New Plan, New Phone

cormie

Hi folks,
So o2 rang me again today offering me a better plan for my usage and a discount on my current plan to get me into another 18 month contract. I said no and said I wanted to scope out the competition. I'm currently out of contract so can switch immediately if need be.

I use on average 440 minutes a month, 400 texts and 240 webtexts. I'm in the UK/Northern Ireland quite a bit and also use my phone as a modem when I'm out and about with the laptop. If o2 had more webtexts, I'd say many of the 400 texts would be done through webtext (I know Vodafone offer 600 per month national/international mobile).

Currently I'm on o2 600 business plan (600 minutes/350 texts) with 250mb data add on (€7.50 a month) and UK call add on (€cheap enough I think). This comes to about €89 a month inc VAT. I'm VAT registered.

I'm paying on average about €110 a month due to out of bundle usage (calls/texts from/to abroad, directory inquiries, 1850 numbers etc).

I'd love to hear any advice on an alternative plan perhaps from an alternative company. I'm happy with the service o2 are giving me but feel I'm paying over the odds. I'm also looking to change phones as my SE G900 is very buggy. I'm looking for something that can hold over 1,000 contacts, limited only by phone memory, push email, a route calculation map (actual navigation isn't required as I use a standalone GPS), capability to sync with google calendar and export contacts into a CSV file for use in spreadsheets etc, I'd like it to have wifi and a decent camera that can record video. Music playback, radio etc isn't important. (perhaps an iphone??)

Most of all, I need to the provider to have extensive, reliable coverage and I don't want broken calls or anything dodgy going on with calls. This is very important.

The data usage plan I'm on at the moment suits me as I wouldn't really use much more than the 250mb a month anyway, but if I can get more for the same price of €7.50 or less, great!

Would really appreciate any advice on what network or plan I should go to.

theteal

Meteor's bill pay surf plan sounds like it might suit - 500 mins, 500 texts, 1gb data. . . €55 inc. VAT. There's no bundle needed for UK roaming as there's an agreement with T-mobile that work's a treat for me.

Handset wise it sounds like the HTC Hero could suit your requirements - also the HTC Legend should be hitting stores today!

cormie

Thanks a lot for the suggestion! I think I saw that advertised on tv once actually and thought it looked good for me. The 97% coverage is a bit worrying though, I know three advertise 99% coverage and I've heard bad stories about the coverage being bad with them. I'm not sure how 97% compares with o2, who I've been with for pretty much my whole mobile phone life. I know sometimes when I call meteor phones, I've had a problem when I say hello and just hear my voice saying hello back to me and can't hear the other person at all, I can just hear myself

The Tmobile deal sounds good, however I'm not sure how much coverage tmobile have? Whenever I've manually searched for networks when in N. Ire, I can't recall seeing Tmobile, just orange, o2 and vodafone! So would I end up having to go with one of these more times than Tmobile adding up the costs? I'm in the UK/Nire enough to warrant this being a big concern.

Besides these worries, everything else sounds good. You can even get 15 minutes of international calls for €5 which is good too. Does this include UK I wonder or is UK cheaper still?

Are HTC Hero and Legend available through meteor and can I get a good price by signing up to bill pay with them I wonder?

Thanks again for the feedback

EDIT: Actually, I forgot one thing and got a bit mixed up. With my current o2 plan, if I'm in the UK and on the o2 network, calls made to Irish mobile/landlines come out of my minutes, so I don't have to pay anything extra! Is this the case with meteor or would I have to pay the tmobile rates all the time?

justsomebloke

if you have an unlocked phone you could just get a free meteor sim, stick it into the phone and bring it out with you and see how reception goes for you, rather then signing up for a monthly bill only to find out you can't get coverage and leaving you trying to get out of a 1 year contract

cormie

Thanks for the suggestion and tip however due to the nature of my work, a brief testing will not reassure me as I could be anywhere in the country, unknown to me now, needing to contact a customer etc. If I knew the coverage would be roughly the same as o2, then that would be fine, but I don't want it dropping every few minutes, especially if I'm on a call on hands free while driving trying to find a location with the person explaining where to go


Uh oh, just saw that the 300 webtexts are only to Irish numbers??

Edit: Just had a look at the vodafone packages and they seem way too expensive for my usage. 79c to receive/make a call in UK and not able to use bundle minutes. 500min/500text/2gb data is €80 but the UK charges will make that soar. Pity because they offer the best webtext deal at 600 irish/international a month

Beno

I'm on three business sharer, which is 70 euro and 10 per mobile up to three ex Vat
Get 600min or 1750 texts or 1750mb of Data. Any calls to the uk are included in our minutes, free roaming in the uk, this is also in a couple of other countries including Aus. Free 3 to 3
http://www.three.ie/business/business_priceplans.htm

So what you could do is share with your partners, wife etc.

