Is it just o2 that seem to be losing lots of customers?

racer1

Going by the boards here it seems o2 are losing lots of customers particularly to 3. Is it just them or are people leaving Vodafone 2? It seems both companies price plans are similar and poor value.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Davy

Vodafone have gained customer base since this time last year. 3 haven't gained as much as it seems from here at times. 3 have only 3% of the market share. I cant remember what o2 have lost off the top of my head.

racer1

i have been with o2 for 8 years and am happy enough. I usually upgrade every year. But if these priceplans stay as they are i will be porting. At the moment im looking for value for money as im looking to save money after the budget. So top of my list is mobile phone broadband provider and tv service for cutbacks.

evolutionqy7

oh dear

heres another o2 loosing customers thread

Davy

racer1 wrote: »

Going by the boards here it seems o2 are losing lots of customers particularly to 3. Is it just them or are people leaving Vodafone 2? It seems both companies price plans are similar and poor value.

Its all relative to each individual, you think vodafone is poor valve, but they gained over 45 thousand customers from other networks and are still the biggest network in the country. Three got 18k new customers, while meteor lost nearly 55k and o2 lost 9k.

evolutionqy7

i suppose that 55k would have something to do with their change of terms and conditions this summer?

Kensington

55,000! That's some loss for meteor. Wonder what happened there? Could well be people who weren't too impressed with the changes alright! They handled it pretty badly.

Wouldn't surprise me if the vast majority of vodafone's gains were in prepay. They've really become competitive in that area now, cheapest daily rate for data along with the standard €20 call and text deals all the networks do. Now if only they'd fix their bloody website...

bigjohnny80

Generally people only come onto moan so u r not going to see compliments. For every I hate O2 thread there is an I hate Voda/3 one.

evolutionqy7

Kensington wrote: »

55,000! That's some loss for meteor. Wonder what happened there? Could well be people who weren't too impressed with the changes alright! They handled it pretty badly.

Wouldn't surprise me if the vast majority of vodafone's gains were in prepay. They've really become competitive in that area now, cheapest daily rate for data along with the standard €20 call and text deals all the networks do. Now if only they'd fix their bloody website...

well the change was for the good they dropped their data pricing if i remember right.

It was just a way to get out of contract though. I was pretty unhappy with the little value (time i signed up there was no free calls or texts on BP) i was getting compared to PAYG so i went back to PAYG.

Alot of people just left for the sake of getting a new phone.

Davy

Kensington wrote: »

Wouldn't surprise me if the vast majority of vodafone's gains were in prepay. They've really become competitive in that area now, cheapest daily rate for data along with the standard €20 call and text deals all the networks do. Now if only they'd fix their bloody website...

They weren't actually, all networks had gains in billpay, and drops of payg. Data packages and smartphone doing the luring. Key reason they wont give payg users the data addons they want

Mad_Mike

As a long time O2 supporter, I have to say that in the last year or so, their general attitude to their customers stinks.

I've voted with my feet (money) and have moved both billpay and prepay numbers away and I have a couple remaining and intend to do likewise.
Up to a point I accepted a price premium, but when the attitude changed, that was it. I like to feel, especially in recessionary times, that the people I pay my money to, appreciate me and my business.

woodzie

I would of been a supporter of O2 also however I left them at the start of last year. People have been asking on their forum for prepay data add ons or some sort of fair data pricing for the last 3 years however the only responses were its coming please hold out for it. Then they released the social link thing which was terrible and didnt work on an iphone. I decided I wasnt waiting anymore and left and boy am I glad. Saving a fortune now on vodafone prepay as they always have good top up offers and good data pricing. I never spend more than €30 a month. I would of been spending a lot more than that on O2 as if I used data it was costing me €30 per month. Delighted O2 are losing customers as they are showing utter contempt to them over the last 2 years with the various things they have imposed on their customers, for example decreasing the data on their advance plans and then increasing the price in the middle of a recession.

ToxicPaddy

Like the previous 2 posters, I too was a loyal O2/Digifone customer for 12 years and I am currently in the process of moving..

I can't deal with their rip off prices and generally condescending attitude towards customers any more.. Their support is a joke and their offerings and upgrades to customers are a complete insult..

If they aren't happy with my custom and my money, I'll gladly take it somewhere else and am in the process of doing so..

