Avoid Meteor + Vodafone + 02 + Three

HB1024

Hi guys,

I'm a Meteor Pay-As-You-Go customer and I really hate my mobile operator. I've found them to be shady in their dealings with me, and their customer service has been apalling in my experience. I would go to another operator, but I've heard that nowadays there is little difference between Meteor, Vodafone, 02, Three, etc.

As I'm almost always in a Wifi zone, I'd like to avoid the traditional mobile operators altogether and go with a service that operates over Wifi only, eg. Skype. One of my aims is to save money, and for that reason, I don't plan to shell out for 3G. I know that I'll have no service when not connected to a hotspot, and I'm prepared to put up with this.

I read online that I can buy a Skype number, and so be contactable from regular networks/landlines. But I'm wondering how realistic it is to expect to be able to retain normal services (calls to and from mobiles/calls to and from landlines/texts/voicemail) while avoiding the traditional mobile operators. When it comes to finding out any detailed information on stuff like this, I find Skype's website to be vague. I was wondering if anyone had any real-world experience of this.

Thanks a million in advance,

Hb.

Mr. G

VoIP quality relies on your broadband connection, so if your on a WiFi connection at work it may work but I don't think VoIP is realistic for an alternative to mobile. It would be definately an alternative to landline however.

There's a list of providers in the sticky here which may help, its not just Skype offering numbers.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83973052

Johnboy1951

As I'm almost always in a Wifi zone, I'd like to avoid the traditional mobile operators altogether and go with a service that operates over Wifi only

Set yourself up with a VOIP app and account to make outgoing calls over Wifi connection.
Be aware that a lot of those connections are not very suitable for real time comms such as voice/video calls.

I have used Linphone for this and an account with freevoipdeal (there are many other providers) .... and when I make such a call my caller ID is my mobile number, so I receive call-backs on the mobile number.

So I get the benefit of a 1c per minute calls to mobile numbers and if the wifi connection is good no one is any the wiser.
I do not use the VOIP for receiving calls on my mobile phone.

Doing this as a first step will allow you to gauge whether the wifi service is good enough for your purposes.

SpaceTime

Meteor, O2, Vodafone and 3 are actually the 4 infrastructural mobile networks. It's very difficult to avoid them!

SwissRoll1982

SpaceTime wrote: »

Meteor, O2, Vodafone and 3 are actually the 4 infrastructural mobile networks. It's very difficult to avoid them!

And Emobile are a mugging shower of f##ktards

Mr. G

SwissRoll1982 wrote: »

And Emobile are a mugging shower of f##ktards

Emobile and Meteor is owned by Eircom..

SwissRoll1982

Mr. G wrote: »

Emobile and Meteor is owned by Eircom..

I wasn't aware of that but I would advise all to avoid Eircom like the plague

SpaceTime

Well, basically four networks own and operate infrastructure:

Vodafone
O2 / Telefonica (soon to be merged into Hutchison Whampoa i.e. 3, subject to regulatory approval)
Eircom Group = Meteor and Emobile
Three (Hutchison Whampoa)

Emobile's just a brand operated by eircom and it's run entirely on Meteor's infrastructure, which they own. It's a MVNO, but only sort of.

You've then got true virtual networks which have their own switching systems and other infrastructure but use the radio networks of one of the big-four players.

Tesco Mobile is using O2's network.
PostFone is using Vodafone's network.
Lyca Mobile is using O2 as far as I am aware.
and Blueface mobile uses Three's infrastructure.

UPC are due to launch one too, I'm not sure who they'll cut a deal with to carry their service.