Vodafone to 3 Question...

helios

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking of going to 3 after nearly 3 years with Vodafone. My main push is that I can get the phone I want (Nokia E65) for €100 cheaper, and the plans+add-ons are cheaper.

While on the phone with Voda negotiating, the girl I spoke to said that I should be careful of the T's and C's with 3 as she knows people who have left Voda for 3, only to come back ( I know that it might just be a line).

My main concerns are really:

1) 3 internet only lets you surf on 3 or 3-approved sites. Is that true?

2) Voda has greating roaming throughout Europe, while 3 isn't as good, even with the new EU legislation coming in...

3) I can get the E65 for €100 cheaper, which I'd like to see Vodafone match


Can anyone shed some light for me?

GekkePrutser

In regards to the roaming, Vodafone has an option called 'Passport' where, when roaming on a foreign Vodafone network (and only on Vodafone(!)), you pay 79 cent per call + the costs as if you were in Ireland. So if you regularly go abroad and make long calls there, as I do, it can be very cheap. For receiving they only charge 79 cent per call too and no per-minute fee. You do have to switch this Passport option on though, check their website.

I think the new EU regulations restrict roaming within the EU to 59 cent per minute when outbound calling, and 29 when receiving calls. So for calls longer than 5 minutes, Vodafone is still a good deal!

However I think 3 has some good roaming offers now too where receiving calls is free on other 3 networks. It really depends where you will go. In my case I go a lot to the Netherlands where there is no 3 but there is Vodafone, so the choice is easy for me

chrislad

3 have good, but very limited roaming. If you're going to the UK, Hong Kong or Australia, wa-hay! Otherwise, not so great.

The Three web is limited but you can buy an add on for unlimited access.

Urban Weigl

3 are the only Irish network to offer completely free roaming, however as chrislad points out, it is quite limited because 3 only have networks in a few countries. Here is the list:

Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Sweden and the UK.

When using the 3 network in those countries, roaming is free. However, it is expensive when roaming on non-3 networks. As expensive as Meteor was for roaming till a few days ago, though the new EU roaming caps will help here: 59 cents per minute cap for making calls and 29 cents per minute cap for receiving calls.

3 no longer have their walled garden. You now get access to the full internet. At least on billpay when you get one of their mobile broadband add-ons. Took them too long!

1huge1

chrislad wrote:

3 have good, but very limited roaming. If you're going to the UK, Hong Kong or Australia, wa-hay! Otherwise, not so great.

The Three web is limited but you can buy an add on for unlimited access.

How is 3 web limited? its fully open and you can go on what you like through the very reasonable internet packages

Sam Vimes

1huge1 wrote:

How is 3 web limited? its fully open and you can go on what you like through the very reasonable internet packages

that's what he said. its limited until you buy the add-on

1huge1

Commander Vimes wrote:

that's what he said. its limited until you buy the add-on

my apologies missed that