The best SIM Only deals [Updated regularly][Work in progess]

fionny

thegeezer wrote: »

One thing I am not clear about which will make a huge difference in which to go with.
Vodafone - unlimited calls and texts with 1GB data @30 pm - these calls are to ANY network and either land line or mobile.
Meteor - unlimited calls and texts with 10GB data @24 pm - are these calls ONLY to Meteor or to any network/land line/mobile ?

Also, what is the disadvantage of going with three ??

Vodafone are robbers.

Meteor calls advertised are to irish landlines and mobiles on any network...meteor to meteor calls and texts are free anyway.

3 in my experience are very poor to deal with and have inferior networks in places.

thegeezer

Thanks for advice - going with meteor so

Harry Bosch

StaticNoise wrote: »

We're all looking for a bargain on our phone's price plan, right?

With all the various networks and their websites, confusing 'limits' and charges, and with the helpful, but badly organised CallCosts.ie,
there's a real need for clarity and simple, straightforward information.

Please welcome, the Irish SIM Only Mobile Offers spreadsheet.

http://smarturl.it/BoardsMobileDeals
(This link is masked in able to track visitor hits, nothing else)


---
What is it?

Following the success of the 'Best SIM Only Deals' spreadsheet that features the UK operators,
kindly put together by a member of Hot UK Deals, there was a need for a clear,
transparent, and easy to use Irish version.

This guide, which is a work in progress, offers a quick glance at some of Ireland's biggest networks.

Who is included in this guide?

- Three
- O2
- Meteor
- - Vodafone
- Tesco Mobile
- Lycamobile
- 48
- eMobile
- Blueface

Who isn't included in this guide?

- Postfone - Postfone do not have SIM only plans


These will be added in the coming weeks.

Eh, where's the 'best offer' bit? Isn't that the point?

Good on you, Sherlock. You've spotted something that is very important!
As it is a work in progress, the 'best offer' will be added shortly. I'm considering offering a highlighted 'good offer' and a 'best offer', similar to the UK version. The 'good offer' would be the cheapest, but a reasonable plan. The 'best offer' would be the offer which gives you the most bang for the most reasonable buck.

Does it include any tariffs which come with a phone/tablet?

There is no inclusion of any contract plans with mobile devices, as there are far too many special offers, complicated tariffs and other information that would make it too difficult to include. Also, since there are upgrade and loyalty offers, customer discounts, and in-store specials, this would be too problematic to include. If you're looking for a good deal with a phone, pop to the Carphone Warehouse, as they'll be able to give you a better indication of what offers are available.

Are there any affiliate links or other charges for using the guide?

Nope. That would be sneaky and mean. There is no charge for using the guide.

However, if you've changed plan, or you've found a better deal and have saved money, consider engaging in a random act of kindness, or maybe throw a few quid to a charity of your choice. If you want to show your appreciation to me, just throw me a 'thanks' on the thread. If you want to do none of these things, that's fine too! The guide is released under a Creative Commons license, so it is for the benefit of the community!

I don't want to click your dodgy looking link. What can I do?

The short url is only created so that I can track how many visitors are using the guide. It is purely for analytical reasons and nothing else. I'm not selling, sharing, or using the data for any reason, and it doesn't change the outcome of the guide whatsoever.

The guide is on a publicly visible Google Spreadsheet, hosted on Google Drive.
If you really want to visit the link without telling me that you've done so (you big meanie!), you can visit the link by clicking below. Just highlight it with your cursor and go!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/154CzF7froth4-lX4GGSHY43-PC1KvwV3rDntOIjBZ_A/pubhtml

Hey, you big eejit! I found an error!

Whoops. I'm sorry to hear that. Just post a reply in this thread, or send me a PM and I'll get on it as soon as I can.

Why has the spreadsheet been deleted? I get a Google docs message saying owner has deleted the file...

CVB

Link not working to spreadsheet !

StaticNoise

Hey guys, OP here.

To cut a long story short, I started to build a website for this. It was in beta testing. Think of it as a deal finder with reviews for all the offers and networks.