Yes its true that people only post when complaining, but the number of complaints towards O2 is growing rapidly, there was one thread on here not so long ago that went to something like 8 or 10 pages, the majority of posts on it being complaints..

pajor

In the same boat as many others. Just left o2 to return to vodafone prepay after being with them for 5 years. The most infuriating thing was the coverage. Going between Cork, Dublin and Waterford a lot. Coverage in rural Waterford would just not do.
Someone also said their customer service. Ring a number to be put through to another number to be put through to another number!

Ghandee

pajor wrote: »

In the same boat as many others. Just left o2 to return to vodafone prepay after being with them for 5 years. The most infuriating thing was the coverage. Going between Cork, Dublin and Waterford a lot. Coverage in rural Waterford would just not do.
Someone also said their customer service. Ring a number to be put through to another number to be put through to another number!

Its no secret that Im not o2's greatest fan on boards.
My wife is (stil) an o2 customer though, and like me had been loyal for the last 6 or 7 years. Right now her current contract expires on the 8th of Feb. She currently spends around 70 euro a month and had been locked into an 18 month contract.
She called last night to enquire if, when contact expired would she get an upgrade.

Not currently entitled to one, call back at the end of Feb was her reply.

Shes visiting her friendly neighbourhood 3 store at the weekend to pick up her free I phone 4 at the weekend, and getting a way better deal into the bargain.

O2, you'd need to sit up and take notice pretty soon, how many more will leave before your pig headedness destroys you?

racer1

Firstly this is not meant to be just o2 losing customers. Its for all operators. I only put o2 up as they seem to be getting most flak here and 4 of my friends have left them lately all for 3 due mainly to their data allowances.

racer1

Gucky wrote: »

Its no secret that Im not o2's greatest fan on boards.
My wife is (stil) an o2 customer though, and like me had been loyal for the last 6 or 7 years. Right now her current contract expires on the 8th of Feb. She currently spends around 70 euro a month and had been locked into an 18 month contract.
She called last night to enquire if, when contact expired would she get an upgrade.

I cant believe they told her come back the end of Feb. Although i have read lately they will not give anyone an upgrade until the contract expires. So if its 18months then you wont get upgrade for 18 months while before you would get one after 12months.

eamon234

racer1 wrote: »

I cant believe they told her come back the end of Feb. Although i have read lately they will not give anyone an upgrade until the contract expires. So if its 18months then you wont get upgrade for 18 months while before you would get one after 12months.

That's true I had two iPhones with them over the years and always got an upgrade to the new model after 12 months when it was introduced. When it came to the iPhone 4 I had the 3GS for a year but when I tried to upgrade (for €259) I was told they had changed their policy and had to wait until the 18 months was up even though I wasn't under contract thanks to the Get Out of Contract Free shenanigans a while back. Went to local Vodafone store and got it for €129 with a better price plan AND 15% off my bills from an affinity scheme at work plus I get reception at work which I couldn't get with O2.
If O2 put as much effort into customer retention as they do fannying about with fancy ad campaigns (and patting themselves on the back for it on Twitter) they wouldn't have the problems they have now.

woodzie

What I dont understand is how can a company that in my opinion was the best mobile network in the country up until 2 or 3 years ago have gone from the best to the worst in such a short time. They had good plans and the best customer care. I still cant believe they dont have any prepay data bundles or add ons after 3 or 4 years of customers asking.

I hear from that vodafone have overtaken O2 ago to be the biggest network and apparently when the figures are released shortly O2 are going to have lost significant customers to competitors. They would want to change their top management fairly quickly!

Ghandee

woodzie wrote: »

What I dont understand is how can a company that in my opinion was the best mobile network in the country up until 2 or 3 years ago have gone from the best to the worst in such a short time. They had good plans and the best customer care. I still cant believe they dont have any prepay data bundles or add ons after 3 or 4 years of customers asking.

I hear from that vodafone have overtaken O2 ago to be the biggest network and apparently when the figures are released shortly O2 are going to have lost significant customers to competitors. They would want to change their top management fairly quickly!

I'll answer that for you.

Greed, greed, and more fcuking greed

Also stubbornness, and pig headedness.

That's it really, takes a lot of money to finance that fancy arena in Dublin Docks too don't forget!

jordainius

woodzie wrote: »

I hear from that vodafone have overtaken O2 ago to be the biggest network and apparently when the figures are released shortly O2 are going to have lost significant customers to competitors.

