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Clear Mobile - New 5G 12.99/14.99 Deal 2025?

  • 22-01-2025 12:12AM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭


    Posting this here since someone asked about it in the Sky Mobile thread, and I didn’t want to take that one off-topic.

    Looks like Clear Mobile has updated their offering recently. They’re a Vodafone-owned MVNO, and honestly, their old deal wasn’t great… €12.99/€14.99 a month for 4G with a 5Mbps speed cap. Pretty terrible for 2024/2025.

    But now it seems they’ve removed the speed cap and added 5G! I spotted this on Switcher.ie earlier today. The bit about speeds might seem unclear, so I asked their live chat team. They told me the speeds listed are just estimated maximums, not actual caps, and you can potentially get higher speeds than advertised. I wonder if this is a marketing tactic to stop people from signing up.

    This lines up with how Vodafone and the new Sky Mobile word their terms and conditions, so it’s probably just a legal thing to cover themselves. If that’s true, Clear Mobile is hands down the best-value option right now for unlimited 5G data with no speed caps—€12.99/month if you’re switching from Eir, Sky, Three, Tesco, or 48. Plus, it’s Vodafone-powered, has Wi-Fi calling and VoLTE, and there’s no 12-month contract. Sky Mobile would be a close second.

    If you’re joining from other networks or getting a new connection, it’s €14.99/month.

    I did see some complaints online about their payment system, but I asked their live chat about it, and they said it was fixed back in December. The negative reviews stopped after that, so it seems sorted. Plus if you have any issues, there is no contract, you can just port out!

    This deal runs until 15/07/25.

    image.png image.png

    https://clearmobile.ie/



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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    cheers. Going to try it out. They allow tethering so I gather it’ll work in a router. Should he better than Sky for gaming, as Sky’s ping is like 40-60ms, whilst I’d be looking for more around the 20ms mark. Anyhow not a biggie but it does give it an edge. Although Sky’s advantage is unlimited EU data.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    Hmm, I just noticed.

    It doesn’t say it’s a for life offer.

    And has this wording:

    Your offer will continue on a rolling 30 day contract


    So this would seem to me that they can increase the price whenever they want?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    Theoretically yes, but there’s nothing stopping you from leaving to find a better deal.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    yep, it works both ways.

    However I’d be hesitant to sign up if it meant leaving an already good “for life” deal that’s no longer available.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    I’ll put it this way. No deal is really “for life”. There are people that are on the 48 7.99 euro a month deal to this day. In a couple years time when 6G and 7G rollout, 4G speeds and the limited data available in that plan will be useless and most people will be forced to upgrade. Worst case scenario with Clear Mobile is I sign up for GoMo if they choose to increase the price. While with Sky Mobile, if I am locked in a 12 month contract and experience issues, I can’t just leave. That’s my opinion anyways.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    However have to add, if you’re your not already on an attractive “for life” deal, then this one is a very interesting proposition.

    And I’ve found myself that the Vodafone network works better for me than Three’s, although this is situational and won’t be the same for everyone.



  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 3,827 Mod ✭✭✭✭eeloe


    Do any of the rebranded Vodafone tarriffs like this one offer "one number" or eSims for Apple Watch?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    Only Vodafone offer OneNumber / eSIMs in Ireland at the moment.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,663 ✭✭✭KildareP


    I'd be interested in seeing how this works out for you - are you Android or iPhone as a matter of interest?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    Yep that’s very true. Technology waits for nobody!

    In my situation household has 3x€7.99 48 sims and 2xGomo €9.99 sims. This is the reason I’m using Sky mobile; I can tether my unlimited data if needs be e.g. abroad in EU on holiday.

    There’s no desire to update the cheaper plans anytime soon, all work well on 4G, speeds are more than sufficient. And the guts of the data used is all WiFi.


    Granted everyone’s personal situation, needs and wants are different :)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    So far it's not going too great. I tried making an order just now, got charged 12.99 and never received the order confirmation, contacted their live chat and was told there is a technical issue and I would get an email regarding the status of the order shortly. I received the email and was told there was a technical issue and my order never went through and I would be refunded in 3 - 5 days and to try and make the order again. I tried making the order again and it said my email was already in use so I used my second one, everything was going fine, got charged 12.99 again and again did not receive any order confirmation… why can't any Irish mobile provider have a proper ordering system that just works???

