iphone 4 on O2 or Three (3G)?

mikelo303

Hi,

I am planning to leave Meteor soon due to iPhone 4 which I need for work (all apps are only on iPhone).

I contacted 3 and O2 to get their prices. In short they are very close. I mean for 95 Euro with unlimited calls and so on with both providers.

Now. I live in city centre and I travel mostly in town. I am planning to use my iPhone for tethering form time to time, maybe once a week for few minutes. That is all. I was considering dongle but I do not see why I should pay monthly fee just to use it once a week.

Saying that I have few concerns which provider to choose.

Last year I tested 3 Broadband with a dongle and it was HORRIBLE! I am afraid that internet on the phone will be horrible too. Even without tethering, as plain web surfing. On the other side O2 is brilliant for internet.

Finally I am afraid to go with O2 as they seems to be ripping of their customers (that is why I do not even mention Vodafone). However, since O2 package is all unlimited it should be ok. I am just considering their hidden charges.

To sum it up. I will be using phone broadband almost every day but not too crazy. Just for work from time to time. I am planning to do tethering once a week or so. I do not want to pay anything extra over my 95 per month price.
I am concerned about 3 broadband quality and O2 hidden prices and other crazy stories I read here.

I am leaning forward 3 network but broadband is my biggest worry.

Anybody here using iphone 4 on 3 network for broadband? Any advice is welcome.

Ricky91t

I'm using a 3GS but I get 2.6mbps download and .3mbps upload with a 255ms ping, This is in a rural location with 2 bars of 3G singnal.

mikelo303

Ricky91t wrote: »

I'm using a 3GS but I get 2.6mbps download and .3mbps upload with a 255ms ping, This is in a rural location with 2 bars of 3G singnal.

Thanks. So Three seems to be ok. +1 for Three then.

Anyone else?

woodzie

I switched to 3 last week, had a problem porting but the tech guys were brilliant and sorted it pretty quick. I cant believe how good their network is, I would never go back to O2, they are screwing there customers at the min and their network isnt that good, at least where I live anyway. Could only get 1 bar edge coverage where I live with O2 and now I have full 3g coverage with 3 and I live in a rural area in Louth. Plus if your in the UK any calls come out of your flexiunits.

mikelo303

woodzie wrote: »

I switched to 3 last week, had a problem porting but the tech guys were brilliant and sorted it pretty quick. I cant believe how good their network is, I would never go back to O2, they are screwing there customers at the min and their network isnt that good, at least where I live anyway. Could only get 1 bar edge coverage where I live with O2 and now I have full 3g coverage with 3 and I live in a rural area in Louth. Plus if your in the UK any calls come out of your flexiunits.

Three +2

Thanks!

fbradyirl

Three + 3

whiterebel

mikelo303 wrote: »

Hi,

I am planning to leave Meteor soon due to iPhone 4 which I need for work (all apps are only on iPhone).

I contacted 3 and O2 to get their prices. In short they are very close. I mean for 95 Euro with unlimited calls and so on with both providers.

Now. I live in city centre and I travel mostly in town. I am planning to use my iPhone for tethering form time to time, maybe once a week for few minutes. That is all. I was considering dongle but I do not see why I should pay monthly fee just to use it once a week.

Saying that I have few concerns which provider to choose.

Last year I tested 3 Broadband with a dongle and it was HORRIBLE! I am afraid that internet on the phone will be horrible too. Even without tethering, as plain web surfing. On the other side O2 is brilliant for internet.

Finally I am afraid to go with O2 as they seems to be ripping of their customers (that is why I do not even mention Vodafone). However, since O2 package is all unlimited it should be ok. I am just considering their hidden charges.

To sum it up. I will be using phone broadband almost every day but not too crazy. Just for work from time to time. I am planning to do tethering once a week or so. I do not want to pay anything extra over my 95 per month price.
I am concerned about 3 broadband quality and O2 hidden prices and other crazy stories I read here.

I am leaning forward 3 network but broadband is my biggest worry.

Anybody here using iphone 4 on 3 network for broadband? Any advice is welcome.

Remember that Phone operator's definitions of unlimited actually mean limited. 3 say unlimited on their €95p/m plan, but it is actually subject to FUP of 10,000 flexi-units. A lot I know, but still limited.

mikelo303

Yes I know that. It's still a lot. Actually that kind of advertising is disgusting for me and it's clearly a lie. I do not understand how this is legal. Yeah, it's all about small print.

guil

I'm with o2 cos three is crap where I live. I don't know what ya mean by hidden charges. I'm charged for dir enquiries and premium numbers but that's it

samhail

I had the same question at the weekend (3 days ago) and i went with 3.
more value than 3 at the lower end where i will be using it (40e/month)

but i have had nothing but problems.

I had to organise a sim swap becuase Carphone warehouse were out of the micro SIMs so gave me the normal SIM which i didnt mind (since i thought i would play with my new toy that night... but i couldnt - i needed to cut down that sim to fit in which cause me no problems).
Also i had to port in.

so i set everything up on Sunday evening in CPW and call back mon night to start the sim swap (got the micro sim on monday). i was told that since it was after 8pm i would haev to wait 24 hours for the sim swap to occur... but if i called back in at 12 the next day it would only take 4 hours to complete.
(with me working as a tester for Meteor they can do it immediately so i was surprised)

anyway not much happened yesterday (called up but they couldnt help me)

so i called up on the way into work this morning... she too confirmed that the SIM swap and the Port had completed successfully... but then asked me which of my two accounts do i want to talk about...
i was like... excuse me

needs to be escalated to a supervisor who will call me back.

Im still happy with staying with 3 for the moment.
As the saying goes - I buy the for Product not by the Sales Person.

El Carlito

I made the move from meteor to O2 last October and have regretted it ever since. Their coverage is woeful!! I've been to remote parts of Connomara and kerry and still had coverage with meteor but absolutly nothing with o2. Even where I live in south dublin my calls are constantly dropped and people find it difficult getting through to me. Coverage is so bad i'm even tempted to cross over to the dark side and join vodafone!!

Walkman

I went with 3 apart from a few teething issues at the launch of the iPhone it's great (although I was already on 3), no issues since week of launch

mikelo303

El Carlito wrote: »

I made the move from meteor to O2 last October and have regretted it ever since. Their coverage is woeful!! I've been to remote parts of Connomara and kerry and still had coverage with meteor but absolutly nothing with o2. Even where I live in south dublin my calls are constantly dropped and people find it difficult getting through to me. Coverage is so bad i'm even tempted to cross over to the dark side and join vodafone!!

Don't go to the dark side! I was there. I still have nightmares when I remember opening my bill post. Don't do it! One year of pain and non talking to avoid cosmic prices for everything you do on your mobile. I am surprised that they don't charge you for choosing numbers on your dial pad or recharging your phone. Most expensive network ever!