Meteor and O2 Ireland agree roaming deal

jesus_thats_gre

http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=93391600&p=9339zy8x&n=93392209

Meteor and O2 Ireland agree roaming deal
10/08/2004 - 15:28:01

Meteor phone customers will soon be able to make and receive calls all over the country.

The mobile company has signed a deal on national roaming with O2, allowing Meteor customers to use the O2 network in areas where they don't have full coverage.

Meteor's Director of Corporate Affairs Andrew Kelly has said the new service, which will be available next month, will change the perception that Meteor cannot compete with other networks.

Meteor says its customers will now get national coverage before it completes the roll-out of its own network.

Meteor customers will be able to make and receive calls on the O2 network in Kerry, Donegal, Mayo, Cavan, Sligo and Leitrim, as well as parts of Limerick, Galway, Cork, Clare, Roscommon and Longford.

The agreement will run for two-and-a-half years from September 1, 2004.

O2 will receive a share of each call made.

Meteor says there will be no extra charges for its customers and services will be available on GMS (2G) and GPRS (2.5G) networks.

The company says the roaming services will be phased out as Meteor completes its own network.

The Chairperson of the Commission for Communications Regulation, John Doherty, has welcomed the agreement.

Mr Doherty said: "The Commission for Communications Regulation has approved this agreement. It is in line with the regulatory measures proposed by ComReg in a consultation on the mobile market in January 2004.

"This agreement has the potential to increase competition in the mobile market as it will provide Meteor’s mobile phone customers with greater coverage than has been available until now on Meteor’s network.

"ComReg believes that there is potential for further competition in the mobile market and will continue to promote such competition wherever possible."

Mixie

Can you send MMS from Meteor to other networks yet?

mean mr mustard

if you were an O2 customer what would you be doing?

ferdi

changing to meteor, the only bad thing about meteor was that sometimes the signal was bad, now it will be as good as o2. meteor has free texts to other meteor phones - you cannot imagine how much money u save when alot of your frineds are also meteor, it really is worth it.

flywheel

looks like great news for Meteor - O2/Vodafone customers who were previoulsy worried about Meteor's national coverage might jump over now

BrianG

mean mr mustard

don't presume the signal will be as good as o2. it will be in the areas covered in the new agreement, but not necessarily elsewhere.

but it's definitely good news for meteor, and good news for competition and the open market in ireland. in fact, seeing as o2 will make money out of the deal, the only losers may be vodafone.. that remains to be seen. but surely if an o2 customer would consider switching to meteor now, so too would a vodafone customer?

smoke.me.a.kipper

ferdi wrote:

you cannot imagine how much money u save when alot of your frineds are also meteor, it really is worth it.

the only problem is convincing others its a good idea. some people just cant see a good deal.

flywheel

mean mr mustard wrote:

don't presume the signal will be as good as o2. it will be in the areas covered in the new agreement, but not necessarily elsewhere

it will be as good as O2 in the areas listed until Meteor builds out it's network into those areas and O2 switch off the roaming as Meteor build out their network there, 'elsewhere' as a Meteor customer you rely on the Meteor network... at least that's what I understood from the announcement

so anyone on O2/Vodafone who was worried about the gaps in the Meteor national network should definitely look at what is on offer now

BrianG

kevinmcc

The only thing I'd like to see Meteor change is their roaming. It should be automatically enabled rather than having to pay a €60 upfront deposit. Or at least have something in place for customers travelling to Northern Ireland. I would like to move over now but as I'm in donegal I do be in Derry a lot and need coverage there.

JTMan

This is best news for competition in the Irish market since the arrival of meteor.

I like the way it expires in 2.5 years ensuring that Meteor will finish their network and competition can contiue to pervail. Speaking of which they still haven't updated their coverage map on their website to the new ones in stores ...

Time for the masses of people in counties like Donegal to port to Meteor and save a fortune ....

Vodafone have already signed an agreement with 3 for national roaming which sould be more lucrative than the Meteor argement given the great geographical scale involved.

Dun

kevinmcc wrote:

The only thing I'd like to see Meteor change is their roaming. It should be automatically enabled rather than having to pay a €60 upfront deposit. Or at least have something in place for customers travelling to Northern Ireland. I would like to move over now but as I'm in donegal I do be in Derry a lot and need coverage there.

