note on the special instructions on your account and they'll remove it if you ever get another tariff change

what do think "refurbished" actually means? of course its a repaired phone, would you rather wait up to 2 weeks and pay to have something repaired and be without a phone in the meantime?

and you dont need a separate sim for international rates on prepay, you used to need a different tariff but that was done away with no they're standard rates to certain countries

Mimikyu · 09-02-2008 2:37pm

This post has been deleted.

Sam Vimes · 09-02-2008 3:06pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

they will not de-activate voicemail for speakeasy customers! and those refurbished phones are just repaired phones! not with new covers if anything the card inside is new but the body of the phone is not!

they will deactivate voicemail and as people have said, you can have your phone sent away if you want. they have no obligation to give you a new phone if yours is faulty, all they have to do is send it away for repair, sometimes taking weeks. all the other shops do that but o2 will give you a phone that has been tested to the manufacturers specification on the spot. if you think its a rip off, don't use the service. send your phone away and wait weeks secure in the knowledge that you didn't get ripped off

you need to chill out foggy_lad.

theteal · 09-02-2008 4:23pm

Solitaryman666 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

there have been somewhat similar posts in the past to which i feel i must highlight the fact that this is O2's (years belated) attempt to compete with meteor's sweet ass price plans. these companies use the main promotion as a loss leader and make all their money through other less highly advertised means i.e. considerably high call rates, paying for voicemail (it feels like O2 shagged your sister and keeps bringin' it back up every night your in the pub everytime it charges for the underestimated service of voicemail!). Why would meteor need to change a thing? it still works out cheaper for the general user. for 12 year old girls who do nothing but text on their phones i'm sure this promo may prove beneficial

O2 - Free text to ANY network ANYtime

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