I was trying to find a way to pay for the hosting without any referral links and the like (I don't intend on any of these being a part of the site).

I'll have another go at getting it live when I get home.

StaticNoise

Hey everyone,

In light of the recent iD Mobile closure, and since it is likely it will not be purchased by another provider, I will attempt to get my SIM Only Deals website (MoolaMonkey) relaunched tonight.

At best, this will be a shell of what it was shaping up to be, but it should give people a clearer idea to which plans might suit them.

(As per usual, there'll be no adverts, referral links, and so on.)

MarkR

StaticNoise wrote: »

Hey everyone,

In light of the recent iD Mobile closure, and since it is likely it will not be purchased by another provider, I will attempt to get my SIM Only Deals website (MoolaMonkey) relaunched tonight.

At best, this will be a shell of what it was shaping up to be, but it should give people a clearer idea to which plans might suit them.

(As per usual, there'll be no adverts, referral links, and so on.)

Looking forward to trying it out. How do you keep your data current?

StaticNoise

MarkR wrote: »

Looking forward to trying it out. How do you keep your data current?

Thanks for your input.

I manually go through all of the websites for their various price plans, so everything is done by hand. I have nearly 50 price plans available at present, including many 'legacy' plans which are in fact still available for purchase. This is the major difference, I can see, from us and other comparison websites: we're up to date, and we can respond faster than others.

The ComReg (or, as it used to be called, KillBiller) includes many plans that are specific to devices, which is notable from their listings of Post Mobile, for example. These are unnecessary and cause confusion. I hope ComReg realised all of these factors when they bought the service.

As of now, I've got the website fairly built and plans inputted, and I'm just finalising the filtering and calculator system at present, which is causing the most work. This is done in my spare time aside from my real job, without renumeration, so it is not something I can crack out in a matter of hours. I do hope to have it up sooner than later.

Also, I need to get a domain again. Yikes.

MarkR

I used to like kill biller. Very useful. Always on the hunt for a deal. :-)

Wouldn't the providers offer changes to plans fairly often, or is there a lot of inertia?

StaticNoise

All in all, they're fairly static, but they do tend to fluctuate. For example, eir's Bill Pay offerings changed slightly in the past four months.

The way I offer the figures is without the sale price. This idea of €X for 2 months is not right, so I give the full price. If it's cheaper, well and good, but it's best to know the full price first.

StaticNoise

Update - Tuesday, March 13th


The site is now back up and running. It's not fully operational, but the guys are there.

Working

• All of the packages from all of the operators now added
• Prices are up to date
• Mobile filters are now working

Not Working

• Images and general speed needs to be improved - partially done
• Comparison filter needs fixing
• Advanced filters (eg. international minutes) need to be fixed - partially done
• Blog and News section needs to be added
• Review functionality needs fixing
• Bug/Error reporting widget needs to be added
• Boards.ie thread intro needs editing to reflect the new developments
• Add-on listing

All in all, it's come a good way, but as you can see, I need some work to do. I also need to, most importantly, find a way to finance the site without adding adverts and by avoiding referral links, but I can look into this a bit further after March (when the iD debacle is over). Also, it is likely that the site will look completely different in the coming weeks, and it's nearly a guarantee that the site name will change.

I'll only be able to get to much of this in any free time I get (as this is a non-commercial project and not my real job).

I look forward to any constructive feedback or opinions that you may have.

Lord Nikon

StaticNoise wrote: »

Update - Tuesday, March 13th


The site is now back up and running. It's not fully operational, but the guys are there.

Working

• All of the packages from all of the operators now added
• Prices are up to date
• Mobile filters are now working

Not Working

• Images and general speed needs to be improved
• Comparison filter needs fixing
• Advanced filters (eg. international minutes) need to be fixed
• Blog and News section needs to be added
• Review functionality needs fixing
• Bug/Error reporting widget needs to be added
• Boards.ie thread intro needs editing to reflect the new developments

All in all, it's come a good way, but as you can see, I need some work to do. I also need to, most importantly, find a way to finance the site without adding adverts and by avoiding referral links, but I can look into this a bit further after March (when the iD debacle is over). Also, it is likely that the site will look completely different in the coming weeks, and it's nearly a guarantee that the site name will change.

