Virgin mobile launches on Monday [3 months Free for existing customers]

uck51js9zml2yt

More a heads up rather than a BA.
UPC is rebranding on Monday and will launch virgin mobile

Could be worth watching.

Klingon Hamlet

Alaric Great Snob wrote: »

More a heads up rather than a BA.
UPC is rebranding on Monday and will launch virgin mobile

Could be worth watching.

Any info on the prices?

snubbleste

"For starters we are going to shake up the mobile market in Ireland with the launch of Virgin Mobile on Oct 5th."
"Each of our 500,000 UPC customers will get a free 3 month pass to Virgin Mobile"

uck51js9zml2yt

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Any info on the prices?

I've asked the question I'm the UPC forum but reckon we won't know until Monday.
I wonder who they are piggybacking on.
If its 3 we may forget it

snubbleste

"Their mobile service will have unlimited calls, texts and data. Three months will be free for their customers, with a €25 fee thereafter."

uck51js9zml2yt

snubbleste wrote: »

"Their mobile service will have unlimited calls, texts and data. Three months will be free for their customers, with a €25 fee thereafter."

Is it contract, sim only, payg?
Whose the carrier?

Klingon Hamlet

Alaric Great Snob wrote: »

I've asked the question I'm the UPC forum but reckon we won't know until Monday.
I wonder who they are piggybacking on.
If its 3 we may forget it

I believe that was part of their deal to takeover O2, that they provide network coverage for iD and Virgin Mobile

snubbleste

Alaric Great Snob wrote: »

Is it contract, sim only, payg? Whose the carrier?

UPC Mobile’s sim only price plan has a 30 day contract.
They are only rebranding UPC, therefore I expect them to continue piggybacking on 3.
UPC mobile is only available to selected UPC customers. I expect Virgin will open it to the general public

JDxtra

Alaric Great Snob wrote: »

I wonder who they are piggybacking on.
If its 3 we may forget it

It is 3.

terriepodonnell

From the Irish Examiner Web Site:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/tech/virgin-media-will-launch-irish-mobile-service-on-october-5th-356959.html


Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th

Thursday, October 01, 2015
Virgin Media, formerly UPC, will launch its new Virgin Mobile brand in
Ireland on October 5th.

Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th
The service is to offer unlimited data (with a fair usage cap of 30GB),
voice and texts for €25 a month. Alternatively, customers can go for a
limited data bundle with 1GB data and 250 minutes of voice and 250 texts
for €15 a month.

Existing Virgin Media or UPC customers will be able to avail of either
offer for free for the first three months.

The new service will launch with 3G data services, but plans to upgrade
to 4G in the first half of 2016. New Virgin Mobile numbers will utilise
the 089 prefix.

ADVERTISING


Virgin Media will sell the new mobile services online at
www.virginmedia.ie and through existing Virgin Media/UPC stores in
Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.

Interestingly, the service will not launch with a series of handsets.
Virgin Mobile is currently putting together a selection of handsets that
will be available next year.

Greenmachine

terriepodonnell wrote: »

From the Irish Examiner Web Site:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/tech/virgin-media-will-launch-irish-mobile-service-on-october-5th-356959.html


Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th

Thursday, October 01, 2015
Virgin Media, formerly UPC, will launch its new Virgin Mobile brand in
Ireland on October 5th.

Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th
The service is to offer unlimited data (with a fair usage cap of 30GB),
voice and texts for €25 a month. Alternatively, customers can go for a
limited data bundle with 1GB data and 250 minutes of voice and 250 texts
for €15 a month.

Existing Virgin Media or UPC customers will be able to avail of either
offer for free for the first three months.

The new service will launch with 3G data services, but plans to upgrade
to 4G in the first half of 2016. New Virgin Mobile numbers will utilise
the 089 prefix.

ADVERTISING


Virgin Media will sell the new mobile services online at
www.virginmedia.ie and through existing Virgin Media/UPC stores in
Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.

Interestingly, the service will not launch with a series of handsets.
Virgin Mobile is currently putting together a selection of handsets that
will be available next year.