That's ridiculous carry on! I'm in Donegal too, and I never had to ask O2 to allow roaming after I switched from Vodafone.

stereo_steve

Wahey! Thats great news! I can now call people when I'm on the o2 network, cheaper than an o2 person can call!

[NO TROLLING]

byte

Sadly, where I live, O2 coverage is very poor, due to objections to the erection of an O2 mast

DubWireless

DubWireless wrote:

so anyone on O2/Vodafone who was worried about the gaps in the Meteor national network should definitely look at what is on offer now

BrianG

Alas I think unfortunately it seems not strictly true for a lot of people still despite meteor spin...
I have full meteor coverage in Arklow.
Go anywhere west of here in Co wicklow, less than an hour from Dublin and there is nothing.
Infact that seems to be the case in a lot of Wicklow.
If I travel to Wexford I lose meteor coverage for at least half the trip...
If I go to Carlow from here I lose meteor for a lot of the trip.
Even driving along the N11 north of here I lose signal completely or suffer major break ups for about ten miles or so.

Little or None of these problems on the O2 or Vodafone network.
I don't see either Wicklow or Wexford mentioned in the list of counties and unless they are, this agreement is useless to me and I am talking about reasonably populated areas on the east coast,many less than an hour from Dublin.

Another gripe I have which would keep me away is that according to their website they have no roaming agreement with the US.
Vodaphone and O2 have worked fine over there using the states Tmobile and AT&T network but apparently with meteor you have to rent a phone...
Now maybe that particular part of their site is all cobwebby and dusty and they think that one has to rent a tri band phone...(loada shoite-having to re do your contacts and give people a new number)
:rolleyes:

flywheel

Earthman wrote:

Alas I think unfortunately it seems not strictly true for a lot of people still despite meteor spin...
I have full meteor coverage in Arklow.
Go anywhere west of here in Co wicklow, less than an hour from Dublin and there is nothing.
Infact that seems to be the case in a lot of Wicklow.
If I travel to Wexford I lose meteor coverage for at least half the trip...
If I go to Carlow from here I lose meteor for a lot of the trip.
Even driving along the N11 north of here I lose signal completely or suffer major break ups for about ten miles or so.

they are only offering roaming on the O2 network in these counties:
"Counties Kerry, Donegal, Mayo, Cavan, Sligo and Leitrim, parts of counties Limerick, Galway and Cork, and parts of Roscommon, Longford, Clare. ", so Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow would not be covered...

i was just commenting that anyone thinking of switching previously should 'definitely look at what is on offer now', so where there were gaps in Meteor's national network e.g. anyone in the likes of Donegal or Mayo where there is zero coverage and it was never an option (before)

BrianG

stereo_steve

Earthman wrote:

Another gripe I have which would keep me away is that according to their website they have no roaming agreement with the US.
Vodaphone and O2 have worked fine over there using the states Tmobile and AT&T network but apparently with meteor you have to rent a phone...
Now maybe that particular part of their site is all cobwebby and dusty and they think that one has to rent a tri band phone...(loada shoite-having to re do your contacts and give people a new number)
:rolleyes:

Meteor have more roaming agreements than Voda and o2. There are only two GSM networks in USA. ATT & T-mobile/Cingular. Meteor allows you to roam on both.

In america the phones use a different frequency to at home. Therefore you need a triband phone. Meteor are merely pointing you in the direction of a place to rent a phone if you need one. Its exactly the same with any European mobile phone company.

mikeym

I dont mean to be stupid but will there be an additional charge when your roaming on the o2 network?
Does anyone agree that meteor cover 90% of the population as they say on their website? I dont.

stereo_steve

stereo_steve wrote:

Meteor have more roaming agreements than Voda and o2. There are only two GSM networks in USA. ATT & T-mobile/Cingular. Meteor allows you to roam on both.

In america the phones use a different frequency to at home. Therefore you need a triband phone. Meteor are merely pointing you in the direction of a place to rent a phone if you need one. Its exactly the same with any European mobile phone company.

