o2 v 3 v....

chuky_r_law

am thinking of signing up for a contract so i can get myself a snazzy new galaxy 2 phone. they look the business. am currently with o2. seem to have pretty good deal, but the downloading limit is crap. think its 150mb a month. was looking at 3 and they claim to have unlimited doanloading, but i feel there musst be a catch somewhere. even asked about a fair usage policy and yer man said there was none(definitely smell a rat!). is this the case with 3...is there really no download limit? should i really be concerned about o2 download limt of 150mb a month? its not as if i intend do download any movies/music directly onto the phone. and what in your experience do you think is the best company to sign up with? could do with a hand deciding!

dudara

Moved to Mobiles & PDAs

dudara

super_furry

The catch with 3 is that their coverage is the worst of all four major networks and their customer support is awful. I left O2 for Meteor last year and get 5gb on my plan, which can be used for tethering for no extra charge.

Stavro Mueller

I've never used Three so I can't comment on their coverage. What I can say though is that you'd use up 150mb of data in no time at all. Its not just the YouTube and Facebook stuff that eats into it. It's the apps.

pigeon999

They have a 15GB data limit then they throttle you. Which means they limit your data speeds. Put 15GB is massive. You may want to think about downloading movies! I'd say wait till the S3 comes out as 3 will probably have it.

drunkmonkey

super_furry wrote: »

The catch with 3 is that their coverage is the worst of all four major networks

How did you arrive to that conclusion?

aN.Droid

drunkmonkey wrote: »

How did you arrive to that conclusion?

As far as I know 3 is a pure 3g network, no gsm. Could be wrong.

meoklmrk91

I moved from Meteor to Three last December and I am so happy I did, in my personal opinion Meteor has the worst coverage of all the networks, I only ever got 3G in towns and cities and even then it left a lot to be desired. Since I have moved to Three, I have 3G almost everywhere. I also tether it to my laptop and use that as my home internet connection, it's fine for what it is, you won't really notice lagging unless you are watching something at a busy time. In fairness for €40 a month it's very good. The data is unlimited but after 15GB's they will throttle, I'm fairly sure they did it to me before but after a few days it was fine.

All the above depends on where you live, if there is crappy three coverage in your area then obviously you are going to get crappy service. I am in an NBS(National Broadband Scheme) Area so I think this is why I get such good service. I would definitely check that out on the map that is on threes website before you commit to anything. In fairness to three, I was told by loads of people I was making a big mistake moving, I would have nothing but trouble etc. I really can't complain, I find them great.

drunkmonkey

Limericks wrote: »

As far as I know 3 is a pure 3g network, no gsm. Could be wrong.

Their GSM is Vodafone 2G, so you've 3's network for 3G and when your out of their 3G coverage you fall back to Vodafone. It'll still say 3 on your phone just the internet will be a little slower.

JTMan

chuky_r_law wrote: »

am thinking of signing up for a contract so i can get myself a snazzy new galaxy 2 phone. they look the business. am currently with o2. seem to have pretty good deal, but the downloading limit is crap. think its 150mb a month. was looking at 3 and they claim to have unlimited doanloading, but i feel there musst be a catch somewhere. even asked about a fair usage policy and yer man said there was none(definitely smell a rat!). is this the case with 3...is there really no download limit? should i really be concerned about o2 download limt of 150mb a month? its not as if i intend do download any movies/music directly onto the phone. and what in your experience do you think is the best company to sign up with? could do with a hand deciding!

Yes, you should be concerned with the very low O2 150 MB data limit. You run a real risk of data bill shock.

The 3 offer is for unlimited data. Data above 15 GB might be at a slower level.

You could pick up a free 3 prepay sim to test the coverage where you live.

The Samsung Galaxy S II will cost less with 3 than O2 as well. It is free on their 2 year 40.66 EUR per month plan.

SteM

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

....I also tether it to my laptop and use that as my home internet connection.....

New customers should be made aware that 3 don't allow tethering on new accounts anymore.

meoklmrk91

SteM wrote: »

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

....I also tether it to my laptop and use that as my home internet connection.....

New customers should be made aware that 3 don't allow tethering on new accounts anymore.

Ah yes I forgot about that, you are right they stopped it at the beginning of 2012. Pity really, it's such a cool feature, I love it.

chuky_r_law

thanks for all the feedback. lot to think about. seems hard to believe that o2 only offer 150mb vs 3's unlimited deal. i am currently with o2 so i called them to see what they thought about it. this is what they sent me:

Hi ,

Three only offer unlimited data once your flexi units have been used up and they break up the units as follows:








Out of bundle call charges are .34c per min and text are .17c per text and this information is available on www.three.ie


Regards...