Will be watching this to see what comes online in the next while, particularly with quad bundles.

uck51js9zml2yt

terriepodonnell wrote: »

From the Irish Examiner Web Site:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/tech/virgin-media-will-launch-irish-mobile-service-on-october-5th-356959.html


Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th

Thursday, October 01, 2015
Virgin Media, formerly UPC, will launch its new Virgin Mobile brand in
Ireland on October 5th.

Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th
The service is to offer unlimited data (with a fair usage cap of 30GB),
voice and texts for €25 a month. Alternatively, customers can go for a
limited data bundle with 1GB data and 250 minutes of voice and 250 texts
for €15 a month.

Existing Virgin Media or UPC customers will be able to avail of either
offer for free for the first three months.

The new service will launch with 3G data services, but plans to upgrade
to 4G in the first half of 2016. New Virgin Mobile numbers will utilise
the 089 prefix.

ADVERTISING


Virgin Media will sell the new mobile services online at
www.virginmedia.ie and through existing Virgin Media/UPC stores in
Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.

Interestingly, the service will not launch with a series of handsets.
Virgin Mobile is currently putting together a selection of handsets that
will be available next year.

I'm not sure its a bargain with 3g but maybe the 30gb data makes it one.

Another mobile provider on an already struggling 3 network.

andru183

Yea I might try them at that price. Not a bad deal really

talking_walnut

Alaric Great Snob wrote: »

If its 3 we may forget it

Can I ask why? I've been debating a switch to them.

greendom

3 now has O2s network so it can't be that bad, can it ?

Alanstrainor

I've been with 3 for years now (maybe 5+?) and have always been a fan. However in the last 3 months the 4g speeds have dropped way down. It gets painful to use at times.

PeterDuggan

From rte.ie this afternoon...

Under the new mobile service, an unlimited plan will be made available to existing UPC/Virgin Media customers, which will offer infinite data, calls and texts. The offering will be free for three months to existing phone, broadband and TV customers, and will cost €25 a month after that.

Non-Virgin Media customers will be able to avail of a range of price plans starting at €20 a month, but full details will not be released until Monday's launch. Sources say there will be an unlimited calls, texts and data offering for these new customers too, but the pricing of that has not yet been disclosed.

There will be no prepay offering, but sources say post-pay contracts will be short.

delahuntv

greendom wrote: »

3 now has O2s network so it can't be that bad, can it ?

The O2 network was completely overloaded and utter rubbish at peak time. There was virtually no investment in the network for the 2 years running up to Three taking over.

Unluckily for three, the O2 network finally burst at the seams just after they took it over and as usual the media which is now devoid of real journalists, just went with the most negative story.

IMO, those who used to be with O2 are lucky Three took over and have the capacity on their network - owner fo three is one of the largest comms compnaies in the world.

Silver-Tiger

Are UPC re branding all their products as Virgin?

Fr_Dougal

terriepodonnell wrote: »

From the Irish Examiner Web Site:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/tech/virgin-media-will-launch-irish-mobile-service-on-october-5th-356959.html


Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th

Thursday, October 01, 2015
Virgin Media, formerly UPC, will launch its new Virgin Mobile brand in
Ireland on October 5th.

Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th
The service is to offer unlimited data (with a fair usage cap of 30GB),
voice and texts for €25 a month. Alternatively, customers can go for a
limited data bundle with 1GB data and 250 minutes of voice and 250 texts
for €15 a month.

Existing Virgin Media or UPC customers will be able to avail of either
offer for free for the first three months.

The new service will launch with 3G data services, but plans to upgrade
to 4G in the first half of 2016. New Virgin Mobile numbers will utilise
the 089 prefix.

ADVERTISING


Virgin Media will sell the new mobile services online at
www.virginmedia.ie and through existing Virgin Media/UPC stores in
Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.

Interestingly, the service will not launch with a series of handsets.
Virgin Mobile is currently putting together a selection of handsets that
will be available next year.

So it's comparable with Threes current offerings, no incentive to move IMO, you'll lose 4g. Pity.

seamus

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

So it's comparable with Threes current offerings, no incentive to move IMO, you'll lose 4g. Pity.

This. I pay €25/month with Three and get basically the same offer, but with 4G thrown in.