Considering I've brought my mobile to the states and roamed on At&t and tmobile a lot I think I know what a tri band phone is...
However I was disturbed to see that on their website in relation to the U.S and Canada they say and I quote

US Mobile Phone networks are not always compatible with those in the rest of the world.
To help, Meteor has teamed up with Cellhire, the world's leader in Mobile Rental services to offer you a range of services to help you stay in touch.
Handset and SIM rental with flexible rental plans

Why would they want to be telling me about sim rental and talking about a new number(which they do) if they have a proper roaming agreement.
Why don't they say that you can roam with your own tri band phone and sim like I was able to do with O2 last month...

They are not being very clear which is a tad silly or just incompetant.
O2 give out the prices for making calls and receiving them and texting in the U.S from your tri band phone whilst vodafone even tell you if your phone is triband and thus if it works in the U.S.

DubWireless wrote:

i was just commenting that anyone thinking of switching previously should 'definitely look at what is on offer now', so where there were gaps in Meteor's national network e.g. anyone in the likes of Donegal or Mayo where there is zero coverage and it was never an option (before)
BrianG

Ah I know that you were but as regards their agreement for coverage in some counties, well it's simply not good enough in my view.
I wouldn't be recommending meteor to anyone yet to be honest unless they were going to stay within a meteor cell and never had to leave one.
If you want to have the type of coverage that you get with vodafone or O2 and want to be driving around then stick with either of them untill meteor gets their coverage up to a decent level.

I dont mean to be stupid but will there be an additional charge when your roaming on the o2 network?

They say there won't be.

Does anyone agree that meteor cover 90% of the population as they say on their website? I dont.

I reckon they are far from 90%, they might be closer to it if you include areas where you have maybe one or two bars of coverage with lots of breaking up during the call and repeating yourself ... but shur what use is that??

ferryman

No, there will be no charge to Meteor customers for this service. O2 are making their money by taking a cut of the price meteor customers pay for their calls.

It's really good news for me, as I'm from Donegal (although I live in Dublin most of the time), so it means that when I go home I'll be able to use my phone. I've just been a Meteor customer since July (having been with O2 for 7 years), so can't really comment on the coverage, although from what I see on this board, 90% doesn't seem too accurate a figure. I find it fine in Dublin btw (although that would be expected in the city)...

MagicBusDriver

Being forced to change temporarily to billpay to go roaming is a joke (Meteor).
90% population coverage is very misleading. The figure assumes people stay in their houses and includes areas with weak coverage and areas with no spare capacity.
Besides that, If you're thinking of switching to Meteor I'd wait till Christmas to see what Vodafone's 3G offering will be like. Also the new entrant 3 should have some very interesting offers.

Akula

the question is when are 3 going to go live?

stereo_steve

Earthman wrote:

Why would they want to be telling me about sim rental and talking about a new number(which they do) if they have a proper roaming agreement.
Why don't they say that you can roam with your own tri band phone and sim like I was able to do with O2 last month...

They are not being very clear which is a tad silly or just incompetant.
O2 give out the prices for making calls and receiving them and texting in the U.S from your tri band phone whilst vodafone even tell you if your phone is triband and thus if it works in the U.S.

That is because their are only two big GSM networks in the USA. They have good coverage in citys but thats it. Believe it or not to get a consistanly good signal here you have to be with an analogue phone provider.

At&T coverage Its crap!



If you are in the heart of america you can't use the GSM service. Meteor are letting you know about this where as o2 and Voda are all happy friendy and not making things complicated.

Being forced to change temporarily to billpay to go roaming is a joke (Meteor).
90% population coverage is very misleading. The figure assumes people stay in their houses and includes areas with weak coverage and areas with no spare capacity.

I'm roaming now and i'm on prepay. You pay EUR60 to set it up, theres no bill.
While I agree that paying the EUR60 is really bad, you have to admit that its a fantastic service after that.

I can roam in 132 countries (not including Ireland!). Where as prepay o2,voda customers can only roam in 22 and o2,voda bill pay 130.

On top of that its much cheaper for me to roam. My friend is in Austrailia and it costs him 43c a min to call home.

Also meteor have screwed up a little because I'm getting charged for text messages as if i'm in Ireland. Free texts to meteor people at home, I can even send a text message home to Ireland cheaper than you can text your friend beside you!!

JTMan

Akula wrote:

the question is when are 3 going to go live?