O2/Digifone never were Ireland's biggest network, it is now and always has been Vodafone/eircell by a comfortable margin.

I myself left O2 for 3 last summer due to them making it clear that they couldn't give a toss that I and countless many other customers was unhappy with their rip off prepay data pricing.

woodzie

O2 became the biggest network with bill pay customers last year sometime. I remember it being on the news. However according to a friend who works in vodafone's head office who has seen the most up to date results on the irish market, O2 have lost significant amounts of customers to competitors and that vodafone have regained their position as thenetwork with the most bill pay customers.

Kensington

They overtook Vodafone in terms of billpay subscribers.
However, in terms of total subscribers (billpay and prepay) Eircell/Vodafone have always been pretty well ahead of Digifone/O2.

Lcronin2011

ya o2 are defo losing customers, i think meteor are losing customers too, im meteor and i think im guna switch to 3 aswell. they have better price plans and meteor are awful to deal with. takes ages to sort anything.

MastiffMrs

Have decided to also move from o2 to three.was initially going to buy a phone sim free and use current o2 billpay sim but it works out cheaper to buy my way out of contract,switch to better price plan on 3 and get a free brilliant smartphone.from reading different sites and listening to people in work, i think most people are unhappy at o2 and won't be long about switching to 3 for better value and service.

angel01

I moved from O2 to 3 late last year and I should have done it before. Data coverage was shambolic with O2 so I left. Myself and my OH got out of our contracts and now are with 3 who are so much better and better value for money

stephendevlin

I dont like billpay and am on pre-pay on O2 ..I would LOVE to for them have add-ons for data on pre-pay. Customers have been hounding them for over 4 years now so its not gonna happen. I am seriously thinking of jacking it and going to 3 network. I will be getting a lend of my sisters phone to see what the coverage is like in my are and if all is good both myself and she who must be obeyed will be changing.

Was with o2 since day 1

pajor

stephendevlin wrote: »

I dont like billpay and am on pre-pay on O2 ..I would LOVE to for them have add-ons for data on pre-pay.

Vodafone do for this and you'll have coverage no matter where you are!

stephendevlin

pajor wrote: »

Vodafone do for this and you'll have coverage no matter where you are!

Yes yes .. Vodafone crap coverage where I am...

Spooky1666

stephendevlin wrote: »

Yes yes .. Vodafone crap coverage where I am...

Well then you might have crap Three coverage cus they use voda's 2g network when your out of their 3g network's range.

Walkman

Might also have good 3 3G coverage

woodzie

I was just reading a topic on the O2 forum and the mods trying to justify why the data allowance has been cut on their O2 advance plans from 2gb to 500mb and are charging €5 more for the privilege. It's hilarious, they cant really justify it and I'm sure they know this themselves but they have to toe the O2 line. I get that they cut the data but how can they expect to charge €5 more for it! Here's the link:

http://community.o2online.ie/t5/Pricing-Price-Plans/500mb-data-limit-on-o2-Advance/m-p/201900#M8631

racer1

Woodzie very good. All they really did was copy and paste the vodafone plans. o2 have no new ideas. They are like the government. u get less for more:-(

ToxicPaddy

woodzie wrote: »

I was just reading a topic on the O2 forum and the mods trying to justify why the data allowance has been cut on their O2 advance plans from 2gb to 500mb and are charging €5 more for the privilege. It's hilarious, they cant really justify it and I'm sure they know this themselves but they have to toe the O2 line. I get that they cut the data but how can they expect to charge €5 more for it! Here's the link:

http://community.o2online.ie/t5/Pricing-Price-Plans/500mb-data-limit-on-o2-Advance/m-p/201900#M8631

Yeah the so called "experts" on the O2 forum don't have a clue, I was on there a few months ago questioning their upgrade options and why existing customers have to pay 50% more than new customers when upgrading for the same phone, price plan and contract, doesn't make any sense..

I explained how much I spent with them and that I wasnt happy, the response..

"Spend more and you'll get the same"

I spend €2k a year with them, wtf!!!!??? :rolleyes::mad:

00112984

Another loyal O2 customer who had no choice but to port two of my numbers/accounts to Vodafone recently despite being happy with O2's service for the past 9 years. The decision was completely financial. I had a monthly spend on one phone of €90 - €120 and c. €25 on the second one. Both contracts expired, wasn't eligible for an upgrade on either account (had been 2 years on the main account and 3 years on the second one since I've had an upgrade) and I wanted an iPhone 4.

