Sim-only Mobile Phone Plans

daveyjoe

If your contract has run out with your mobile phone network provider then it's definitely worth taking a look at the sim-only plans. Some serious savings to be made.

I had a look at the various plans from O2, Meteor, Three and Vodafone and wrote up a short blog post if anybody wants to take a look: http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/mobile-phone-sim-only-plans/

Johnny_Fontane

exactly what I need - cheers.....

the vodafone deal for €40 does include 500mb data and could actually be the best deal......

Hogzy

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

exactly what I need - cheers.....

the vodafone deal for €40 does include 500mb data and could actually be the best deal......

I doubt it.

Meteor offer the best deals by far.
People are just reluctant to switch to them because they 'think' the coverage is bad despite meteor using Vodafone and O2's coverage most of the time.

Del2005

Hogzy wrote: »

I doubt it.

Meteor offer the best deals by far.
People are just reluctant to switch to them because they 'think' the coverage is bad despite meteor using Vodafone and O2's coverage most of the time.

Or people have been stung enough by Eircon.

2smiggy

my deal is out with 02 now ,

the 2 meteor sim only pay monthly look good , €25 , 200/200 texts mins 1gb data, or €40 for 400/400 texts/mins 2 gb data.

anyone use these deals before, i am on €45 a month with 02, 175 mins, 100 texts , 1 gb data . thank god that contract is over. bad deal when i look back at it, and i found it hard to stay within the limits

2smiggy

i was wondering do meteor do sims for the iphone 4 , cannot seem to find them on their website

Hogzy

2smiggy wrote: »

i was wondering do meteor do sims for the iphone 4 , cannot seem to find them on their website

Yup they do Micro Sims.

savemejebus

o2 have been advertising a 150 min 150 txt deal for €15 a month.

daveyjoe

savemejebus wrote: »

o2 have been advertising a 150 min 150 txt deal for €15 a month.

Yep, it's called simplicity, it's on the blog post. I tend to use a bit of data so I went for the €20 deal which is the same but also includes 250mb of data.

Elessar

Hmm very good comparison...

I'm with Three and pay €30/month sim only for 350 flex units, 150 extra free texts and 1GB data. I rarely use all of the texts nevermind the flexunits.

The O2 €20/month for 150 texts, 150 mins and 250mb of data looks very tempting!

I use the data a lot, can you tell me if O2's internet is restricted? Three had a bar on certain sites and I couldn't access some perfectly legit/harmless ones. However all I had to do was ring three and they turned off the firewall on my account so I can access whatever I want now - can O2 do the same?

Kensington

Hogzy wrote: »

I doubt it.

Meteor offer the best deals by far.
People are just reluctant to switch to them because they 'think' the coverage is bad despite meteor using Vodafone and O2's coverage most of the time.

Meteor use Vodafone only on the western seaboard where they have no network infrastructure of their own. Outside of that, it's Meteor only.

In saying that, they seem to be putting a lot of effort into expanding their own network at the moment, quite a lot of new cell's appearing which are also 3G capable. Guess Emobile customers aren't as tolerant to gaps in coverage as Meteor's might be

daveyjoe

Elessar wrote: »

Hmm very good comparison...

I'm with Three and pay €30/month sim only for 350 flex units, 150 extra free texts and 1GB data. I rarely use all of the texts nevermind the flexunits.

The O2 €20/month for 150 texts, 150 mins and 250mb of data looks very tempting!

I use the data a lot, can you tell me if O2's internet is restricted? Three had a bar on certain sites and I couldn't access some perfectly legit/harmless ones. However all I had to do was ring three and they turned off the firewall on my account so I can access whatever I want now - can O2 do the same?

It's not restricted in my experience. Perhaps somebody else can confirm this for certain.

Soarer

2smiggy wrote: »

my deal is out with 02 now ,

the 2 meteor sim only pay monthly look good , €25 , 200/200 texts mins 1gb data, or €40 for 400/400 texts/mins 2 gb data.

anyone use these deals before, i am on €45 a month with 02, 175 mins, 100 texts , 1 gb data . thank god that contract is over. bad deal when i look back at it, and i found it hard to stay within the limits

I'm on the Meteor €25 per month one, and it's superb. It also includes free Meteor to Meteor calls and texts.
I've yet to pay anything over the €25.

madscone

You can get the €20 sim only tariff (200 mins/200 texts + free talk n text) on meteor with 1gb of data, it's not advertised but they will do it for you if you ask for it.

biebiebie

If you have a Smartphone then 250MB per month is pants to be honest.