God knows ...

The CEO of Hutch said recently that Ireland was their next network to go live and they recently started hiring here. My bet would be November in time for the christmas boom market.

stereo_steve wrote:

I'm roaming now and i'm on prepay. You pay EUR60 to set it up, theres no bill.

The advance payment needs to go ... but at least the 60 Euro is retuned to you in the form of credit and it will go much further ..

ferryman

Originally Posted by stereo_steve
I'm roaming now and i'm on prepay. You pay EUR60 to set it up, theres no bill.

I thought I saw mentioned somewhere that Meteor's billing system while roaming isn't the same as the other operators, is this true?
Is it possible to obtain balance information on 1742 or by using *£100£ as it is while at home? I'm going to Scotland in a few weeks, so I'll have to get it sorted out before then.

I wonder if services like topping-up, retrieving voicemail and free Meteor to Meteor texts will be set-up for the 1st of September when the O2 roaming deal starts. Here's hoping...

lisa.c

never had a problem with meteor find them great and the free txts are great to have saved me a fortune .... i have very little to moan about when they provide a cheap service.

stereo_steve

ferryman wrote:

I thought I saw mentioned somewhere that Meteor's billing system while roaming isn't the same as the other operators, is this true?
Is it possible to obtain balance information on 1742 or by using *£100£ as it is while at home? I'm going to Scotland in a few weeks, so I'll have to get it sorted out before then.

Meteors is different because they only get updates every couple of days from foreign operators about what you have spent. Hence they ask for your credit card. Because you could spent two days solid on the phone and run up a huge bill.

I suspect that its the same for all phone companies and thats why O2 and Voda only only let you roam in 22 countries. They probably have some sort of system with real time updating of your bill.

In my experience, the *#100# works on some networks abroad. In scotland you will have loads of networks to choose from, so one at least should be able to tell you your balance. Make sure you use Vodafone for your calls though, its 75c/min with them.

Mixie

Mixie wrote:

Can you send MMS from Meteor to other networks yet?

Unfortunately not. Called Customer Care about it to see if I could get any inside info - apparently it might be up and running next month sometime.

This roaming agreement will be good news for me! I just hope they cover Listowel town with it. The coverage up to and including the immediate outskirts is perfect, just as good as O2, but in the town it fades rapidly. Even entering a building will kill it completely.

kevinmcc

Will it definitely be 1st of September when they turn on their national roaming or will it be on earlier for testing?

JTMan

kevinmcc wrote:

Will it definitely be 1st of September when they turn on their national roaming or will it be on earlier for testing?

It will be phased in from Sept 1 "over a few weeks".

Slice

Earthman wrote:

Considering I've brought my mobile to the states and roamed on At&t and tmobile a lot I think I know what a tri band phone is...
However I was disturbed to see that on their website in relation to the U.S and Canada they say and I quote

Why would they want to be telling me about sim rental and talking about a new number(which they do) if they have a proper roaming agreement.
Why don't they say that you can roam with your own tri band phone and sim like I was able to do with O2 last month...

They are not being very clear which is a tad silly or just incompetant.
O2 give out the prices for making calls and receiving them and texting in the U.S from your tri band phone whilst vodafone even tell you if your phone is triband and thus if it works in the U.S.

Ah I know that you were but as regards their agreement for coverage in some counties, well it's simply not good enough in my view.
I wouldn't be recommending meteor to anyone yet to be honest unless they were going to stay within a meteor cell and never had to leave one.
If you want to have the type of coverage that you get with vodafone or O2 and want to be driving around then stick with either of them untill meteor gets their coverage up to a decent level.

They say there won't be.

I reckon they are far from 90%, they might be closer to it if you include areas where you have maybe one or two bars of coverage with lots of breaking up during the call and repeating yourself ... but shur what use is that??

Just to note that all networks experience difficulties when it comes to roaming in the States because of the fact that the U.S. have non-GSM networks. Vodafone also refer their customers to Cellhire if they don't have tri-band handsets.

jesus_thats_gre

stereo_steve wrote:

I can roam in 132 countries (not including Ireland!). Where as prepay o2,voda customers can only roam in 22 and o2,voda bill pay 130.

You keep mentioning this... I am gonna go out of my way to prove you wrong