Three or Vodafone

setanta5

I'm interested in getting a 3g phone, but can't decide whether to go for 3 or Vodafone.

I'm looknig for users of each to give me some feedback about what each is like and whether they are worth the money.

Also i am currently with O2. Am i better waiting for O2's 3g service? Can anyone tell me when that will be?

Pythia

setanta5 wrote:

Also i am currently with O2. Am i better waiting for O2's 3g service? Can anyone tell me when that will be?

One o2 rep told me October and then another told me Xmas. I'm on Vodafone's 3G service as I couldn't be bothered to wait for the other two (moved a few months ago).

jedistev

i have 3G vodafone, but both are same, but you can keep old numbers on 3 ireland, 3ireland said they wont keep any old phone number or transfer, must be new 083 for futher notice.. really

i pick 3G vodafone cos it ready to go,

Random

3 are supposed to have some dam good deals at the moment, the one thing about 3 though (so I'm told) is that you are limited to their "3G internet". You can't browse the WWW with it.

Compare prices and see what suits your needs best

20 Times 20 Times

3 have great tariffs the first time you look at them but it is also very important that when you r signing a 12month contract that you read the small print as well , for instance i noticed that if you want to change your tariff there is a charge on that i think its 15 everytime you change your tariff which to me is a bit mad they also charge for direct debit which is crazy to me , but what is appealing to me at the moment is there all text tariff which i think is a great idea and hopefully will give the other big 2 the kick they need to launch there own version of this tariff , eh another thing the handsets 3 offer noting great there i must admit

rymus

jedistev wrote:

i have 3G vodafone, but both are same, but you can keep old numbers on 3 ireland, 3ireland said they wont keep any old phone number or transfer, must be new 083 for futher notice.. really

Is this fact? 3 Ireland don't allow full number portability? Or even any number portability?!? If they've decided against this, surely it's the final blow for them.

The whole charging for direct debit is highly dubious also...

paulm17781

rymus wrote:

Is this fact? 3 Ireland don't allow full number portability? Or even any number portability?!? If they've decided against this, surely it's the final blow for them.

They can't offer it at the moment but will be able to in the future. I think it is still in negotiations with the other operators. I would think it would take more than that to be 'the final blow.'

rymus

No change then, it's not that it's not available at all as the other poster said, just that its not available yet...

As for the final blow, I'm sure many people wouldn't change to 3 if they thought they'd have to change number. I've had the same number for about 8 years and theres no way I'd consider moving to a network that wouldnt let me keep the same number.

Pythia

rymus wrote:

Is this fact? 3 Ireland don't allow full number portability? Or even any number portability?!? If they've decided against this, surely it's the final blow for them.

The whole charging for direct debit is highly dubious also...

No, they charge if you don't use d.d.

Dazz

All 3 customers will be able to port their numbers at the end of this month, 3 told us from the day they launched, that they would be able to port your number, but only at the end of this month. I'm not sure where any of you heard that they wouldn't be doing this. As for paying for direct debit, you don't, you pay a charge if you decide not to go by direct debit. I work in 3G and sell 3's phones and have spoke to the reps, so i have asked them all these questions before they launched. I suggest you go to your local 3G store to ask questions about the phones, rather than listen to ppl making guesses.

Sam Vimes

Sarge wrote:

they also charge for direct debit which is crazy to me

they dont charge for direct debit. they charge €4.50 for NOT doing direct debit

Sam Vimes

rymus wrote:

Is this fact? 3 Ireland don't allow full number portability? Or even any number portability?!? If they've decided against this, surely it's the final blow for them.

The whole charging for direct debit is highly dubious also...

they just havent set it up yet. you can get an 083 number for the time being and port in a few weeks. or just wait.

they defo have porting. on the form to sign ppl up it has an option "intention to port number". also under the sex option they have "male, female, unknown"

Dellas

Im with 3 around 10 days now and my experiences listed below:::

Great coverage even in rural areas . I couldnt get 3G signal with my Vodafone 3G handset but have it with 3!!!

Lots of cool video content 80% of which is free (included in my package) Eur 45 a month.

RTE news and sport being launched next week. GAA already working free.

Cross network Video calling I called from 3 handset to Vodafone and also from 3 handset to a friend on 3 in the UK. Very good picture quality.