The three months free is probably worth it if you're switching from someone else, and they may have good offers on handsets - they could possibly piggyback on their buying power in the UK to offer handsets at good prices on 12 month contracts instead of 18 or 24.

listermint

greendom wrote: »

3 now has O2s network so it can't be that bad, can it ?

For me its not reliable ive been using it for the past 4-5 years and the coverage has been lack lustre.

I also have a meteor phone (personal) and that never gives me issues. their rollout of LTE appears to be the standard that everyone should aspire to. Perhaps its to do with them being under Eircom umbrella and able to Install off the back of that existing infrastructure (i assume)

Niemoj

Silver-Tiger wrote: »

Are UPC re branding all their products as Virgin?

Yeah, unfortunately UPC will be no more.

Leslie91

listermint wrote: »

For me its not reliable ive been using it for the past 4-5 years and the coverage has been lack lustre.

I also have a meteor phone (personal) and that never gives me issues. their rollout of LTE appears to be the standard that everyone should aspire to. Perhaps its to do with them being under Eircom umbrella and able to Install off the back of that existing infrastructure (i assume)

I'm with you I moved from eMobile/Meteor to 3 and there is no doubt the 3 network is creaking like F with so many subs. I've a 4G phone and when I can get onto the 4G it is fine but below 4G forget it, data is useless.

Justwinginit

greendom wrote: »

3 now has O2s network so it can't be that bad, can it ?

I was with 02 for the past 8 years, no problems to speak of, the odd outage, but only a couple in that time. Since 3 took over my coverage has turned to muck. I used to have 4-5 bars all the time at home, now only 1-3 and sometimes lose it altogether. My mobile wifi dongle speeds have dropped as well. Thinking of changing to (dare I say it) Vodafone, for an extra €5 a month I will have a LOT better service, (just like my neighbour)

talking_walnut

Leslie91 wrote: »

I'm with you I moved from eMobile/Meteor to 3 and there is no doubt the 3 network is creaking like F with so many subs. I've a 4G phone and when I can get onto the 4G it is fine but below 4G forget it, data is useless.

Thanks for that. My phone doesn't do 4G so that might be an issue

I'll wait and see what Virgin/UPC offer on Monday. I'm assuming it'll be a 12month contract so that'll be (9x25=) €225 for the year (with first 3 months free). I pay €20 a month now so it'll only be a saving of €15 in the first year.

Leslie91

talking_walnut wrote: »

Thanks for that. My phone doesn't do 4G so that might be an issue

I'll wait and see what Virgin/UPC offer on Monday. I'm assuming it'll be a 12month contract so that'll be (9x25=) €225 for the year (with first 3 months free). I pay €20 a month now so it'll only be a saving of €15 in the first year.

Yeah I've been v disappointed with 3, I am on the €20 a mth prepaid unlimited data, but like I said below 4G is crap.

dSleeper

terriepodonnell wrote: »

From the Irish Examiner Web Site:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/tech/virgin-media-will-launch-irish-mobile-service-on-october-5th-356959.html


Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th

Thursday, October 01, 2015
Virgin Media, formerly UPC, will launch its new Virgin Mobile brand in
Ireland on October 5th.

Virgin Media will launch Irish mobile service on October 5th
The service is to offer unlimited data (with a fair usage cap of 30GB),
voice and texts for €25 a month. Alternatively, customers can go for a
limited data bundle with 1GB data and 250 minutes of voice and 250 texts
for €15 a month.

Existing Virgin Media or UPC customers will be able to avail of either
offer for free for the first three months.

The new service will launch with 3G data services, but plans to upgrade
to 4G in the first half of 2016. New Virgin Mobile numbers will utilise
the 089 prefix.

ADVERTISING


Virgin Media will sell the new mobile services online at
www.virginmedia.ie and through existing Virgin Media/UPC stores in
Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.

Interestingly, the service will not launch with a series of handsets.
Virgin Mobile is currently putting together a selection of handsets that
will be available next year.

So it sounds pretty much like tescomobile...same network no 4g, but costs a bit less and you get a bit more data...4g coming in the future..

BBMcQ

Tesco mobile is by far the cheapest if you use your tesco club card vouchers for a free tenner off your bill. It's a no brainer if you're not fussy about 4G

kn

Its cetainly hotting up in the mobile market. I can see Vodafone being left behind very quickly with all these offers.

