Mobile phone

Just The One

Meteor v Vodafone... thinking of changing to Meteor - anyone have anything good or bad to say about either?

Pythia

You'd get a better response here, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=411
Try do a search too, this has been asked so many times.

Kinetic^

Vodafone rule while Meteor drool

Dermington

In my opinion vodafone have good reception, high prices and in my experience very very poor customer service.

Meteor have reception which is on par with the other networks in my experience, cheaper than o2 and vodafone and i have no experience of their customer service.

+++++++++++

I am o2 and meteor at the moment and I am very pleased with both. I found vodafone very poor and i would never use them again.

lodgepole

Meteor's customer service is brilliant. I've had general queries answered by email within 20 minutes. I moved from Vodafone about three years ago and I wouldn't go back. I'm in Dublin so the reception is identical. The cost is lower than any of the other pre-pay networks too.

Genghis

Meteor wins this easily, hands down.

I am on 02 (hate them). I was on Meteor previously until someone bought me an O2 phone. Now that it is unsubbed, I am considering moving back to Meteor.

Just to be thorough I thought I'd check out Vodafone (g/f's work phone is Vodafone, so there would be free calls to me).

However, their rates are shockingly expensive.

Meteor is simple 40c Peak, 13c Off-Peak, 9c text.
Vodafone is 65c Peak, 30c Off-Peak, 13c Text

OK, so Vodafone rates are slightly better to same network, but not as good as Meteors to every network. And they do have that pay for 3 mins, talk for an hour thing - alright if you are used to talking for an hour on a mobile. However, 90% of my calls would be under 5 mins, so 90% of my calls will always be cheaper on Meteor, even taing this deal into consideration.

Also Meteor coverage is excellent (never had any major problem), and their service is slightly better than the other two, imho - though it could itself be improved.

Add in benefits such as
- free Meteor to meteor texts, or
- 5c Meteor calls, plus things like
- text top-up and
- text balance check
- missed call service (while your phoen was off, these people tried calling)
- free voicemail all day, and
- €50 free credit for moving

It is a no brainer.

b3t4

From friends experiences if you live anywhere outside a city the reception on a meteor phone is bad.

I've been with o2 near six and a half years and not had a problem. (it'll just be my luck to have something go wrong now :-)

As far as cost wise there was a website setup a while ago that allows you to compare all the mobile phone operators prices. The link is www.callcosts.ie

A.

melekalikimaka

b3t4 wrote:

From friends experiences if you live anywhere outside a city the reception on a meteor phone is bad.

I've been with o2 near six and a half years and not had a problem. (it'll just be my luck to have something go wrong now :-)

As far as cost wise there was a website setup a while ago that allows you to compare all the mobile phone operators prices. The link is www.callcosts.ie

A.

not anymore
meteor uses o2 for their coverage now too soanywhere they cant cover you switch over to 02's reception

Tobias Greeshman

Only in certain area's, like Clare will Meteor switch to O2 for the reception. For the rest of the country your stuck with Meteor's reception.

Mmmm_Lemony

If youre easily frustrated with incall breakups avoid Meteor.

I hate Vodafone, they're expensive, customer service is terrible etc.. But they have the best coverage.

I tried with meteor, i really did, on three different occasions, because I really wanted to be with them as they are Irish and the whole free text thing, but, they are very poor regarding coverage. 100% my arse.

If you text more than call then meteor is your man. Otherwise Vodafone. O2 don't even get a look in!

johnnyrotten

Genghis wrote:

- €50 free credit for moving

It is a no brainer.

How do you get that?

Kojak

Vodafone (although I'm kinda biased)

b3t4

melekalikimaka wrote:

not anymore
meteor uses o2 for their coverage now too soanywhere they cant cover you switch over to 02's reception

I am aware of this but the couple of friends of mine that have meteor still experience, in my opinion, very bad reception. They are constantly getting cut off, loosing reception, have to stand in a certain area of the house to get reception... They experience bad reception in areas where I have perfect reception on o2. Also, as far as I'm aware, meteor is only piggy backing on the o2 reception which means that you only get what o2 give you and you do not have priority over their customers.

A.

faceman

i suggest you visit www.callcosts.ie before switching operator to see where u will get best value.

Cutie18Ireland

Meteor!!! win hands down what with free texts and cheaper calls....

copacetic

meteor, moved after 6 years or so on vodafone and couldn't be happier, more than twice the mins + a few free texts for same as I was paying on vodafone.
no problems with calls etc so far (5 months in)

Tar.Aldarion

why is anybody still vodaphone...it has no redeemable feature. Meteor wins hands down in all respects. Since they got joint custody of coverage with O2 I changed from O2 to meteor. Cheap, good reception, best customer service.