I rang Vodafone, got the prices I needed for an iPhone with package and a SIM-only bill plan and got on to sales in O2 who were very nice but couldn't do a thing for me. I was very upfront and said that I would be happy to stay with O2 if they could offer me a decent iPhone package compared to what I could get with Vodafone and broke down what I was being offered. They simply told me they understood why I was changing but they couldn't come anywhere close on what I was getting elsewhere. If it had been a small matter of 100 minutes a month or something similar I wouldn't have changed at all but O2 were charging me a lot more for the iPhone handset and the monthly bill on the package I needed was a good 60% more expensive.

I was very disappointed. I didn't expect O2 to bend over backwards to get me to stay, I just wanted them to make an effort to keep two accounts that I'd had for 9+ years and paid in full each month by direct debit. The contract on my third O2 account expires in a few months so I'll be porting that one over too.

drunkmonkey

woodzie wrote: »

http://community.o2online.ie/t5/Pricing-Price-Plans/500mb-data-limit-on-o2-Advance/m-p/201900#M8631

Surprised o2 admitted there network was gone to pot on that forum and wasn't capable of handling a reasonable data allowance.
It's not often you see a telco admit their network is crap in public.

Quote Daryll "Once the network stabilises again"

pawrick

Been pricing around a lot lately as I think I'm paying way too much on O2

My main problem seems to be that everyone I know seems to be on different networks - tesco, meteor, 3, Voda and O2 all being called equally! Still haven't figured out who has the best deal as there seems to be little difference out there when you also use the internet a lot on your phone.

also re Meteor losing customers - imo that has a lot to do with foreign people leaving and meteor being mostly used by younger people - nearly every foreign person I knew here had a meteor phone and a lot of them have left in the past year and same goes for people just out of school/college.

gbee

In this discussion one must not lose sight of the exclusive deal that O2 had with the iPhone.

Having had Esat, Vodafone and O2 I switched all my devices to Vodafone, based on the best practical service delivered, but dropped one for the iPhone on O2 after a gap of two years with them.

Two years on and unhappy that O2 had not developed their support for the iPhone and unhappy that a 'silver upgrade' effectively meant nothing to me to get the new iPhone 4, I switched to 3 for the FREE iP4 and a lower monthly tariff.

IMO, Vodafone have the best support and I still have two devices running on them, in two years time, if Vodafone get real and offer competition with the iPhone [though I think I'll be bored with this by then tbh] I'll probably be back to all Vodafone.

O2 would need to have an exclusive on the next big must have device or I'd probably not go back.

Funky G

Hi All,

Personally, O2 are in freefall and they are going to hit the ground very hard.

When i ported over to them, the service and the tariff were competitive, suited me and my budget and was very good, but since i changed over to their smart phone tariffs, the service is just crap! Loss and or unable to connect to the internet being the main culprit and since i changed tariff my bills have gone up!

I've spoken to a few reps who said that they will get back to me - they never did. i even PM Sheena before Christmas with my concerns i posted on another O2 thread in this forum. Still waiting for Sheena to PM me back.....

The other half ported over to O2 so we could avail of the free O2 to O2 calls and texts. i even rang them up and called to their shops about 3 times so we could get the picture messaging settings on her phone. she still has to log in to check on any photos people send her. never had that problem with her previous network - which was vodafone btw.

Honestly O2, cop on to yourselves. you are getting a battering on these forums. More worse than any other network that i can see. I'm currently in the process of trying to get out of my contract due to O2 inability to provide a reasonable service. Failing that - i'll be gone when the contract ends later on this year.

Oh yeah - avoid the Nokia N97 mini. Worst phone ever!

bd250110

pawrick wrote: »

My main problem seems to be that everyone I know seems to be on different networks - tesco, meteor, 3, Voda and O2 all being called equally! Still haven't figured out who has the best deal as there seems to be little difference out there when you also use the internet a lot on your phone.

Most tariffs offer cross-network minutes to all networks, including landline. I think most give unlimited calls and/or texts to their own network too. Have a look at your bills and see how many minutes you actually use, decide based on that, rather than who's on what. Someone you call a lot might move to a different network and ruin your calculations!
BTW is it even possible to tell who is where anymore? 3 bills don't say the specific network. My number is 086, my mother is 087 and my sister is 085, yet we are all on 3.

pajor

bd250110 wrote: »

!
BTW is it even possible to tell who is where anymore? 3 bills don't say the specific network. My number is 086, my mother is 087 and my sister is 085, yet we are all on 3.

