Why is GPRS data such a rip-off?

Psychedelik

At ?0.02 per kilobyte it aint cheap. That's ?20,000 per gigabyte I think! Is there no possibility of some competition? Like GPRS operators other than Vodafone, o2 and Meteor? Vodafone's ?50 3g is a start but PAYG GPRS has to come down. What do you think?

neilled

GPRS data in Ireland is indeed a rip off. What is really needed in order for networks to get a more revenue from customers are bundles of gprs data that they can buy in advance as an add of like the way extra texts are done. Cheap GPRS data will increase the rate of subscription based services, at the moment GPRS generally costs a cent per kilobyte which is frankly ridiculous considering you can buy 5 megabytes of GPRS in the uk as an o2 pay and go customer for a £5 which is €7.50. Now considering that downloading 1 mb on o2 Ireland works out at €10.00.....:mad:

damo86

i feel your pain used to be on payg and got hammered for gprs! i now on bill with vodafone with 50mb for 20euro :-) , considering getting flatrate gprs for 50! but i agree thats it getting out of hand how are they suppose to promote internet and media with prices like that. mind you i read somewhere that ireland is not pushed about mobile internet...codswhollop i'd say!

Scruff

because its such a rip off i just dont use gprs and have set my internet connection on phone to use diall up instead. unfortunately this means i have no internet connection at all on my phone as O2 dodnt support diall up wap on the k750i:mad:

DonkeyStyle \o/

neilled wrote:

at the moment GPRS generally costs a cent per kilobyte which is frankly ridiculous

It's 3c per kilobyte with Meteor (or at least it was 3 months ago when I last used it and got screwed by them).
So eh... like 7 quid to load the start page of www.boards.ie?
Fantastic value IMO. :rolleyes:
GPRS is dead to me.

jrey1981

I ran up about €100 when the phone line was down in a matter of minutes using my phone and laptop with GPRS.

In the UK, I used GPRS roaming and I must have spent €120 - 180.

Never again!

chrislad

O2 is a cent a kb. Meteor is 2c. Think Voda is 2c too.

thenakedchef

at least with the new tariff vodafone are offering which im considering joining which is 50 quid you can have unlimited access on your laptop via pcmcia card as opposed to the 129e for the same unlimited access with o2 and according to o2 unlimited doesnt really mean that ba$tards

andrewie

3 sells it in bulk like so much for a day or a week..

neilled

thenakedchef wrote:

at least with the new tariff vodafone are offering which im considering joining which is 50 quid you can have unlimited access on your laptop via pcmcia card as opposed to the 129e for the same unlimited access with o2 and according to o2 unlimited doesnt really mean that ba$tards

O2 have matched that with their "unlimited" tarrif dropping to €49, congrats to vodafone for making the first move.... well done to o2 for following suit.... its about time lads!

mkennedy

hi damo86.
you say you get 50mb data for 20 euro on vodafone bill pay.

for some reason i'm paying 30 euro (or approx. afaik) for 20mb of gprs data with vodafone billpay (to use my phone as a modem for my pda).

i thought their gprs tarriffs were something like: 20mb for 30 euro and 50mb for 60 euro.

how are you getting 50mb for 20 euro? are you using gprs or 3g? and are the rates actually different for gprs and 3g?

also does their new unlimited data tarriff apply only to 3g and not gprs?

appreciate any info on this.
thanks

elderlemon

I am on 25mb for 15 euros (phone as a modem).
see http://www.vodafone.ie/soho/price/dataroaming/3ggprsplans/index.jsp

This is a business user plan ...but any customer can avail of the voda business bundles!!!

mkennedy wrote:

hi damo86.
you say you get 50mb data for 20 euro on vodafone bill pay.

for some reason i'm paying 30 euro (or approx. afaik) for 20mb of gprs data with vodafone billpay (to use my phone as a modem for my pda).

i thought their gprs tarriffs were something like: 20mb for 30 euro and 50mb for 60 euro.

how are you getting 50mb for 20 euro? are you using gprs or 3g? and are the rates actually different for gprs and 3g?

also does their new unlimited data tarriff apply only to 3g and not gprs?

