Vodafone to compete with GoMo with “Clear Mobile”

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 12:35pm

I wonder how long until they get a customer?

sugarman20 · 15-01-2021 12:54pm

I signed up as my coverage on GoMo is really poor. Just did a speed test and not even getting 1Mb download.

Bikerman2019 · 15-01-2021 12:59pm

There is a house in Dublin 24, next to a VF base station which gets .3meg on BB. National broadband plan is enabled but installation was refused as openeir ran the overhead cable banging of trees and they want 1 meter clearance all round.

I wonder would this do for an OAP for basic browsing and maybe basic firestick.

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 1:13pm

sugarman20 wrote: »

I signed up as my coverage on GoMo is really poor. Just did a speed test and not even getting 1Mb download.

How did you get a SIM already? Please tell all, very curious of your experiences.
Why did you choose this over postmobile?

DopeTech · 15-01-2021 1:18pm

TheDriver wrote: »

I wonder how long until they get a customer?

Imagine being in charge of this launch and having to report how it's going. I'd say they will make changes to the plan within a few months because they won't pull people in with the current offering.

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 1:22pm

DopeTech wrote: »

Imagine being in charge of this launch and having to report how it's going. I'd say they will make changes to the plan within a few months because they won't pull people in with the current offering.

I honestly can't think of anyone who would want this plan.
If you want unlimited data, it's for streaming hence you need about 10Mb so vodafone x is best solution.
Otherwise you want just cheap so go for Gomo or 48 which offers speeds that are going to beat this plan.
Or you want a vodafone plan which has good speeds but a decent data limit, then go with PM.

Who would want this plan at all?

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 1:23pm

Bikerman2019 wrote: »

There is a house in Dublin 24, next to a VF base station which gets .3meg on BB. National broadband plan is enabled but installation was refused as openeir ran the overhead cable banging of trees and they want 1 meter clearance all round.

I wonder would this do for an OAP for basic browsing and maybe basic firestick.

If you can get a decent 5Mb then maybe but vodafone X sounds better as the 10Mb would be far more usable.

Quackster · 15-01-2021 1:57pm

amacca wrote: »

Oh....i thought it had changed, she (well I got it for her really) a Vodafone deal ...it was down as 20 payg she can't make calls etc if she doesn't put the 20 in every month?

With this new breed of PAYG deal, the €20 top-up is debited as soon as you top up to 'buy' the monthly offer.

So if your mother is only topping up by €20-a-month, there never actually is any credit on her account and she can't use her phone after the monthly offer expires.

If she doesn't want to activate the monthly offer and only wants credit on her account to use up as she calls/texts, she needs to top up by LESS than €20 in one go (so €5/€10/€15).

The issue with doing this is that out-of-bundle usage is pretty expensive, something like 35c/min for standard calls, so credit gets exhausted pretty quickly. So unless her usage is extremely light, she'd probably still be better off on 48, GoMo or Clear Mobile.

shmeee · 15-01-2021 1:59pm

TheDriver wrote: »

How did you get a SIM already? Please tell all, very curious of your experiences.
Why did you choose this over postmobile?

I take it, they mean GoMo speed is 1mb......

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 2:00pm

There was a law brought in a few weeks back that means credit can be claimed back so no provider is going to provide a service and have credit resting there that now can be claimed back effectively meaning a free plan

Quackster · 15-01-2021 2:02pm

seannash wrote: »

they are bill pay from what I understand

48 is PAYG but you can't call, text or use data unless you have an active membership. You can receive calls/texts without an active membership though.

Quackster · 15-01-2021 2:04pm

TheDriver wrote: »

There was a law brought in a few weeks back that means credit can be claimed back so no provider is going to provide a service and have credit resting there that now can be claimed back effectively meaning a free plan

The government postponed the introduction of that law to sometime in Q1 this year (no exact date yet AFAIK).

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 2:27pm

shmeee wrote: »

I take it, they mean GoMo speed is 1mb......

Makes sense.

lordsheepface · 15-01-2021 5:34pm

TheDriver wrote: »

There was a law brought in a few weeks back that means credit can be claimed back so no provider is going to provide a service and have credit resting there that now can be claimed back effectively meaning a free plan

do you have a link to this? not doubting, just curious. thanks

L1011 · 15-01-2021 5:42pm

TheDriver wrote: »

I wonder how long until they get a customer?

Suspect my Dad will sign up, has very poor Eir/GoMo coverage at his second house and currently has a 48 SIM for Three which is somewhat better - but both are in the kilobits range. Vodafone real can pull 70Mbits so should give him the 5mbit solidly

DopeTech · 15-01-2021 5:43pm

L1011 wrote: »

Suspect my Dad will sign up, has very poor Eir/GoMo coverage at his second house and currently has a 48 SIM for Three which is somewhat better - but both are in the kilobits range. Vodafone real can pull 70Mbits so should give him the 5mbit solidly

Would he not be better on post mobile?

leex · 15-01-2021 5:44pm

Quackster wrote: »

The government postponed the introduction of that law to sometime in Q1 this year (no exact date yet AFAIK).

