Need advice regarding networks

Hi, I'm wondering if any of you out there could help me here. Back in July I bought a Meteor phone and SIM card to give it a try, a Motorola V300. But I didn't change my number just to be safe, I still have my O2 SIM tucked away under my bed in an old Nokia 3310. I also got the V300 unlocked at the same time.

At first it seemed great - cheap calls, free texts to a close friend and €80 to get me started. But it hasn't been nice for me:

I can't send MMS messages to other networks. I only know one person on Meteor, so I can only send her MMS. Most of the time it doesn't work either - she gets an SMS telling her to check it online - and she's using a Motorola C450 which is MMS-capable.

I can't receive calls while my phone is roaming on the O2 network. As a result I need to rely on Meteor's system, which has very poor coverage in Listowel town. Even entering a building will kill it completely.

The outage last night had me driven insane. I called Customer Care three times in one day! Twice regarding my inability to receive calls, and once about the outage. They just said they were "sending a ticket up to the tech department", but on all occasions they told me they "couldn't get through to them."

On the other hand, I switched over from O2 because I'm constantly being charged the off-net rate. All my family, my boss and my three best friends are on vodafone. At the time I got my then Esat Digifone phone my family were with them too so it was fine, but when vodafone live came in they all jumped the gun. But I personally hate vodafone, this goes back to the Eircell days. I just think they charge too much as well.

Basically I'm stuck and need some help deciding what to do. Meteor might be cheap but it seems that they are unreliable. I never had a total network blackout in my 2½ years with O2. I've only been with Meteor for 3 months.
But on the other hand I want to save some money on my calls and not be paying the off-net charge for every call I make.

PhoenixRising

Karsini wrote:

All my family, my boss and my three best friends are on vodafone.

To be honest, if that's the case you'd probably be better off switching to Vodafone. You said that you aren't Vodafone's biggest fan, neither am I, but in my opinion they provide the best service. There is no denying that Vodafone's network coverage is superior to O2 and Meteor. I've been with Voda for 5 years now and I have never had any interuption to my service. Their customer care (for bill pay customers anyway) is very good. They may be slightly dearer than their competitors, but I don't mind paying a little bit extra for a better service. I guess that's down to personal choice, but I believe that you get what you pay for.

You seem to have made your mind up that you are going to switch from Meteor, so that leaves you with two choices, Voda or O2. If you don't find yourself in remote parts of Ireland too often then O2 could be the way to go. Take a close look at what each offers, and choose the one which suits your needs best.

flywheel

if you've been with them for around five years - you must have joined just after their massive system crash in Nov 1999 , from my usage I don't find Voda's coverage or support any better/worse than O2, but definitely Meteor have work to do...

sounds like you've been lucky - I've had plenty of service issues/interruptions with Eircell/Vodafone during that time - they have improved but I can still be stuck in black spots and get network busy messages from time to time around Dublin... have never haven't found Vodafone's customer care any better/worse (well sometimes worse...) than the rest - none of the operators have a monopoly on good / bad CSRs - they can all be as good (and as bad) as each other at times

making a decision on which operator to use should at least take into account: coverage in the areas you frequent, the numbers you usually call/text etc. (e.g. on/off net), tariff's and options (e.g. inclusive minutes, available add-ons etc.), basic service charges (e.g. voice mail calls, divert etc.) any data charges if applicable...

BrianG

PhoenixRising

DubWireless wrote:

if you've been with them for around five years - you must have joined just after their massive system crash in Nov 1999 ,

Yeah, I did only sign up with them in late '99, so must have missed that.

Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have seen several examples of where friends of mine on O2 can't get a useable singnal where I can. A friend of mine who lives in Rathfarnham, not exactly off the beaten track, can only make calls on his O2 mobile if he is in his kitchen, and I can get a useable signal anywhere in the house. Also O2's coverage is quite poor in some parts of the West and especially down in the West Cork area, whereas with Voda you can still get a useable signal in these areas.

flywheel

yeah it can be horses for courses alright - out near Blackrock last week and couldn't get a Voda signal in the house I was in until I walked all the way out the front (the people there use O2 and Meteor because if this) - and in Cabinteely on Friday afternoon kept getting Network Busy message on Voda for a while

BrianG

There was a similar problem around this area. Tarbert, Co. Kerry used to be a total Vodafone blackspot. I had a full signal on my O2 mobile while my boss had zilch. Although I think they have added coverage there in the last year or so.
I still haven't made a decision on what to do, but the thing which has had me driven mental with Meteor is the inability to receive calls while roaming. I'm expecting an important phone call in the morning and I need to enable call divert to transfer it to my landline. :rolleyes:

I think its a SIM fault but have no way to confirm this. I feel like going to war when I'm on the phone but I always hear a nice girl on the other end and that softens me up a huge amount, couldn't bear to upset her, lol.

I've made the decision for the moment to go back to O2 until Meteor get their act together. The receiving calls problem got fixed last Tuesday and I gave them one more chance - but now GPRS bit the dust again. I've had all I can take so I'll just go back to my old SIM and my old number.

I might look into them again if my situation changes - e.g. if MMS interoperability comes in or I move somewhere with better coverage which isn't reliant on roaming.