Meteor!! Coverage/contract nightmare!

Labhaoise

I have been having trouble with meteor coverage since I moved home in October, (from Galway to Mayo).
I am with meteor billpay since 07 and I have been ringing customer care on a regular basis since December to try and sort this problem. Ideally I would like to change network. I have made all the phonecalls and I have followed all their instructions and advice, -each time I get told something different. The last thing I was told was to change my sim card- does anybody know if this makes any difference to coverage???!!! I certainly was not aware of this!
Its really frustrating me at this stage, paying bills for a nonexistant service!!
I would love to know if anybody else had this problem with meteor billpay??

Random

A faulty SIM card may cause coverage issues but isn't too likely. Generally they want to rule out all the basics first.

Have you tried using a different handset? Some handsets pick up signal better than others.

Do friends / family have Meteor phones too? Do they have coverage?

Are you in contract with Meteor at the moment?

TGi666

check your sim number begins with 05 if it does it might not be the sim and have you changed fone lately?

Labhaoise

Random wrote: »

A faulty SIM card may cause coverage issues but isn't too likely. Generally they want to rule out all the basics first.

Have you tried using a different handset? Some handsets pick up signal better than others.

Do friends / family have Meteor phones too? Do they have coverage?

Are you in contract with Meteor at the moment?

Yup I am still in contract, I have tried a different handset though my dad needed to change back to vodafone months back for the same reasons.
I am just trying to do everything I can in order to get out of my contract penalty free. I do understand that people pull this stunt just to cancel a contract. It is very frustrating however when its a genuine problem! I have zero coverage in and around most of my house, and I would love to know if anybody out there succeeded in getting free from billpay without the huge penalty payments!!
Thanks for the reply though!

Labhaoise

TGi666 wrote: »

check your sim number begins with 05 if it does it might not be the sim and have you changed fone lately?

I got a replacement sim yesterday as I was only informed of this by customer care yesterday. I never knew that simcards had anything to do with coverage! I have had my phone since october..??

Sam Vimes

If you only got your sim in october it's unlikely to be the problem, although a dodgy sim can cause this problem

You say your dad has the same problem so it's likely that meteor just don't have coverage there. Unfortunately i think they have themselves covered for bad coverage areas but if you plead your case and prove that you have no coverage in your area (keep logs with dates and times and phone model etc) they might let you off without penalty

If they won't you have two options. One is the small claims court which costs 15 euro and the other is to wait until you have the contract 6 months, then drop to the lowest tariff (e20 a month) and pay off 6 moths worth of that instead of your current tariff. You might not be allowed do that anymore (or ever) and i'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong

pcardin

Labhaoise wrote: »

Yup I am still in contract, I have tried a different handset though my dad needed to change back to vodafone months back for the same reasons.
I am just trying to do everything I can in order to get out of my contract penalty free. I do understand that people pull this stunt just to cancel a contract. It is very frustrating however when its a genuine problem! I have zero coverage in and around most of my house, and I would love to know if anybody out there succeeded in getting free from billpay without the huge penalty payments!!
Thanks for the reply though!

I had exact the same story as yours. Took a new phone and two weeks later moved from Louth to Dublin. There was no coverage at all for meteor however was a superb coverage for O2. Had a fight with Meteor for over two months. Tried all the stupid tasks they wanted till I get off the contract without penalty. However the phone was never unlocked by them. They promissed to send unlocking code within few days waited 6 months, reminded them almoust every week, didn't get. Went to the Moore St. and paid for unlocking. Few weeks after was the programm on the RTE where Prime Time Investigating showned how Meteor rippOff people.

chrislad

pcardin wrote: »

I had exact the same story as yours. Took a new phone and two weeks later moved from Louth to Dublin. There was no coverage at all for meteor however was a superb coverage for O2. Had a fight with Meteor for over two months. Tried all the stupid tasks they wanted till I get off the contract without penalty. However the phone was never unlocked by them. They promissed to send unlocking code within few days waited 6 months, reminded them almoust every week, didn't get. Went to the Moore St. and paid for unlocking. Few weeks after was the programm on the RTE where Prime Time Investigating showned how Meteor rippOff people.

Prime Time? Rest of the country must have missed that one.

OP, you will have to try all roads. Sim swap is one. Testing the phone is another. Then an engineer will have to be sent out to the mast in your area. If no fault is found, and it's indoor coverage that's dodgy, you have no leg to stand on. No network guarantees indoor coverage. Just be patient. As you said yourself, there are a lot of people who want to cancel their contracts and make this up as an excuse, yet want to keep the phone they got for next to nothing and have it unlocked. Meteor lose money on the phone, lose money on letting you out of contract and then you take their phone and go to someone else. They have a right to investigate any potential issues/defrauders, just as you have the right to get out of the contract if a service cannot be provided.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

mk6705

Are you not able to roam onto Vodafone? I would say you probably can in most of the West. If you manually selected Meteor then there's a good possibility of that.

snaps

Adro947 wrote: »

Are you not able to roam onto Vodafone? I would say you probably can in most of the West. If you manually selected Meteor then there's a good possibility of that.

I was going to bring up the same point? Your dad has moved back to vodafone so there must be coverage? Is your fone set up for auto network connection? If not select auto network and you will se the vodafone network when meteor has none. There is no charge for this. I am on vodafone most of the time here in mayo with no problems when i have no meteor coverage.