iPhone in Waterford

liam1978

Hi all, I want to be able to get my wife the iPhone 4 (so I can get mine back as she's always on it!). However I am torn between the vodafone or 3 offers.

Vodafone is a larger outlay, costs more per month and has less data. However I have no experience on the 3 network and want to know if others could recommend it? We are leaving in Ardkeen and travel mainly around the city and surrounding county. If 3 have the coverage that they claim to, I will go with them I think.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Chris P. Bacon

I'm on 3 with the iPhone 4,and i have had no problems to date,on Sunday there was an issue with sending texts but it wasn't long and it was ok again,thats the only thing i can think of.I'm in the City and have full signal and 3G reception all the time.

liam1978

Richie thanks for the note! Are you happy with the €40 / month plan (which I assume you're on?)

Chris P. Bacon

liam1978 wrote: »

Richie thanks for the note! Are you happy with the €40 / month plan (which I assume you're on?)

I'm on the €60 plan,and to be honest I don't use half of the calls and texts,I do use the 2gb data as i listen to the radio a lot in work on it.Only last month i asked to change plans i want to be be on the €40 one,but you have to wait 12 months on the contract before you can change.

AdMMM

I changed up to the €60 one last month but I forsee me using less and less in the coming months. I hope they don't pull that one on me and don't allow me to change down!

Anyway, 3's coverage in Waterford City is excellent. I had a few problems when I went to Dublin with it losing 3G and not wanting to come back from GPRS but I've had no problems here in Waterford.

Chochese

I'm on the €40 Classic Flex Max on iPhone 4. I only started 2 weeks ago and the service is excellent.

I was with 3 for two years previous on Top Up and I never had any issues

decies

Am on the 40 month plan with 3 very happy with calls and coverage ,sure you might lose 3G the odd time but can live with that .

thund3rbird_

I'm on the €40/mth plan with 3 as well - iPhone4.
living within 20 mins of the city. most areas I get 4 - 5 bars full 3g signal.

there are a few blackspots but I find the coverage with 3 was better even on the iPhone3g.

I originally had the iP3 with O2 & could not get a 3G signal at home. When I got the phone unlocked via O2 I could get 4-5 bars 3G with a three sim in the same house :eek:

alibab

Hi i am living out by ardkeen also and have iphone4 with 3 .I have had no issues whatsoever and find the 2g internet a godsend as i use it a lot .I also have a add on of free landline calls .I am on the 40 euro a month package

liam1978

Thanks guys!

cococoady

Join the Waterford United supportes club and you will get 25% of your monthly contract.
I signed up with 3 in August. As i am a member of the club i showed the girl my card and asked her what would i get for it (thinking they might throw in a free cover or car charger, etc) and she said it would be 25% of my bill.
I signed up on €40 a month for 18 months, so its going to save me €180 over my contract :eek:.
All for paying €10 to join the club.
How bad

MidlandsM

3 are AWFUL. Their customer service will be the bane of your mobile phone existance.

I was going for the iphone4 but the people in the shop changed my mind!
Get a Samsung Galaxy S - its compariable to the iphone and runs on android so you're not tied to apple for all apps/products etc.

Its €50 or these about on a €30pm plan with meteor.
1gig of data and 200mins etc.

The Phone is some piece of kit and a lot cheaper than an iphone.

Good value plan and a great phone.

treatyman

MidlandsM wrote: »

3 are AWFUL. Their customer service will be the bane of your mobile phone existance.

I was going for the iphone4 but the people in the shop changed my mind!
Get a Samsung Galaxy S - its compariable to the iphone and runs on android so you're not tied to apple for all apps/products etc.

Its €50 or these about on a €30pm plan with meteor.
1gig of data and 200mins etc.

The Phone is some piece of kit and a lot cheaper than an iphone.

Good value plan and a great phone.

There is always one!! I am with 3 with iPhone 4 and live in Tramore and have no issues worth mentioning.. As long as you know that if you are outside of towns you are going to be on GPRS and not 3G it's fine.

Also I had an Android phone and loved it but still prefer the iPhone.

Sparkyd2002

With 3 on the 40 euro package. never go over the 40 euro tbh and found them fine so far. Love the iphone4 and this was the most cost effective way to jump on the bandwagon. Live in a rural location, have ok coverage but no 3g there but thats fine as i am on my own BB connection at home anyway.> So far I would report no issues with 3!

