Best Irish cell phone provid

sidecar8706

Hi everyone!

I'm moving to Dublin from the US on a working travel visa for a year. I've gotten most of my pre-departure planning set, but I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on cell phones. I don't want to get a contract, because I may not stay the entire 12 months. I have an unlocked iPhone which I plan to use, and I've looked at all the major cell companies (Vodafone, O2, Meteor & Three) and it seems that Three has by far the best plan. So, naturally I'm wondering what the catch is! All of their pay-as-you-go plans come with "all you can eat data" which is a BIG deal with me, because I will probably use more data than minutes. I plan on using Skype for all my international calls as it's only $3 for unlimited calls the US.

Here are the links to the two plans I'm considering. If anyone has any experience with Three, especially these particular plans, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Three Prepay

Billpay Flex

Thanks in advance :]

cookie1977

Three's great but make sure you test out the signal where you live work and play before joining. You can get free pre pay Sims from their stores. Look for good 3G signal as on 2G they roam on the Vodafone gprs/edge network

jimmycrackcorm

cookie1977 wrote: »

Three's great but make sure you test out the signal where you live work and play before joining. You can get free pre pay Sims from their stores. Look for good 3G signal as on 2G they roam on the Vodafone gprs/edge network

This applies to all the providers.

ingen

cookie1977 wrote: »

Three's great

thats a matter of opinion, OP have a look over at the three forum to see how great they are

angel01

People complain more than appreciate so take what you read on the 3 forum with a pinch of salt.

Me, my OH, my Dad and sister, her bloke are all on 3 and have no issues...:)

3 are by far the best out there...

Walkman

angel01 wrote: »

People complain more than appreciate so take what you read on the 3 forum with a pinch of salt.

Me, my OH, my Dad and sister, her bloke are all on 3 and have no issues...:)

3 are by far the best out there...

+1

Dardania

In terms of network quality, O2 in my opinion have the best network, however expect to pay for it

Ghandee

Walkman wrote: »

+1

+2

blaz

If you rely on data beware of Three Prepay - they censor the internet connection and there is no way to turn that off. Also, officially you can not use data while on 2G (roaming on Vodafone), although some users report that it works.

Gaffs89

angel01 wrote: »

People complain more than appreciate so take what you read on the 3 forum with a pinch of salt.

Me, my OH, my Dad and sister, her bloke are all on 3 and have no issues...:)

3 are by far the best out there...

In fairness all the providers fourms are full of complaints.So I agree take it all with a pinch of salt.
I have my phone and broadband with 3. No issues with the phone and it's a smart phone.Broadband is not so good.
Stick to pre pay and you can change if it's not good enough.

jay93

If you use alot of data three's new offer would be best coverage is fairly good and you can access data on 2G over vodafones network when your out of 3G coverage.

Tesco Mobile do 2cent/min calls to mobiles and landines and texts are 14cent to the USA this would be suited if your going to be calling home alot!!They use the O2 network which is fairly reliable also.
You get double your credit when you top up and can buy a data add-on 1GB for €7.

Hope this helps you..

sidecar8706

blaz wrote: »

If you rely on data beware of Three Prepay - they censor the internet connection and there is no way to turn that off. Also, officially you can not use data while on 2G (roaming on Vodafone), although some users report that it works.

Censor? How do you mean?

And as far as the data on 2G, do you mean it just doesn't work or they slam you with big charges?

blaz

sidecar8706 wrote: »

Censor? How do you mean?

Certain pages don't open, you know, to protect the children.... Instead you get a message that this page is not available. All other operators in Ireland have similar censoring, but you can turn it off. With Three there just isn't a procedure in place and after pressure, they even put it into their terms and conditions:

"For Prepay customers, we are working on a solution whereby if you verify you are over 18, you will be able to opt-out. We will keep you posted."

And no, it is not only porn that is blocked.

http://www.three.ie/terms/3pay_terms.html

And as far as the data on 2G, do you mean it just doesn't work or they slam you with big charges?

It just plain does not work. It is also in their terms and conditions (see above):

"You can only use your Prepay mobile phone for internet surfing in 3G coverage areas."

srsly78

And most of the time with 3 you will be on 2g (when indoors even in a city). So what is the point of having a smartphone if you can't use it?

cookie1977

srsly78 wrote: »

And most of the time with 3 you will be on 2g (when indoors even in a city). So what is the point of having a smartphone if you can't use it?

I dont agree with this at all. It's best if you test out each networks signal for yourself and make up your own mind.

Dardania

Have a look here:

http://opensignalmaps.com/