Three.ie price plan vs O2

Ghandee

Hi all, apologies if this has been covered, did a quick search but couldnt find anything.

Basically, I have had a contract from O2 now for nearly 4 years, and am currently on the O2 release plan (99€ + VAT unlimited calls any network and landlines) I call the North quite a lot and UK mobiles. The norths landlines are considered Irish landlines by O2 so long as you dial 048 as opposed to 004428....

Unfortunately, each time I call a landline in the UK though (England Wales Scotland etc) it is an extra charge on top, and same goes for each call made to a mobile from any of the UK carriers.

So, long story short my bills are normally well over 200 euro each month.

Three currently have a price plan:

95euro (including VAT)

Free phones (Iphone 4 Samsung Galaxy etc)
Unlimited calls any nework and landlines in Ireland.
Unlimited texts.
up to 5000 mins to call any UK mobile and any UK landline (5000 min a month)
NO roaming charges when in the UK (make calls or to receive calls)


Just wondering, anyone out there on this plan?
How are 3 for service, coverage etc vs O2

Just slightly sceptical, when something sounds too good........


Someone help persuade me to switch from the greedy shower that is O2!

Davy

Do you use much data on the phone? One thing you will lose by leaving o2 is the edge network, which is quite handy. Its not as fast as 3g speeds, but anywhere outside 3g coverage, you have this to fall back on, with H3GI you dont

drunkmonkey

It's a no brainer if your calling the UK, Galaxy S is a mighty phone and has a lot better reception than the iPhone if your using it on 3.
Calls to the UK have always been included with all 3 price plans. They just use 2 flex units instead of one.
Network is 100%, 3G coverage in most places. Talk and text coverage every where.

Ghandee

Davy wrote: »

Do you use much data on the phone? One thing you will lose by leaving o2 is the edge network, which is quite handy. Its not as fast as 3g speeds, but anywhere outside 3g coverage, you have this to fall back on, with H3GI you dont

Hi Davy.

Yeah, I would use a fair bit of data. Dont exactly know if I would be overly bothered about losing Edge as such. I just feel that if i can get a mobile bill now, for half (maybe more than half) than I am currently forking out to O2, then its worth the switch.

Do you have any experience on the 3 network? If so, how do you rate them?

drunkmonkey

Davy wrote: »

Do you use much data on the phone? One thing you will lose by leaving o2 is the edge network, which is quite handy. Its not as fast as 3g speeds, but anywhere outside 3g coverage, you have this to fall back on, with H3GI you dont

You have Vodafone GPRS to fall back on with 3. You've a data connection almost everywhere now.

Ghandee

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It's a no brainer if your calling the UK, Galaxy S is a mighty phone and has a lot better reception than the iPhone if your using it on 3.
Calls to the UK have always been included with all 3 price plans. They just use 2 flex units instead of one.
Network is 100%, 3G coverage in most places. Talk and text coverage every where.

Drunkmonkey.......... You have me leanin towards 3 my good man...............

Im from the North, moved here when I was 28 so obviously most of my friends are up North, I go up home to Derry once or twice a month to my parents/family etc, so my phone obviously gets called/I make calls when there.

My works head office is based in County Derry (Im sales manager for Leinster area) so call the office, and other colleagues mobiles (O2 UK) and also have to call a lot of English based landlines.

I feel O2, as the market leader in Ireland are being greedy by not offering similar deals here, quite frustrating actually as I find their customer service etc to be second to none, coverage is a-ok but I just feel their being a little too greedy at the min!

donkey balls

Hi op i was with VF from 1997 till 2007 i switched over to 3 about three years ago i had problems with my bills and the VF live never worked to check your balance,since i switched over i have very rarely gone over my minutes.
i also call uk landlines&mobiles which comes straight out of my mins also if your roaming in the UK on the three network if you make a call it just comes out of your mins.

Ghandee

Tempted.........

Called Three!

drunkmonkey

Gucky wrote: »

Tempted.........

