iPhone 4 on Meteor versus Three

candy_pants

OK so I have spent the afternoon researching the iPhone 4 on various networks. I'm a long term Meteor customer (over 5 years) and am pretty loyal to them. Apart from one incident which was then sorted, I've never had any problems with them and am more than happy to stay with them.

I had registered interest in the iPhone 4 so was happy to see it arriving today. Knowing nothing about price plans or what competitors were offering, the Meteor prices didn't seem TOO unreasonable. Well a quick search on Boards tells me I'm totally wrong about that!

So I looked into other networks and Three easily has the best offerings in terms of minutes/data/bundles etc BUT everything I've read about them is that customers frequently have absolute nightmares with them.

So, getting to my point, with the amount of hassle Three seems to cause customers (and having to PAY for a seldom working Voicemail service - WTF?), I'm thinking that paying a bit more for the Meteor service might be a better option in the long run. At least for a stress free life.

But, as I said, I am by no means an expert on any of this so any opinions are welcome!

Thanks!

jack presley

I'm with three a few years now and never had a problem and about 6 weeks ago switched to their Iphone plan and have had no problems with coverage or reception (Dublin area). I haven't had a problem so I can't comment on their customer service.

candy_pants

That's fair enough. People only tend to speak up when they're complaining so it makes sense that the boards are rife with horror stories. BUT, when people have had problems they sound like they did so in epic porportions. I'm still deciding whether I'd bother with an iPhone at all but my mind has been flip-flopping all day between service providers if I do go ahead with it.

Thanks for your input!

Kintarō Hattori

Do you really want to lock yourself into a 2 year contract though? I'm just out of an 18 month contract with Meteor and while I had been toying with the idea of the iPhone I'd really hate to get myself into a whopping 2 year contract, especially with a new iPhone due out in September.

I've been looking at a replacement for my Hero and I think the Sensation (or the iPhone 5), sim free on Meteor will be the way I go.

candy_pants

This is where I'm really going to show my ignorance but is a 2 year contract really such a big deal? I've been with Meteor for 5 years anyway and can't see myself moving. Plus is it not worse to pay out 500+ euro on the current iPhone model only for the iPhone 5 to be released (whenever that definitely is) at some point? With the contract at least I'm paying manageable installments (around what I'd be paying monthly anyway)? Or is the issue just being stuck with the iPhone 4 for 2 years and/or being commited to a certain price plan? Sorry, you can see I really am dense about this stuff! I'm ok with technology just not the payment of it!

kjl

three's coverage is a load of ****. I know loads of people on three and their signal bar is always about 1 or 2

Kensington

Bars of coverage are mainly irrelevant. You can still get extremely fast 3G data with just one bar.

Best thing to do is check out what Three coverage is like in your area, then decide. Three may have a fair few complaints but you only have to do a search on Meteor's billing system and you'll find as many complaints about Meteor - double charging, direct debits being taken twice, direct debits not being taken at all, discounts and promotions not being applied correctly. I've found Meteor's accounts and customer care absolutely awful to deal with when I was with them previously.

candy_pants

Thanks Kensington - that's a fair point about Meteor Bill Pay customers. The coverage seems ok for Three but there are some decent size gaps for coverage not far from where I live and right in the middle of places I'd frequent enough for it to be annoying. It's a terrible reason and I'm a complete mug but I like Meteor, I've never had issues with them, and I don't want to change networks.
The main draw for Three (IMO) is that they offer a really decent plan for 40euro and unlimited data (Ts & Cs state 15GB is the cut off point) but from talking people the consensus is that I'd never get near that and Meteor's 5GBs is more than generous.

