HTC desire on Meteor... are meteor still suffering from crappy reception?

BeardyFunzo

I would love to buy a HTC desire and I'm currently out of contract with Three Ireland. Very happy with Three service wise but god the selections of phones is beyond crappy. Now that Meteor have the HTC Desire I'm tempted to move but I have reservations about Meteor.

Would any recent/current customers of theirs recommend/bash them?

Cheers!

drunkmonkey

You do know three are now giving the iPhone to upgrade customers, ordered mine today ; ) it'll be a long time before meteor catch up with 3 coverage wise!

BeardyFunzo

interesting! thanks for letting me know!

Fresh Pots

BeardyFunzo wrote: »

I would love to buy a HTC desire and I'm currently out of contract with Three Ireland. Very happy with Three service wise but god the selections of phones is beyond crappy. Now that Meteor have the HTC Desire I'm tempted to move but I have reservations about Meteor.

Would any recent/current customers of theirs recommend/bash them?

Cheers!

Since when do they have the Desire? Do you mean the Legend?

aliocroc

Apparently the desire is coming over the next 4 weeks to meteor and vodafone-this is going by the Carphone warehouse catalogue so...! Actually more than that-the meteor release is the one thats unofficial, vodafone actually have announced it through their website!

BeardyFunzo-maybe vodafone is worth a consideration for the Desire!? Im with meteor but im waiting to see the price plans for both, if i go with meteor I'll let you know what its performance is like! I know ive heard it drops calls alot on HTC!!

theres a thread called Pre-ordering the HTC Desire on here-it has a good bit more info! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055858292&page=1

6ix

I've been with four of the five Irish networks and I'm currently very happy with Meteor. Live in Dublin but I'm regularly travelling around the country and I've rarely had any reception issues. However, there has been a lot of talk on this forum and the Meteor forums of an issue with the Android phones -(the HTC Hero and Legend) dropping the signal when switching between 2G and 3G coverage on Meteor. It seems to be a big problem. I have a Windows Mobile at the moment and I've never had any issue like that.

I had been looking at upgrading to the Legend (or the Desire when it arrives) but I'll wait and see if this issue can be fixed first.

youcancallmeal

It seems that Meteor have changed their pricing plan since yesterday?? I was hoping when they release the Desire it would have the same pricing plan as the Legend. The most basic plan(200mins talk time and 200 texts) as of yesterday was €120 then €20 p/m for 18 months, comes to €480 which is pretty much what you would pay for the phone sim free so not too bad at all.

Today the most basic plan is now €120 for the phone and €30 p/m for 18 months, €660! You do get 1GB of data usage as well but yesterday you could add that to your plan as an optional add-on for €5 p/m.So its basically a €5 increase (€90 total) for nothing essentially. They are sneaky feckers not even making any announcement or anything. I found the cached page which shows the changes.

BEFORE TODAY


TODAY


This increase coupled with Meteor's 2g/3g android issues has put me right off getting the Desire with them.

MagicMarker

That sucks.

But still, it's better than vodafones 35/month data package with NO minutes or texts included.:mad:

dloob

The old 5 euro add on only gets you 250Mb not 1Gb of data.
So it's now 5 euro more for an extra 750Mb.
Seems reasonable.

dmn

youcancallme>al wrote: »

It seems that Meteor have changed their pricing plan since yesterday?? I was hoping when they release the Desire it would have the same pricing plan as the Legend. The most basic plan(200mins talk time and 200 texts) as of yesterday was €120 then €20 p/m for 18 months, comes to €480 which is pretty much what you would pay for the phone sim free so not too bad at all.

Today the most basic plan is now €120 for the phone and €30 p/m for 18 months, €660! You do get 1GB of data usage as well but yesterday you could add that to your plan as an optional add-on for €5 p/m.So its basically a €5 increase (€90 total) for nothing essentially. They are sneaky feckers not even making any announcement or anything. I found the cached page which shows the changes.

BEFORE TODAY


TODAY


This increase coupled with Meteor's 2g/3g android issues has put me right off getting the Desire with them.

it seems the other price plans are still there...http://www.meteor.ie/plans/bill_pay/

by the way the €5 internet addon is only 250mb not 1GB like you said

youcancallmeal

Ah yes your right but it seems the option to select the cheaper "Bill Pay Connect" price plans is not available when you go to purchase the Legend, maybe a mistake on the site but it would be nice to have the option if you didnt want the 1GB data plan.

partyatmygaff

Well if you cant buy the desire on connect and are forced to buy data (Something only Vodafone and o2 had done) then i'm fairly certain i'm leaving meteor.

partyatmygaff

It gets worse....