500MB/mth minimum is what you need, especially if you want to avoid paying for MB used over your monthly allowance.

Which is why I like Three. Queue up your €5 for 500MB and you either use 1 per month, of if you use one up before the month is out the next one simply kicks in. No nasty "expensive" data surprises so!

Plus if you frequent the UK then you really can't beat Three, as their "Like Home" pricing is simplicity in itself.

(Yep, I'm a fan of Three!)

bk

biebiebie wrote: »

If you have a Smartphone then 250MB per month is pants to be honest.

Depends on your usage, I've got free wifi at work, home and most of my friends places and I don't commute (cycle) so use little 3G.

Great round up in the blog, I was just looking at the same today and found one other good plan worth considering from three:

Classic Flex Max
- €30 per month
- unlimited data
- 350 flex-units (e.g. 200minutes/300 texts, 100 minutes/500 texts, 300 minutes/100 texts, etc.)
- free three to three calls
- plus one other free add-on (for example free landline calls).

So a little more expensive then the other plans in the blog, but offers fantastic value for money IMO.

I've got to say, with such good plans, in future I'm going to buy all new phones sim free and use these sort of plans. Looks like it would work out cheaper and obviously much more flexible.

For instance I'm currently on Vodafone €60, 300 calls, 300 texts, 2GB data, free calls and texts to 5 numbers. My iPhone 4 cost €300 on this plan. So total cost over 18 months €1380

For the three plan above, an unlocked iphone 4 plus 18 months of the three plan would cost €1240 or the meteor plan €1150

Actually my vodafone plan isn't such bad value, as it offers free calls and texts to 5 numbers and in particular free international data roaming. But still worth considering.

Pity meteor and three suck for data roaming.

biebiebie

bk wrote: »

Pity meteor and three suck for data roaming.

With Three there's no roaming charges whatsoever for a select number of countries. Includes UK, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, HK and OZ too afaik. Can by very worthwhile if your circumstances match.

loyatemu

OP - you've overlooked Tesco here because they don't do contracts but they actually have a very competitive PAYG offering.

Top up by €20 and they give you an extra €20 credit free - you can then buy 1GB of data (valid for 30 days) for €7 and the remaining credit will cover you for 100 minutes and 100 texts with credit left over and you get free Tesco to Tesco calls... (non-bonus credit doesn't expire either, not sure if this is different to to other networks)

bk

So basically for €27 per month you get 100 minutes, 222 texts and 1GB data and free tesco calls and texts.

I think the Meteor €25 plan works out better, 200 minutes, 200 texts, 1GB data and free meteor calls and texts.

So with meteor you pay less, get an extra 100 minutes, only lose 22 texts and you probably have far more friends on Meteor then Tesco, so benefit more from free calls and texts.

loyatemu wrote: »

OP - you've overlooked Tesco here because they don't do contracts but they actually have a very competitive PAYG offering.

Top up by €20 and they give you an extra €20 credit free - you can then buy 1GB of data (valid for 30 days) for €7 and the remaining credit will cover you for 100 minutes and 100 texts with credit left over and you get free Tesco to Tesco calls... (non-bonus credit doesn't expire either, not sure if this is different to to other networks)

tm2204

Three is the best deal around by a country mile...

€30 per month, rolling 30 day contract, 350 flexi units, free unlimited landline calls, free unlimited data, free 3 to 3 calls, Three like home, use half your flexi units to call UK mobiles or landlines.

I took out both my home and business landlines and fixed broadband as well as my tablet data plan. Have one plan on my 3 phone and tether to my laptop, PC and tablet. Yes, tethering is allowed and unrestricted.

Use Hullomail app for free voicemail and cabbage app to use your 333 free webtexts directly from your phone.

