So what are O2 and Vodafone like?

Rozie

Are there any major drawbacks with them? How long is the trial?

Rozie

Surely someone uses these!

smellslikeshoes

Rozie wrote:

Surely someone uses these!

Lots of people have them, but people are so sick of answering a question that comes up every 2-3 days, why not use the search button or maybe look down 2 inches on front page to see a vodafone one. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055159241

KStaford

Rosie

I am using o2 BB. Get a fairly consistant 500kbps on HSDPA here near Ballinafad. They charge €40 if you don't have a bill pay mobile with them (€30 if u do).
The usage (up and down combined) cap is 10GB per month.

The support is decent enough, an Irish phone number where u pay 14c per call. And you get to speak to actual Irish ppl and they are actually in Ireland. (can u imagine that)

So, they are ok. I have no alternative here unless I go the expensive satelite route. I think it is a bit pricy and the cap is mean. I have emailed this as a formal complaint to them (something everyone should do and threaten to leave as soon as an altrnative becomes available). If they get enough of these complaints - they do take action.

whatever u do - STAY AWAY FROM THREE !!!!!!

rebel.ranter

KStaford wrote:

Rosie
I am using o2 BB. Get a fairly consistant 500kbps on HSDPA here near Ballinafad. !!!!!![/nt QUOTE]

Hi KStaford, that speed sounds a bit on the low side, what kind of signal strength is you Mobile Connect software showing (i.e. how many bars does it show above the "HSDPA"?
If on a laptop have you tried using it outdoors to see if you get better signal strength/faster speeds (as a test)?

Sponge Bob

a key advantage of o2 is that they have an EDGE network as well, its probably over half the country now (by area) even though it was only turned on last month and is expanding at a fair clip.

EDGE means that if you cannot get a 3g signal it will fall back to EDGE which runs at say 150k-170k

Voda will fall back to 40(something)k GPRS where 3g is not available.

3 are useless even if there is a 3g signal and if there is no 3g signal it does not work at all ...not that a lot of their customers can tell a lot of the time

Rozie

I'm thinking Vodafone may be the better option - I just need it until I get proper internet in my student accommodation then I'll give it to my Dad. He won't be using anything too heavy, and I'll only be doing browsing and light downloading.

Plus, I hear Vodafone are upgrading to HSUPA in the next few months.

Are they the better option?

Does Vodafone have a trial?

KStaford

Hi KStaford, that speed sounds a bit on the low side, what kind of signal strength is you Mobile Connect software showing (i.e. how many bars does it show above the "HSDPA"?
If on a laptop have you tried using it outdoors to see if you get better signal strength/faster speeds (as a test)?

I live in a about a mile from Ballinafad, Co. Sligo on the shores of Lough Arrow so mobile signals are poor here. With o2 3g - I get 1 bar, I get 4-5 bars of edge but I am far better off forcing the modem to use 3g. Considering my location, I am v.happy with half a Mb.

watty

In theory EDGE can do over 250k.

HSUPA is mainly about being able to do faster uploads. Otherwise it is much like HSDPA.

@Rebel.Ranter
Unless you know how many people are online as well as the signal you can't say 500Kbps is poor. If you got that most of the time on any Urban 3G system when the market has matured even with a good signal you would be doing well. A fully loaded sector with 14.4Mps will only manage about 150k download per person.

Sponge Bob

HSUPA should also lower latency quite a fair bit Watty . I expect it next year from most 3g operators .

Rozie

Watty; is the price of Vodafone likely to go down any time soon; or the download limit go up?

watty

@ Rozie: Why would I know?

I find it ominous that they only claim "reduced latency". At the minute its 170ms to > 1000ms in the "real world". It still won't be an IP based infrastructure, which is part of the latency issue. It's still CDMA with it's inhernet higher latency. I've real world figures for HSUPA speeds, but no ping times with them.

I do know that the 1.8 -> 3.6 -> 7.2 -> 14.4 is NOT about giving users more speed, but all about being able to have more connected users
(12, 24, 48, 96 in each case). Statistically, some users will have more speed some of the time, but in reality most of the time the speed will be lower than basic ADSL and ping times 5 times worse than ADSL.

HSDPA itself will get faster, with devices supporting peak rates of 7.2 Mbps, enabling real-world throughputs of 2 Mbps to 3 Mbps, assuming the operator has the bandwidth in its backhaul to support these rates.

There is an optional modification to how the base station works that is needed to reduce latency, otherwise it is the same. It only affects the on air layer, not the additional latency due to using circuits that are intended for voice as backhaul rather than IP style connections.

Rozie

But does Vodafone have a trial period so I can try it out?

elbow316

Rozie wrote:

Plus, I hear Vodafone are upgrading to HSUPA in the next few months.

Are they the better option?

Does Vodafone have a trial?

Well, when I signed up for Vodafone in January, there was a 2-week trial period. I've had absolutely no problems with it.

I'm just wondering what you've heard about Voda as regards HSUPA?
Lower latency is definitely something I'd upgrade for.

Rozie

I hear Vodafone don't chase you if you go over the limit?