Klingon Hamlet

stuartmchugh wrote: »

Tesco mobile is by far the cheapest if you use your tesco club card vouchers for a free tenner off your bill. It's a no brainer if you're not fussy about 4G

Hi how do you get the free tenner? Spend about €100 a month on groceries etc? I'm an aldi/lidl lurker so would it really benefit me going to tescomobile

mirrorwall14

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Hi how do you get the free tenner? Spend about €100 a month on groceries etc? I'm an aldi/lidl lurker so would it really benefit me going to tescomobile

Yeah I'm tescomobile too and I don't know about a free tenner?

bromley52

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Yeah I'm tescomobile too and I don't know about a free tenner?

A €5 Tesco voucher = €15 in Tesco mobile credit via Tesco boost.
An easy way to build up Tesco vouchers is to get a Tesco credit card. I do 95% of my monthly spend on my credit card and always pay it off. You get one point for every €2 spent on it from most world wide transactions.
Note: if you are someone who cannot contol your spending then the credit card is not for you.

Klingon Hamlet

bromley52 wrote: »

A €5 Tesco voucher = €15 in Tesco mobile credit via Tesco boost.
An easy way to build up Tesco vouchers is to get a Tesco credit card. I do 95% of my monthly spend on my credit card and always pay it off. You get one point for every €2 spent on it from most world wide transactions.
Note: if you are someone who cannot contol your spending then the credit card is not for you.

How much do you have to spend to earn a fiver voucher? I can't figure it out on their site

snubbleste

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

How much do you have to spend to earn a fiver voucher? I can't figure it out on their site

€1 = 1pt, 500pts = €5. Technically €500 :cool:

Bummer1234

kn wrote: »

Its cetainly hotting up in the mobile market. I can see Vodafone being left behind very quickly with all these offers.

Correct,They have the best coverage country wide but far dearer. Im with three myself and always have great speeds on 4G.

bromley52

snubbleste wrote: »

€1 = 1pt, 500pts = €5. Technically €500 :cool:

In Tesco stores yes, but if you let's say spend €50 anywhere other than Tesco and use a Tesco credit card you get 25 points. So if you spend €1500 on your credit card every month that is roughly worth €7.5-€15/ month depending how much shopping you do in Tesco using extra point vouchers etc.

whiterebel

Three's coverage has always been patchy. Their lack of facing up to problems is beyond a joke. More than 4 years with the problem of piggybacking on VF where the phone wouldn't auto switch back to 3G, and Three completely ignored it. Their version of customer service was by far the worst I have ever come across. You have to wonder how much their network can take with Three, TM, ID and now Virgin all piggybacking on the service.

kn

bromley52 wrote: »

In Tesco stores yes, but if you let's say spend €50 anywhere other than Tesco and use a Tesco credit card you get 25 points. So if you spend €1500 on your credit card every month that is roughly worth €7.5-€15/ month depending how much shopping you do in Tesco using extra point vouchers etc.

I have a Tesco credit card that really brings in the points but probably the easiest points are the 50, 100 points etc offers in the quarterly mailing. I can generally get it over €10 per quarter or €30 in credit i.e. two months free calls.

uck51js9zml2yt

Guys and Girls

I opened this thread for Virgins new mobile offer NOT to discuss how to get cheap Tesco Credit....There's enough threads on that without causing the hamsters to work any harder....thanks

listermint

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Correct,They have the best coverage country wide but far dearer. Im with three myself and always have great speeds on 4G.

They actually don't.that may be true 8 tears ago.

All the real investments in roll outs have been
Meteror despite their non premium image they haven't been just pocketing the cash.

The fact they can piggy back on eircom infrastructure and existing sites across the country has meteor ahead of the rest.actually its a surprise their marketing team doesn't wake up and use it

positron

I wonder what the international call rates are with Virgin mobile. Because it's like 2-3 cents a minute with Tesco mo.... oh wait.. lets keep it to Virgin

_Tombstone_

whiterebel wrote: »

You have to wonder how much their network can take with Three, TM, ID and now Virgin all piggybacking on the service.