Called Three!

Go to a 3 store, Telesales is where it can all go very wrong. You'll also be better off if you need to return the phone if there's a fault.
Sister used to work in Derry and was using 3 Ireland she never had any problems or roaming charges.

Davy

drunkmonkey wrote: »

You have Vodafone GPRS to fall back on with 3. You've a data connection almost everywhere now.

Its not the same in fairness

Gucky wrote: »

My works head office is based in County Derry

You are on the wrong o2 plan then. You should be in a mins plan, 175, 350, 600 etc. They have a free uk add on then used the minutes for uk landlines and mobiles. The unlimited plan charges 30cent a min! The 600min plan is €75 a month

Ghandee

Davy wrote: »

Its not the same in fairness




You are on the wrong o2 plan then. You should be in a mins plan, 175, 350, 600 etc. They have a free uk add on then used the minutes for uk landlines and mobiles. The unlimited plan charges 30cent a min! The 600min plan is €75 a month

Hi Davy.

My mins are in the region of 1500 or so a month :eek::eek::eek: I'm on the road for my job, so its just me, the car and a mobile lol.
Seriously, from I leave the house around 8am until I get home Im constantly on the phone!

I have to call customers, call suppliers, call head office, process an order, call couriers to chase the wherabouts of an order etc etc etc......

I have tried EVERY option with O2 and seriously thinjk that O2 Release has been the most reasonable (as O2 goes) for my needs.

drunkmonkey

02 is a rip off compared to 3, that's why I left them years ago. If you can get over customer care having an indian accent then you'll be happy out, have way better 3G coverage and be a lot richer every month.

Davy

Gucky wrote: »

Hi Davy.

My mins are in the region of 1500 or so a month :eek::eek::eek:

Thats alot alright, you should have been using something like 13434.ie where the calls would be 1cent a minute, and wouldn't cost you because of the free irish calls you had. Or even something like blueface but doesnt matter now i guess.

Ghandee

Lads, O2 give me a shout yesterday evening.
I called about 5pm and asked them to reduce my monthly tariff to the lowest on on offer, (€15) th lady on the phone did ask why I was reducing as I was such a heavy user, I explained I was intending to leave the phone in drawer, or buy my self out based on 8 x 15€.

My phone rang later that evening, o2 told me they won't switch the plans until 2nd of Sept, but that would allow someone from the O2 business centre to call me in the mean time (they are aware I'm headed to three btw)
Don't know why they want to bother calling me, because as far as I can see, umpteen times they have informed me I am on best possible plan, and with my monthly minute usage so high, they have no cheaper alternative packages to offer me.


Will await the call tomorrow, any of you guys any thoughts on what they would be offering me???

drunkmonkey

They'll offer you customer service that won an award a few years ago. There's no way they can match the offer...should be funny to listen to them try though:)

Ghandee

drunkmonkey wrote: »

They'll offer you customer service that won an award a few years ago. There's no way they can match the offer...should be funny to listen to them try though:)

They really are greedy scumbags!
They shaft me each and everytime I go up home and 'roam'!
I make absolutely sure to switch to O2 UK when I'm up north, and the roaming charges are scandalous! So, O2 Irl charges me heavily for using themselves lol!

(o2 Uk and Irl both owned and operate by telefonica) greedy shower of Shiites!

Ghandee

Well lads, just got a call from O2 this AM and they basically come up with the following 'solution'

Told me my call mins average 1520 a month. 600 of them would be to O2.
They could put me on €85 a month plan this includes 850 mins, and have unlimited o2 calls.

I asked does it include roaming? They said no it did not, I asked does it include 5000 mins to call UK based carriers, they said no it did not.

So, as drunkmonkey predicted, basically they can't (aren't prepared) to match threes offer!

Looks like for the €95 a month (including Vat) from Three that has UNLIMITED calls any network/landlines in Ireland free texts, free roaming, and 5 thousand mins to call UK landlines and mobiles is the way forward.