The dogs bollox of a service and unbeatable value. :D:D

imfml

tm2204 wrote: »

Use Hullomail app for free voicemail

Looking at moving to Three, do they charge for the privilege of having a voicemail, or just charge to call voicemail?

Sim only deal is great, and new free iPhone deal looks great too, there seem to be a few catches creeping in, so just wondering about the voicemail, thanks.

tm2204

imfml wrote: »

Looking at moving to Three, do they charge for the privilege of having a voicemail, or just charge to call voicemail?

Sim only deal is great, and new free iPhone deal looks great too, there seem to be a few catches creeping in, so just wondering about the voicemail, thanks.

Only charge to make calls to Volicemail. Using Hullomail you call a regular (01) number so if you have the unlimited landlines free addon it costs you zip.

What are the other catches you mention?

I'm using it for a few months now and it's the best mobile deal i've ever seen. I have taken out 2 landlines, 2 fixed broadband services and a tablet data plan.

The unlimited data with tethering is simply awesome and Three's 3G network is the best in the country.

daveyjoe

biebiebie wrote: »

If you have a Smartphone then 250MB per month is pants to be honest.

It's really not for most people, I have an iPhone and I use data regularly. Usually for doing things like checking emails and using maps to find places. If I'm at home then I use the wi-fi connection. Obviously, if you're watching a lot of youtube videos while you're out and about using your data plan then 250mb will get used fairly quickly. I would wager that most smartphone users, don't even go over 50MB of data a month.

2smiggy

i also use very little with the iphone, as i have wifi at home and when in the office. when out and about i don't use that much either because i drive, so little time spent sitting on trains/buses. 250mb would do me a month easily.

CiaranC

daveyjoe wrote: »

It's really not for most people, I have an iPhone and I use data regularly. Usually for doing things like checking emails and using maps to find places. If I'm at home then I use the wi-fi connection. Obviously, if you're watching a lot of youtube videos while you're out and about using your data plan then 250mb will get used fairly quickly. I would wager that most smartphone users, don't even go over 50MB of data a month.

Nonsense. Ive switched to three and have used several GBs in the first two weeks. If you dont have to worry about data limits you can do endless amounts of things with your phone - I have all my music and video in the cloud and stream it to my phone on the go, listen to internet radio, have turn by turn navigation on all the time, and have all my apps and widgets online and synching all the time.

I also use it as an access point for all my laptops at home.

"All you can eat" data is a totally different experience to having 250MB available.

2smiggy

not when you have wifi where i live and work. plus i do not need navigation to tell me where to go, or have to have streaming music/internet radio. i also do not have app or email always connected to the internet. it gets annoying very fast. so its not nonsense in my case, and in many cases i would imagine.

imfml

tm2204 wrote: »

Only charge to make calls to Volicemail. Using Hullomail you call a regular (01) number so if you have the unlimited landlines free addon it costs you zip.

What are the other catches you mention?

I'm using it for a few months now and it's the best mobile deal i've ever seen. I have taken out 2 landlines, 2 fixed broadband services and a tablet data plan.

The unlimited data with tethering is simply awesome and Three's 3G network is the best in the country.

Well the main catch is that this is a 24 month contract, a long time to be locked in for. Apart from that it's a good deal, I'll probably pay for the iPhone in the end and get the extra GB but still a steal. Great data package and roaming arrangements for the UK.

Thanks for the info.

daveyjoe

CiaranC wrote: »

Nonsense. Ive switched to three and have used several GBs in the first two weeks. If you dont have to worry about data limits you can do endless amounts of things with your phone - I have all my music and video in the cloud and stream it to my phone on the go, listen to internet radio, have turn by turn navigation on all the time, and have all my apps and widgets online and synching all the time.

I also use it as an access point for all my laptops at home.

"All you can eat" data is a totally different experience to having 250MB available.

Sure, I'm not denying that you can find plenty of ways to use gigs a month but I would wager that your usage is much much higher than the average smartphone user. I still think that you're the exception rather than rule.

CiaranC

daveyjoe wrote: »

Sure, I'm not denying that you can find plenty of ways to use gigs a month but I would wager your usage is much much higher than the average smartphone user. I still think that you're exception rather than rule.

