new to ROI: which prepaid plan?

EmonMCC

Dia dhuit!

My family and I will be moving to Ireland in a few weeks. We'll be bringing our own phones but we need 2 SIM cards which we can buy in a store immediately (no time to order online and have them shipped), where we can talk/text to each other for free and which we can reload (or "top up" as you guys say) which is going to be a new thing for me as I'm spoiled by having an employer-administered AT&T plan for many years. Post-pay is out of the question since we need to set up bank accounts etc first so prepay is the only viable option for the time being.

I've been researching and found the Tesco €25/m plan quite intriguing for our needs. Then I found this board and WTH! Seems like with Tesco/O2/3 you won't even get a connection if you live directly in plain sight of a cell tower. Back in the day when we still lived in Germany we had O2 plans and were always happy with that.

Vodafone is expensive just like AT&T or Verizon here. Meteor seems to be quite interesting with the build-your-own plan and the coverage seems to be ok, too. Since we will need quite some time to settle somewhere we probably won't have access to a fixed fiber line or Wifi anytime soon so we'll be dependent on the phones' 4G data and need to hook up the laptop or desktop computer.

If these requirements are not enough yet, I'd also need an option to make the odd call to mainland Europe and the U.S. as cheap as possible.

I'd appreciate any input you folks can give us.
Go raibh maith agat!

cb1959

EmonMCC wrote: »

Dia dhuit!

My family and I will be moving to Ireland in a few weeks. We'll be bringing our own phones but we need 2 SIM cards which we can buy in a store immediately (no time to order online and have them shipped), where we can talk/text to each other for free and which we can reload (or "top up" as you guys say) which is going to be a new thing for me as I'm spoiled by having an employer-administered AT&T plan for many years. Post-pay is out of the question since we need to set up bank accounts etc first so prepay is the only viable option for the time being.

I've been researching and found the Tesco €25/m plan quite intriguing for our needs. Then I found this board and WTH! Seems like with Tesco/O2/3 you won't even get a connection if you live directly in plain sight of a cell tower. Back in the day when we still lived in Germany we had O2 plans and were always happy with that.

Vodafone is expensive just like AT&T or Verizon here. Meteor seems to be quite interesting with the build-your-own plan and the coverage seems to be ok, too. Since we will need quite some time to settle somewhere we probably won't have access to a fixed fiber line or Wifi anytime soon so we'll be dependent on the phones' 4G data and need to hook up the laptop or desktop computer.

If these requirements are not enough yet, I'd also need an option to make the odd call to mainland Europe and the U.S. as cheap as possible.

I'd appreciate any input you folks can give us.
Go raibh maith agat!

Céad Míle Fáilte go hÉireann!

Yes - Meteor is probably your best option. €20 per month for unlimited voice minutes within Ireland 400 free texts including 100 free international texts which might be useful to text back home to US. You get 15GB data and tethering is allowed. The texts have to be sent using the MyMeteor app in Android/IOS. If you want unlimited Irish texts in native app. you will pay another €10.

Meteor offer free incoming roaming calls throughout Europe on pre-pay and unlimited outgoing also on Bill-pay with a 1GB data allowance when roaming.

If you need online bank account in Europe you should try the German e-bank Number26. These accounts are very easy to set up online and although I haven't tried using them with Meteor, I see no reason why it wouldn't work. This might allow you to opt for Bill-pay and the full Meteor free roaming deal in Europe.

O2 used to have a good network in Ireland which Tesco piggy-backed on. However , it was never upgraded to 4G and is currently being decommissioned since being taken over by 3. Hence the bad service issues in many areas. All the Three resellers are best avoided due to the network issues.

Although not a big international brand like Vodafone, Meteor is owned by the largest Telco in Ireland (Eir - like ATT in US). They have a good 4G network and you also get free access to their WiFi public hotspots.

Good luck in Ireland!

EmonMCC

Thanks! Are you saying I can use a non-Irish bank account for bill-pay (and other stuff like salary, utilities etc) until establishing a regular residency? I have active checking accounts in Germany...

Is there such a thing as Meteor stores in towns? Here in America you have AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint stores etc on every corner. Just go in, get a SIM and start calling/surfing... Like I said shipping is a bit tricky and also a time issue.

punisher5112

Tesco mobile €25 all calls, texts 15gb data.

Calls abroad 1cent min. If still on offer the 1cent.

Sim can be got in store.

EmonMCC

punisher5112 wrote: »

Tesco mobile €25 all calls, texts 15gb data. Calls abroad 1cent min. If still on offer the 1cent. Sim can be got in store.