Picking up free Samsung Galaxy in the morning, have o2 notified to put my plan to 15euro a month, and will buy it out based on 8 months x €15.

I have paid o2 Ireland 3074.34 from July2009-July 2010.

Bad form that they're still refusing to be competitive in Ireland, and quite frankly I hope a lot of folk follow my lead and jump ship!

O2 Ireland = complete and utter Rip Off!

donkey balls

Hi Gucky,
i dont think there is any network that can match three at present all though watch out for the charges for calling your voice mail (they charge you 15c per min)
im with them over three years now and recently changed my tarrif to find out they are going charge me for voice mail,i sussed out a way around it by dialing my nbr 083 and puting 5 before my number the call comes out of the flexi units.

Ghandee

donkey balls wrote: »

Hi Gucky,
i dont think there is any network that can match three at present all though watch out for the charges for calling your voice mail (they charge you 15c per min)
im with them over three years now and recently changed my tarrif to find out they are going charge me for voice mail,i sussed out a way around it by dialing my nbr 083 and puting 5 before my number the call comes out of the flexi units.

Aha! Good thinking batman!

I'll create a new contact on my phone called 171, and store the number as 0865

---

(keeping my old number)

That's kind of bad form though charging to access your own voicemail? Thought that was free across the board!

donkey balls

Gucky wrote: »

Aha! Good thinking batman!

I'll create a new contact on my phone called 171, and store the number as 0865

---

(keeping my old number)

That's kind of bad form though charging to access your own voicemail? Thought that was free across the board!

im on one of the old legacy tarrifs and when i changed plans i was told that every thing would be the same,i didnt find out about the voice mail charges untill someone had a post about it on here:mad:
i contacted them and requested to be put back on my old price plan they said a big NO, so im out of contract and told them that im going back to VF in the mean time they gave me a months free rental.

drunkmonkey

Gucky wrote: »

I have paid o2 Ireland 3074.34 from July2009-July 2010.

Your going to save about 2000 a year and get a lot more use out of your phone. That's a serious saving. I think you'll manage to put up with customer care some how or another...

Don't forget to download task killer for the galaxy in the android market place until your waiting for your Samsung EBB-U10 power pack to arrive from Germany later this month

jay93

drunkmonkey wrote: »

02 is a rip off compared to 3, that's why I left them years ago. If you can get over customer care having an indian accent then you'll be happy out, have way better 3G coverage and be a lot richer every month.

Thats very true o2 are a complete rip off i left 3 to go back to o2 was the worst ting i done they were the only network at the time with free calls and texts but now 3 do that now i moved back about a month or 2 ago also have my broadband with 3 have only had to ring them twice in the past and they where very helpful and got my problem sorted in minutes also customer care answered the phone straight away it took me 30mins to get through to vodagroan before!!!500mb for 5euro internet add on for my phone every month is also great comapred to 1EURO for 50MB OF DATA WITH O2 WHAT A RIP ..lol:P:P

i also have a tesco mobile phone and if im going up the north i wont get charged extra for roaming same costs as tesco here in ireland..also with 3 since they have a network up the north aswell as the uk no roaming charges apply ..o2 have some cheek ripping people off for going up north

Rowley Birkin QC

Just wondering how this worked out for you Gucky?

I'm considering a move to 3 myself at the moment as I got out of contract with 02 recently. Looking at the Galaxy S and would be a moderate user of data on my current phone. Have you been dropping many calls/noticed slow data speeds?

My only issue is that my girlfriend is living outside the country and the free 02 to 02 calls are handy but I suppose I can just get an 02 prepay sim for that issue.

drunkmonkey

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

My only issue is that my girlfriend is living outside the country and the free 02 to 02 calls are handy but I suppose I can just get an 02 prepay sim for that issue.

