New phone...NI or ROI?

8-10

Hey, sorry if this has been asked before. Feel free to move/merge. I'm looking for a billpay smartphone. Money is not really a problem. I live and work in Northern Ireland during the week for work, and am in Dublin at the weekends. I'm from the south so all my contacts are from there. However I have no internet at my house up North.

What is my best option for a top-of-the-range smartphone if i'm looking to browse the internet in NI during the week and text/calling to the Republic from there? And also making calls in the ROI at the weekends. I don't need it for internet at the weekend.

Is it better to get a phone up here and keep my prepay crappy O2 ROI phone? What's the best UK network/plan? Or should I get one down south? Is there data roaming up here? Again which handset/network/plan would you recommend?

I'm not sure I can commit to a 12-18month contract right now for the UK but I can think about it. I spend a lot of time in Italy and the US but I have separate handsets for there. Any advice hugely appreciated. I know very very little about mobile devices! Nothing!

ardmacha

Some of the UK plans e.g. O2 UK have an Ireland Bolt-on, this is the kind of thing you could use. From the southern end you could look at the 3 or Vodafone as these allow data roaming. Three is fine East of the Bann but is not good in outlying parts of the 6 counties.

Walkman

you should look at 3. They allow roaming on the UK network with no roaming charges for calls, texts or data.

not_xanthor

Without specific information, my first instinct would be to say you'll get a better deal buying a phone in the UK, and roaming here, than the other way round.

robinph

Have just been looking around a few UK operator plans and they all seem to have cheaper, or free'er, phones, more minutes, more txts and more data than Irish plans for and equivalent monthly price. There is a few to many to choose between though which makes it tricky to pick who to go for.

eth0_

Walkman wrote: »

you should look at 3. They allow roaming on the UK network with no roaming charges for calls, texts or data.

ONLY on phones with Irish contracts/Irish PAYG. Three UK got rid of "three like home" last year.

I'm with Three and find their coverage when roaming is very poor but I think that's because i'm on PAYG and therefore don't have true roaming - I can only roam onto Three networks in other countries...for instance I was in London during the week and in a particular area I could see every mobile network except Three UK and I was unable to roam onto those network >-(

culabula

eth0_ wrote: »

ONLY on phones with Irish contracts/Irish PAYG. Three UK got rid of "three like home" last year.

I'm with Three and find their coverage when roaming is very poor but I think that's because i'm on PAYG and therefore don't have true roaming - I can only roam onto Three networks in other countries...for instance I was in London during the week and in a particular area I could see every mobile network except Three UK and I was unable to roam onto those network >-(

3IRL is what he was talking about.

culabula

8-10 wrote: »

Hey, sorry if this has been asked before. Feel free to move/merge. I'm looking for a billpay smartphone. Money is not really a problem. I live and work in Northern Ireland during the week for work, and am in Dublin at the weekends. I'm from the south so all my contacts are from there. However I have no internet at my house up North.

What is my best option for a top-of-the-range smartphone if i'm looking to browse the internet in NI during the week and text/calling to the Republic from there? And also making calls in the ROI at the weekends. I don't need it for internet at the weekend.

Is it better to get a phone up here and keep my prepay crappy O2 ROI phone? What's the best UK network/plan? Or should I get one down south? Is there data roaming up here? Again which handset/network/plan would you recommend?

I'm not sure I can commit to a 12-18month contract right now for the UK but I can think about it. I spend a lot of time in Italy and the US but I have separate handsets for there. Any advice hugely appreciated. I know very very little about mobile devices! Nothing!

Look at the following:

O2 UK PAYG SIM with "Your Country" tariff. 30GBP gets you 200 international minutes per month to any landline or mobile in the world (with exception of a few dodgy destinations like Sao Tome or the like...).

The 30GBP remains in situ for evermore. You can then use it to:

Make UK calls
Send SMS
Send international SMS at 50% off
Buy bolt ons.

Among the latter are:

My o2 numbers, where for 5GBP a month, you can send.make calls to 10 people on O2 UK with a 1,000 minutes/SMS to play with.

A web/wifi one for 10GBP

SMS bundles

Free incoming calls in Spain for 5GBP a month
Free incoming calls in Europe for 10GBP a month

In the case of the latter two, you may make calls in the visited country at national rates once you have purchased the bolt on.

There are many more attractive bolt ons. In all these cases, the cost of purchase comes out of the credit already placed which in turn, triggers the free international calls.

Bargain.

Furthermore, you get 10% of top-ups back every 3 months AND you also get 'rewards' on top-up, which can win you, free SMS, free offpeak calls, all sorts of things......

Best UK-based tariff I know.....

culabula

.......except that, even more recently, there is now Giffgaff from giffgaff.com.

This MVNO piggy-backs on O2 UK and offers, for example, for a tenner:

100 minutes
Unlimited SMS
True Unlimited Data

No international calls etc, but a bargain for use in the north of Ireland. I just got one and it is now sitting in permanence in my iPhone when in Belfast. On their website, they told me (and I quote) "if you want to suck 40GB of data a day, go ahead".

I would recommend 3 Ireland contract though. Units to use north and south for calls, SMS and data. Calls to UK numbers included in your units.

Unless you live in Fermanagh or south Down, it's a no-brainer.

8-10

culabula wrote: »

Unless you live in Fermanagh or south Down, it's a no-brainer.

I do actually! What do you mean by that? And thanks for the other info. I'd never thought of 3, I might go in for a chat tomorrow as I'm in Dublin.

culabula

8-10 wrote: »

I do actually! What do you mean by that? And thanks for the other info. I'd never thought of 3, I might go in for a chat tomorrow as I'm in Dublin.

Where exactly? 3UK coverage can be very flaky in the Occupied Territories. If you given me a placename, I can advise. Otherwise, it is the best for reduced costs -from your point of view. The locals will have to ring a +353 number (tough).

8-10

culabula wrote: »

Where exactly? 3UK coverage can be very flaky in the Occupied Territories. If you given me a placename, I can advise. Otherwise, it is the best for reduced costs -from your point of view. The locals will have to ring a +353 number (tough).

Newry

culabula

8-10 wrote: »

Newry

Newry is perfect.