Mobile Broadband

faceman

I was thinking of getting mobile broadband for when im on the go with my laptop rather than paying for sizzler service in hotels. Is it up to scratch?

Presumably its still just 3 choices - o2, voda, 3. Ok ive read all the threads about 3 so i wont be considering them.

what are your experiences with o2 and voda?

Please dont turn this into a discussion about how much you hate mobile operators! And no information about 3 is required either.

AlmightyCushion

I think vodafone are still only on 1.8Mbps (they could have upgraded to 3.6 by now) whereas o2 are on 3.6Mbps. I know someone on o2 and even though he only gets edge in his area he forced 3g on the modem and managed to connect to a 3g mast. He's getting about 500Kbps now give or takes.

godskitchen

O2 all the way, I am with Vodafone and they change your contract without telling you.

O2 fall back to EDGE in most places, vodafone just GPRS.

O2 give you 10Gb, Vodafone 5Gb, but they can change that as and when they see fit.

Coverage is pretty good from both of them

For me there is no question which one I would go with even if I did not have the problems with Vodafone.

Of course staying away from Three will add years to your life, good choice!

smellslikeshoes

O2 is your only choice really.

watty

Digiweb Mobile (different technology to phone companies) in North Dublin and a new base added recently.

Nationwide roll out plan.

Otherwise O2

jor el

I'd recommend O2 too. Good coverage, decent range, speeds are variable but always pretty good. It's worked all over the country for me, with EDGE being a nice fallback too. 10G cap with no automatic charging for going over, fair use applies. It is more expensive than the Vodafone though, at 40 euro a month, Voda is 30 a month.

Yggr of Asgard

If you live in north county dublin and only want to use it there, look at digiweb, their offer is resonable priced and offers good download/upload rates.

O2 is otherwise a good alternative as they fall back on EDGE and have customer service that knows what they are doing.

You can find a price comparison I did here:
http://3broadband.info/communityserver/webpages/PriceComparison.htm

I am now on O2 and am happy with it as I can do with it what I need to do at reliable speeds.

bezul555

Hi,

I am living in Howth, and there is no landline in building where I live. I am interesting with mobile broadband, but i don't know which provider is the best:
- O2
- Vodafone
- 3 (three.ie)

I know that 3 is cheaper than O2 and Vodafone, but 3g modem is expensive (129 EUR), but I have no idea what's the Service Quality - do they really give up to 3,6Mbsp?

Thanks,
Bezul555

godskitchen

All your questions will be answered if you do a search, this topic seems to be covered about once a week.

bezul555

Hi,

I am living in Howth, and there is no landline in building where I live. I am interesting with mobile broadband, but i don't know which provider is the best:
- O2
- Vodafone
- 3 (three.ie)

I have heard, that 3 is not so good as they describe on website.

Thanks,
Bezul555

6digitnumber

3 is meant to be a terrible service so I'd disregard that straight off.

Vodafone only allow pathetic 5Gb per month, and they WILL charge you for extra, a friend of mine got a bill for €2000 from them when you used about 20Gb in a month. I personally wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

o2 are your best bet, they seem to have best quality of service of the 3 operators, they allow 10Gb officially, but they will allow a little more subject to fair use. If you consistently go beyond what they consider fair usage, they will notify you of this rather than letting you run up a massive bill, unlike vodafone.

godskitchen

I understand why people copme on forums for advice, I do it myself.

What I dont understand is when people come on forums and expect people to do research for them. I dont have time to doall that I want to get done, in fact I dont have time to reply to this!

In short, search for yourself.

6digitnumber

o2 by a mile.

3 are just plain crap. o2 allow 10Gb and in fact will allow more subject to fair usage, they will let you know if they think you are going over their fair usage rather than letting you run up a bill. Vodafone give u a measly 5Gb and WILL charge you for extra, and as godskitchen said they are liable to change the terms of your contract to suit themselves whenever they like, steer clear. o2 all the way.

Moriarty

Threads merged.

Random

Having used all three providers O2 provide reliability and support time after time.

o2 gets my vote.

jor el

bezul555 wrote: »

but 3g modem is expensive (129 EUR), but I have no idea what's the Service Quality - do they really give up to 3,6Mbsp?

Thanks,
Bezul555

It's 3, not 3G, and no, just no.

O2, Vodafone or Digiweb mobile if it's available to you.

kaiser sauze

O2, no question.

I kinda ran away with myself one month and D/L 40Gb. Not a word said and no extra charges applied.

Lord Deco

kaiser sauze wrote: »

O2, no question.

I kinda ran away with myself one month and D/L 40Gb. Not a word said and no extra charges applied.

Is that normal?

Do they charge?

They have a deal now where you only pay €20 a month for 3 months and €40 after,I know a few fellas at work who have been getting between 1.2 to 1.8mb since they had it....Both of them are scared **** of going over the limit.....

kaiser sauze

Lord Deco wrote: »

Is that normal?

Do they charge?

They have a deal now where you only pay €20 a month for 3 months and €40 after,I know a few fellas at work who have been getting between 1.2 to 1.8mb since they had it....Both of them are scared **** of going over the limit.....

Going by this, and my experience, they shouldn't be. What O2 are basically saying is that they are flexible, but will deal with you if they feel you are taking the mick. They do not charge without notifying you in advance.

O2 Broadband T&Cs

Usage allowance

How much can I download and upload?

With ‘Broadband on the move’ price plan you can use a massive 10GB per month.
Usage is calculated in Megabytes (MB) and Gigabytes (GB) – where 1GB equals 1,000MB. As an example a typical music track is 5MB, and a 2 hour DVD quality film is 1GB. Uploading to the Internet (eg. sending photos and emails) also counts towards your allowance.

If I go over my usage allowance?

If you go over the 10GB usage allowance then O2 can implement the Fair Usage Policy. See below

Fair Usage policy?

The Fair Usage policy for O2 'Broadband on the Move' is designed to ensure customers have a good broadband experience. The policy enables O2 to manage excessive use by individual customers as this can impact the general speed and reliability of the Broadband service. The fair usage threshold/limit for O2 Broadband customers is 10GB per month. If you exceed this threshold/limit then O2 reserve the right to introduce an excess usage charge of 10c per MB. We will notify you in advance as to when the excess usage charge will be applied. If you then continue to exceed the fair usage threshold then O2 reserve the right to modify, suspend or terminate your service.

How will I know if I’ve gone over my usage allowance?

You can check your usage regularly on o2.ie in ‘My Account’. Go to the section ‘Details since last bill’ and your usage will be dated and labelled as Broadband


(What they don't tell you is that you can check your usage on the supplied software, too. You can clear the counter each month, in line with your billing cycle. Easy, and always up-to-date)