Which network is best?

cliffy300

Hi all,
I`m currently with vodafone bill pay but thinking of switching networks, I mostly use texts with the odd call. My contacts would be a mixture of vodafone, O2, meteor and a vodafone UK number. What would be my best option?

Davy

If you can post the amount of texts and minutes and normal monthly spend it would give a better understanding of your usage, so could find the best plan for you.

Do you have any problems with vodafone that your thinking of moving, or simply looking for a better deal?

byte

Also, is there good signal coverage for the other networks in your area, or areas you frequent?

cliffy300

I send maybe 500 texts a month, use about 1-2 hours of call time. Just wondering if i`d be better off with another network, vodafone is ok, maybe a bit expensive. Where I am coverage is good for the main networks

Davy

Since you are mostly a texter i would suggest switching to prepay. You also wont have the 12 month contract.

Most of the networks do text offers, but for you i think Meteors offer would be best with call rates and unlimited free texts to any network.

You can get a meteor sim Here and you will get €50 credit when you bring your vodafone number across and topup by €20 a month.

cliffy300

thanks for that, I`ll check it out

Walkman

cliffy300 wrote: »

thanks for that, I`ll check it out

Have a look at 3's best of both plan. They offer 100 mins to any network, 100 mins 3 to 3 and free texts to any network for 25pm (for anyone about to correct me the free text promotion has been extended until the end of june). This is a contract but only for 6mts, and your bill will never go over the 25 because if you use your minutes up before the month is up your account switches to prepay for the remainder of the month.
Seeing as they roam onto vodafone wherever they dont have coverage you should have no problem with signal.

chrislad

You'd spend 35e with Meteor with a usage of 120 minutes and unlimited texts, versus 50e p/m (plus a contract) on 3.

No brainer, really.

Walkman

chrislad wrote: »

You'd spend 35e with Meteor with a usage of 120 minutes and unlimited texts, versus 50e p/m (plus a contract) on 3.

No brainer, really.

Its 25 per month with 3 not 50

Davy

Walkman wrote: »

Its 25 per month with 3 not 50

You have failed to mention to the OP that buying a new handset would be entailed as well as always having topup crddit on the phone regardless of the 100 minutes used or not as the OP rings the UK, which is €0.30 a min on Best of both.

mcguyver

He can use skype for that

Davy

mcguyver wrote: »

He can use skype for that

Skype out? since when?

Walkman

davton wrote: »

You have failed to mention to the OP that buying a new handset would be entailed as well as always having topup crddit on the phone regardless of the 100 minutes used or not as the OP rings the UK, which is €0.30 a min on Best of both.

You can use 50% of you 100 any network minutes to call the uk. Also skype out was launched late last year. Handset pricing for best of both is going to change from tomorrow so you can get a phone from 40.

Tom Dunne

www.callcosts.ie will make the decision for you.

drunkmonkey

Walkman wrote: »

Have a look at 3's best of both plan. They offer 100 mins to any network, 100 mins 3 to 3 and free texts to any network for 25pm (for anyone about to correct me the free text promotion has been extended until the end of june).

the free texts are for life if you sign up before the end of June...correct?

Walkman

drunkmonkey wrote: »

the free texts are for life if you sign up before the end of June...correct?

Nope, the free text promotion ends June 30th (no doubt it will be extended like the 3c 3pay promotion)

Patrickof

THinking of coming off Vodafone too, bill pay perfect plan 200 + 1gb data, working out at about 50 per month, but am running over on the voice and texts for the last few months.

I want to stick to bill pay.

3 looks good, for roughly similar price (49 + 1gb for 9.99) I'd get 350 minutes and 1050 texts.

This seems to be about the best offer out there for bill pay (on paper).

How do they compare as a network though? I do have to say, voda have been excellent whenever we have had a problem.

Sam Vimes

Patrickof wrote: »

3 looks good, for roughly similar price (49 + 1gb for 9.99) I'd get 350 minutes and 1050 texts.

It's not 350 minutes AND 1050 texts, you mix and match between the two. If you pick 350 minutes you would get 0 texts and vice versa.

Patrickof wrote: »

How do they compare as a network though? I do have to say, voda have been excellent whenever we have had a problem.

