Irish Operators 6 months behind with handsets

Villain

I know this may have been discussed before but I would love to know if there is anything that can be done.

I am a customer of Vodafone Ireland and I have been looking to upgrade my personal phone to either E60 or E70 or even maybe an E50. I was informed by Vodafone that the E50 and E70 would be available last August then I was told Early September then I was told Late September no I have been told the E50 will be available this week but there is no release date for the E70 it still in testing and Vodafone won't be ranging the E60!!!

These handsets have been available with Vodafone in the UK for several months, why are Vodafone Ireland so far behind??? Its gone beyond stupidity at this stage.

Pythia

-Vodafone UK and Vodafone Ireland are separate companies.

-The UK market has 60 million people, we have 4. Less demand.

-Testing is necessary. Otherwise, if a glitch was discovered, they'd have to recall them all which is very messy.

Villain

I appreciate they are in different markets and I deliberately didn't mention pricing because that would be strongly influenced by demand.

However how can testing on handsets in Vodafone Ireland take several months longer than Vodafone UK, are the networks that different or are the Vodafone UK testers that much better.

I'm not saying they should be on par but the difference is huge!!!

dave101

http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/See-All-Pay-As-You-Talk-Phones.htm
i think on the pay as you go there fones here are cheaper .
but on the bill way better in uk

Urban Weigl

Less competition is why. There's less pressure, so it's easier for them to launch models later, besides it allows them to sell surplus and older phones to Irish customers at full price.

Additional testing is a joke. There is no reason why they would need an extra 6-12 months of testing here compared to the north, for example.

sheepshagger

Well the reason for a bif price difference is compeition.

AFAIK there is just 1 Nokia importer for the ROI, therefore if they say (for example to Carphone Warehouse this new handset is EUR 400, Carphone can't bargain them down, they either pay EUR 400 for them, and resell them on for more or they just don't offer that particular handset).

Look at the phones you can get in the UK for free when you sign a 12 month contract, where here you sign a 12 month contract AND still have to fork out big money for the handset.

Seems Uk consumers get their handsets subsidised where we don't

Villain

I don't mean to be sticky or ignorant but I didn't start this thread about pricing, I can see the argument for pricing differences but I just can't see why there is a delay in releasing the handsets.

jrey1981

I think as others have said, we're a small market and there seems to be a drive to move older handsets before bringing new ones on board.

With regard to the number of importers, there is more than one.

I agree with the OP and bumped into a rep for one of the distributors last week, whilst visiting a client, and we discussed the E50 briefly. He said it was in still in testing and should be out on O2 in November.

I only asked about that particular model as I'd like one myself.

Preset No.3

20/20 Logistics is one importer. CTC is another. Ok he populaton of the UK is greater, but the saturation of mobile phones in ireland was greater than that of the UK at one stage!

podgeandrodge

Urban Weigl wrote:

Less competition is why. There's less pressure, so it's easier for them to launch models later, besides it allows them to sell surplus and older phones to Irish customers at full price.

I'd go with the above - Vodafone Ireland getting surplus old stock from Vodafone UK , even if they are different companies.

It happens with all electronics in Ireland - always the old models hanging around - the old ones from the UK must be being dumped somewhere allowing the Irish operators to make fantastic profits on old stock.

Villain

Update from Vodafone:

We've just launched the E50. The E61 is already available. We have no intentions of launching the E60 but the E70 is planned to be launched around December timeframe.

So we don't even get the E60!!! Bloody joke, does anyone know if these handsets are available with 3 or O2?

Mayo Exile

How about getting a simfree phone, if you are after a particular model? Of course it can be more expensive depending on what you want.

damo86

ah.. for f sake, e70 not until december, they are really taking the piss,guy in vodafone shop told it was end of last week,of course that was not true....urg!!!!TBH im with the OP, on my second sim free phone, and still ahead of the phones available in ireland!!

neilled

Preset No.3 wrote:

20/20 Logistics is one importer. CTC is another. Ok he populaton of the UK is greater, but the saturation of mobile phones in ireland was greater than that of the UK at one stage!

Add to that list Radius communications. Brightpoint is part of CTC.

matrim

Why don't you just buy a SIM free unlocked version online. It might be a bit more expensive, but you get the phone and don't get stuck with any of the extra crap that vodafone put on it.