What country is she living in, if it's the UK or NI the flexi units include calls to there, if it's somewhere else you can use skype or gocall.ie http://gocall.ie/welcome

Rowley Birkin QC

drunkmonkey wrote: »

What country is she living in, if it's the UK or NI the flexi units include calls to there, if it's somewhere else you can use skype or gocall.ie http://gocall.ie/welcome

She's living in the Netherlands but is still using her Irish 02 mobile. Skype is grand when we are both at home but not for out and about.

That gocall.ie option looks interesting, would be 20c\min to ring a mobile in the Netherlands plus the roaming charge 02 charge her. I think she has a Dutch SIM too so that would cut out the 02 roaming charge.

I had a quick look through 3's pricing and they seem to be way better value than 02 but coverage is my main concern. Not much point having a smartphone if dropped calls and slow data speeds are an issue.

drunkmonkey

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Not much point having a smartphone if dropped calls and slow data speeds are an issue.

wouldn't worry about dropping calls I never really had a problem, I did have when they came out first but their network is more or less complete so it's not really a problem anymore..

You'll get slow data speeds in places but that's the nature of the technology rather than a specific network issue all the networks suffer from it depending on location, right now i'm getting 2.4mb download and .3mb upload near limerick and yesterday in temple bar I was getting 4mb download and 1.5mb upload, I'm using a galaxy s. Networks speed all depends on location and congestion. It's very rare i've been unable to use data on the phone.

woodzie

Since February this year I have been with o2, vodafone and now 3 and I have to say by far 3 have been the best(I would of been one of 3's harshest critics from experience I had with them a number of years ago but it seems they have sorted out all there issues). I left O2 because they were a rip off for prepay data, then i moved to vodafone and they werent bad because i could use the vodafone 360 for 39c per day. Moved to 3 because of the excellent iphone 4 plans and I have not looked back. I had a few issues when my number was porting over however the tech team were excellent and got it sorted. I live in the country and had crap reception with o2, good reception with vodafone but no 3g and now i have full 3g coverage where i live with 3. Its excellent value. O2 are just screwing there customers over the last year or so. They changed the uk roaming, no data add on for prepay customers (they cannot call that social app thing data) and a lot of other issues. I know a lot of friends who have left them for 3 and vodafone and my brother and his girlfriend are leaving o2 today because they both got iphones from friends who bought iphone 4 and cant get good value data on o2! I reckon o2 are loosing serious amount of customers lately but at least it shows that one good thing has come out of the recession, people are shopping around and will change if they are not getting good value for money and service!

angel01

I agree with the last post, moved to three from O2. Everything is much better, only thing I miss is seeing what my unbilled amounts are on but other than that, data is much better, much better value

Ghandee

Hey Guys, sorry for the delay in a reply.

Switched to Three from O2 as of Tues 31st of Aug.
Im on the road constantly with my job, and cover pretty much the whole of the country during the week. As of yet, I cannot fault threes coverage, and download speeds!

In my house, my wife has an Iphone from O2, and when I hold my Samsung Galaxy in my hand and her Iphone in the other, I have way better reception. I also have 3G where as my wife only has Edge connection, (though we have a wirelesss router anyway) so no major drama!

Few things that do niggle me about the phone/Three so far, voice mail is charged at 15c a min, and I have tried an earlier suggestion of calling my own number with the 5 (eg 08653) and entered my pin code but three still have charged me for accessing voicemail???
Also, unbelievable as it may sound, to call a UK based carrier (O2 Uk, Vodafone Uk etc) is FREE to call, but 25c a text message???

Still, though. Compared to O2 Im getting a much much much better deal.

ABSOLUTELY NO REGRETS LEAVING O2 lads!

angel01

I have 2g data working now and it is great, coverage is much improved, don't regret it one single bit very happy now with 3

Ghandee

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

She's living in the Netherlands but is still using her Irish 02 mobile. Skype is grand when we are both at home but not for out and about.

That gocall.ie option looks interesting, would be 20c\min to ring a mobile in the Netherlands plus the roaming charge 02 charge her. I think she has a Dutch SIM too so that would cut out the 02 roaming charge.

