Vodafone - Anti Competitive?

stereo_steve

I'm writing this because of an issue my friend is having at the moment...

Basically she used to be a Vodafone customer and switched to Meteor last ~september. About a week before the Meteor "free text for life" offer ended.

[X-files Music] I don't know if you remember but about 20,000 people tried to switch and Vodafones system went t*ts up, for two weeks just untill after the offer from Meteor was over! What a coincedence! [X-files Music]

Anyway her problem now is that she can't send/recieve MMS messages. She has a Motorola V550. The reason? Vodafone have their crap customisation software on it which won't let you remove their MMS/GPRS settings! Sly or what? The phone needs to be reflashed with unbranded software. www.****.com say they *might* be able to do it for €45!!! Not going to happen!

It really bothers me because she thinks its Meteor's fault! She called them to switch over and now she believes its Meteor's fault that she can't send MMS messages. "But Meteor told me that I would be able to send MMS messages if I switched over" ,she says. I wonder how many people have returned to Vodafone because of the switch over fiasco back in sept? Or how many since because of issues with customisation on their phones?

So what does the law say about this? Can the mobile companies get away with imposing restrictions on their phones? I would have thought that comreg would have included this in their outline for the procedure from switching between networks.

Has this happened to anyone else? What do people think of customised software on their phone?

Thanks
Steve

embee

She should have just bought a SIM free phone in the first place.

Guy:Incognito

Ive removed and changed the mms and sms settings on 3 or 4 vodafone phones without any problems.

stereo_steve

Stekelly wrote:

Ive removed and changed the mms and sms settings on 3 or 4 vodafone phones without any problems.

So have I, however this particular model doesn't seem to allow it. I would love to hear from other people with this phone and if they had any issues with it

wolfman

Yeah its true. The Motorola will need to be reflashed to get rid of the Vodafone software, but 45 Euro is an absolute ripoff!!!

Vodafone basically do this with all their phones and have been doing so for a long time now and its bloody annoying

You don't have to reflash a V550 to get different GPRS settings on it. Yes you can't remove the Vodafone ones, but you can add others to it.

Take a look at this post, I originally wrote it for a V525 but the same applies to the V550.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2470883&postcount=2

Personally I hate branded phones. I reflashed my V550 to remove the Vodafone customisations, did it myself. I also despise the way Vodafone are blocking MP3 ringtones to make you download them from Vodafone live. I know AAC files work but its a pain in the neck when the unbranded phones work (i.e. Nokia 6630).

TerrorFirmer

Vodafones custom software is a right phone wrecker, but to the majority they don't really care I suppose, but jesus at least everything comes as original on Meteor and o2 generally speaking.

Using a k500i on Meteor, great phone. Using the identical f500i on Vodafone as a test, its so annoying and really takes the joy out of getting a new phone for me in many cases....

Slice

The Vodafone software is great -they definately have the superior wap service. Why doesnt she just get a new phone with meteor when porting and that should have whatever meteor settings preloaded? like most meteor phones are so cheap and come with so much credit that you're paying practically nothing for the actual phone anyway. to be honest i think you're moaning too much and seem a little too eager to paint a negative picture of vodafone when really it's not in vodafone's interest to have their porting service go down since customers wouldnt be able to move onto their network either. plus i wouldnt care if my meteor phone was useless with any other network if it meant i got to use services on their wap facility that are available to vf customers and not meteor customer.

Like, the only thing I ever use wap for is to check cinema times on the odd occasion i feel like going to the cinema and when i went to check cinema times a couple of weeks ago on my mobile i find that even that service is no longer available anymore with meteor. it seems like the only thing meteors wap service is good for is if you want black and white nokia logos or generic tarot readings neither of which i can say i care for.

stereo_steve

Karsini wrote:

You don't have to reflash a V550 to get different GPRS settings on it. Yes you can't remove the Vodafone ones, but you can add others to it.

Take a look at this post, I originally wrote it for a V525 but the same applies to the V550.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2470883&postcount=2

I'll give it a try but I don't think it'll work. I've put other MMS and GPRS settings on it. You have an option to select which ones you want to be the default but heres the thing... It won't accept any other settings as default, only the vodafone ones.

Slice wrote:

The Vodafone software is great

If you can give me just one example of how it is in any way better than the original phone software, I will completely back down in my argument that Vodafone are anti competitive !!

Slice wrote:

i think you're moaning too much and seem a little too eager to paint a negative picture of vodafone when really it's not in vodafone's interest to have their porting service go down since customers wouldnt be able to move onto their network either.

While it is entirely possible that their system did go down under the strain, the timing is very suspicious. Fair enough no could port to them but come on, 20,000 where trying to leave, how many were trying to port over to vodafone? I'd be surprised if even 50 people were trying to switch over!

Akula

Crucially the customised vodafone software is never as stable and as fast as the original.

jesus_thats_gre

stereo_steve wrote:

While it is entirely possible that their system did go down under the strain, the timing is very suspicious. Fair enough no could port to them but come on, 20,000 where trying to leave, how many were trying to port over to vodafone? I'd be surprised if even 50 people were trying to switch over!

It is a little far fetched considering the fines they incur when the porting application goes down..

I had the plessure of working in the porting dept just after launch while I was in college and there was literally chaos when the porting application went down.

To be honest, given my experiences in this area, I have no doubt that you are wrong in relation to your conspiracy theory.


Finally, the phones are branded in such a way to create a universal UI that the less technical user is instantly familiar with.

kasintahan

embee wrote:

She should have just bought a SIM free phone in the first place.

Embee works for Vodafone...

... no seriously, she does.

JohnnyMobile

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

It is a little far fetched considering the fines they incur when the porting application goes down..

I had the plessure of working in the porting dept just after launch while I was in college and there was literally chaos when the porting application went down.

To be honest, given my experiences in this area, I have no doubt that you are wrong in relation to your conspiracy theory.


Finally, the phones are branded in such a way to create a universal UI that the less technical user is instantly familiar with.

I would be inclined to agree with you on this one.
Paranoia is a dangerous thing

skywalker

Im not really familiar with motorola phones but have you tried texting the settings to the phones from the meteor site? failing that you say that the vodefone ones remain as default always. Can you edit that one to have the meteor details in it?

JohnnyMobile

as far as I recall there was also an issue accessing secure wap sites using the default profile on the v525. As mentioned above it is impossible to delete the profile outright but you can set up a new profile and use that with whatever settings you want.

Slice

Anyone who has used GPRS WAP on both a Vodafone mobile and a Meteor mobile will tell you the user experience is so much better with Vodafone.

With regards the porting - yes it seemed very suspicious that their system 'went down' just as your friend wanted to switch networks - it's like they're trying to get to you and piss you off by getting to your mates.

JohnnyMobile

Slice wrote:

- it's like they're trying to get to you and piss you off by getting to your mates.

they will be prodding your mates in the leg with riccin impregnated umbrellas next!

BrianD

Really it's not either operators problem. She has a Vodafone handset that was probably subsidisied by and supplied by Vodafone. It's designed for use on the Vodafone network. Meteor can't be responsible for handsets supplied by and customised for other networks. What she should have done is got a deal on another handset when she ported to Meteor.

In regard to the texts-for-life promotion and I assume that you are saying that she missed out on this offer? It's not clear. However, surely if she must have signed a contract with Meteor prior to porting. If the contract date pre-dates the expiry of the offer she should still be able to avail of it (if she can get the phone to work!!)