I'll only be able to get to much of this in any free time I get (as this is a non-commercial project and not my real job).

I look forward to any constructive feedback or opinions that you may have.

Link to the site would be handy.

bliger

Lord Nikon wrote: »

Link to the site would be handy.

http://moolamonkey.com

Ten Pin

@Static Noise

Post mobile > Prepay > Free Data > Cost: 20 (not 10)

Suggestions...

Add-ons
Most of the providers have add ons. Probably most useful for Tesco and Three where the top up is not used.
Eg
Tesco Prepay Addons
Post Mobile Prepay Addons
Vodafone Prepay Addons

StaticNoise

Thanks for your feedback, Ten Pin.

I've updated the 'Free Data' package. I can see that the €10 was a promotional offer, so it reflects the new cost now.
I tend to steer away from promotional offers (and only state the full price, as normal) so that people are seeing a 'true' price.
Cheers for flagging it.

The add-ons are something that I am looking into. I'll update the WIP thread.

As for the eir Prepay Broadband, I have received confirmation from eir (both Sales and an internal (non-sales) staff member) that they do not authorise the use of the SIM in this way, and they might block the service to it.
MoolaMonkey only offers pricing relating to mobile phone use only.
This could be avoided by a bit of jiggery pokery, but I would not state this on the site in a bit to keep it clear to users.

Ten Pin

Eir, Vodafone and Three prepay plans are all 28 days instead of 30.

Postmobile, Tesco and Lyca plans are for 30 days

48 plans are per calender month (plan renews on same date of following month, so you only get 28/29 days in Feb but you'll get 31 days in Jan, Mar, May, July, Aug, Oct, Dec)

StaticNoise

Thanks.

I'm still figuring out the way to present the 'calendar' month.
It's important to have them presented in a way for the comparison buttons. But, that's noted.

Breezer

Is this €10 deal from Tesco correct? 100 mins, 100 texts and 10 GB of data? The website seems to indicate it's 200 MB of data.

It would be perfect for me but unfortunately I have my doubts it's accurate

StaticNoise

Unfortunately, this was a glitch which has been resolved.
It is only 200MB, and not 10GB.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

StaticNoise

Fun facts, following the iD Mobile wind-down...

- 80% of you visit the site directly, and the rest by search or social media.
- Unsurprisingly, Dublin is the most popular location for users, followed by Cork.
- 71% of our users are brand new to the site.
- On average, people look at 12 price plans during their visit.
- People will spend, on average, between 7 to 10+ minutes using the site.
- 10% of users visited from iD Mobile (hi there!)
- 54% of users visit on a desktop, with 36% on a mobile (non-tablet) device.
- iPhone is the most popular device, at 18%.
- eir is the most visited network (irrespective of tariff) on the site for users.
- Users appear to pull the trigger on eir's '20 Calls and Texts' tariff, as the majority leave the site here.

kittyclaws

If anyone on id is still to switch 3 have brought out a really good offer for id customers.
Bill pay €30 a month for the first month and then from the 2nd month its only €5 a month for the next year.
Then it goes back up to €30 - but you could always switch to a better deal then!

http://www.three.ie/online/voice/contract/bill-pay-trio-sim/priceplan/

AlmightyCushion

kittyclaws wrote: »

If anyone on id is still to switch 3 have brought out a really good offer for id customers.
Bill pay €30 a month for the first month and then from the 2nd month its only €5 a month for the next year.
Then it goes back up to €30 - but you could always switch to a better deal then!

http://www.three.ie/online/voice/contract/bill-pay-trio-sim/priceplan/

Plus, if you do it in a carphone warehouse store, you get a €20 off voucher. I got a free 3m usb cable for my phone which will come in handy.