Tescomobile

mathepac

As some of you know Tesco and I aren't always best buddies, but please check out their mobile offers for PAYG phones and services.

Top-up in multiples of €10 and they'll double your credit (T&Cs apply)

Now if your PAYG account is in credit, you can send 200 free web-texts per month to Irish subscribers on any network and 50 texts to international subscribers. (T&Cs apply)

It's a pretty good deal for PAYG users (I converted from a bill phone in may and can't see myself going back) their website is well geared to self-help and their help-line staff are actually helpful. I needed to compile a report from my on-line account details and the lady talked me through the process.

Check full details and T&Cs at http://www.tescomobile.ie/

Amouar

+1 for tescomobile. They also have the cheapest international call prices!

Note: it's actually 200 free texts not 300.

wmpdd3

I agree with the help line, I switched over and got my mother in law to do the same. I was with three bill, rang the helpline once....never again.

I called the tesco one to give them the laser card no. so I could top up by text and they were lovely, seriously couldn't do enough.

Then my mother in law called up and they talked her through setting up internet and MMS for her unlocked Vodafone phone.... god help them. She said they were lovely to deal with.

danjo-xx

Been with Tesco for quite a few months now and was very sceptical at first as anything that looks too good to be true......usually is.

They are not hear just to soly gain market share and then up prices as they are using the O2 network and will have to keep ahead of the possy.

Does them good all round though. Paul the rep from tesco on the mobile forum is very helpful too.

every little helps.

mathepac

Just had a txt from them to tell me that the cost of text messages will increase to 10c from 20th Feb, but you now have 250 free webtexts, so that can be good news or bad news depending on how you send your messages. T&Cs and full details at www.texcomobile.ie/other-call-charges.aspx

danjo-xx

Still 2/3c cheaper than the rest though.

JTMan

mathepac wrote: »

Just had a txt from them to tell me that the cost of text messages will increase to 10c from 20th Feb, but you now have 250 free webtexts, so that can be good news or bad news depending on how you send your messages. T&Cs and full details at www.tescomobile.ie/other-call-charges.aspx

The price comparison on the Tesco Mobile website for text message prices is highly misleading. The table says "all mobile networks in Ireland" but yet excluded Postfone who charge 9 cent per text. Also the comparison fails to mention that almost every other network, except Tesco, offers free any network to any network text messages as part of top up bundles. Grossly misleading.

mathepac

Excellent feedback fungus. Have you addressed this with Paul in the Tesco thread or provided direct feedback to Tesco themselves? This is a good example of getting insight into ambiguous or misleading advertising for users and providers alike.

Kotek Besar

Amouar wrote: »

+1 for tescomobile. They also have the cheapest international call prices!

Not for UK mobiles. Tesco charge twice as much as Meteor. 20c per minute, compared with Meteor's 10c per minute.

That's the reason I'm sticking with Meteor.

danjo-xx

Fungus wrote: »

The price comparison on the Tesco Mobile website for text message prices is highly misleading. The table says "all mobile networks in Ireland" but yet excluded Postfone who charge 9 cent per text. Also the comparison fails to mention that almost every other network, except Tesco, offers free any network to any network text messages as part of top up bundles. Grossly misleading.

Who!!!!!!!:D

ah in all fairness I think most of us are only interested in the front runners and until a newbie like Postfone etc can start to compete across the board with the fat cats then let's not get to pedantic.

I can't see a flood of tesco customers going over to Postfone now can you:D

Kotek Besar

Technically Postfone is not a "mobile network" - it's an MVNO. Like Tesco Mobile themselves, and like eMobile.

CricketDude

Has anyone else notice the 3G on tescomobile is going shockingly slow since about the last month.

ShamoBuc

I've been with Tesco payg for about 2 years - never had a problem. Great coverage and 100% top up bonus - happy days!

Simi

Their customer service is good. They're fairly competitive price wise, but their 3g speeds are dire usually topping out at ~400kbps with a horrible QOS. It's fine for non-smartphone ppl., but kinda useless for the rest of us.

wmpdd3

CricketDude wrote: »

Has anyone else notice the 3G on tescomobile is going shockingly slow since about the last month.