MidlandsM

treatyman wrote: »

There is always one!!

wtf do you mean by that? There's 1000's of dissatisified customers of 3 - look for the threads.

Kotek Besar

Cheaper (and better) to get it SIM free and factory unlocked directly from Apple for €599. Also has better resale value when you come to sell it.

Then I'd get a Meteor PAYG SIM and get free 250mb a month data and free text (as long as you top up by €20 a month). It also only costs 10c a minute to call the UK (inc to mobiles). Calls to Irish numbers are 29c a minute.

liam1978

Thanks, will look into thos

homolumo

cococoady wrote: »

Join the Waterford United supportes club and you will get 25% of your monthly contract.
I signed up with 3 in August. As i am a member of the club i showed the girl my card and asked her what would i get for it (thinking they might throw in a free cover or car charger, etc) and she said it would be 25% of my bill.
I signed up on €40 a month for 18 months, so its going to save me €180 over my contract :eek:.
All for paying €10 to join the club.
How bad

How do you join that? Can only find the 2010 form?

cococoady

homolumo wrote: »

How do you join that? Can only find the 2010 form?

The one for the new season will be starting in the next few weeks.
Go to www.btid.net and ask the lads in there.
They will be able to tell ya

cococoady

Kotek Besar wrote: »

Cheaper (and better) to get it SIM free and factory unlocked directly from Apple for €599. Also has better resale value when you come to sell it.

Then I'd get a Meteor PAYG SIM and get free 250mb a month data and free text (as long as you top up by €20 a month). It also only costs 10c a minute to call the UK (inc to mobiles). Calls to Irish numbers are 29c a minute.

How is it cheaper to pay €599 for a phone and then approx €20 a month on credit.

Over 24 months that would work out at €1079 compared to getting a free phone on a €40 24 month contract which would be €960.

With that (on 3 network) you get 300 flexi units and 2gb data a month with a free add on aswell.

Usually after a year you can then the phone unlocked by Apple.

And with getting credit €20 won't last pissing time and you would more than likely spent between 2/3 times.

It's a no brainer to go on contract.

Kotek Besar

I disagree.

Btw..

cococoady wrote: »

How is it cheaper to pay €599 for a phone and then approx €20 a month on credit.

Over 24 months that would work out at €1079 compared to getting a free phone on a €40 24 month contract which would be €960.

Says here that the iPhone 16gb is €139 on the €40 /month 24 month contract. So that's €1099 over two years for a locked handset tied to a 2-year contract with Three, compared with €1079 over two years for an unlocked handset direct from Apple, including 250mb a month data and unlimited cross-network texts, free to change SIM / network / priceplan at anytime, no contract.

It's a no brainer to get it SIM free.

cococoady

Kotek Besar wrote: »

I disagree.

Btw..



Says here that the iPhone 16gb is €139 on the €40 /month 24 month contract. So that's €1099 over two years for a locked handset tied to a 2-year contract with Three, compared with €1079 over two years for an unlocked handset direct from Apple, including 250mb a month data and unlimited cross-network texts, free to change SIM / network / priceplan at anytime, no contract.

It's a no brainer to get it SIM free.

If you trade in another phone (once it is decent) who can get the iphone 4 for free.
Plus your baseing your price on someone topping up by €20 a month.
How many people do you know would only use €5 a week on credit. The answer would be very low.
Plus the OP said that his wife was using his the whole time.
I'd imagine that would be for the internet, in which case, 250mb data would be gone in no time, which will incur more needing more credit.

BTW i don't work for 3

cococoady

Kotek Besar wrote: »

It also only costs 10c a minute to call the UK (inc to mobiles). Calls to Irish numbers are 29c a minute.

Isn't it mad that it is cheaper to ring the UK then it is to ring in Ireland.

Kotek Besar

cococoady wrote: »

If you trade in another phone (once it is decent) who can get the iphone 4 for free.

Ah, so it's not "free" then, it's dependent on trading in an existing phone.

cococoady wrote: »

Plus your baseing your price on someone topping up by €20 a month.
How many people do you know would only use €5 a week on credit. The answer would be very low.

You're basing your argument on never spending anything outside the allowances given as part of the €40 a month price plan. How many people do you know would do that? The answer would be very low. You make no allowances for the fact that almost everybody would receive a monthly bill for more than just the €40 line rental.

cococoady wrote: »

Plus the OP said that his wife was using his the whole time.
I'd imagine that would be for the internet, in which case, 250mb data would be gone in no time, which will incur more needing more credit.