Got fed up with this as well, so now get free texts to all networks. VERY handy

pawrick

I already get 300 mins a month to all networks, unlimited texts and 2gb internet allowance - still go over the calls and I send a lot of texts each month too. thinking it might be best to have two numbers to maximize calls and texts.

and I know what networks the people I call the most are with. thanks for the help though

BostonB

I switched to a 30 day, plan for 20 a month on O2. I was happy enough with that. I could add a data add on if I wanted. I works for me because most of the people I know are on O2. Not much different between that and PAYG plans atm. If I was using data, I would be disappointed with O2 though. I switched to a 30 day contract so i could leave whenever.

They seem to be very slow with firmware updates, if indeed you get them at all. They never updated the E71 for example and sold it with a very old firmware.

Sponge Bob

This policy of selling high end dataphones with little or no data allowances is crucifying them.

http://www.businesspost.ie/#!article/19410615-5218-4ebd-4efd-331003969175

The operator recorded revenues of €551 million for the first nine months of 2011, a year-on-year decline of 14 per cent. Meanwhile, operating cash flow for the same period was €120 million, a 24.7 per cent fall compared to 2010.

The operator also recorded a 19.2 per cent decline in revenues for the third quarter of 2011, according to Telefonica.

Of these, mobile service revenues declined 11.4 per cent in the nine months to September and declined 15.2% in the third quarter, compared to the same periods in 2010.

That is because their higher value customers are all jumping. Voda grew their subscribers over the last year IIRC ( maybe not their revenue but subscribers).

KrisW

I think it's fallout from iPhone. Strip away the tech-press love-in and fanboy hype, and the "benefit" to a business of carrying Apple's phones are pretty hard to pin down.

O2 took iPhone as a loss-leader to bring in and retain high-earning customers, but I think it backfired, as it has elsewhere in the world.
Apple used the exclusivity factor as a threat - "If you don't sign, we'll give it to Vodafone, and people will leave your network to get this". In the end, relatively few users jumped network to get an iPhone, except for the worst kind - the unprofitable high-users, over-consuming on fixed-rate data and whinging to the network every time their toy couldn't get a signal.

It was almost a blessing that these guys didn't stick after their contracts ended. Apple customers have brand loyalty nobody but Apple. But meanwhile the bigger subsidies given to iPhone contracts made O2's other offerings uncompetitive, and alienated existing customers who didn't want an iPhone but were otherwise happy with O2 (this ex-customer included).

The self-destructive behaviour of operators around iPhone is well discussed by analysts. The best quote I read was "imagine an All-you-can-eat restaurant that gave its greediest customers a 20% discount". That's what O2 were doing, and they're paying for it now.

bd250110

KrisW wrote: »

I think it's fallout from iPhone....

O2 took iPhone as a loss-leader to bring in and retain high-earning customers, but I think it backfired, as it has elsewhere in the world.
Apple used the exclusivity factor as a threat - "If you don't sign, we'll give it to Vodafone, and people will leave your network to get this". In the end, relatively few users jumped network to get an iPhone, except for the worst kind - the unprofitable high-users, over-consuming on fixed-rate data and whinging to the network every time their toy couldn't get a signal.

Is it though? The original iPhone was unsubsidised. Later they did subsidise it, but the plans were still far, far, more expensive than other phones. Make no mistake, as the initial operator o2 got more than their pound of flesh, they did gain subscribers over the period when the iPhone was exclusive. Indeed, that probably hid a lot of their underlying issues. It was only when the iPhone 4 launched on other networks, at competitive prices that the drain really started.

I think o2 have been caught on a few fronts,
1) They didn't expect the data hungry Mobile Broadband and iOS/Android markets to be as important as they are now and the resultant strain on their network.
2) They didn't expect their traditional business customers to come under fierce attack from Eircom and Three. The GFC and focus on costs makes o2's job to retain customers more difficult.
3) Their investment in 3G and 3G+ technologies has lagged Eircom and 3, who are now able to use their extra capacity and network to attract the new breed of smartphone customer, both consumer and business.
4) Restrictions from higher up the Telefonica chain which may make business cases that much tougher to justify investment.