Also, there are two prices listed on the site, one is 30 a month with 15 a month for the first 3 months; the other is 40! Which is the real one?

rebel.ranter

watty wrote:

In theory EDGE can do over 250k.


Unless you know how many people are online as well as the signal you can't say 500Kbps is poor. If you got that most of the time on any Urban 3G system when the market has matured even with a good signal you would be doing well. A fully loaded sector with 14.4Mps will only manage about 150k download per person.

Hi Watty, I had a very specific reason for asking that question, that is probably not necessary now. Other than it being a signal strength issue (which it seems to be) I would have expected KStaford to at least occasionally see 1.5-2.2Mb/sec. Aside from capacity issues there are various other reasons why a user would not see good speeds.

watty wrote:

In theory EDGE can do over 250k.

I think you are thinking of EDGE evolution, it is a little bit off here is Ireland yet, but will come.

Sponge Bob

I Thought EDGE evolution (apart from being vapourware strictly speaking at the moment ) was up to 1mbit .

thebman

We have 2 users downstairs in our sales team that use the O2 broadband datacard and our sysadmin was given one for home use and on the way to work for emergencies.

None have reported any problems with it and the sysadmin who is probably the only one with enough technical know how to review it is very impressed with it.

He said he was getting close to 1Mbps on the train on the way into work from Maynooth to Connolly without the connection dropping on him.

Personally I don't believe it was quite that good despite him saying so because I just don't know if the technology can maintain a connection on the move like that reliably but I don't think that it can.

I also don't trust O2 at all. The datacard has a decent enough installer that makes it seem like they thought about it for 5 seconds before releasing it unlike 3, the word fraud has never been so fitting for a companies activities as their broadband (read fraudband) service. I don't trust O2 because I used to be an Esat Digifone customer when I was younger and I there coverage map back then was bollocks so I can only assume they have not become more honest over the years.

Sponge Bob

Well 3 have certainly taken over the bollickology coverage lead from Dodgyfone, back in the day.

Comreg do not care about honest and truthful coverage maps in general as it would undermine their delusional assertion that all of Ireland has excellent 2g coverage.

The current O2 map is fairly honest but their CS are evidently trained NEVER to pass up reports of dodgy coverage or to discuss the matter with their customers. If you even try they start rapidly bleating on about not supporting 'in building coverage' even when the issue is replicable outdoors.

At least Dodgyfone took some interest in the issue back in them days . O2 is not the same as Dodgyfone, dare I say its a tad better overall

Big Chief

KStaford wrote:

And you get to speak to actual Irish ppl and they are actually in Ireland. (can u imagine that)

your attitude stinks. Having worked in many many call centres in different countries it is people like yourself who annoy me greatly

because i am from scotland dosent mean i pick up the phone in scotland and the chances are i will help you just as well if not better than so called "irish ppl" or any other country where i get the same abuse or asked "are you actually in <country> or am i calling india/insert random 3rd world country here"

anyway.. thats off topic, but had to get it off my chest

Sponge Bob

He is referring to one particularly inept and useless call centre run by 3 Ireland in India somewhere....the ones that threaten to blacken your credit rating when you say you are leaving 3 for being sh1te ...becuase thats precisely what they are scripted to say .

They also say <pick a problem , any problem> will be fixed by the end of the week

3 Ireland do not have any call centre agents in Ireland or even in Europe

3 UK has a call centre in Glasgow of all places and they may even value their customers

Big Chief

Sponge Bob wrote:

He is referring to one particularly inept and useless call centre run by 3 Ireland in India somewhere....the ones that threaten to blacken your credit rating when you say you are leaving 3 for being sh1te ...becuase thats precisely what they are scripted to say .

They also say <pick a problem , any problem> will be fixed by the end of the week

3 Ireland do not have any call centre agents in Ireland or even in Europe

3 UK has a call centre in Glasgow of all places and they may even value their customers

ah ok my apologies then, but anyone who works in call centres will know my feelings

out of intrest are they actually trained to say that bollocks??

Sponge Bob

Big Chief wrote:

ah ok my apologies then, but anyone who works in call centres will know my feelings

there are call centres and there are call centres, some Irish call centres are very good , eg AIB and O2 of the top of my head.

some are bloody dire.

out of intrest are they actually trained to say that bollocks??

Yep, 3 agents are explicitly trained to threaten to blacken your credit rating if you threaten to leave their dreadful service .

skywalker_208

someone mentioned a 2 week vodaphone trial there, is there an O2 trial? I thought you were straight into the contract with them....

Sponge Bob

With O2 there is a 1 week trial I THINK if you order in a shop. If you order it online off them you have the advantage the distance selling regulations allowing "cooling off" if you do not like it .

KStaford

o2 have some kinda trail, You only need a week or so to know if its gonna work around your home. I think o2 are 14 days trial.

BloodSugarSex

whats the o2 broadband like around drogheda?

thebman

Should ask in store as I don't think anyone here is too sure about it.

At the start people said they didn't because it wasn't on their website or in their ads.

I'd say they do because it would be crap if they didn't given they can't guarentee you a decent service because it depends on area, surroundings and number of users using it in that area.