You are forgetting that the €20 top up can be used for anything - such as out of bundle data (69c a day if/when 250mb /month is used up), or calls.. Your €40 a month Three tariff doesn't give you €20 worth of credit to spend as you please.

The fact is it's cheaper to buy it SIM free than to go on contract, even from a cheapo network like Three, and this method gives you a more desirable product - a factory unlocked iPhone direct from Apple.

cococoady

Kotek Besar wrote: »

Ah, so it's not "free" then, it's dependent on trading in an existing phone.

I get your point there but most people would throw there old phone out or pass it on for recycling (well i would anyway ) so why not use it as a trade in.

Kotek Besar wrote: »

You're basing your argument on never spending anything outside the allowances given as part of the €40 a month price plan. How many people do you know would do that? The answer would be very low. You make no allowances for the fact that almost everybody would receive a monthly bill for more than just the €40 line rental.

On the €40 tarriff you get 300 flexi units which can be used as you like. IE) 300 minutes of phone calls or 600 texts or you can mix and match as 1 flexi unit = 1 minute or 2 texts. How much would this amount to using credit??
You also get 2gb data which unless you were on the internet 24/7 is almost impossible to go over.

Kotek Besar wrote: »

You are forgetting that the €20 top up can be used for anything - such as out of bundle data (69c a day if/when 250mb /month is used up), or calls.. Your €40 a month Three tariff doesn't give you €20 worth of credit to spend as you please.

The fact is it's cheaper to buy it SIM free than to go on contract, even from a cheapo network like Three, and this method gives you a more desirable product - a factory unlocked iPhone direct from Apple.

Sure it does, plus even more, as i have explained above.

Kotek Besar

cococoady wrote: »

On the €40 tarriff you get 300 flexi units which can be used as you like. IE) 300 minutes of phone calls or 600 texts or you can mix and match as 1 flexi unit = 1 minute or 2 texts. How much would this amount to using credit??
You also get 2gb data which unless you were on the internet 24/7 is almost impossible to go over.




Sure it does, plus even more, as i have explained above.

But Three's flexi-units can only be used to call standard Irish landlines and mobiles (not 0818, 1850, 1890 numbers, nor international numbers), texts and data. So you can't say that Three gives you €20 (or even anything) to spend how you please.

Most people's monthly bills will be more than the basic €40.

cococoady

Kotek Besar wrote: »

Ah, so it's not "free" then, it's dependent on trading in an existing phone.


You're basing your argument on never spending anything outside the allowances given as part of the €40 a month price plan. How many people do you know would do that? The answer would be very low. You make no allowances for the fact that almost everybody would receive a monthly bill for more than just the €40 line rental.


You are forgetting that the €20 top up can be used for anything - such as out of bundle data (69c a day if/when 250mb /month is used up), or calls.. Your €40 a month Three tariff doesn't give you €20 worth of credit to spend as you please.

The fact is it's cheaper to buy it SIM free than to go on contract, even from a cheapo network like Three, and this method gives you a more desirable product - a factory unlocked iPhone direct from Apple.

Kotek Besar wrote: »

But Three's flexi-units can only be used to call standard Irish landlines and mobiles (not 0818, 1850, 1890 numbers, nor international numbers), texts and data. So you can't say that Three gives you €20 (or even anything) to spend how you please.

Most people's monthly bills will be more than the basic €40.

You also get a free add on which can be anything from free international calls(i think) to free weekend and evening local calls.

Plus your on about going over the €40 bill.
It will be alot easier to stay under that than stay under €20 of credit a month

Daysha

I got the 32GB sim-free iPhone 4 from Apple. I top up by €20 a month with Vodafone that gives me free texts to all networks, and since I'm on a 360 data plan it costs 39c a day for 100MBs. Overall that will leave me around €8 a month for calls which is more than enough since I'm a heavy texter.

I did consider that Meteor PAYG deal but that's only free Meteor to Meteor texts, and 100MB a day is much better than 250 a month.

Either way I'm delighted I went with a sim-free phone from Apple. Has much better resale value once the iPhone 5 comes along and I don't have to tie myself down to paying 40-60 a month for the next year or two. Not to mention the fact Vodafone's coverage (and customer service) is miles ahead of 3.