Villain

Oh my GOD Vodafone are a shambles when it comes to new handset releases. So after the been told by a Vodafone CSR supervisor that the E50 would be available last week I emailed Vodafone to confirm my upgrade was there and the E50 was released.

Last Friday the 20th of October I got a reply stating:

Dear Mr X

I am delighted to inform you that you are eligible for an upgrade.
The upgrade eligibility is available for one month from todays date.

I can confirm the Nokia E50 has now been launched by Vodafone.

If you have any further queries please contact us on 1907 at any time
and we will be happy to help you

So I went rang my local stores to see if they had any and they didn't so I thought fair enough it was just released, so yesterday I called Carephonewarehouse and they told me it hadn't been released, I said Vodafone had told me it was released etc etc.

So I call Vodafone and get a very nice CSR who goes off to find out about the E50, she calls me back and says there is no information available about the E50 release, she said she could see the record of the email but that the person that sent it was incorrect and so was the supervisor that told me it was going to be released last week.

I got put through to another supervisor and I asked was there any communication within Vodafone about new handsets releases and she said that it was an issue and she couldn't get me any update on the release of the E50 she then told me she was going to give me a months free rental.

I said I just wanted to know when the handset was going to be released, so I am to get a call back today!

Joke

Villain

Update:

It gets better, another person has called me from Vodafone saying it has been released and is in stock! they are going to call my local store to get them to get one in for me. Seriously does anyone in that company communicate its beyond a joke at this stage.

rogue-entity

The problem is just as bad on 3 as well. Back in August, I rang up asking about upgrades. I told him i was looking for a smart phone, one that ran Symbian like the N70. He told me they were getting in new handsets for September, including the N80, the N90 and the N73. He also said they were testing the Sony Ericsson W950i which he said would interest me since it runs Opera (I had mentioned using Opera unsuccessfuly on the 6680 to access 3's portal). I looked them all up and settled on the N73. Its available on Cingular (US) and its on 3, Vodafone and probably also O2 and Vodafone (UK). The handset is still not available here on any network. And 3 did shortly release the N80, but still no sign of the N73, and now they are bringing out (according to their website) the W950i soon. Chances are both handsets will be out for christmas. I would have gone and gotten the phone unlocked on eBay earlier except I can get it cheaper with 3 (about 200Eur compared to 350Eur). I can only assume that this and the unlocking fiasco is their attempt at shifting as much of the old stock as possible.

Villain

Ok well I picked up a Nokia E50 this eveining. First thing is Vodafone have gone with the version that doesn't have a camera, not a big deal for me but worth noting.

Now this is where it gets interesting, I had called the store after Vodafone had called me to say they were in stock, the manager I spoke to said he was expecting my call and that he would have the phone upgrade ready for me.

So I walk into the store and sure he has everything ready just sign and show ID, he then says to me "Do you mind me asking who in Vodafone you were speaking to" I filled him on the story and he said "Oh right its just the lady that called me is one of the very senior managers within Vodafone Ireland and said to make sure I had everything ready and to apologise for the poor service" I said thats good they are trying to make up for giving me the runaround. He said the reason nobody in Vodafone knew the device was released was because.......wait for it.....

"The guy that looks after that for Vodafone Ireland is on holidays for 2 weeks"

ROFL Seriously.

Anyway fair play after all the messing they have sorted me out quite well.

j14

The SE K800i on Vodafone has now been put back until "mid-November". I've been waiting on this handset since Vodafones first release date of September 2nd. At this rate I should have it by next Summer! (I can't change network to get it as we have a compnay account with Vodafone).
J.

gordonnet

November for the k800 on vodafone, every other network in ireland has it for 2 months, any one going to england could get a k800 there on vodafone and bring it back here as there there is no roaming charges between uk/ireland.

copacetic

gordonnet wrote:

November for the k800 on vodafone, every other network in ireland has it for 2 months, any one going to england could get a k800 there on vodafone and bring it back here as there there is no roaming charges between uk/ireland.

meteor haven't, they also say it is coming soon, they have no excuse, they don't even put their own bloody code on them!

xanthor

gordonnet wrote:

November for the k800 on vodafone, [/QOUTE]


Last month it was October.
:mad: