O2 Ireland tears up the channel

drunkmonkey

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/News/293106/o2_ireland_carves_up_channel.html

Another blow for Irish business:mad:

Anyone fancy opening a franchise? Random, Sully?

billbond4

I thought the shops were owned by O2 and not a franchise?

Keano

Did not know this was country wide. I know a few shops were told that they had to refurb their shops at their own expense and then pay O2 a huge amount (€100k+) and only allowed sell O2 products. Failure to do this would mean the lost the right to sell O2 products.

Tom Dunne

That's pretty bad form, tbh.

Our man in Havana

Indeed.

The problem will be that you will only be able to buy o2 products from o2 stores or CPW. This is a massive blow to independants who sell all the networks products. It is also bad for the consumer.

Sully

Sure thing OP, iv decided the exact town and my competitors.

As for the topic at hand.. Going to hurt o2 since they will likely see a sales reduction. I don't see the problem with people joining the programme though. I don't know the details of the programme though. Hurting consumer.. By not having more choice to shop around? Is there usually that big a difference price wise?

Our man in Havana

It will hurt the consumer by not being able to choose and get impartial advice.

Rsaeire

While I understand O2's position, it's funny that it could lead to a potential 75% loss of market presence. O2 must really be expecting a large take-up from the existing O2 dealers, otherwise they are shooting themselves in the foot.

towel401

Less Ohtue stores can only be a good thing tbh, we have enough places to buy mobile phones anyway and maybe this will make people look around a bit more and maybe buy an unlocked phone

well really I wish those scumbags would take their crappy overpriced network and **** off back to spain, and take their exclusive iPhone deal with them.

Sully

towel401 wrote: »

Less Ohtue stores can only be a good thing tbh, we have enough places to buy mobile phones anyway and maybe this will make people look around a bit more and maybe buy an unlocked phone

well really I wish those scumbags would take their crappy overpriced network and **** off back to spain, and take their exclusive iPhone deal with them.

o2 Ireland have much better packages then other networks. At least, from my recent experience.

towel401

Sully wrote: »

o2 Ireland have much better packages then other networks. At least, from my recent experience.

yes i'm sure the bosses of all the telco's meet for a round of golf in the dark every 2 years and carve out a niche for each one. it really depends how much you use the phone and what for

drunkmonkey

Current offers don't mean much in the phone game...I think o2 are really caught up in themeselves, were the best la de da, living in a pure bubble with loads of rubber ducks and an iphone. Tbh, I think this is all an inside job by some industrial spy working for Vodafone, Eircom, 3. I couldn't think of a worse way to try and increase your customer base.

Eircom/Meteor if they went about it could really hurt o2..I really hope they seize the opportunity..

Hows this sound for a package..

Free Meteor Calls and texts
300 Free Webtexts
Free Voicemail
300 Free any network minutes
Free Calls to Landlines
3mb Home Broadband

All for €45pm, it's basically bill pay lite 25 with a free extra and eircom not charging you line rental for a fixed line when you don't need one but still need broadband.

Even if they wanted to o2 could not compete with that kind of offer. Good by €250k franchise investment.

Sam Vimes

Sully wrote: »

o2 Ireland have much better packages then other networks. At least, from my recent experience.

I never found that tbh. While working in phone shops I always foud O2 to be very middle of the road. They were rarely the cheapest but rarely the most expensive either. They have extensive coverage and roaming agreements but vodafone has a bit more. They had some good offers but other networks had better. The only thing that ever really stood out for me was their good customer care

laoisfan

To be honest, it really comes down to how people use their phones. I've been on all 3 networks (Vodafone, Meteor & O2 (currently)) and I have found very little in difference between network coverage etc. I'm a texter rather than a talker, but that's me. However, agreeing with Sam here, I have found O2's customer care really good, Meteor are fairly good too. Vodafone are crap (but just my opinion). Never been with 3 but have read the feedback from other posters on them

Sully

Well Three were the only network that could go anywhere near the offers o2 had to meet my requirements anyway. Seemed like decent enough packages for other networks but I guess it does depend.

Dublin_Gunner

I switched to O2 just over a year ago after experiencing some terrible customer support from Vodafone.

I have found them a pleasure to deal with, and have recently switched to he following contract:

O2 Clear 350 (30 day contract)
350 anytime, any network minutes
Free Texts
€50 p/m

Pretty good IMO

drunkmonkey

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

I switched to O2 just over a year ago after experiencing some terrible customer support from Vodafone.