So i suppose that means you will be eating into your call time much faster??


Very hard to know who too go with. And i am opposed to signing long contracts with anyone! But its just such an expensive phone!!

drunkmonkey

Well based on that and o2 clearly lying about the flexi units and data I'd leave them just on principal. You have unlimited data and it doesn't use your flexi units at all. Complete lies by o2.

Sponge Bob

O2 are losing customers at an awful rate. They blame Comreg when they themselves are at fault for having utterly crap data packages.

Ardent

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

...in my personal opinion Meteor has the worst coverage of all the networks...

Amen. I'm with them now - entered a contract to get the Galaxy S2 - and they are brutal brutal brutal!! Good value for money (when the network works) but I can't wait for my contract to expire in the summer.

Ardent

Sponge Bob wrote: »

O2 are losing customers at an awful rate. They blame Comreg when they themselves are at fault for having utterly crap data packages.

This is true. I would have stayed with them rather than move to Meteor for the Galaxy S2 but their data allowances were derisory to say the least.

chuky_r_law

Ardent wrote: »

This is true. I would have stayed with them rather than move to Meteor for the Galaxy S2 but their data allowances were derisory to say the least.

so if you could choose right now ardent who would you go for? from reading everything here i would be inclined to go with 3 now. just have to check coverage at work. in fact, just out of the fact that i have always been with o2, i would probably stay with them if it wasn't for their data allowance. if it could in some way match up with their competitors i might stay with them but it just looks like a far inferior package.

Stavro Mueller

Whatever you do, don't sign up for a 150MB package. You'll tear through that in no time at all.

Alanstrainor

I changed to three and they're great. Just get a prepay 3 sim and check the coverage before you jump. 150MB is simply not enough for anything. I'd eat through that in a couple of days.

meoklmrk91

chuky_r_law wrote: »

thanks for all the feedback. lot to think about. seems hard to believe that o2 only offer 150mb vs 3's unlimited deal. i am currently with o2 so i called them to see what they thought about it. this is what they sent me:

Hi ,

Three only offer unlimited data once your flexi units have been used up and they break up the units as follows:








Out of bundle call charges are .34c per min and text are .17c per text and this information is available on www.three.ie


Regards...




So i suppose that means you will be eating into your call time much faster??


Very hard to know who too go with. And i am opposed to signing long contracts with anyone! But its just such an expensive phone!!

Well that is a blatant lie, I would leave them for that and let them know why. Your flexi units are completely separate to your data, flexi units are for calls and texts only.

Ardent

chuky_r_law wrote: »

so if you could choose right now ardent who would you go for? from reading everything here i would be inclined to go with 3 now. just have to check coverage at work. in fact, just out of the fact that i have always been with o2, i would probably stay with them if it wasn't for their data allowance. if it could in some way match up with their competitors i might stay with them but it just looks like a far inferior package.

Well I can't speak for Vodafone as I've never been with them but, of the others, I would have to say Three - best mix of value for money and quality of service.

Sponge Bob

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I changed to three and they're great. Just get a prepay 3 sim and check the coverage before you jump.

Absolutely, if it works then great, If it doesn't work then welcome to the very worst customer care in the whole of western europe.

900913

O2 charge €0.02 per MB out of bundle which is roughly €20 per GB.

Im with 3 and get 3000 3 to 3 free mins, 300 flexi units, 150 free evening and weekend calls and all you can eat data. I use pdanet to connect 2 laptops, my brothers android and 1 iphone wirelessly, Plus I got the iPhone for free with the contract.

It only costs me €40 per month. :-)



If you have 3g in your area your best bet is going with network 3. three.ie
O2's 150 MB's per month is a joke.

Pdanet: http://junefabrics.com/iphone/

limeflower

I am too looking around to move from Vodafone to other networks. Trying to find the best deal with a new smartfone. 3 sounds pretty good! But the 24 mths contract seems a bit long!

SteM

limeflower wrote: »

I am too looking around to move from Vodafone to other networks. Trying to find the best deal with a new smartfone. 3 sounds pretty good! But the 24 mths contract seems a bit long!

You could always buy a phone sim free and then go on 3's sim-only deal. That's a rolling 1 month contract.