Thanks for all the input - I don't feel less confused but I'm nearer to just taking the plunge!

dmn

candy_pants wrote: »

Thanks Kensington - that's a fair point about Meteor Bill Pay customers. The coverage seems ok for Three but there are some decent size gaps for coverage not far from where I live and right in the middle of places I'd frequent enough for it to be annoying. It's a terrible reason and I'm a complete mug but I like Meteor, I've never had issues with them, and I don't want to change networks.
The main draw for Three (IMO) is that they offer a really decent plan for 40euro and unlimited data (Ts & Cs state 15GB is the cut off point) but from talking people the consensus is that I'd never get near that and Meteor's 5GBs is more than generous.

Thanks for all the input - I don't feel less confused but I'm nearer to just taking the plunge!

my view on 24 month contracts is: (regardless of whether u go for 3 or meteor) if you buy an iPhone 4, apple are fairly good with their software updates that bring loads of new features. such as IOS5 coming out sept/oct time and presumably IOS6 next year that will further add more new features to your phone. this for me keeps it all relevant. i have an iPhone and Desire HD and though both apple and google (android) release updates to add new "stuff" im so far not happy about the way android do it where you are often waiting months for the update after its first released to sometimes make very little changes.

RDMH

Just putting my two cents worth in here but I don't think Meteor's tariff is bad at all. When you think about it you are getting the iPhone 4 for free and €45 a month for 200 mins, 200 texts and 5Gb data is way better than that on offer by Vodafone, O2 or eMobile (which is a strange one as they too are owned by Eircom). I was with three years ago and had nothing but problems, customer care is, in my opinion, awful and Meteor by comparison is excellent (no issues at all and very responsive to any queries that I have had with them). I was with Vodafone before I switched to Meteor, they were good but deals with Meteor were just better.

As for 24 month contract, it IS a big commitment particularly when you think of how quickly technology moves (it was the reason I refused to get into an 18 month contract with Meteor when I bought the original HTC Desire from them last year) but you know what, having used the desire for nearly 18 months there really wasn't much more on offer to make me say "I must get the latest handset" as the Desire can do the same as all the newer phones.

It's really a question of whether you want an iPhone over an android. I agree that Apple bring out updates regularly that add extra capabilities to your handset, its much better than android, and while HTC are good at releasing updates I don't think the same is true for Samsung. At least with Apple you know what you are going to get.

I've decided to go for the iPhone 4, it is a very user friendly handset and will marry up perfectly to my MacBook Pro (so that's my main reason). If you decide to get one and get fed up with it in a years time, sell it and buy a new one or an android (or keep it as an iPod touch). At the end of the day it's all down to what you want.

Lastly, there isn't an iPhone 5 this year, its a minor upgrade similar to the upgrade the iPhone 3 had when they released the 3S. iPhone 5 is about another year away, Apple will do what they are good at, wait and see what the competition have just launched and then 3-6 months later beat it with their new release. As android only have 3 dual core handsets available in the Irish market (Galaxy SII, Incredible and LG Optimus) there is no rush on Apple just yet.

Hope the above "rant" helps you make up your mind

kjl

Kensington wrote: »

Bars of coverage are mainly irrelevant. You can still get extremely fast 3G data with just one bar.

Best thing to do is check out what Three coverage is like in your area, then decide. Three may have a fair few complaints but you only have to do a search on Meteor's billing system and you'll find as many complaints about Meteor - double charging, direct debits being taken twice, direct debits not being taken at all, discounts and promotions not being applied correctly. I've found Meteor's accounts and customer care absolutely awful to deal with when I was with them previously.

Yes they do. Please don't make silly points.

whiterebel

RDMH wrote: »

Lastly, there isn't an iPhone 5 this year, its a minor upgrade similar to the upgrade the iPhone 3 had when they released the 3S. iPhone 5 is about another year away, Apple will do what they are good at, wait and see what the competition have just launched and then 3-6 months later beat it with their new release.

Absolutely no proof of of any of that. We won't know what apple are doing until they announce in September.

RDMH

kjl wrote: »

Yes they do. Please don't make silly points.