If you have a problem that you cannot solve yourself, you will find the whole experience of calling them very frustrating and it's unlikely they will be able to solve the problem because they seem to be afraid to escalate things to the people who know and will blame all problems on your handset or other networks

Patrickof

Thanks for that Sam.

been using a jailbroken 1st gen iphone on voda with relatively no problems.

Might investigate a bitmore then.

krudler

Patrickof wrote: »

THinking of coming off Vodafone too, bill pay perfect plan 200 + 1gb data, working out at about 50 per month, but am running over on the voice and texts for the last few months.

I want to stick to bill pay.

3 looks good, for roughly similar price (49 + 1gb for 9.99) I'd get 350 minutes and 1050 texts.

This seems to be about the best offer out there for bill pay (on paper).

How do they compare as a network though? I do have to say, voda have been excellent whenever we have had a problem.

3 could be compared to a chimp with an hours pc training taking care of your account

Patrickof

krudler wrote: »

3 could be compared to a chimp with an hours pc training taking care of your account

Yeah, but most of our voda issues have been the 3g broadband card we have to use for home broadband (our local exchange is due to be upgraded by April so won't be keeping that much longer anyway)

We've only had billing issues with the mobile.

I believe that 3 roams onto voda when there's no 3 network?

Just looking at meteor, they seem to be pretty bad value for bill pay customers in terms of texts included (i.e. only 80 included on the 300 plan (50 eur per month))

Sam Vimes

Patrickof wrote: »

Yeah, but most of our voda issues have been the 3g broadband card we have to use for home broadband (our local exchange is due to be upgraded by April so won't be keeping that much longer anyway)

We've only had billing issues with the mobile.

I believe that 3 roams onto voda when there's no 3 network?

they use their network yes but you wouldn't be dealing with vodafone for anything, it's just a financial arrangement between the two companies

Sam Vimes

on that meteor plan, as well as 300 minutes and 80 texts you get free evening and weekend calls, ie they don't come out of your minutes

I think their old tariff which you should still be able to get is better though. 300 minutes and free meteor calls and texts. But then you can get almost the same deal on pre pay now for 20 a month. Most pre pay offers seem to beat bill pay ones now except for the more expensive phone

Patrickof

Sam, is the 3 350 plan dynamic or do you have to define in advance the ratio of talk:text? i.e. if I send 1050 texts this month and no voice then 350 mins voice and 0 texts the next month will it recognise this or do I have to tell it in advance via their website how I want the split?

Sam Vimes

Patrickof wrote: »

Sam, is the 3 350 plan dynamic or do you have to define in advance the ratio of talk:text? i.e. if I send 1050 texts this month and no voice then 350 mins voice and 0 texts the next month will it recognise this or do I have to tell it in advance via their website how I want the split?

It doesn't automatically give you the lowest price for your usage, you have to pick a ratio in advance........i think. If i'm wrong that plan would be a lot better than i thought. Can anyone confirm for certain?

Davy

Another reason not to go with 3 might be that your using an iphone. They wont support this (as other networks wont either its your own handset) but it can be more difficult to get features and functions to work on 3 than the other networks.

just one example:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055477301

Patrickof

Only using the iphone data for email (its the wifes actually). I have a 3 sim in my pda for data only and the setup was fine and simple.

drunkmonkey

davton wrote: »

Another reason not to go with 3 might be that your using an iphone.

mmm....which network carrys the iphone in Hong Kong;)

Sam Vimes

drunkmonkey wrote: »

mmm....which network carrys the iphone in Hong Kong;)

3 carries it in hong kong but 3 hong kong has customised their services to work on the iPhone, 3 ireland hasn't and as a consequence, several of their services won't work on it. I wouldn't necessarily say that's a reason not to do it though since other networks don't have those services anyway so he's in pretty much the same boat no matter what network he's on in that case

Patrick, you should also be aware that in the areas where you roam onto vodafone, data won't work

drunkmonkey

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Patrick, you should also be aware that in the areas where you roam onto vodafone, data won't work

In the agreement signed between voda and 3 I thought it said there would also be data roaming...I know it's not the reality but it's meant to be available....somebody was saying in a thread last week that if your using an unbranded phone data will work on voda.....any truth to it?

