Question re Meteor and the HTC Hero

Sandwell

Hi folks,

I'm considering getting the Hero on Meteor bill pay and I've been doing a bit of research in this forum. I'm pretty sure that the phone itself ticks all the boxes for what I'm after but I'd like to clear something up before I take the plunge. I've been reading about the problems with Google Sync not working properly, the switch from 3G to 2G causing problems etc. Should this be enough to put me off? I've seen a few very disgruntled posters on the Meteor forums.

Kensington

Personally, I would avoid. It's a great handset, don't get me wrong, but the Meteor network is just so poor it really lets it down.

- Very patchy 3G coverage
- Where 3G coverage exists, the phone regularly drops off the network, without warning, until your reset, diverting ALL calls to voicemail in the meantime
- In 2G (EDGE) coverage, calls get sent straight to voicemail if the phone has a data connection open at the time (which, with the Hero is quite a lot!)
- Google Contacts, Google Calendar, the built in Twitter client and a couple of other apps will not function due to blocked ports

If you're willing to shell out for a SIM-free version, go for it. I did, have it on Vodafone Ready to Go and it's a superb handset.

Sandwell

Cheers for that. Unfortunately you've confirmed my suspicions. That would drive me mental so best not to go there. I can't really justify the outlay for the for the SIM-free version so I guess it's back to the drawing board.