Switching to monthly bill, few q's

Jonathanpbk

I have been researching alot before i make the move but around this board i have read a lot of off-putting and contradicting things... I'd love some help clearing things up!!

I had decided that vodafone was a no-no because it is the most expensive etc. but then I read that if i'm looking to use the web much that i'd be better off with vodafone.

I had decided that three was the best option in terms of cost and that it has 3g etc and an unlimited data plan for a reasonable price, but then I hear things like the 3g is slow, and that 3 wont allow you to use their sim in any other phone? which is bollocks cause i'm planning on getting an n95 and that ruins that idea.

Meteor is the cheapest for calls etc, but they have a rubbish data plan apparantly and only edge which is practically worthless in comparison to hsdpa etc.

So you get the jist, i'm basically asking what the best network is!!!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

AlmightyCushion

You should be able to put your sim into a non 3 phone but some people have posted here with problems doing that. The n95 has hsdpa so that kinda sorts out your speed issues.

Sam Vimes

Jonathanpbk wrote:

I had decided that vodafone was a no-no because it is the most expensive etc. but then I read that if i'm looking to use the web much that i'd be better off with vodafone.

the best for the web on bill is 3

Jonathanpbk wrote:

I had decided that three was the best option in terms of cost and that it has 3g etc and an unlimited data plan for a reasonable price, but then I hear things like the 3g is slow, and that 3 wont allow you to use their sim in any other phone? which is bollocks cause i'm planning on getting an n95 and that ruins that idea.

the 3g is not slow. officially they don't let you use the sim in another phone but you can do it anyway.

Jonathanpbk wrote:

Meteor is the cheapest for calls etc, but they have a rubbish data plan apparantly and only edge which is practically worthless in comparison to hsdpa etc.

they have 15mb for €10 and 25mb for €15, also 10GB for €30 (i think thats the price). not as good as 3 but i despise 3 so i live with it costing extra.

and they do only have edge but they're rolling out 3g at the mo

Jonathanpbk

thanks for the replies guys...

vimes, why do you despise 3??

AlmightyCushion

There customer service is meant to be cack so I presume it might have something to do with that.

Static M.e.

How does O2 compare in all this?

I see no mention of them

Jonathanpbk

yeah, o2 are alright... but theres things that just annoy me about them... they dont seem to have a data plan which is bad cause i'd be looking for that. and unlike all the other networks giving you, say, a 200 minute plan, they have a 180 minute one... why!?

Sam Vimes

AlmightyCushion wrote:

There customer service is meant to be cack so I presume it might have something to do with that.

exactamundo

AlmightyCushion

Commander Vimes wrote:

exactamundo

From some of the stuff I've read on here I came to the assumption that people only really hated 3 when they got burned by their customer service staff. I've only had one problem with 3 and the guys in the shop sorted it for me. Hopefully I never have to ring them myself though.

Static M.e.

Jonathanpbk out of curiousity have you got your N95 yet? or so you plan on buying it with the monthly package.

If you have got one would you mind telling me how much you paid for it?

Thanks

Jonathanpbk

I dont have it yet actually... i'll either get a monthly plan and get a cheap phone with it on 3 and then buy the n95 on ebay, or i'll crack and get them both on o2... decisions decisions!!

Static M.e.

Ive been told the Phone is €607 + Vat Sim free with O2

niallb

Jonathanpbk wrote:

yeah, o2 are alright... but theres things that just annoy me about them... they dont seem to have a data plan which is bad cause i'd be looking for that....

They will do by the beginning of next week I believe.
Hold on and see what they come out with before choosing.

I've used Vodafone, Three and Meteor, and I'll probably
try out the O2 one when it launches. If it works here,
and I get HSDPA with a decent cap, it'll be worth shifting.
I've six months left on the Vodafone contract, but I'll find
a home for it!

I have the Meteor 'unlimited style' dataplan, and it is EDGE.
Not as fast as 3G can be, but faster than it often is.

Meteor has a 10G download cap. (I queried that on the phone, and their records matched up exactly
with my data download counter on the phone, and didn't include the uploaded data - YMMV.
10G is €30 and only available if you already have a €60 or up monthly billpay.
The smaller packages are available on any billpay.
You can also order an addon for just one month if you like.

It gives me between 120k and 200k, so way better than dialup which was the option.
So far, it has worked everywhere I've been, indoors and out.

This has not been true for my Vodafone 3G sim, which often
drops back to 2G or just hangs. I've only seen HSDPA speeds twice.
Usually around 150k to 380k.

Outside the cities, 3's coverage is a joke.
You can be lucky though, and 3 is the best value if it works for you.
I've a friend outside Kinnegad who's picking up 3, and it's probably curtains
for his Last Mile broadband link (512k and unreliable recently)
on the strength of it.

3 also have no problem with a 14 day trial and money back if
you don't want to keep it. I think the others do that too, but I've
experienced it with Three.

Good luck with your choice, but leave it another week if you can.

jimmycrackcorm

I'd say to the op to give the three plan a chance on the basis of a 14 day money back guarantee. You'll have to go billpay as the prepay is crap but as I too have an N95, I doubt if it will accept the sim. Perhaps things have changed since though. Try it in-store and cancel it straight away if it does not work.

I'm on meteor and am happy with the Edge service. I've even been able to use orb with it. But I'm looking to see what O2 will have. My issue with Meteor though is that to get the 10Gb data plan I have to stick with the €60 monthly voice plan which is of no use to me as I'm not a great phone talker so it works out too expensive.

One thing you should bear in mind with Meteor is that they have Edge everywhere unlike three's service which will disappear once you go out of range. On the other hand if you travel to the UK then Three's is a good offering.

Jonathanpbk

honestly all your help is amazing! thanks a million to all!
it akes so much more sense to move to bill, but theres just so much to think about before jumping into a 12 month contract!!

whisht

Or hold out like niallb says and see what O2 offer
From what I have heard, they will be launching at full 3.6 meg with a fallback to 3G in areas where HSDPA is not available, giving 384k and then they will have EDGE below that running at 236.8, so you never drop back to GPRS (theoretically)

Remains to be seen what their pricing and caps are like

Kurn

i really hope o2 bring out a decent data plan, i am paying through the noise right now for just checking mail and checking rte headlines

TheBlackShoe

vodafone will be releasing new data charges from next week that will blow the rest of the pretenders out of the water hahaha

TheBlackShoe

vodafone will be releasing new data charges from next week that will blow the rest of the pretenders out of the water hahaha

Kurn

really? well im locked in with O2 for the next year, - so i hope there offering is going to be at least somewhat competitive

Any idea what Voda are offering?

Random

TheBlackShoe wrote:

vodafone will be releasing new data charges from next week that will blow the rest of the pretenders out of the water hahaha

Any more info on these potential plans?