I have heard so many people say this but I think its really fast, I use it most days... just to use up credit:D I can only vouch for the south east, but I spent 2 and a half hours reading articles and listening to podcasts in a hospital waiting room last week with out a blip. Do you watch video on it?

crushproof

Cost of texting has dropped to 10c.
If you call abroad alot there's really no one else who beats them, Canada is only 0.02c a minute for calls to mobiles, crazy prices.

podge3

I was with Tescomobile for a few years and used to regularly recommend the service to others. However my opinion of them completely changed when I tried to switch over to O2.

First off, I had trouble with the porting process although this was down to O2 more-so than TM.

When I finally got my number ported over it went dead after a few hours. Turns out that Tesco "took back" my number :mad:.

I have never dealt with such an incompetent bunch in my life in the resultant battle to get my phone back on O2. While they could take my number back completely without authorization, it took them 3 days to port it back to O2 due to "procedures" that had to be followed. I never got an apology or explanation for why they had taken my number back.

I would rather use 2 tins cans and a piece of wire than Tescomobile.

thesandeman

mathepac wrote: »

Excellent feedback fungus. Have you addressed this with Paul in the Tesco thread or provided direct feedback to Tesco themselves? This is a good example of getting insight into ambiguous or misleading advertising for users and providers alike.

Where is that?
It doesnt seem to be in the Talk To forum.

vicwatson

Paul is a legend with Tesco Mobile (thus far), fair play Paul

CricketDude

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I have heard so many people say this but I think its really fast, I use it most days... just to use up credit:D I can only vouch for the south east, but I spent 2 and a half hours reading articles and listening to podcasts in a hospital waiting room last week with out a blip. Do you watch video on it?

its not actually fast enough to watch video most of the time. im usually in dublin city center.
if you run speedtest you see that if you are very, very lucky you might get 300k or 400k on a good day. i just did a speedtest now and its only 70k but do the same thing on an o2 3g phone and it gets 3mbps on average. and its supposed to be the same network.

i know they are limited to 1mb but you have no hope of getting anywhe near this.

it was great at first but it now seems to be slower every week.

JTMan

mathepac wrote: »

Excellent feedback fungus. Have you addressed this with Paul in the Tesco thread or provided direct feedback to Tesco themselves? This is a good example of getting insight into ambiguous or misleading advertising for users and providers alike.

Thanks Mathepac.

Good idea. I will address this directly with Paul. All mobile providers are at the same game of misleading their customers. Transparency is non existent.

unkel

mathepac wrote: »

Now if your PAYG account is in credit, you can send 200 free web-texts per month to Irish subscribers on any network and 50 texts to international subscribers.

Meh. Vodafone PAYG gives 600 free web texts per month world wide...

wmpdd3

Fungus wrote: »

The price comparison on the Tesco Mobile website for text message prices is highly misleading. The table says "all mobile networks in Ireland" but yet excluded Postfone who charge 9 cent per text. Also the comparison fails to mention that almost every other network, except Tesco, offers free any network to any network text messages as part of top up bundles. Grossly misleading.

I agree most other networks give you free texts calls to anyone on their network, but I rather just get the free credit every time I top up, not just every month..

I cant remember who's on what network anymore. But my sisters have free calls to each other on Meteor every month if they top up by €20, this could bankrupt Meteor!!

JTMan

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I agree most other networks give you free texts calls to anyone on their network,

No. Most other operators give free text messages to anyone on any network. Tesco restrict you to free texts to Tesco customers.

wmpdd3 wrote: »

but I rather just get the free credit every time I top up, not just every month..

Huh? I don't understand your sentence.

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I cant remember who's on what network anymore. But my sisters have free calls to each other on Meteor every month if they top up by €20, this could bankrupt Meteor!!

This will not bankrupt anyone. Meteor are a highly profitable part of the Eircom group.

wmpdd3

Please note exclamation marks after bankrupt remark.


I only have experience of Meteor as I said, my sisters top up by €20 per month and get free calls to each other and free texts to meteor only afaik.

I prefer just getting the extra €10 every time I top up.

I wasnt aware other networks give you free texts to all other networks, that a great offer but I wouldnt spend more than €10 per month. I really am a very low usage customer.

I spend €6 on data and €14 on calls and I get this for €10 per month, more than enough for me.

Kotek Besar

crushproof wrote: »

If you call abroad alot there's really no one else who beats them

Meteor beats them, for calls to UK mobiles.

Tesco Mobile are double the price of Meteor for such calls. 20c per min verses Meteor's 10c per min.