Thanks. All that I know already. My issue with Tesco is what I found here on this board: "Seems like with Tesco/O2/3 you won't even get a connection if you live directly in plain sight of a cell tower."

Any feedback about this? Also they don't offer 4G and since I'll need to use my phone as hotspot for a while, a 3G or even 2G connection won't cut it...

punisher5112

EmonMCC wrote: »

Thanks. All that I know already. My issue with Tesco is what I found here on this board: "Seems like with Tesco/O2/3 you won't even get a connection if you live directly in plain sight of a cell tower."

Any feedback about this? Also they don't offer 4G and since I'll need to use my phone as hotspot for a while, a 3G or even 2G connection won't cut it...

I find it great.
Was o2 for years but moved over and was the same but not as good as when o2 had it.

cb1959

EmonMCC wrote: »

Thanks! Are you saying I can use a non-Irish bank account for bill-pay (and other stuff like salary, utilities etc) until establishing a regular residency? I have active checking accounts in Germany...

Is there such a thing as Meteor stores in towns? Here in America you have AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint stores etc on every corner. Just go in, get a SIM and start calling/surfing... Like I said shipping is a bit tricky and also a time issue.

In Europe there is a common banking system across all Eurozone countries. The same format of Bank account number is used in Germany and Ireland (IBAN). I see no reason why Meteor should not be able to accept a Direct Debit from any IBAN in the Eurozone. You also should have no problem getting your salary payment into a German IBAN from an Irish employer.

There are Meteor stores in most large shopping malls, and high-streets. They also have franchise outlets in some large furniture stores and elsewhere. Most of the stores are combined Eir/Meteor, because Eir sells the full range of consumer products including Fibre, TV, Mobile etc, while Meteor is the budget brand for pre-pay mobile alone.

In Ireland, you can get a pre-pay SIM in a store over the counter without requiring any ID. It is very simple compared to most countries. If you order online, they will also post it to an Irish address, if you know your address in advance.

EmonMCC

@cb1959 Thanks mate! Looks like a big burden just got taken off my shoulders ;-)

EmonMCC

@cb1959 Thanks mate! Looks like a big burden just got taken off my shoulders ;-)

I heard about the SEPA thing before as I received letters about it from my bank but since I haven't been to Germany in a few years I didn't really expect this to be this smooth (well frankly, WHAT does go smooth in the EU ever lol).

Ah-Watch

While theres no 4G on Tesco last time I checked Tesco was a pretty good network before 02 and 3 merged but as I hear it went down quality wise since it might not be the best choice- it can't be as bad as Sprint here but I'd imagine its service now is a bit between T Mobile and Sprint. Vodafone will be your AT&T and Verizon type service but more expensive than the other networks. Meteor in general is good service, I was home last week and used a Meteor sim as my hotspot and it was perfect. I was home at christmas too and used over 15GB of the FUP and wasn't charged anything extra. Meteors a solid bet and have calls to US landlines and mobiles for 15c a min

Poulgorm

Get a Tesco Mobile sim for one member of your family, if you expect to be calling the USA a lot. Currently, calls to the USA (both land lines and mobile) cost just 2 cent per minute.

A 30 minute call to a USA phone costs just 60 cent.

I don't think that any other operator comes near to matching that.

Tesco don't do 4G.

bigpink

Three €20 deal all calls texts data

EmonMCC

Poulgorm wrote: »

Get a Tesco Mobile sim for one member of your family

That is not an entirely bad idea ;-) but I don't expect calling the US much as pretty much everything can be done via email or on the websites anyway. If I have a reason to call I can still cope with the 15 Meteor is charging. I've just looked at meteor.ie and can't find the build-your-own plans anymore. What happened???

Edit: just realized the BYO plan is from ID carphone. Which network do they use again?

cb1959

EmonMCC wrote: »

That is not an entirely bad idea ;-) but I don't expect calling the US much as pretty much everything can be done via email or on the websites anyway. If I have a reason to call I can still cope with the 15 Meteor is charging. I've just looked at meteor.ie and can't find the build-your-own plans anymore. What happened???

Edit: just realized the BYO plan is from ID carphone. Which network do they use again?

Don't touch ID - they are complete amateurs and also use the worst network - Three. If you have a look on these Boards you will see the horrendous problems their users have experienced. Tesco used to be a good service when it was running on the old O2 network, but Three have been steadily running it down since taking over O2, and there was never any investment in upgrading to 4G etc. Best avoided also. Meteor/Eir & Vodafone are the networks that you can rely on in Ireland. Comreg the national regulator did a recent study of all the networks - and Three came out worst.