So unused credit building up could be taken back by the phone company forcing you to top up again?

L1011 · 15-01-2021 5:44pm

DopeTech wrote: »

Would he not be better on post mobile?

Realistically yes. But for some reason 15 sounds like a lot more than 13!

DopeTech · 15-01-2021 5:46pm

leex wrote: »

So unused credit building up could be taken back by the phone company forcing you to top up again?

No, if you are leaving a network and have credit left you can request it back in the form of a cheque presumably. I think one of them, maybe 3 take a cut in form of an admin free.

FluffPiece · 15-01-2021 6:01pm

DopeTech wrote: »

Would he not be better on post mobile?

Did a quick look and I believe a 50gb data limit applies to Post Mobile.

TheDriver · 15-01-2021 6:19pm

FluffPiece wrote: »

Did a quick look and I believe a 50gb data limit applies to Post Mobile.

Yes but he'll get decent speeds.

icom · 15-01-2021 6:20pm

TheDriver wrote: »

Wonder what APN will they use for this?

No APN changes required if using the sim in an existing Vodafone handset
(Will also work in handset locked to the Vodafone Network)

Quackster · 15-01-2021 6:32pm

DopeTech wrote: »

No, if you are leaving a network and have credit left you can request it back in the form of a cheque presumably. I think one of them, maybe 3 take a cut in form of an admin free.

As I said, that's not applicable yet as the EECC has yet to come into force.

https://notifications.three.ie/EECC/prepay/1

The Dark Knight · 15-01-2021 7:39pm

I would assume that if its capped at 5MB, you'll get a very reliable 5MB.
You could easily find that you get a better user experience than others networks offering higher max speeds. Especially as it's the vodafone network.

Aquos76 · 15-01-2021 8:20pm

The Dark Knight wrote: »

I would assume that if its capped at 5MB, you'll get a very reliable 5MB.
You could easily find that you get a better user experience than others networks offering higher max speeds. Especially as it's the vodafone network.

I wouldn’t bank on that at all to be honest, oh and Vodafone aren’t as good as we are led to believe. Eir and three have greatly enhanced their networks over the last few years. A few years ago, Vodafone were miles ahead, they may still be ahead now, but not the same level as before.

madhatter76 · 15-01-2021 10:46pm

Lads .. don't let yourselves get fooled here …
5Mbit/sec as advertised are at best:
5 Mbps = 0.625 MB/s = 625KB/s
that's not a lot ..

jdon72 · 15-01-2021 10:49pm

TheDriver wrote: »

Yes but he'll get decent speeds.

I had An Post Mobile for the free month and it was nowhere near as good as Vodafone - I've gotten up to 150Mb/s with vodafone in my house and I could barely get 2Mb/s at times.

Quackster · 15-01-2021 11:05pm

jdon72 wrote: »

I had An Post Mobile for the free month and it was nowhere near as good as Vodafone - I've gotten up to 150Mb/s with vodafone in my house and I could barely get 2Mb/s at times.

How long ago was that? They used to be 3G only but finally added 4G last year.

TheDriver · 16-01-2021 12:03am

jdon72 wrote: »

I had An Post Mobile for the free month and it was nowhere near as good as Vodafone - I've gotten up to 150Mb/s with vodafone in my house and I could barely get 2Mb/s at times.

I have a VF phone living with me and PM myself and yes, speeds are less with higher ping times but never the discrepancy you note. I've gotten up to 170 on PM.

Irish_rat · 16-01-2021 12:06am

My gomo coverage is terrible so I may consider this

Gadgetman496 · 16-01-2021 12:39am

Irish_rat wrote: »

My gomo coverage is terrible so I may consider this

Roughly what County/area are you in?

I'm in Galway & have had no issues with GoMo coverage.

TheDriver · 16-01-2021 12:45am

Irish_rat wrote: »

My gomo coverage is terrible so I may consider this

I'd recommend you try a)48 b) PostMobile prior to this offering

WoolyJumper · 16-01-2021 1:13am

I was considering switching to Clear Mobile but went with Postmobile. The 5mpb decided it for me in the end. I actually think its a bit mad they would offer that. Only joined Postmobile today but so far so good. I have good speeds on 4g and no connection issues. My only recommendation is to get set up in the post office. Apparently SIM cards ordered online are taking ages to arrive.

Aquos76 · 16-01-2021 1:15am

It’s a real shame that post Mobile don’t support the personal hotspot on the iPhone

A2LUE42 · 16-01-2021 1:55am

Just looking at this. 12.99 per month, first month free, but 12.99 activation charge.

DopeTech · 16-01-2021 9:56am

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Just looking at this. 12.99 per month, first month free, but 12.99 activation charge.

Yep, you read it correctly.

Irish_rat · 16-01-2021 10:06am

Gadgetman496 wrote: »

Roughly what County/area are you in?

I'm in Galway & have had no issues with GoMo coverage.