They have just increased the price of the Legend aswell as the price plans.

youcancallmeal

Fork that! I have no doubt the Desire will match the Legend pricing or maybe even more expensive. Gone from €480 to Nearly €700 for the cheapest contract in the space of a day! Well at least its decided it for me, gonna look elsewhere.

alexiadexia

FFS!! I am so annoyed now..
I was going to buy that €20 bill and the Legend on Tuesday..
NoooooooooooooOOOOO........
I thought they might drop their prices.. Ah well..

partyatmygaff

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Fork that! I have no doubt the Desire will match the Legend pricing or maybe even more expensive. Well at least its decided it for me, gonna look elsewhere

Will be doing the same. All meteor had going for them was that they didn't force you to take a data plan like everyone else on their smartphones.

youcancallmeal

Actually hang on that screenshot you posted is if you want to buy the phone with a new number. Change the option to use your existing number and it reverts back to the €119.99 price

BoB_BoT

I have a hero myself, waiting for the 2.1 update, very patiently, but some of the glitches are really starting to piss me off. Other users have gone as far as to load the 2.1 android update to see if it fixes the issues that have been popping up. I however am lucky, I don't seem to be suffering from the service errors as some users are.


I'd suggest having a read of the meteor forums and see what people have to say. Few threads that I'd read before buying

http://forums.meteor.ie/index.php?showtopic=639

http://forums.meteor.ie/index.php?showtopic=530

partyatmygaff

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Actually hang on that screenshot you posted is if you want to buy the phone with a new number. Change the option to use your existing number and it reverts back to the €119.99 price

Ah... That explains it

Anyway it appears meteor have also finally officially acknowledged that they will stock the desire.
http://www.meteor.ie/plans/bill_pay/

Look at the photo for Bill Pay Smart. On the left is the HTC Legend and guess what's on the right. Not gonna bother getting it now though thanks to their new price plans.

Royale with Cheese

Was thinking about getting a contract but those new price plans are putting me off. Might just try and pick the phone up sim free and then stick with my bill pay lite and get a data add on. At least that way if there are any network problems I can just switch provider easy enough.

MagicMarker

Aren't those prices for new customers only? If you're PAYG moving to bill pay then it's more expensive, plus you can only buy in the shops. There's no option to go through with the order online.

Roy Rogers

MagicMarker wrote: »

Aren't those prices for new customers only? If you're PAYG moving to bill pay then it's more expensive, plus you can only buy in the shops. There's no option to go through with the order online.

EDIT: Actually, having looked through some of the pricing plans and done me maths, they don't look too bad (from what I'd like to see, at least).

However, if the dropped connection issue persists on the Desire, I might jump ship to O2 for the Desire..

BeardyFunzo

going on the above I think I'll wait a little longer and hope that three get their thumbs out of their butts and improve their range soon. Thank you for your input all.

edanto

Thanks guys for all the detailed feedback in this thread. There's no way I'm moving to meteor having read of the 2G -> 3G problem where the phone locks itself out of the network as it changes network. Not risking that!

Quote from one of the threads on the meteor forum linked above

"Well, I've just dropped coverage again and ended up missing business calls and leaving a colleague of mine stranded in the rain!

Thanks Meteor, this has to be the single most useless service I have ever had the misfortune of signing up to!"

dmn

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Will be doing the same. All meteor had going for them was that they didn't force you to take a data plan like everyone else on their smartphones.

I've had the HTC Hero and to be honest with an Android handset you are crazy not to take it with an addon. If you rely on using the phone just where you have wifi coverage then a LOT of the features on the handset are useless where you aren't within a wifi area.

partyatmygaff

Such as? I don't care for social networking so the friendstream widget is useless to me. The main appeal of the phone is its power with the snapdragon cpu and apps. Besides that, I have wifi access 90 percent of the time so a data plan is of very little use to me.