Azureus

ypu i agree, meteor wins hands down! good customer service, alright reception unless ya in the middle of nowhere, and free texts!!

EOA_Mushy

b3t4 wrote:

From friends experiences if you live anywhere outside a city the reception on a meteor phone is bad.

When on the slive bloom mt's in kinity.....
Vodafone - 0 reception
O2 - 0 reception
Meteor - Full reception

(Why is that last "-" out of place? )
[edit] on closer inspection they all are...

RoundyMooney

Dermington wrote:

In my opinion vodafone have good reception, high prices and in my experience very very poor customer service.

Meteor have reception which is on par with the other networks in my experience, cheaper than o2 and vodafone and i have no experience of their customer service.

I'm glad to see that it's not just me. Vodafone are a vast conglomerate of money grabbing cnuts. (My opinion). Multinational bean counting at its worst. My work phone is on the vodafone network, and is a tiny part of what is probably their biggest business contract in Ireland. They have attempted to wriggle out of handset repair and upgrade issues on numerous occasions, to my knowledge, in a clear breach of their contract conditions with my company.

What hope for the little guy with one handset given that? Let me tell you;
I retain two pay monthly handsets for domestic use (although I rarely if ever use mine-unless abroad and not on business ). When the crappy Sharp GX10s came out, I was caught in the hype and bought two-one for me and one for de missus, and returned to Vodafone/Eircell after being with Esat/O2 for some time. Bottom line, phones were problematic, and no support was forthcoming from the local stealer. We ported to O2, and cancelled the contract. Vodafone attempted to come after us for the oustanding rental for the remaining 4 months of the one year contract (not stipulated when ordering-or signing the contract). On legal advice, and given it was only a hundred quid or so, we paid. Next thing, the local dealer sent us an invoice for the subsidy he failed to receive from Vodafone because the contract was terminated within twelve months! While I understood that he was out of pocket, there was no way I was subsidising a global corporation twice, so-one solicitors letter later, he took the hit of, I think about 300 notes, himself.

O2 on the other hand, have proven excellent in two years, and I would recommend them. Vodafone's coverage is excellent, I'll grant them that, but their call centre staff are merely drones with zero latitude and authority. O2 seem to be more flexible in my experience. Meteor, again seem to be assertively seeking business and have done very well so far. However, their network is still a bit patchy, with connections not always being made from other networks/landlines, even when reception is good. They are getting ther though, and I would give them my custom over Vodafone any day.

Bottom line?Be careful signing contracts people, you are tied in for twelve months, even if company reps choose to gloss over that fact.

Avoid Vodafone like the plague.

Eminem

I would go over to o2 theres the best for covarage and there a good network

RoundyMooney

There there...

Eminem

RoundyMooney wrote:

There there...

What you mean by there there?

:|

Eminem wrote:

I would go over to o2 theres the best for covarage and there a good network

it has the exact same coverage as meteor now, meteor is definitely the best, free texts, cheaper call and text rates too, seriously switch to meteor and youl never regret it!

RoundyMooney

Eminem wrote:

What you mean by there there?

nothign i wsa just commentatign on yore post thanks roundy.

Sam Vimes

Genghis wrote:

Add in benefits such as
- text top-up and
- text balance check
It is a no brainer.

to be fair the other networks offer this too.


if you're on prepay there's no good reason not to be with meteor. only people in ballygobackwards have coverage problems. if you're worried about coverage just get a sim card for a tenner and try it for a week. i made my girlfriend switch so i could text her for free and her credit lasts more than twice as long as it did.

the only problem is their customer service. i've found them to be, for the want of a better word, retarded. maybe ill do what lodgepole does and email them from now on because the people on the phone only give you the right answer to your question by fluke. they know the standard stuff like how to check your credit and so on but once you ask them anything the slightest bit unusual they have to put you on hold for 20 mins while they ask a technician


vodafone are rip off merchants and their customer care are trained to lie to people who ask for unlock codes. o2 are just bland and uninteresting. middle of the road in everything. they don't really have anything to recommend them other than they have the best customer care imo

dundalk cailin

i intend switching to meteor when i come home. all my friends are meteor (after switching from o2 or voda) so they have much cheaper rates to each other and i miss out!!

andrew163

Vodafone... good reception, expensive but at least their service works. Customer service is blegh..at best... but at least they do what they say they're doing, when they say they're doing it.