Kotek Besar

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I prefer just getting the extra €10 every time I top up.

There are conditions to this "free doubling of credit" though, aren't there.

The free credit doesn't go in to your normal credit balance for normal use, it goes in to a separate "pot" on the PAYG account for use only for certain calls. For example, you can't use it for any international calls at all.

Tesco really shouldn't be misleading in their advertising and should tell the public what the offer really is. People are getting the impression that you buy a €10 top-up and Tesco credit you €20. This simply isn't so.

JTMan

crushproof wrote: »

If you call abroad alot there's really no one else who beats them

Rubbish.

3's gocall.ie service offers lower priced calls than Tesco to most, but not all, locations.

Meteor have some good offers via their free international calling add-on.

Kotek Besar

Fungus wrote: »

Meteor have some good offers via their free international calling add-on.

For clarity, Meteor's international calling add-on is free - you just need to text "international" to 50104 to opt-in. I don't really understand why they make it necessary to do this though - why not just make this rate standard for all?

danjo-xx

I wish we could all go back to the horse and cart life was so uncomplicated then:D

We'd all want to be bloody solicitors now:(

mathepac

Kotek Besar wrote: »

... Tesco really shouldn't be misleading in their advertising and should tell the public what the offer really is. People are getting the impression that you buy a €10 top-up and Tesco credit you €20. This simply isn't so.

Oh yes it is! I am a Tesco customer since May 2011 and when I top up in multiples of €10 they double my credit, always, every single time. Yes the free credit is in a different pot and it gets used first but it's always there. The reason it gets used first is because it has a use-by date, which Tesco are open about, but they take it first. I don't use the phone for UK calls so I'm indifferent to Tesco's charges for them.

JTMan

Kotek Besar wrote: »

For clarity, Meteor's international calling add-on is free - you just need to text "international" to 50104 to opt-in. I don't really understand why they make it necessary to do this though - why not just make this rate standard for all?

Only a small percent of their users will realise that the opt-in exists. Hence, Eircom get to profit from the uninformed Meteor prepay users.

JTMan

mathepac wrote: »

Oh yes it is! I am a Tesco customer since May 2011 and when I top up in multiples of €10 they double my credit, always, every single time. Yes the free credit is in a different pot and it gets used first but it's always there. The reason it gets used first is because it has a use-by date, which Tesco are open about, but they take it first. I don't use the phone for UK calls so I'm indifferent to Tesco's charges for them.

Sorry mathepac but they don't double your credit. Kotek Besar is correct.

Doubling means giving you the same again in the same quantity. Tesco restrict your 'bonus credit' to domestic usage, you can't use it for international calls, international texts, roaming, premium numbers, buying data add-ons and many other things. Also, it has a 30 day expiry to it.

As Kotek Besar said, Tesco are misleading customers the way they advertise this.

deaglan169

read the terms and conditions its all in there, not even meteor states free meteor to meteor calls are only for 30 days untill you read the terms, its only because were used of those network deals and the double credit idea is a new idea to us

wmpdd3

Sorry mathepac but they don't double your credit. Kotek Besar is correct.

Doubling means giving you the same again in the same quantity. Tesco restrict your 'bonus credit' to domestic usage, you can't use it for international calls, international texts, roaming, premium numbers, buying data add-ons and many other things. Also, it has a 30 day expiry to it.

As Kotek Besar said, Tesco are misleading customers the way they advertise this.

Sorry, I get €10 extra credit to use on texts and calls within Ireland.

As I said, I dont use the phone much €10 per month is more than enough for me. I only use the €10 other credit to buy my data add on. I use this €4 for a few days and then top up by €10 again, so I spend even less than €10 a month.

I made a cock up by going with Three bill at €19 per month and when the 12 months was up, I really investigated the cheapest possible monthly cost for a pre-pay mobile plan, Tesco is what I choose, but I'd always keep an eye on a plan that would cost me less than €10 per month, when I find it I'll move.

danjo-xx

Fungus wrote: »

Sorry mathepac but they don't double your credit. Kotek Besar is correct.

Doubling means giving you the same again in the same quantity. Tesco restrict your 'bonus credit' to domestic usage, you can't use it for international calls, international texts, roaming, premium numbers, buying data add-ons and many other things. Also, it has a 30 day expiry to it.