I'd actually have to agree with Kensington on this one, my HTC Desire often drops to no bars but still dose high speed data downloads. Strange I know but true.

RDMH

whiterebel wrote: »

Absolutely no proof of of any of that. We won't know what apple are doing until they announce in September.

Agreed, a lot can change but from what I've read the general opinion is that this will not be as dramatic an upgrade from 3 to 4. Apple appear to be doing a major push on its software releases this year, iOS5 and OS X Lion, rather than new hardware releases but anything is possible.

So my opinion is that it will not be a major update, some additional tweaks that will test iOS5 with newly designed iPhone 5 to be released next year.

Actually there is one other thing to consider, regardless of whether Apple do release a new dual core handset this year or not, it is going to take developers time to really get to grips with it, that is evidenced with the iPad 2, there really aren't that many iPad 2 Apps out there (although that will obviously change over time) and it questions the need to be an early adopter and pay the premium for no appreciable uplift in performance.

Kensington

kjl wrote: »

Yes they do. Please don't make silly points.

Let me clarify:
You shouldn't dismiss a network simply because you only get 1-bar of signal. Bars of signal isn't the only indicator of good/bad service. You can easily have perfect service and high speed data on 1-bar of signal and on the other hand, suffer horrendous service and crawling data despite a full signal.

If you get a steady 1-bar of 3G signal, the phone can still easily extract the datastream and you'll get no noticeable difference between 1-bar of signal and full bars of signal.

The important factor on choosing a network is to simply try it out before you commit. Get a free SIM, test real world call quality and data service and if it works for you, go for it.

TheZohanS

I was with o2 for years and gradually noticed their customer service getting worse, probably due to the staff lay-offs they made in their call centre in Limerick. I already had an iPhone and rang o2 to see if they could compete, they couldn't and tried to offer me a €45 SIM free plan with 700mb data.

Three have been a pleasure to deal with, I find their coverage to be pretty good, have had no issues whatsoever so far in the South East and Dublin. Anytime I have rang their CS I've been greeted with a friendly polite voice on the phone.

Get yourself a free Three SIM card and check out the coverage for yourself, I'm with them two months now and it's been a pleasure doing business with them.

candy_pants

Thanks for all the input everyone. After reading people's comments, and hearing friends' anecdotes, I decided to stick with Meteor for the iPhone as I've always been happy with their service.

HOWEVER, I defended them too soon. The whole process has been a joke. I've been into the Meteor store 4 times and still no phone. To be fair, the first two times were my own fault. I didn't have the right proof of address.

However, yesterday I went back into one store with all the correct details and was stuck there for 45 mins, the approval process on their system kept failing, wouldn't recognise the SIM card they were putting through and it was just a mess. I went to another branch that's nearer to my home yesterday evening. Had to start the whole process again. They photocopied my documents, asked me which one I wanted, asked me to wait 5 mins to speak to another sales assistant. Over half an hour later, I was finally dealt with and restarted the process only to be told at the end of it that they were out of stock of the phone I wanted. Why in God's name they couldn't have told me that they were out of stock at the before I hung around like an idiot waiting, I do not know.

So, I was told that they would keep all my details, restart the process the next day (which is now today), then start the approval process with Apple (which is crazy by the way but not Meteor's fault, and the staff agree its ridiculous) so that I could pick it up this evening.

I just rang to check on the status of it and to see if there was stock and one was put aside. The guy I spoke to couldn't find any of my documents. Then, when he did, my application had been put through arseways and I don't even know where I stand now. If I have to start the process from the beginning the I might just tell them where to go and move to another network. The 'hour' waiting time (in inverted commas because I doubt its an hour or less) between first applying for approval and then signing to a plan and taking home the bloody thing is going to be the final straw for me if I arrive there this evening and have to go through that again. There's also some nonsense issue about going from Meteor pay-as-you-go to Meteor Bill and I won't even able to use the phone with my existing number for a day or two.