It is clear to me that someone, somewhere, is restricting what o2 Ireland can do. There is no other logical reason to make plans more expensive with smaller allowances when Eircom and 3 are giving such great value. Just look at 3. Unlimited Phone, Talk and Text (UK roaming and UK calls too) for €95 a month. Eircom offer similar for €74 a month, there has been no effective competitive response.

drunkmonkey

You can blame the iphone but at the same time o2 also cut all o2 products from over 600 shops around the country and handed there whole Irish market over to carphone warehouse. That's ok if your carphones bitch which o2 was for a while but that's now changed. There more likely to offer you Vodafone now instead in carphone.
Besides a few shops dotted around the country o2 don't have a retail presence anymore.
My nearest o2 store is a 50mile round trip. It wasn't going to take long before people got sick of having to drive half way across the country to get a replacement sim or some advice.
o2 are dead in the water, telesales dirty tricks and €10 student broadband have massaged the figures for a while and have left a bitter taste in a lot of peoples mouths after getting duped into 18mt contracts for no reason.

racer1

o2 Bill Pay plans are pathetic. Its as simple as that. Anyone looking at a bill pay smartphone should avoid o2 at all costs IMO. On prepay you can spend 9.99 and get 700mb a month of data which leaves you 10 euro credit out of your 20. Not as good as 3 but better than the rest IMO.

Sponge Bob

drunkmonkey wrote: »

o2 are dead in the water, telesales dirty tricks and €10 student broadband have massaged the figures for a while and have left a bitter taste in a lot of peoples mouths after getting duped into 18mt contracts for no reason.

Telesales are even ringing up c.€20 a month spend prepay customers offering them contracts nowadays.

These €10 a month 10Gbyte allowance students are clogging the network up in urban areas to the extent that the potentially higher value smartphone customer is being restricted to 150 - 500mbytes on already quite expensive tariffs to compensate.

Course these higher value customers are the ones who are getting locked into 18 month crap contracts if they are not careful. Increasingly more of them are and are jumping.

Annoyingly a student can buy 2Gb of supplementary data for €9.99 INC VAT where a business user is charged €9.99 EX Vat (= €12.49 INC VAT) for 1GB on a high tariff .

They are going to have to offer business users the same deal as students...at least in terms of Topup packages such as data add ons. Business users pay the bills for operators ...but not if they shag off to some other operator.

KrisW

Is it though? The original iPhone was unsubsidised. Later they did subsidise it, but the plans were still far, far, more expensive than other phones. Make no mistake, as the initial operator o2 got more than their pound of flesh, they did gain subscribers over the period when the iPhone was exclusive. Indeed, that probably hid a lot of their underlying issues. It was only when the iPhone 4 launched on other networks, at competitive prices that the drain really started.

The iPhone was never offered unsubsidised on an Irish network (see http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/13103/iphone-irish-launch-o2-exclusive - the "retail" price was set at over €600 in Germany, where the law prohibits carrier exclusives). Only the original US launch phones were offered without subsidy, a policy that Apple reversed after poor sales. The iPhone plans had to be more expensive because the phone was so expensive, but there was a higher subsidy on iPhones than other devices. This was reflected in the monthly pricing. Then, to stop the iPhone seeming expensive, and maybe to try to recover their losses, O2 actually raised their other data plans to the same price as iPhone's. Dumb, dumb move.

You're definitely right about data-hungry users, and iPhone was the first, and worst, of these - by the time Android was any way popular, the networks were better able to manage data charging. Plus, unlike other devices, margins on iPhone handsets were tiny: Apple do not share their margins with anyone. The operators were expecting to claw back the income from contract spending, but Apple locked them into offering flat-rate data only, and data was all that the things ever used. Having no MMS support cut off another nice revenue stream too, and battery life was so poor it was hard to hit the voice minute limit on one of these.

I'd agree with your other points, and it's true that the big winners in Ireland have been Eircom and to a lesser extent, Three. Not having the distraction of iPhone allowed Eircom to gather a good chunk of profitable users (non-data billpay customers who are light users - O2 used to have lots of these, but they upsold them to money-losing iPhones), and use that money to invest in their network. The Emobile branding has made things a little more comfortable for small business users and sole traders, who would never have touched Meteor.

Three are able to work with the iPhone phenomenon because they never had a voice business in the first place, and there isn't the expectation of "full coverage, all the time" that customers of Vodafone and O2 would have. That said, they're still more of a mobile broadband provider than a phone network.