As Kotek Besar said, Tesco are misleading customers the way they advertise this.

too true..... I never looked at it that way but you are dead right, misleading advertising!! fair play to you for taking a stand against this sort of thing.

mathepac

Fungus wrote: »

Sorry mathepac but they don't double your credit. Kotek Besar is correct. ...

We're going around in circles here. Let me be clear - for my mobile usage Tesco give me what I want. I checked the various offerings from other operators and their product suits me. It does what it says on the tin and works seamlessly for me. I don't need fancy doo-dahs and doo-hickeys to add to my basic package so what they offer suits me and I knew about the "gaps" in their offering but they were not important to me, so I'm happy. I've had mobile phones for many many years and I've never run a mobile as cheaply as this one.

I guess we'll just have to agree to differ.

Kotek Besar

mathepac wrote: »

Let me be clear - for my mobile usage Tesco give me what I want.

That's great, for you. but..

mathepac wrote: »

It does what it says on the tin

^^ that simply isn't factual.

mathepac

Kotek Besar wrote: »

That's great, for you. but..



^^ that simply isn't factual.

It is factual, there was no hidden agenda, no mis-selling, no false advertising and has worked for me consistently since May 2011. It may not suit others but it suits me perfectly and is described accurately in the advertising for the service I bought.

Kotek Besar

mathepac wrote: »

Kotek Besar wrote: »

That's great, for you. but..



^^ that simply isn't factual.

It is factual, there was no hidden agenda, no mis-selling, no false advertising and has worked for me consistently since May 2011. It may not suit others but it suits me perfectly and is described accurately in the advertising for the service I bought.

.

Fungus wrote: »

Sorry mathepac but they don't double your credit. Kotek Besar is correct.

Doubling means giving you the same again in the same quantity. Tesco restrict your 'bonus credit' to domestic usage, you can't use it for international calls, international texts, roaming, premium numbers, buying data add-ons and many other things. Also, it has a 30 day expiry to it.

As Kotek Besar said, Tesco are misleading customers the way they advertise this.

Freddie59

The problem I have with moving to Tesco is that I send between 2000 and 2500 texts a month!:D At even 10c a text the free credit wouldn't even begin to cover it!

I'm with Three (yes the customer service is dreadful). But it works perfectly. No problem with coverage. And for E20 a month I get unlimited texts to all networks; free weekend calls to all networks.

I can't understand why the other networks (Tesco included) are so stingy with a mere 200 texts. FFS they're bursts of data!

CricketDude

Freddie59 wrote: »

The problem I have with moving to Tesco is that I send between 2000 and 2500 texts a month!:D At even 10c a text the free credit wouldn't even begin to cover it!

I'm with Three (yes the customer service is dreadful). But it works perfectly. No problem with coverage. And for E20 a month I get unlimited texts to all networks; free weekend calls to all networks.

I can't understand why the other networks (Tesco included) are so stingy with a mere 200 texts. FFS they're bursts of data!

I would go with three too, but their coverage is terrible where I live, even though i live in Dublin.

knipper

Been looking at tescos capped plan. Does anyone know if it is 30 euro free with a ten euro top up( total 40euro credit) or is it 30euro including your ten euro top up ( total 30euro credit ).
Can't tell from the way its stated on their website as below. Sounds like an excellent deal tho.

• Visit Our Online Shop
• Contact our Customer Care Team
• Keep Your Mobile Number
• Free Calls, Texts & Picture messages to all on Tesco Mobile
• International Call Rates from 1c a minute
• Contact our Telesales team at 1800 800 089
• Delivery within 72 hours
• Recycle your old mobile free of charge and earn Clubcard points!
• Have a look at our Returns, Repairs & Refunds policy

If you’d like to remain firmly in charge of you phone bill, but enjoy the value of Pay monthly, our capped plans are ideal. With our Capped Tariff Plans you can fix your monthly spend to €10, €20 or €30 so you only use your set bonus credit.
Select the monthly subscription that suits you. We will credit your account as follows:

• €10 subscription = €30 bonus credit
• €20 subscription = €60 bonus credit
• €30 subscription = €90 bonus credit

If you use all your bonus credit during the month, just top-up your account with a Pay As You Go top-up.
Please note: Bonus credit cannot be used for roaming, international calls, premium rate numbers and purchasing any add on bundles. You must top up to access these services.