I had a quick look through 3's pricing and they seem to be way better value than 02 but coverage is my main concern. Not much point having a smartphone if dropped calls and slow data speeds are an issue.

Hi Rowley.

Have you considered getting a Tesco Prepay sim?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2056017581

Bargain alerts had a thread just the other day, saying Tesco were offering international calls at 2c a min. I think Netherlands may have been included in the list of countries

Ghandee

angel01 wrote: »

I agree with the last post, moved to three from O2. Everything is much better, only thing I miss is seeing what my unbilled amounts are on but other than that, data is much better, much better value

Hey Angel.

You say your missing what unbilled balance is?
If your using a three mobile, if for example its a galaxy (well this is true for me anyway) there should be an icon on your home screen called planet3.
Touch this icon, and it lets you look at remaining mins available, unbilled balance etc etc. Something O2 never offered on any of the phones Ive had from them!

Extremely handy!

angel01

Gucky wrote: »

Hey Angel.

You say your missing what unbilled balance is?
If your using a three mobile, if for example its a galaxy (well this is true for me anyway) there should be an icon on your home screen called planet3.
Touch this icon, and it lets you look at remaining mins available, unbilled balance etc etc. Something O2 never offered on any of the phones Ive had from them!

Extremely handy!

I meant what I am spending the money on, when I was with O2, I could see unbilled calls, what they were and had a call history there so to speak.

So say it says 5.00 Euro unbilled, I want to see what I did that cost 5 Euro...

Ghandee

angel01 wrote: »

I meant what I am spending the money on, when I was with O2, I could see unbilled calls, what they were and had a call history there so to speak.

So say it says 5.00 Euro unbilled, I want to see what I did that cost 5 Euro...

Hear Hear!

Just off phone to customer care to ask why I had a balance of nearly 8euro unbilled.

They explained it was calling voicemail, texting international, and (forgot about it) I stupidly called 11890 and let them connect me!

Grrrrrrr

Would be nice to see what exactly the unbilled balance tallied up against, I presume when I get an actual bill this will be included????

Anyone confirm this?

Rowley Birkin QC

Gucky wrote: »

Hi Rowley.

Have you considered getting a Tesco Prepay sim?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2056017581

Bargain alerts had a thread just the other day, saying Tesco were offering international calls at 2c a min. I think Netherlands may have been included in the list of countries

Excellent. You may just have solved the problem!

I was thinking of getting an 02 prepay sim but would need to top up by €20 a month to keep the free 02 calls. That same €20 will get me 1000mins with no time limit on when I use them.

EDIT:Just had another read of the Tesco site and it seems that calls to mobiles in the Netherlands cost 19c/min.

Walkman

@ Gucky yes once your bill is generated you can log into my3 on their website and your fully itemised bill will be there in PDF format (also you can get summary or fully itemised bills free by post)

angel01

Gucky, the bills are in great detail

Ghandee

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Excellent. You may just have solved the problem!

I was thinking of getting an 02 prepay sim but would need to top up by €20 a month to keep the free 02 calls. That same €20 will get me 1000mins with no time limit on when I use them.

EDIT:Just had another read of the Tesco site and it seems that calls to mobiles in the Netherlands cost 19c/min.

Srry man, see the 2c call to Netherlands only is applicable for landlines!

Can your gf, access a landline?

Rowley Birkin QC

Gucky wrote: »

Srry man, see the 2c call to Netherlands only is applicable for landlines!

Can your gf, access a landline?

Not in the evening time but the more I think about it it's not a major issue. I see that you can use Skype on the Galaxy S so that should alleviate some of the problem! Cheers for the help though.

I'm running out of excuses not to switch to it and get the Galaxy S.Out of contract with 02 and had a play around with the Galaxy S when I was back in Amsterdam lately. A mate over there got it free on an 18 month contract, €27.50 a month with unlimited data and a hefty amount of talk and texts.