Motorola V975 handset with 3 is much upgraded and smarter looking than Vodafones. Sound quality is even better. I currently still have my Vodafone ready to go V975 and it looks like a different phone than the sleak 3 one.

Customer service center in Glasgow very helpful .

Voice and text packages excellent value.

Downloads of full lengh music videos and ringtones alot cheaper than on Vodafone.

Video calls cost same a voice calls 30c a minute and until 31st December video calls are included in your free minutes but after December it will go to 50c a minute . Vodafone are going to do the same after December so not much difference.

---

Now for the downsides:::

Cant browse non 3 content ie: www. __________ is not possible

cant send text messages to anywhere outside Ireland as 3 Ireland are still waiting for loads of SMS agreements to be put in place but Im told this will be fixed in a few weeks.

Cant carry over your minutes or texts after the month.

cant take old number to 3 for around another 2 to 3 weeks but it will be possible 100% after that. You can switch now and take a 3 number then transfer your current number in a few weeks time.

I found everything I needed to know on the website 3ireland.ie just spend an hour reading everything and youll know more than anyone in CPW or 3G stores. When it launched I went to CPW and 3G stores and I was telling them the info!!!! I bought online and got phone by courier in 48 hours hassle free.

No offense to anyone in CPW or 3G but I think there was a lack of training whether it was 3 to blame or management of CPW or 3G I dont know but thats why I bought online. Also the best deals are online I couldnt get V975 in stores. It cost me Eur 59 for a cool phone and a great tarrif.

I hope I have been fair with the above comments from my 10 days experience I am happy so far with 3. They are a new company so there are likely to be teething problems. I was most annoyed about the international SMS problems as I have alot of mates abroad but in a few weeks it should be fixed and until then Im using my vodafone sim in my 3 phone to text abroad on ready to go. I got my 3 Motorla V975 unlocked also only thing is you cant use Vodafones 3G services on the 3 phone as the software is totally different. I have settings for Vodafone and set up a new profile and tried to use it and it came up with a message from Vodafone live saying I needed a Live enabled handset so its an internal software problem. So for anyone wanting to use both it only works for voice and text when the Vodafone SIM is in.

Any questions just ask me ....you have to balance out the pros and cons and decide whats important to you before you switch.

LFCFan

My biggest gripe with 3 at the moment is they have no free web texts. These are very handy when in work on the Vodafone website and saves me a fortune and it's so much easier to type then txt

G

Ordered a 6680 off the 3ireland site on Tuesday evening, was delivered to me in work on Wed avo. The whole order process, delivery etc was a joy. I've been doing the video thing like a fiend, it's great.

Biggest complaint is the no www but a blessing in ways. I'm still with o2 for business so will use this one for personal.

rogue-entity

The reason that three does not allow you to browse the internet is probably a technical problem rather then a dilibrate thing. For a network to provide internet access, they need a internet>wap gateway, even for 3G. Remember, the internet bandwidth on 3G is 384 or higher, three may not have the capacity at the moment as WAP internet is not much of a priority when you are rolling out a network. It will most likly be made available by christmas when they have settled in.

Oh and forget vodafone, they are crap in every way. The only thing that they have that is good is there 2G network, which incidently is not any better then O2s in fact O2 and vodafones networks are equal in coverage, both networks have there bad spots just in different places.

Answer to your first Q, stick with 3

testicle

ref O2's 3G service. It's live in Dublin at least. Probably only for test purpses however. Anyone with a 3G phone do a network search and lo and behold O2 shows up as 3g enabled.

rogue-entity

O2's 3G network covers Dublin, Waterford, Gallway and Limerick and it was live before vodafones, they are still testing it and it should be launched this october. I was scanning for networks in April on a 6630 and detected "272 05" as 3G-enabled and just assumed it was three.

Cutie18Ireland

vodafone 3g is useless!! the way vodafone treat their pay as u go customers is appaling!! Move to 3!!!!!

JTMan

rogue-entity wrote:

The reason that three does not allow you to browse the internet is probably a technical problem rather then a dilibrate thing.

It is definately delibrate. They do it in all countires (except OZ) where they operate. Mobile Today recently said that they are considering changing their walled garden policy to open access.