I know that we moved from 1 Vodafone and 2 )2 in which we were playing about 180 in total ex vat now we are playing about 110 and talking more aswell.

As far as coverage is, down in south wexford its no worse or no better than O2 or Vodafone but better than meteor

cormie

Thanks for the suggestion. After having used threes mobile broadband, I'm VERY put off trusting my mobile to them!

That package is perhaps a bit too expensive for what I need. I think I'd be left with a lot of excess units each month.

The iPhone package on Vodafone doesn't seem so bad. If only they didn't charge 79c for each call made/received while in NI/UK

cormie

I'm half tempted to get the iphone deal on vodafone. It says the deal ends on 31st of March, I wonder if it will be magically extended though?

Just trying to weigh up whether the webtexts and iphone would make up for the 79c UK call connection fee. I'm surprised VF don't offer some UK call package which gets rid of that fee

Walkman

I wouldn't rate 3's phone service the same as their broadband. Even I wouldn't use their broadband but never had any real problems with their phone service and i'm with them years.

try

cormie wrote: »

I'm half tempted to get the iphone deal on vodafone. It says the deal ends on 31st of March, I wonder if it will be magically extended though?

Just trying to weigh up whether the webtexts and iphone would make up for the 79c UK call connection fee. I'm surprised VF don't offer some UK call package which gets rid of that fee

http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/paymonthly/roaming/passport/
Free to receive and same per minute rate as at home to make calls.

I use passport in the UK and switch it off going to other countries as most calls are less than a minute.

cormie

Aha! I missed the part about the UK not having the charge! That changes things! I may go with Vodafone after all, funny how something like that can sway a decision

When you say you turn it off if going to other countries because most calls will be under a minute, how much would a minute be with it off in say France, as opposed to with it switched on?

Is it easy to switch on and off? I know on o2 you can just log onto the website and flick things like that on and off in a few seconds.

EDIT: Another very important question actually. On the iphone deal it says you get 2gb with the 80eur plan, but then below it says "use your iphone as a modem, 1gb is 10eur a month"... Does the 2gb allowance not cover using it as a modem too?

try

Most of my calls are less than a minute so here's the comparison. I save money switching off passport when I'm within the EU

In any passport country within EU

Receiving calls with passport 79c flat fee
Receiving calls without passport 23 c / minute

Making calls with passport 79c flat fee + standard home rate /minute
Making calls without passport 52 c /minute

cormie

Cool thanks for that Would you know about the data allowance at all? Could the 2GB included in the plan be used for connecting the iphone to my laptop as a modem I wonder?

Strange that VF seem to be better than o2 for my usage, I thought o2 always had a more competitive plan whatever the requirements.

try

You should check here I think what you're talking about is tethering

I have the 1 GB data bundle here and I use it with the laptop no problem, However I have one of a number of Wireless Office Share phones

cormie

Thanks again for the help!

I must get onto vodafone and just confirm that the 2gb data allowance that comes with the iphone for 80eur can also be used while connected to the laptop to surf from the laptop. It would appear so, just a bit strange the way they also offer a 1gb data plan under the "use it as a modem" heading, when you should, as far as I know, be already to do so, using the 2gb included

cormie

I've confirmed anyway that the 2GB included data allowance CAN NOT be used to connect the iphone to a laptop :mad: That's a deal breaker for me. It's only an extra €10 a month but knowing that I have the allowance and not allowed use it for that threw me off.

I wonder is there any hack that can be used? I'd feel kind of cheated to pay €10 for 1gb extra Their losing out on a minimum of €1,440 over the next 18 months by having that.

cormie

Just having a look at three again but seems to be some strange things like here: http://three.ie/international/country_fr_1.htm on the recommended networks in France it says you can't receive texts

It also states:

Easy, you’re automatically cleared for international roaming after 3 months. So just choose the 3 network in participating countries when you touch down.

. Does that mean I've to be with three for 3 months before I can use the phone in the UK :eek:

Davy

cormie wrote: »

Just having a look at three again but seems to be some strange things like here: http://three.ie/international/country_fr_1.htm on the recommended networks in France it says you can't receive texts

It also states: . Does that mean I've to be with three for 3 months before I can use the phone in the UK :eek:

Its a mistake on the site, i have received texts in france on 3 iirc.

And the 3 months thing i think is you might have to give them a deposit like meteor do for example, but after 3 months they activate it automatically.

cormie

After a bit more looking around I think I'll move to Vodafone €80 per month plan if:

• Jailbroken iPhone 3Gs can tether even if Vodafone don't like it
• Vodafone get rid of this tethering add on
• Vodafone business sales man have more leeway than personal customers and can give it to me for free.
• I can sign up to Perfect Choice Access Plus 500 for €80 including VAT per month which will give me 500 texts, 500 minutes 2GB of Data, calls to UK for 15c (landline) 30c (mobile) and 15c (text) along with other international Perfect choice costs as outlined here: http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/paymonthly/currentoffers/internationalrates/ and I can receive calls and texts on Passport while in the UK for free and pay the same rate per minute out of bundle to make calls in UK. Also that the 2GB data mentioned above in this plan can be used on any phone including the Nexus One (with only one exception being the iPhone) to connect to my laptop and get online with no restrictions.

