Vodafone or O2

jod1983

Hi all.

Im currently with Meteor and want to change to either Vodafone or O2. With Meteor im on the 300 min a month plan @ €50.

For €50 with Vodafone you get 200mins and 200 texts.
For €55 with O2 you get 350mins and 150 texts, sounds the better.

Im really interested in the Nokia E71 on O2 for €149 on the above plan.

Is o2 a good network to be with or will i just for a more suitable phone that i like to come out on Vodafone?

Thanks in advance for any help.

mk6705

Do you mean, which network is better as in which has better coverage and less faults etc. or what?

jod1983

Kinda want value for money without any hastle. Example, i do get so many dropped calls with meteor that im nearly fit to throw the phone against the wall, and all customer care say is sorry and we'll compensate you. about 10c per 30 dropped calls.

Are vodafone and o2 coverage area for 2g and 3g nearly the same??

mk6705

jod1983 wrote: »

Are vodafone and o2 coverage area for 2g and 3g nearly the same??

No, not at all, though any urban area you go near should be covered, and probably a few randomly selected bits of countryside. Also if you for any reason use EDGE you won't have this on Vodafone, if you had been using this on Meteor.

jod1983 wrote: »

Kinda want value for money without any hastle. Example, i do get so many dropped calls with meteor that im nearly fit to throw the phone against the wall, and all customer care say is sorry and we'll compensate you. about 10c per 30 dropped calls.

If you look back through the threads there seems to be an O2 text problem at midnight every night, but Vodafone seems to be pretty error free. Also if you have that many dropped calls on Meteor maybe you should look at your phone, what type of phone do you have? My phone never drops calls on MEteor but coverage here seems excellent, much better than O2 is so if you're traveling to particularly mountainy areas often O2 may cause you some problems as I have tried using O2 in remote enough areas before and it seems to be inferior compared to Vodafone or Meteor. However, the areas Meteor seems to have problems mainly would be on the East coast sometimes in small parts of suburban areas of towns etc, so maybe that's what is causing your dropped call issues. Networkwise Vodafone seems very good but you should wait and see what other people have to say.

Ah-Watch

You wont have to worry about coverage on either networks, both are very good but 02 might have better 3G than vodafone. I rather 02's customer care if you have to ring them as they are very friendly and like to help the customers as much as possible, Vodafone is a good network too, but in this case it kind of boils down to the would you need the 350mins and 150 texts on 02 or do you only need 200 mins and 200 texts with free vodafone calls/texts. Check your meteor bill to see do you have alot of vodafone contacts and would you benefit from the free vodafone to vodafone calls or texts on their Perfect Choice 200 Tariff.

Doctor DooM

Back in the day O2 offered superior customer care but Voda tended to offer slightly better tariffses.

Of course, what you need to do is realistically figure out what your monthly usage is and then see which one offers you the best for that, money wise.

Take in the advise of several people with regards to customer service bearing in mind that people who feel wronged are the loudest.

I hear both networks 3g are increasingly stable but no where near ubiquitous.

mk6705

Ah-Watch wrote: »

You wont have to worry about coverage on either networks, both are very good but 02 might have better 3G than vodafone. I rather 02's customer care if you have to ring them as they are very friendly and like to help the customers as much as possible, Vodafone is a good network too, but in this case it kind of boils down to the would you need the 350mins and 150 texts on 02 or do you only need 200 mins and 200 texts with free vodafone calls/texts. Check your meteor bill to see do you have alot of vodafone contacts and would you benefit from the free vodafone to vodafone calls or texts on their Perfect Choice 200 Tariff.

It kinda depends where you are. Here in Kerry for example, O2 is really crap compared to any other network, so it's probably worth your while asking people how they find networks while bearing in mind phones have a bearing on it too.

long_b

If you use webtexts / Cabbage then you should know that O2's website seems to have, let's say, a less than stellar reputation in terms of up time.

Also, if you use data, the Vodafone Live! Access point has some restrictions (no streaming videos from certain sites for example). Not sure about O2.

Having said that Vodafone do a cracking little (1GB/month for about ten euros) add-on where you get to carry over unused quota.

saloon

What swung it for me was all the free any network calls I get from Meteor after 8pm weeknights and all day Sat and Sun. They don't come out of your 300 mins. The 250mb/€10 allowance is more than adequate: even after using my phone extensively the first month (internet, gmail, GPS, Google maps, sending and receiving photos and video, downloading Nokia apps etc etc) I had only used 80mb.

I did it all out in a spreadsheet to see what I'd be paying. Meteor won because I got the most for the best *overall* price.


BTW Meteor didn't offer me an upgrade after 12 months, said I had to wait 14. (Grrrr I was paying for it amyway it's not like it was free) I cancelled with 30 days notice intending to re-sign with Meteor as a 'new' customer and keeping my number. After ca. 28 days I called Meteor about what to do at day 30 and they then 'reconsidered' and allowed the upgrade straightaway.


Anyway I thoroughly recommend the Nokia E71, it's really transformed what I do on my phone. It's a fantastic phone.

gunnerfitzy

If you text internationally then O2 are great as they are the only network that allows free international webtexts.

However if you travel abroad Vodafone Passport is good value. Also, Vodafone live! can be used aboard for the same price as at home. Handy for checking emails etc when aboard.