appreciate any info on this.
thanks

damo86

@mkennedy

Basically a rang them about using my phone as a 3g modem, I saw this in the business section, http://www.vodafone.ie/soho/price/dataroaming/3ggprsplans/legacy/index.jsp and ask to add this to my bill..handy enough until they forgot to add it so i went off using my 50mb until I got my phone bill of €350 a month later, gave them hell over the phone and they thankfully refunded me!
Gprs and 3g are the same just different speeds.
But I noticed they've changed it again to 25mb for €15, give them a ring about it anyway

regards

damo

chrislad

chrislad wrote:

O2 is a cent a kb. Meteor is 2c. Think Voda is 2c too.

Meteor went up to 3c last summer. But their new site says 2c. They must have lowered it again.

mkennedy

thanks, lads.
man. i'm pissed.
i've been paying 30 euro for 20mb all along and forking out about a 100 euro a month for voice and data combined every month.

when i talked to voda customer support they never mentioned these options to me at all (admittedly i'm not on a business tarriff atm but still).

elderlemon, are you sure there's no problem switching to the business data tarriffs. do i need to increase my voice tarriff before i can avail of them or anything?

btw, i'm also considering getting the flat rate 3g option. can anyone tell me does this only apply to the 3g data cards for laptops or could i also use the datacard's sim in a gprs (non-3g) enabled pocketpc phone?
in other words, could i use a laptop and phone on the same flat rate account.

any advice would be great. thanks.

elderlemon

I am on a family plan (can't remember which) and also have the business data plan so...

mkennedy wrote:

thanks, lads.
man. i'm pissed.
i've been paying 30 euro for 20mb all along and forking out about a 100 euro a month for voice and data combined every month.

when i talked to voda customer support they never mentioned these options to me at all (admittedly i'm not on a business tarriff atm but still).

elderlemon, are you sure there's no problem switching to the business data tarriffs. do i need to increase my voice tarriff before i can avail of them or anything?

btw, i'm also considering getting the flat rate 3g option. can anyone tell me does this only apply to the 3g data cards for laptops or could i also use the datacard's sim in a gprs (non-3g) enabled pocketpc phone?
in other words, could i use a laptop and phone on the same flat rate account.

any advice would be great. thanks.

flodis79

andrewie wrote:

3 sells it in bulk like so much for a day or a week..

That's not "real" GPRS.... Only 400+ preapproved web sites in those deals..

thenakedchef

neilled wrote:

O2 have matched that with their "unlimited" tarrif dropping to €49, congrats to vodafone for making the first move.... well done to o2 for following suit.... its about time lads!

no harm but i think with o2 unlimited doesnt mean unlimited,i think if you go over a certain amount they will start charging you at a lower rate

neilled

thenakedchef wrote:

no harm but i think with o2 unlimited doesnt mean unlimited,i think if you go over a certain amount they will start charging you at a lower rate

Unlimited data packages on all mobile networks comes with a "fair usage policy" attached on the tail.... hence my discription of "unlimited"........

Psychedelik

Would it actually be any cheaper to use dial-up CSD data access, or do the operators even offer it at this stage? Per minute billing is not nice either.

Is it feasible to be a "GPRS data provider" if you are not the mobile network itself? I.e., an independent GPRS provider, if you know what I mean? Also, is it possible to use Meteor GPRS on a Vodafone phone?

robinph

It looks like its cheaper to use 3G whilst roaming in the UK for 0.78c per kB than it is to use it in Ireland for 2c per kB. I might actually make use of it next time I'm over there and save a bit of money, do you need to change any of the connection setting though to connect whilst roaming in the UK?

Edit: thats with Vodafone incase you were wondering

niallb

Psychedelik wrote:

Is it feasible to be a "GPRS data provider" if you are not the mobile network itself? I.e., an independent GPRS provider, if you know what I mean?

It's not GPRS, but you can offer yourself HSCSD if you have an ISDN line to dial into. I've gotten 38k reliably with that. Per minute charges worked out cheaper,
even with paying another call to go back out through the other channel.

To offer GPRS, you need to be the network.

NiallB