Sam Vimes

it seems to be hit and miss. I've used data on my phone when i haven't had 3g coverage but other times it hasn't worked. Without knowing more about their network i can't explain it

Patrickof

I have found on my PDA that the connectivity icon does sometimes revert to GPRS rather than 3g (which I assume implies I'm on voda). But it is a bit sporadic, I'm at home now and have no data coverage on the PDA with either 3g or GPRS - even though it is there usually (on 3).

But I definitely have had data via gprs while using a 3 sim.

Walkman

Sam Vimes wrote: »

It doesn't automatically give you the lowest price for your usage, you have to pick a ratio in advance........i think. If i'm wrong that plan would be a lot better than i thought. Can anyone confirm for certain?

You do not have to pick any ratio. You get what are called flexi units. For every minute you talk you use up 1 flexi unit and for every 3 text messages you send you use another unit (you get a seperate allowance for 3 to 3 calls, unlimited on the top 3 tariffs)

drunkmonkey

Walkman wrote: »

You do not have to pick any ratio.

lol, i think he already knows that, rather you than me point it out:)

Walkman

drunkmonkey wrote: »

lol, i think he already knows that, rather you than me point it out:)

Well if he knows it then he should state it, thats the top hole point of the RELAX plans, there is no pre defined usage pattern

Sam Vimes

Walkman wrote: »

Well if he knows it then he should state it, thats the top hole point of the RELAX plans, there is no pre defined usage pattern

As dm says i already know that

You get 350 flexi units but do you just sign up as that or do you tell them how many of the units you want for calls and how many for texts?

Or do i just use my phone and after the month they see how many minutes and texts i used and assign the units to calls and texts in a way that would minimise the bill?

ie are the flexi units preassigned or post assigned?

Walkman

You do not have to predefine your usage. You keep track of your flexi units throug my 3 on the phone. You monthly bill is for the bundle of flexi (and any out of bundle charges you may incur if you use up the flexi units)

Sam Vimes

Walkman wrote: »

You do not have to predefine your usage. You keep track of your flexi units throug my 3 on the phone. You monthly bill is for the bundle of flexi (and any out of bundle charges you may incur if you use up the flexi units)

ah right i misunderstood how that tariff worked so

It's the slider on the website that threw me. i thought you had to pick a ratio on that slider before you signed up

Patrickof

I too thought you had to "select the slider" when you signed up

Walkman

Patrickof wrote: »

I too thought you had to "select the slider" when you signed up

You put your normal usage into it and that suggests which plan you should be on then will give you the saving v's the other networks but you dont stick to that usage. The great thing about the relax plans are you use your units to suit you month by month. Your units go down in accordance with how you text or call.

mk6705

Patrickof wrote: »

Thanks for that Sam.

been using a jailbroken 1st gen iphone on voda with relatively no problems.

Might investigate a bitmore then.

For those of you debating the usage of an iPhone on 3, have you failed to notice it's a 1st Gen iPhone? So, if you're in an area where you can't roam onto Vodafone, or you ever go to one, you'll have no coverage? Also, does the 1st Gen iPhone read USIMs?

Sam Vimes

Adro947 wrote: »

For those of you debating the usage of an iPhone on 3, have you failed to notice it's a 1st Gen iPhone? So, if you're in an area where you can't roam onto Vodafone, or you ever go to one, you'll have no coverage? Also, does the 1st Gen iPhone read USIMs?

I did indeed fail to notice that. If it's not a 3g iPhone then 3's right out the window

Ah-Watch

Sam Vimes wrote: »

I did indeed fail to notice that. If it's not a 3g iPhone then 3's right out the window

My 3 sim works in a 5310 - (non 3G phone) but I rarely use the sim!

Sam Vimes

Ah-Watch wrote: »

My 3 sim works in a 5310 - (non 3G phone) but I rarely use the sim!

yeah 3 sims will work in some 2g phones but you couldn't realistically use it as a main phone because you wouldn't get any coverage in most of the country

Patrickof

Well spotted there Adro947 - I'd completely missed that.