AndrewR

The 10 + 30 gives you a total of €40 euros "credit" for the month.
Moved SWMBO off meteor bill-pay as she was running out talktime around the 20th of each month with the result that her €20 bill was increasing to €45 per month on average.
Moved to Tesco €20 (+60) capped plan based on her usage (lots of talk, some texts) and so far so good. She hasn't had to topup once outside her contract in the 3 months she's been with Tesco.
If I hadn't been able to avail of the Meteor €15 billpay deal I'd have switched to Tesco too but I generally don't come near my allocation of talk and texts + want data so easiest thing was to stay with Meteor.

Kristopherus

Kotek Besar wrote: »

For clarity, Meteor's international calling add-on is free - you just need to text "international" to 50104 to opt-in. I don't really understand why they make it necessary to do this though - why not just make this rate standard for all?

Can't find that on their website. Free to opt in, but you get charged 10c per minute to call a UK No.

JTMan

Kristopherus wrote: »

Can't find that on their website. Free to opt in, but you get charged 10c per minute to call a UK No.

Yes. Free to opt in and 10 cent per minute to UK mobiles.

The opt-in details are here: http://www.meteor.ie/plans/international_call_rates/

There are other options for international calls on prepay plans.

Kristopherus

Fungus wrote: »

Yes. Free to opt in and 10 cent per minute to UK mobiles.

The opt-in details are here: http://www.meteor.ie/plans/international_call_rates/

There are other options for international calls on prepay plans.

Yea, I know all that because I was with Meteor up to November. But Kotek's claim is incorrect "For clarity, Meteor's international calling add-on is free - you just need to text "international" to 50104 to opt-in." is incorrect

As you rightly linked, there is no change since I was with them:)

Kotek Besar

Kristopherus wrote: »

Yea, I know all that because I was with Meteor up to November. But Kotek's claim is incorrect "For clarity, Meteor's international calling add-on is free - you just need to text "international" to 50104 to opt-in." is incorrect

As you rightly linked, there is no change since I was with them:)

Nope, the add-on is free. Opting in costs nothing.

groom

One disadvantage AFAIK with Tesco Prepay and maybe Billpay is that there is a minimum charge per call i.e. a call lasting 1 second costs the same as a call lasting 59 seconds so everytime you call someone and the call goes to voice mail and you hang up immediately it costs 20c as opposed to <1c or whatever with the other networks. It can quickly add up

The throttled data speed is pretty low as well compared to other networks.

Apart form these they are a pretty decent operator and Meteor prices wouldn't be so low if Tesco weren't in the market

Oracle

groom wrote: »

One disadvantage AFAIK with Tesco Prepay and maybe Billpay is that there is a minimum charge per call i.e. a call lasting 1 second costs the same as a call lasting 59 seconds so everytime you call someone and the call goes to voice mail and you hang up immediately it costs 20c as opposed to <1c or whatever with the other networks. It can quickly add up ....

Yeah it's one to watch, although all the other operators have similar charges; Meteor, O2 and Vodafone have a 9c call set-up charge on Prepay.

In practice Tescos' charge can work out fairer, because they charge a one minute minimum call charge, but the other networks charge a 9c call set-up charge, there's a difference. The 9c is an extra charge for the first minute. Whereas Tesco charge you for the first full minute, regardless of the time you're actually on the call, there's no extra charge.

Although Tesco charge 20c for a one second call to voicemail, you'll be charged 9c with some networks, plus an additional charge for each second. Some Prepay plans on the other networks offer free voicemail, but not all.

What's much more interesting, and relevant for most people, is the price of a one minute call. A one minute call using Prepay with Meteor, O2 or Vodafone, costs their 9c call set up charge, plus their per minute charge, usually 29c. So that's 38c for a one minute call, instead of 20c for a one minute call with Tesco, that's almost half the price.

gipi

As a result of reading this thread, Tesco Mobile got another PAYG customer this week (thanks Mathepac!)

As well as the minimum charge call, I noticed the following with the webtext service.

Customers are offered 200 webtexts and 50 international webtexts per month by meeting certain T&Cs.

When sending my first webtext yesterday, I noticed that the max number of characters allowed in a text is 254 - which is just over 1.5 text messages (a standard text msg has 160 characters). But it's counted as 2 webtexts! So if you want to maximise the free offering, don't send text messages longer than 160 characters....if you've more to say, send it by separate texts!