Meteor.... terrible reception (in the middle of Dublin 15 ffs... although that might have improved since I moved away from them about a year ago). Customer service is staffed by monkeys. They say they've fixed something on their end (in my case GPRS and MMS were dead), ring them back 15 minutes later and they say "oops we forgot to fix that...". Repeat x10, visit their shop several times to get the SIM replaced, settings checked, etc, and eventually give up and move back to vodafone. Which worked from the very start.

<edit....vodafone's 200 texts for €12 is also quite good. 6c per text.>

Sam Vimes

andrew163 wrote:

Meteor.... terrible reception (in the middle of Dublin 15 ffs... although that might have improved since I moved away from them about a year ago).

i live in dublin 15 and their reception is perfect

andrew163 wrote:

Customer service is staffed by monkeys. They say they've fixed something on their end (in my case GPRS and MMS were dead), ring them back 15 minutes later and they say "oops we forgot to fix that...". Repeat x10, visit their shop several times to get the SIM replaced, settings checked, etc, and eventually give up and move back to vodafone. Which worked from the very start.

this is true. its what i put up with to spent roughly half what i used to on credit

andrew163 wrote:

<edit....vodafone's 200 texts for €12 is also quite good. 6c per text.>

with meteor you pay €20, then get unlimited texts and use the €20 for calls. much better offer imo

Toasty

avoid meteor like the plague.
you can hardly get reception anywhere!!

Ray777

Toasty wrote:

avoid meteor like the plague.
you can hardly get reception anywhere!!

Nonsense. Three or four years ago, maybe.

I switched from O2 to Meteor last month and I've saved a fortune and never had a problem with their coverage.

Toasty

i'm on o2 and me thinks its da best

02 are the best 5c text with a 20euro text bundle
no problems with reception either

Eminem

wrote:

it has the exact same coverage as meteor now, meteor is definitely the best, free texts, cheaper call and text rates too, seriously switch to meteor and youl never regret it!

Yeah but you have to top up with 20 euro a month . o2 covarage is better i think i respect what your saying though

Nalz

Meteor is the winner, no contest really. it had its bad days starting off, but its as good as the rest, especially in munster/leinster regions. cheaper.

who needs 5c texts, top up with 20 a month and get free texts. top up bonuses also, over 15 is 3yoyos, over 30 is 6 etc... best customer service around

simple really, change to meteor

scuba steve

meteor win it for me tbh, cheaper and the reception/coverage is prety much the same as other networks. Oh and the customer care team are very helpful

copacetic

anyone else wondering why everyone thinks meteor have such bad coverage? i heard all the same stuff myself and it put me off moving until a few friends moved and had absolutely no trouble. it's been perfect for me, whereas I know people in certain areas of D18 and D16 who have crappy 02 reception.

Anyway, are the other operators still telling people meteor has bad reception or is it just a hangover from when they actually did?

TerrorFirmer

Toasty wrote:

avoid meteor like the plague.
you can hardly get reception anywhere!!

People are always saying this and it's simply not true. They have great coverage unless you literally live in the arse end of nowhere

I think people remember from years ago when Meteor did have patchy coverage and just assume it's the same....for some reason.

I have a cousin in Dublin city who still refuses to buy a Meteor phone because she says "Their coverage is crap" :rolleyes:

jor el

Best mobile operator will vary from person to person depending on thier needs. Everyone touting the free Meteor texts and 5c calls should remember that they are for Meteor to Meteor calls and texts only and that you must top up by €20 every 30 days. I only know one person with a Meteor phone, and I've never called her on it, so the free texts wouldn't be much good to someone like me. Plus, I only use about €2-3 a month anyway so a €20 top up is out of the question anyway.

I'm with Vodafone and I'd agree with others who say their customer service is crap. I waited 2 weeks for a reply from an email, and it wasn't even very helpfull. It was like they didn't even read my complaint as I just got some sort of generic response. Still, I got plenty of free credit for my troubles and the coverage is near on perfect so I can't fault them for that. Almost everyone I know is on Vodafone too so I get free friends calls and that Stop the clock thing too.

Edit:
Read http://www.comwreck.com/blog_47_feb3.html to see a report on Meteor's shafting of their customers. Fairly serious over charging going on there.

WexCan

I was on Meteor until my phone was stolen. went with Vodafone because they had a phone I liked, simple as really.

I get the text bundle yokeys, since most of my phone use is for texting.