    EDIT: Was told to try again a third time, again no confirmation email has arrived, seems they don't want me to be their customer… not sure if the issue is on their end or if it's something to do with my number? Could it be because I just ported from Vodafone to Three and there's an issue with the backend system if they are using the same backend? I know Vodafone have a thing where if you port out from them you can't port back in for 7 days.

    EDIT 2: To clarify, I never had any issues with GoMo, 48, Tesco, Eir's or Three's ordering system, it seems Vodafone and their derivates have a terrible backend.

    Post edited by pfftdetail on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    Wow, you’re not having much luck!

    At least the deal is on until July, so you have plenty of time to keep trying!

    Anyhow keep on posting your customer journey, it’s painful I know from the teething issues I endured at the start of Sky Mobile.

    Interesting to see if Clearmobile can win you over!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    Might wait for my three refunds to come in and try and make an order in 3 weeks time when my Three PAYG allowance nears it's end to see if I have any luck, maybe by then any issues with their system or anything on my end will be fixed.



  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE


    serious issues mean you can raise a complaint telling them their customer service isn’t adequate so you are leaving, if it’s valid you go all the way to Comreg with the complaint.

    To be honest no one should be locking themselves into a phone contract these days. For exactly that reason. AndyFromSligo went without any coverage for days on Three, and that’s not acceptable in a modern age where people age dependent on internet for apps for financial institutions who have closed more and more bricks and mortar down.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    Yeah exactly, glad I escaped the Sky Mobile 12-month contract, the fact they couldn't even port my number over is the biggest red flag.



  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE


    I change my personal number every few years so it wasn’t a issue to me after losing my Three sim/roaming phone, it ends up like a email inbox and I’m like where do these fookers get my number, I’m trained in Data Protection and I check all the small print and check/uncheck all the right boxes.

    For me it was Vodafone or Sky as I needed a esim for immediate access to stuff, was cost effective to Sky.

    I can’t find my Vodafone prepaid sim from my 5G MiFi either so I guess that’s gone too now. Don’t matter as that was 40GB roaming and now I’m unlimited with Sky, €40 down to €15 is a win for me that now I think I’ll get 48 & GoMo between my MiFi & 5G router instead of switching the Voda between MiFi & Router. 3 networks at circa €5 less than 2 at €45 is a win for me!

    No way would I consider a traditional 24m phone contract which is much harder to get out of if the network goes wonky dead donkey.

    I mean if I had to pay €165 ETF out my savings for Sky failings to port and complain, on to Comreg it’s not a issue for me personally but there are many people who couldn’t it use ti be a small minority but since 2007 recession times have generally got tougher for people where it’s no longer a small minority of people, people are using sims instead of broadband because it’s a lot cheaper than sim & broadband. Comreg however is still in nod land of almost 20 years ago (obviously Conreg staff are well remunerated so they don’t see a socioeconomic issue.)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 99 ✭✭Seanh111


    A very interesting offer. Vodafone is the best coverage in my area, would this Clear Mobile sim match Vodafone like for like or does it have another speed limitation like some other MVNOs?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    The APN is not the same as Vodafone, but it would use the Vodafone network. This could mean the speeds are throttled or even roaming might work differently, I have no way of testing since they won’t even take my my order 🫠



  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE


    Yup, but they would need to give you one months notice of the changes/charges so you could explicitly refuse to the new Terms & Conditions by porting or cancellation (including with immediate effect & any pro rata refund due to you).

    Consumer Rights Act 2022 aligns mostly European Directive on such.



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  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE


    here’s a link to the Telco Regulator Conreg on contracts ie actual T&C

    it also applies to prepay, the term ‘contract’ doesn’t just mean billpay mobile customers it means Telco T&C


    https://www.comreg.ie/advice-information/contracts/



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    yes I know you can pull out, it’s a 30 day rolling contract. That wasn’t my point, sorry if it came across otherwise.