Jigz

Just went to the shop yesterday to get my desire... You can still get it for €20/25 per month (209.99 for existing cust / 179.99 if porting), they would advise you though to get the plan with an addon as android phones always connect to the internet.

eamondunphy

Jigz wrote: »

Just went to the shop yesterday to get my desire... You can still get it for €20/25 per month (209.99 for existing cust / 179.99 if porting), they would advise you though to get the plan with an addon as android phones always connect to the internet.

where did you get your desire? every shop i go to say they'll only sell the phone to new customers, seems like meteor arent interested in selling to us loyal customers who have been with them years

niallb

I got mine in Navan on Friday as an upgrade.
No problems or obstacles.
Great phone.

eamondunphy

its ridiculous at this stage, i've literlly rang every meteor shop in south dublin and town, i even rang naas and newbridge, many of the shops have phones but wont sell them to me as im not a new customer, customer service skills stink. on friday i even booked a phone in my mams name as shes on vodafone, we went bith went to the store in tallaght and said that my mam wanted to put off getting the phone for a weeks and could i take it instead as an upgrade and they refused!!!

if it wasnt that meteor have cheaper bill plans that vodafone and o2, i'd jump network in a flash

ffocused

I have one since Friday and have not had any signal problems with it yet.

Jigz

eamondunphy wrote: »

where did you get your desire? every shop i go to say they'll only sell the phone to new customers, seems like meteor arent interested in selling to us loyal customers who have been with them years

Meteor Henry Street. , heard they'd be getting new stocks on monday.

Edit: I'm an existing customer and didn't have problems getting the phone. Hope they'd do the same for you.

quad_red

What a joke.

I was looking at the 12 month Surf plan for the desire.

Then they release it and the equivalent (Smart 50) is an 18 month contract.

Yet the cheaper Smart plan (Smart 35) is only a 12 month contract.

That makes no sense?!?!?

quad_red

delete

partyatmygaff

quad_red wrote: »

What a joke.

I was looking at the 12 month Surf plan for the desire.

Then they release it and the equivalent (Smart 50) is an 18 month contract.

Yet the cheaper Smart plan (Smart 35) is only a 12 month contract.

That makes no sense?!?!?

It's not a joke

You just don't understand how their tariff system works. All of their plans i.e. Connect €20, Smart €30, Smart €50 e.t.c are 18 month contracts. You can opt for a 12 month contract for €5 p/m extra so Smart €50 becomes Smart €55

quad_red

partyatmygaff wrote: »

It's not a joke

You just don't understand how their tariff system works. All of their plans i.e. Connect €20, Smart €30, Smart €50 e.t.c are 18 month contracts. You can opt for a 12 month contract for €5 p/m extra so Smart €50 becomes Smart €55

I just got off the phone to them and the guy was insistent...

the only 12 month option with the HTC Desire was Smart 35.

budhabob

quad_red wrote: »

I just got off the phone to them and the guy was insistent...

the only 12 month option with the HTC Desire was Smart 35.

I think you can get the 25 euro one too (bill pay connect), but you HAVE to get the 10gb add on with it. They have to sell the add-on beacuse its an internet phone. Thats what i was told 2weeks ago, but i'll know more tomorrow.

partyatmygaff

quad_red wrote: »

I just got off the phone to them and the guy was insistent...

the only 12 month option with the HTC Desire was Smart 35.

That's not true, I got the Desire on connect €25 which is a 12 month plan.

yabadabado

I was on meteor payg .I got the desire on a 12 month contract ,connect 25.I didn't have 2 sign up 2 a data plan but I was given the 250mb Bundle on a months free trial.I will probably keep the bundle but I'm not under any obligation to do so .the fone cost E180.

Darksaga87

Can you trade in a phone to meteor to get money off a new phone? On bill pay, due an upgrade, want the desire, need money!

partyatmygaff

Darksaga87 wrote: »

Can you trade in a phone to meteor to get money off a new phone? On bill pay, due an upgrade, want the desire, need money!

No but you can do that at carphone warehouse depending on what phone you have.

Darksaga87

partyatmygaff wrote: »

No but you can do that at carphone warehouse depending on what phone you have.

Yeah done that with them a while ago, but sure they wouldnt have the HTC would they?

partyatmygaff

Darksaga87 wrote: »

Yeah done that with them a while ago, but sure they wouldnt have the HTC would they?

Of course they do. It's available sim free and on meteor and vodafone.

Darksaga87

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Of course they do. It's available sim free and on meteor and vodafone.

:pac: sweet. Any idea on how much they give for c902?

Royale with Cheese

I was in both Meteor and Carphone Warehouse today. Carphone Warehouse wanted €210 for the desire on Smart 30/35, Meteor were asking for €180.

Darksaga87

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I was in both Meteor and Carphone Warehouse today. Carphone Warehouse wanted €210 for the desire on Smart 30/35, Meteor were asking for €180.

Your user name is brilliant.:D