Its only higher because I have all you can eat data, which is kinda the point

daveyjoe

CiaranC wrote: »

Its only higher because I have all you can eat data, which is kinda the point

This is off-topic so I'll keep it brief.
I believe most people use less than 250MB of mobile data a month and most people don't use their mobile phones as access points for their laptop. Some people do but I still believe that most don't, nor do they want do and that was the basis for my comparison. I was aiming the comparison at Joe Average.

tm2204

daveyjoe wrote: »

This is off-topic so I'll keep it brief.
I believe most people use less than 250MB of mobile data a month and most people don't use their mobile phones as access points for their laptop. Some people do but I still believe that most don't, nor do they want do and that was the basis for my comparison. I was aiming the comparison at Joe Average.

They might not currently use their mobile to tether to other devices (pc, laptop, tablet,...) but they sure as hell will once they realise you can have 'all you can eat' data on one device leaving you the option to cancel all other data & phone services and save a lot of money.

I have done just that and with this Three package on my mobile with unlimited landline calls i have taken out (a) home phone & broadband (b) business phone & broadband (c) tablet data plan.

I can do this now because I have unlimited data on my Three plan and it's working out really well & saving me a packet monthly.

jive

Just going to throw this out there as it may be useful to some people. Vodafone offer €30 per month pay as you go unlimited free texts to everyone and 250mb (I think) data usage. Or €20 per month pay as you go unlimited free texts to everyone but no data usage. Handy for people who text a lot and don't use calls all that much. Bill phone offers don't particularly suit me as with many you don't get all that many texts (I use ~700/month) and however many minutes. Personally I'd never use those minutes but I'd kill the text limit by a country mile.

tm2204

Think all the operators offer unlimited texts on 'Ready To Go' plans. Most now include extra credit free every time you topup and I know Three give unlimited calls every weekend on their 'Ready To go' plan when you topup by €20 a month. Think €5 buys you 250mb or 500mb data per month as well.

2smiggy

sorry for bringing this back up, but do three have webtexts that can be sent abroad free ? i am with o2 for another week of my contract and i have friends in england/australia that i text a fair bit, all for free with my 250 free webtexts with o2.

biebiebie

Nope, webtexts cannot be sent internationally with 3.

2smiggy wrote: »

sorry for bringing this back up, but do three have webtexts that can be sent abroad free ? i am with o2 for another week of my contract and i have friends in england/australia that i text a fair bit, all for free with my 250 free webtexts with o2.

2smiggy

any idea what they cost or do units count against them ?

thanks again

2smiggy

1 other question, does meteor and vodafone have the free international webtext available also. lots of good value pay monthly deals, just trying to find the best value package for me.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Sneachta

jive wrote: »

Just going to throw this out there as it may be useful to some people. Vodafone offer €30 per month pay as you go unlimited free texts to everyone and 250mb (I think) data usage. Or €20 per month pay as you go unlimited free texts to everyone but no data usage. Handy for people who text a lot and don't use calls all that much. Bill phone offers don't particularly suit me as with many you don't get all that many texts (I use ~700/month) and however many minutes. Personally I'd never use those minutes but I'd kill the text limit by a country mile.

Is there any way to find out how much data you have used so as not to go over the limit?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

chalkitdown

bk wrote: »

So basically for €27 per month you get 100 minutes, 222 texts and 1GB data and free tesco calls and texts.

I think the Meteor €25 plan works out better, 200 minutes, 200 texts, 1GB data and free meteor calls and texts.

So with meteor you pay less, get an extra 100 minutes, only lose 22 texts and you probably have far more friends on Meteor then Tesco, so benefit more from free calls and texts.

Was just going through this thread and think I've noticed a slight miscalculation, because of the double credit you would get what you outlined above for €17 on Tesco, not €27, which shows it in a better light.

Although it you travel abroad in the EU frequently some Meteor packages cannot be beaten.

fuzzball

daveyjoe wrote: »

If your contract has run out with your mobile phone network provider then it's definitely worth taking a look at the sim-only plans. Some serious savings to be made.

I had a look at the various plans from O2, Meteor, Three and Vodafone and wrote up a short blog post if anybody wants to take a look: http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/mobile-phone-sim-only-plans/

great comparison