I rarely, rarely complain about service but my head is beyond wrecked. They should outline the process from start to finish clearly on their site, as well as being clear about documents being needed and how long EVERYTHING takes, before customers show up and go through this nonsense. I know this was a complete rant but I'm so fed up now. Not even that fussed about the iPhone at this stage.

Did anyone else sign up with Meteor and have the same BS?

Darksaga87

The problem i would have with going on a 2 year contract is that apple usually bring out a new phone every year, so you will be stuck with the same phone and miss out on 2 new iPhones!

Also i really dont like the meteor plan for the iphone, if I could keep my current plan (400 mins 400 text 2gb data, €50 month) on 12 month plan, id be happy to take the iphone.
Although id suggest holding off till September to see if iphone 5 comes out.

Slippin Jimmy

Darksaga87 wrote: »

The problem i would have with going on a 2 year contract is that apple usually bring out a new phone every year, so you will be stuck with the same phone and miss out on 2 new iPhones!

I agree with what you are saying. I signed up for a 2 year contract with three about 4 months ago now. I didn't want the contract for that long, after 18 months I can upgrade if I like. Or if three change their prices in any way shape or form they are breaking their contract with me and I can get out of it that way. I would imagine that they will have to change their prices or terms and conditions at some stage over the next 2 years.

Just on a side note. I've had to call 3 a few times and have found them more than helpful, maybe im one of the lucky one's, but I can only share my experiences with them. Also, unlike meteor they have a boards.ie forum which is informative and helpful. Im glad I changed to 3 and am happy with my service.

whiterebel

Duffff-Man wrote: »

I agree with what you are saying. I signed up for a 2 year contract with three about 4 months ago now. I didn't want the contract for that long, after 18 months I can upgrade if I like. Or if three change their prices in any way shape or form they are breaking their contract with me and I can get out of it that way. I would imagine that they will have to change their prices or terms and conditions at some stage over the next 2 years.

Just on a side note. I've had to call 3 a few times and have found them more than helpful, maybe im one of the lucky one's, but I can only share my experiences with them. Also, unlike meteor they have a boards.ie forum which is informative and helpful. Im glad I changed to 3 and am happy with my service.

3's upgrade is 22 months (might be 20) on a 24 month contract, apparently. How many of the carriers have changed T&Cs in the last few years? Only O2 as far as I remember, and I can't see any of the others making a cock-up like that.

Slippin Jimmy

As far as I remember meteor have aswell

Darksaga87

Anyone been able to get iPhone on upgrade without getting into that contract?

chrislad

Darksaga87 wrote: »

Anyone been able to get iPhone on upgrade without getting into that contract?

You can get the iPhone on any plan, but only for free on the 24 month contracts.

Darksaga87

How much is it on a non iPhone plan?

naasrd

kjl wrote: »

three's coverage is a load of ****. I know loads of people on three and their signal bar is always about 1 or 2

Waffle. Ignore it and any post that includes; " I know loads of people that...etc, etc" to back up its argument. 1, 2 or 3 bars is, as pointed out, is relevant. Makes no difference to my speed which is always fast.

equivariant

I signed up with three (after 13 years with vodafone) for the free iPhone a couple of months ago and have absolutely no complaints. The coverage is fine (I live in rural Mayo). I don't see what the problem with a two year contract is. People seem to be confused. The contract has nothing to do with your phone. You can always upgrade to iPhone 5 if you want when that comes out regardless of your contract.

chrislad

Darksaga87 wrote: »

How much is it on a non iPhone plan?

Depends on the package. It's practically full whack on the non-smart plans (ie Connect 20, 25 etc), but as low as 149 on the BP Max prices, which is in line with the likes of the Galaxy S II. Off the top of my head, it's 349 on the Smart 35 12 mo, and 299 on the Smart 30 18 mo, 249 on Smart 50 18mo, and 149 on the BP Max 18 mo.

jack presley

candy_pants wrote: »

Did anyone else sign up with Meteor and have the same BS?