I'm in Castletroy, Limerick in a newly built estate.

When 'm working from home, I need to 2fa Skype and the calls and texts don't come through half the time.

Aquos76 · 16-01-2021 3:57pm

Irish_rat wrote: »

I'm in Castletroy, Limerick in a newly built estate.

When 'm working from home, I need to 2fa Skype and the calls and texts don't come through half the time.

Out of interest, are you in a timber frame house, I've come other people who have mobile phone signal problems, regardless of whom their network is that live in timber frame houses. Apparently the foil back and the thick layers of insulation play havoc with the signal, don't know how true that is tbh. Could well be BS though, but that is what they told me.

Irish_rat · 16-01-2021 4:54pm

Aquos76 wrote: »

Out of interest, are you in a timber frame house, I've come other people who have mobile phone signal problems, regardless of whom their network is that live in timber frame houses. Apparently the foil back and the thick layers of insulation play havoc with the signal, don't know how true that is tbh. Could well be BS though, but that is what they told me.

Yes it actually is, that's a strange one! Never heard of that before!

joe1303l · 16-01-2021 6:52pm

icom wrote: »

No APN changes required if using the sim in an existing Vodafone handset
(Will also work in handset locked to the Vodafone Network)

The ability to use a Handset locked to the Vodafone Network is a big advantage over competitors.
Used high end Vodafone locked phones are way cheaper to buy than unlocked handsets. Ideal for young people that go through handsets pretty often.

Zimmerframe · 16-01-2021 7:31pm

Aquos76 wrote: »

Out of interest, are you in a timber frame house, I've come other people who have mobile phone signal problems, regardless of whom their network is that live in timber frame houses. Apparently the foil back and the thick layers of insulation play havoc with the signal, don't know how true that is tbh. Could well be BS though, but that is what they told me.

I know its not quite the same thing, but I worked in a place and the control rooms were made from that modular panelling, i.e insulation sandwiched between two thin steel coatings.

Not a hope in hell of getting a signal in any of those rooms.

cfingers · 16-01-2021 8:10pm

icom wrote: »

(Will also work in handset locked to the Vodafone Network)

Where did you read that? I'd be tempted if I was able to confirm that.

dollylama · 16-01-2021 8:35pm

What's the latest with Vodafone and tethering or using their sims in the likes of a router? I'm on their 35e pm prepay plan and I can't tether but others i know can tether on some Vodafone prepay plans

Is it possible to tether on their new unlimited X plans or will clear mobile allow tethering?

homingbird · 16-01-2021 9:02pm

Anyone having problems with receiving mobile signals in there house should try one of these to sort problem.
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=AS_20210116115839&SearchText=4g+signal+booster

16-01-2021 9:09pm

homingbird wrote: »

Anyone having problems with receiving mobile signals in there house should try one of these to sort problem.
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=AS_20210116115839&SearchText=4g+signal+booster

As long as you're aware that all of those are illegal as they're not EU compliant.

https://www.comreg.ie/consumer-information/mobile-phone/mobile-phone-repeaters

Aquos76 · 16-01-2021 9:51pm

joe1303l wrote: »

The ability to use a Handset locked to the Vodafone Network is a big advantage over competitors.
Used high end Vodafone locked phones are way cheaper to buy than unlocked handsets. Ideal for young people that go through handsets pretty often.

Well in fairness, this is the same for people with Eir locked handsets and Gomo sims and Tesco locked handsets and 48 months

icom · 17-01-2021 2:01am

cfingers wrote: »

Where did you read that? I'd be tempted if I was able to confirm that.

Asked Clear Mobile on their Twitter feed and they confirmed.

icom · 17-01-2021 2:05am

dollylama wrote: »

What's the latest with Vodafone and tethering or using their sims in the likes of a router? I'm on their 35e pm prepay plan and I can't tether but others i know can tether on some Vodafone prepay plans

Is it possible to tether on their new unlimited X plans or will clear mobile allow tethering?

I have used Vodafone unlimited X plan sim in an unlocked 4G router with no issued, I presume the Clear Mobile sim will work the same. They state on the website that tethering is permitted.

Quote:
Can I tether my phone to other devices?

You can tether another phone, laptop or tablet to your phone and your unlimited data, the max speed of 5Mbps will still apply when using apps or websites on the other device.

Simi · 17-01-2021 2:24am

This is not a very compelling offer. If you can get any more that 5mb/s in your area with 48 or GOMO, they're both significantly better value.

I ditched GOMO for 48 and haven't regretted it.

bk · 17-01-2021 1:29pm

Simi wrote: »

I ditched GOMO for 48 and haven't regretted it.

Same here, I was having lots of issues with reception with Gomo in my home, both data and terrible issues with call reception. People needed to call me 3 or 4 times before they could get through. I had family members in other parts of the country have the same issue.

48 has been perfect, with no issues at all and clear reception. Three’s network seems to have improved a lot and this new service doesn’t really look very attractive IMO, but always good to see extra competition.

Vodafone to compete with GoMo with “Clear Mobile”

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