    My point being, ClearMobile call the shots on the price. What is €12.99 today can be €anything next month. Yes you can pull out, but with price hikes you’re then under undue pressure to find something else “at that point in time”. And perhaps there won’t be any “budget” deals available at that time. So you’re at the mercy of ClearMobile and the current market at the time. Both of which you have very little control over.

    With “for life” deals it’s the customer who decides when they no longer want the price point/service, whether it be in 30 days, 3 years, or whatever (contract terms considering).

    That’ my personal thought process I was trying to convey.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    Still no luck with the orders, my orders seem to have fizzled into the air and I have run out of email addresses to make orders with. I contacted their CS via Twitter as usually the Twitter team is localised to Ireland while the Live Chat is outsourced. They told me to DM them on Twitter, their DM function is disabled. They said they messaged me, no DM received. Was told to reach out via Facebook.

    I explained the situation with the three orders and was told that if there is no order then no payment was taken from my account and to contact my bank to do a refund… I explained to the guy that if a payment has been taken, and it's no longer pending, you guys have to issue the refund and if not, then the bank files a chargeback, which is destructive for the company, guy told me to contact my bank anyways before I asked him if he could please just take a look at minimum where he finally budged and said the payment actually went through and he had to issue three refund. Why am I so unlucky with customer service agents!!!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭biebiebie


    The audacity. Customer service levels these days across all sectors are simply shocking. Lazy. Careless. Couldn’t give a damn. Your fault not ours.

    I’ve seen similar very recently. An experience elsewhere from two different business whereby they obviously made a mistake, but put it on me to go off and fix it up. And to be honest, after thinking about it, it’s probably by taking ownership of these things yourself that you know it’s a job done, and done properly too.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    It just seems most days that the customer service agents are trying to get you off the phone / chat as fast as possible, which is probably because that's the performance metric goals they have been given.

    I have a coworker who told me she used to work for AOL when the Irish division was still open in the early 2000s, someone at higher up decided that customer satisfaction is based on how fast the calls are dealt with, not if they are resolved or not, and no one ever checked. She told me that her and her team would just straight up hang up the phone mid conversation with a customer if the call has been going on for too long because otherwise they would be punished for having low performance.

    I wonder if that is the case with some of these companies today, and that's why the CS agents don't want to check anything for you unless you beg.



  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE


    True but legally we are all on a month change notice of terms or prices, that’s all they have to give us customers, notice and we can break the contract if we don’t agree to the new terms/charges.



  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE


    its not just you most of us are putting up with third party plebs everywhere in companies ‘care’.


    I’m glad after losing my Three prepay sim and phone I choose Sky esim over Voda for $30 monthly saving because Vodafone sound like a right nightmare on billpay terms.

    I’ve only ever used a V €20 unlimited data sim in a router/mifi. I think I’ll be staying that way.

    It’s funny because I find MVNOs clamouring for business generally give better customer care than the MNO hosting them, and that’s the world over it’s quite consistent that over decades.



  • Site Banned Posts: 392 ✭✭ScotsGoneIRE




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,789 ✭✭✭Glaceon


    I used to work for an IT company in Santry that was acquired by a multinational based out of the Channel Islands. Before that, our CS was pretty good and I think we were fairly well regarded in the sector. But afterwards, the new owners only cared about metrics. They based our performance on the number of tickets closed, not necessarily on what we were working on. The end result was that the helpdesk team were taking the easy tickets (such as password resets) to boost their numbers, and the more difficult stuff just sat there.

    I was tasked with a job of moving about 100 clients over to another anti-spam vendor, which required getting details from the client that we didn't always have (or what we did have was changed). I was later named and shamed in a meeting for only closing one ticket that month! When I pulled them up on it, they said I should have logged one ticket for each client I was working on! Needless to say, I didn't last long after the takeover.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 458 ✭✭pfftdetail


    I ended up getting the three refunds sorted for Clear Mobile, so for now, if I can't even make an order, I'd say the best bet is to avoid.



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