And 48.

kendragon

whiterebel wrote: »

Three's coverage has always been patchy. Their lack of facing up to problems is beyond a joke. More than 4 years with the problem of piggybacking on VF where the phone wouldn't auto switch back to 3G, and Three completely ignored it. Their version of customer service was by far the worst I have ever come across. You have to wonder how much their network can take with Three, TM, ID and now Virgin all piggybacking on the service.

Totally agree. Their network has been on a downward slide for years now and has never improved. It just dragged O2 down with it. I would love if this Virgin mobile improved things but I have very little hope of it.

_Tombstone_

kendragon wrote: »

Totally agree. They're network has been on a downward slide for years now and has never improved. It just dragged O2 down with it. I would love if this Virgin mobile improved things but I have very little hope of it.

Not at all.

Here is what the 02/Three merger got us if ya want to read it-->Less competition and price increases and some other stuff from a dopey regulator.

I think this vid goes with that.

Furzy

Existing Virgin Media or UPC customers will be able to avail of either
offer for free for the first three months.

.... so you're tied in for another 9m after the free 3m?

PeterDuggan

Furzy wrote: »

.... so you're tied in for another 9m after the free 3m?

Doubt it. UPC Virgin will want to quickly capitalise on their existing 500,000 Irish customer base. So it's likely to be a genuine value offer.

From The Irish Times 1/10/15...
"The mobile service will offer two tariffs on 30-day contracts - one low cost limited offering and a second unlimited subscription service that offers data, with the company offering three months free to customers."

On the other hand, this is being spun as a Virgin takeover of UPC. No so. UPC’s parent company Liberty Global actually bought Virgin Media in 2013. So it's likely that the same appalling and deteriorating customer "service" ethos will continue.

WildCardDoW

The fact they can piggy back on eircom infrastructure and existing sites across the country has meteor ahead of the rest.actually its a surprise their marketing team doesn't wake up and use it

eircom had no existing mobile infrastructure for Meteor to piggyback on.

Meteor/eircom had a deal that their customers in areas not served by their towers would be served by O2 while they slowly expanded.

The reason their 4G was so successful is because of a very well planned launch that didn't involve adding in an entire another network and because I worked on it!

Kensington

delahuntv wrote: »

The O2 network was completely overloaded and utter rubbish at peak time. There was virtually no investment in the network for the 2 years running up to Three taking over.

Unluckily for three, the O2 network finally burst at the seams just after they took it over and as usual the media which is now devoid of real journalists, just went with the most negative story.

IMO, those who used to be with O2 are lucky Three took over and have the capacity on their network - owner fo three is one of the largest comms compnaies in the world.

Quite the opposite actually.

The Three network was bursting at the seams at peak times, O2 had perfectly usable 3G speeds (I was on O2) until the merge process began.

As soon as Three started piling "all you can eat" subscribers onto the O2 network, the result was going to be no different to how the Three network held up since All You Can Eat data came into play - net result the performance went to hell for ex-O2 subscribers overnight.

Now with two growing MVNOs with large resources behind them gaining access to airtime capacity for pittance the demands on the already oversubscribed network is just going to get worse.

gzoladz

PeterDuggan wrote: »

On the other hand, this is being spun as a Virgin takeover of UPC. No so. UPC’s parent company Liberty Global actually bought Virgin Media in 2013. So it's likely that the same appalling and deteriorating customer "service" ethos will continue.

This.

I was happy to find out they are coming, until I red they are own by UPC. Not a chance...

waraf

Justwinginit wrote: »

I was with 02 for the past 8 years, no problems to speak of, the odd outage, but only a couple in that time. Since 3 took over my coverage has turned to muck. I used to have 4-5 bars all the time at home, now only 1-3 and sometimes lose it altogether. My mobile wifi dongle speeds have dropped as well. Thinking of changing to (dare I say it) Vodafone, for an extra €5 a month I will have a LOT better service, (just like my neighbour)

I've heard that 3 are decommissioning the O2 network as it's not possible to install patches on the whole system at once. Apparently patches need to installed separately at each exchange. (I'm no expert, I'm just reiterating what one of my lecturers told us)