I have found them a pleasure to deal with, and have recently switched to he following contract:

O2 Clear 350 (30 day contract)
350 anytime, any network minutes
Free Texts
€50 p/m

Pretty good IMO

It's a pretty poor offer compared to Bill Pay Lite 25 from meteor
€25pm gets you 300 any network minutes + free talk and text to all meteor and it's a 30 day contract also.

Your paying double for very little extra.

Dublin_Gunner

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It's a pretty poor offer compared to Bill Pay Lite 25 from meteor
€25pm gets you 300 any network minutes + free talk and text to all meteor and it's a 30 day contract also.

Your paying double for very little extra.

50 extra minutes and completely free texts.

The 50 extra minutes make up €10, and the free texts - you could send 500 texts and not be charged a penny (that would be €45 per meteor rates).

And when you consider only 2 people I know are on meteor, the free texts definitely come in handy.

So paying more for little extra is not exactly true.

Sam Vimes

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

50 extra minutes and completely free texts.

The 50 extra minutes make up €10,

They don't exactly because the meteor one gives you free meteor calls too

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

and the free texts - you could send 500 texts and not be charged a penny (that would be €45 per meteor rates).

And when you consider only 2 people I know are on meteor, the free texts definitely come in handy.

So paying more for little extra is not exactly true.

But considering that, the O2 one is probably a better deal

Sully

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It's a pretty poor offer compared to Bill Pay Lite 25 from meteor
€25pm gets you 300 any network minutes + free talk and text to all meteor and it's a 30 day contract also.

Your paying double for very little extra.

Meteor to Meteor only though. With o2 your getting free texts to everybody with 50 extra minutes talk time to any network. It just doesn't offer free calls along with the free texts. Its also a 30 day contract, like Meteor. So, by paying double your getting unlimited texts outside the o2 network and more talk time. With Meteor you payed for those texts. If you look at it and think "I will be paying Xc per text outside Meteor (costly compared to o2 as its free and unlimited) and Xc per min calls once I use up 300mins (o2 gave me an extra 50mins, so I am getting more talk time)".

It depends entirely on your circumstances. If you were only texting Meteor customers and calling them you would be daft to move over. O2s plan are geared towards other networks and its own, Meteor have always geared their plans to suit customers who talk to their customers only.

At least with o2 the Customer Services is better then 3 and Meteor. Vodafone is the only network (IMO) that can match the good customer service.

Dublin_Gunner

Sam Vimes wrote: »

They don't exactly because the meteor one gives you free meteor calls too

Well I'm talking outside of meteor-meteor, as obviously, they are free on their network. Talking about landlines and other networks, it is a €10 benefit on O2.

Sully - agreed with everything you said, apart from Vodafone customer service - the main reason I left them for O2 (been with Voda for about 6 years beforehand).

Sam Vimes

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Well I'm talking outside of meteor-meteor, as obviously, they are free on their network. Talking about landlines and other networks, it is a €10 benefit on O2.

Yes but I think you missed my point. O2 gives you 350 minutes but meteor gives you unlimited minutes as long as they're to meteor, along with 300 minutes to other networks. If you call meteor numbers at all, having free calls to them more than compensates for the extra 50 minutes on O2. Yes theoretically the extra 50 minutes would cost €10 but you'd be very unlikely to actually pay that figure.

But as you say you only know two people on meteor so if you rarely call them it's a moot point

drunkmonkey

I find it hard to believe not one paper or online site mentioned it Ireland. It's a big blow to a lot of irish retailers. Surley it was worty of a snippet at least.

Maybe the papers & tv are just to afraid to say anything that might show o2 in a bad light for fear of loosing advertising revenue.

What's really starting to annoy me now is the pluggin of the o2 online store on boards along with the direct links to buy o2 products, I really think it shoud be cut out.

Davy

It was reported a few weeks before this thread online, not sure if it was in the papers.

Tom Dunne

drunkmonkey wrote: »

What's really starting to annoy me now is the pluggin of the o2 online store on boards along with the direct links to buy o2 products, I really think it shoud be cut out.

On what boards? Here? Or the O2 board?

Mimikyu

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Davy

Tom Dunne wrote: »

On what boards? Here? Or the O2 board?

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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Thats my take on what he meant, but just annoyed at the retailer aspect i think. Same could be said for linking to any networks offer example missionred etc.

Mimikyu

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Davy

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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Yes exactly, that was my point

Rsaeire

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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Davy wrote: »

Yes exactly, that was my point

I think he may be, ever so subtly, implying that not many people link to 3 products and/or services.

Tom Dunne

Rsaeire wrote: »

I think he may be, ever so subtly, implying that not many people link to 3 products and/or services.

Now why on earth would people do that?

Anyway, if there is any hint of bias towards any operator, please do let me or any of the other mods know.