Tesco Mobile vs Three PAYG (data plans)

mariotr87

I'm moving to Ireland the next month and I'm looking for the best operator for my usage. As I'm purchasing a smartphone soon (maybe iPhone 5?:D) I want both a good voice and data plans, and I've narrowed the search down to these.

Three:
Assuming that I top up by 20€ monthly,
-Free calls to anyone in Ireland on weekends.
-Free calls three-three on weekdays also.
-All you can eat data

Tesco Mobile:
-Cheaper calls (BUT no free calls ever, except to other tesco mobile users)
-Calling to Spain costs 0.01 €/min (not sure about Three though).
-They double your top-up

So with the second one I'd get to pay 10€ monthly, but then I'd have to pay 6.99€ for the data bundle (which is limited to 1 GB, not sure if that's enough).

Which one do you think is the best option? The issue I'm most concerned about is the 3G quality, since the main use will be internet. Do they have similar coverage? Same speed?

Also a couple of important things:
-Do they offer a webtext international free service? (such as vodafone does)
-Would I be able to top up online?

Thank you in advance!!

Walkman

Go to gocall.ie and you get an access number to call Spanish landlines @ 3c per minute. 3 also give you free texts to any network all the time. Webtexts are national only. With 3 you can top up online and through My3 from your phone. 3 would have the most 3G coverage of any of the networks.

mariotr87

Walkman wrote: »

Go to gocall.ie and you get an access number to call Spanish landlines @ 3c per minute. 3 also give you free texts to any network all the time. Webtexts are national only. With 3 you can top up online and through My3 from your phone. 3 would have the most 3G coverage of any of the networks.

It looks like it's worth it! I didn't know about gocall.ie.
Even though I'd have to pay 20€ monthly I think that I'll get more for my money.

Thanks!

long_b

Walkman wrote: »

. 3 would have the most 3G coverage of any of the networks.

Well is that a fact ?

ardmacha

Well is that a fact ?

Three's own service is only 3G so it is in their interest to have more and cut down people using he Vodafone 2G roaming.

Also Three have 3G coverage in many areas because they provided service for the so-called National Broadband Scheme

Royale with Cheese

Tesco's 3G speeds are very slow. I usually get about 0.5mb down, when I was on Meteor I'd be getting 3 or 4mb down in some areas. That said it's usable, would just prefer better speeds.

If 1gb isn't enough then just buy another 1gb bundle when the first one runs out, you're never going to be limited to X amount of data per month like you would be on a fixed contract.

There are no webtexts for Tesco yet but they're telling us it's coming very soon.

You can register a card on their website and top up by text or through the website whenever you want.