There was an article in the Irish Times a couple of Monday's ago (in their consumer section) where someone was having some kind of BS trying to get on 3's Iphone plan so they are all at it.

Slippin Jimmy

equivariant wrote: »

You can always upgrade to iPhone 5 if you want when that comes out regardless of your contract.

True to an extent, but you won't get a subsidised phone unless your renew your contract at upgrade time. Instead you will have to pay full whack.

dmn

Duffff-Man wrote: »

......Also, unlike meteor they have a boards.ie forum which is informative and helpful. Im glad I changed to 3 and am happy with my service.

http://forums.meteor.ie

whiterebel

equivariant wrote: »

I signed up with three (after 13 years with vodafone) for the free iPhone a couple of months ago and have absolutely no complaints. The coverage is fine (I live in rural Mayo). I don't see what the problem with a two year contract is. People seem to be confused. The contract has nothing to do with your phone. You can always upgrade to iPhone 5 if you want when that comes out regardless of your contract.

Not with 3 you can't. 16 months on 18, 10 on 12 months, and 20 or 22 on 24 month before you can upgrade.

120_Minutes

I'm lead to believe the application process for the iphone on meteor has initiallly been a cluster****, but its getting smoother....


..anyway my main point is this:

It's getting to the point where choosing a smartphone is like buying a car,

1. If you have the cash upfront buy sim free and choose a sim only 30 day plan with data, pretty much all networks do these now.

2. If you dont have the cash upfront then you have to go on contract, pray you dont get hit with security deposists.

3. wait a year and buy second hand (plenty of people out there who like smartphones but are happy to wait) My wife sold her 3gs 15 months after purchase and got 300 quid for it (so it pays to take care of your phone, keep all reciepts, packging and accs, and try your best to unlock it, it adds to resale value)



the advantage to 1 apart from the obvious no contract, you're in a position to sell second hand ( see point 3) and retain a bit of value and adding a few quid to trade up to the latest model when released.

the advantage to point 2 is (hopefully) you wont need much (or any) money up front.

the advantage to 3 is you get to pick and choose from a 2nd hand market of proven devices based on opinions of early adaptors.


you just have to choose which situtation suits you best and go for it.

TTG89

I want to leave Three Ireland to move to meteor for the iPhone package. I have a pay as you go with meteor over the last 8 years and I loved it. the only reason I went to three was to get a iPhone now I’m stuck on a 18mth contact and to exit it and keep the phone I will need to pay 400+ euro even though I paid like 275 so far on my monthly bills!

I hate 3! There is rarely any 3G network available! There was only once where I had full 3G signal. Other than that its usually no signal at all or calls & texts only and that usually everywhere I go! Even built up areas of Dublin!

I have to say I do not like the fact that meteor only have a 24 month contact. And I would go for them if they would do like a 12 month contact and maybe pay €100 on top for the phone...

Oafley Jones

TTG89 wrote: »

I want to leave Three Ireland to move to meteor for the iPhone package. I have a pay as you go with meteor over the last 8 years and I loved it. the only reason I went to three was to get a iPhone now I’m stuck on a 18mth contact and to exit it and keep the phone I will need to pay 400+ euro even though I paid like 275 so far on my monthly bills!

I hate 3! There is rarely any 3G network available! There was only once where I had full 3G signal. Other than that its usually no signal at all or calls & texts only and that usually everywhere I go! Even built up areas of Dublin!

I have to say I do not like the fact that meteor only have a 24 month contact. And I would go for them if they would do like a 12 month contact and maybe pay €100 on top for the phone...

Aren't they required to offer a 12month contract now. Is this being enforced at all?

cookie1977

You can get a 12 month contract but you might find that the monthly fee and/or the price of the phone could be a lot higher. Like enforcing your last insurer to quote you. They just quote you something ridiculous to put you off