I wonder if any of the above are possible at all?

globemaster1986

cormie wrote: »

After a bit more looking around I think I'll move to Vodafone €80 per month plan if:

• Jailbroken iPhone 3Gs can tether even if Vodafone don't like it
• Vodafone get rid of this tethering add on
• Vodafone business sales man have more leeway than personal customers and can give it to me for free.
• I can sign up to Perfect Choice Access Plus 500 for €80 including VAT per month which will give me 500 texts, 500 minutes 2GB of Data, calls to UK for 15c (landline) 30c (mobile) and 15c (text) along with other international Perfect choice costs as outlined here: http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/paymonthly/currentoffers/internationalrates/ and I can receive calls and texts on Passport while in the UK for free and pay the same rate per minute out of bundle to make calls in UK. Also that the 2GB data mentioned above in this plan can be used on any phone including the Nexus One (with only one exception being the iPhone) to connect to my laptop and get online with no restrictions.

I wonder if any of the above are possible at all?

Not looking for much eh?:D Ha ha ha. Not sure how much leeway they (sales reps) have but probably not that much and they'd probably promise you anything to close the sale! Tethering without the data add on i would not do, they can tell the difference between data usage through the handset and when it is being used as a modem and will bill you accordingly!

cormie

Thanks for the reply I got this reply to the same question in another thread ( http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=65233736&postcount=53 ) which makes it sound like it would be no problem to use the 2GB in the bundle for laptop usage. What do you think yourself?

globemaster1986

To be honest I'm not too sure about all that with the software versions etc but what I do know is using data through the handset and using it as a modem will be distinguishable for Vodafone regardless of the apn used, least of all with regards to the higher amounts of data. It depends on their own policy and how strict they are I guess, whether they turn a blind eye or not

drunkmonkey

I think you'd be better off with a mobile broadband and keep the phone separate.
Try and keep you base price low if your trying to save money.
Look at relax 350 at the moment there giving double flexi units for 6mts, I guess this is only an interim before new price plans come out.

For 54 euro including vat, you could get 400 minutes to anyone in Ireland, 100 Minutes to anyone in the UK or NI(landline or mobile) 1GB of data and 633 texts. That's over half what your paying at the moment.

cormie

Thanks again for the replies.

I'm just really put off by 3 from my experience with them in the past and I'm not sure how well the roaming would work up North because I've rarely seen "three" available when searching for new networks so if I end up on a different network it could end up costing a good bit. The Perfect Choice Access seems straight forward enough and the international calls from Ireland are pretty well priced too. The 600 international webtexts would be VERY handy for me too as I do most of my texting off Cabbage on the desktop and I'd just feel safer overall with VF as opposed to three. It's not very clear to me how their pricing will work against what VF can offer either so I'm not sure if I'd actually save much or spending a good bit extra on out of bundle expenses.

I'd definitely prefer to use the handset as the modem and not get tied into any mobile broadband crap. I wouldn't pay much extra for it. I'm currently on o2's 250mb a month for 7.50 deal and it's fine but I'd prefer to pay less than that or nothing at all and it seems the 2GB with vodafone would be a good alternative to that if it can just be used with the laptop too.

cormie

Hi,
So I ended up going with Vodafone and got a 16GB 3Gs. Had I been 2 weeks earlier I would have got it for free as opposed to €79. Also to point out, I had to pay a €100 deposit which will be taken off my bill AFTER 6 months, or I can request a cheque back.

The next question is; I want to unlock/jailbreak/whatever it's called the phone so I can sell it if I decide to go with a Google Nexus One. If possible, I want the jailbreak option that lets you reboot without needing to connect it to itunes. I also want it to be unlocked to any network. Is it possible to do both with the 3GS or can I only do a tethered jailbreak yet because the untethered jailbreak hasn't been released?

Also, is it possible to revert to factory settings if need be and is it traceable that it's been jailbroken/unlocked if I do as I'd like to make sure it's in good working order before selling it on but don't want to discover any issues only to have the warranty void because of evidence of unlocking. Another thing I heard, can you only connect it to 5 computers in the phones lifetime? Is there a way to get around this?

I also want to be able to use the phone as a modem with my laptop with the data package included in my plan so I believe I'll need to use something for this too in the jailbroken iphone?

Would appreciate any help or links to files/video tutorials that will solve the above