The pros and cons of switching to Meteor?

Dr Cox's Ego

Im thinking of switching from Vodafone to Meteor in the next week or so as my bills with Vodafone over the past year are insane. Ive been with them about 7 years so Im not taking this lightly, its a big step to go to another company.

What I need is the pros from those with Meteor and who love the service and the cons from those who left Meteor and the reasons why.

I'll be a bill paying customer.

Thanks

rymus

im in the exact same position as yourself... been with vodafone for about 7 years on a tariff that makes no sense whatsoever. I'd switch to the cheapest of the perfect fit plans at €19 but I'd be cutting it tight with only 30 mins a month. In comparison, Meteors €20 a month gets you 60 mins!

Sadly I'm under contract with vodafone as I got an upgrade phone last christmas. One thing that surprised me is when I was talking to one of the customer care people during the past week, they offered me 1 months rental free if I stayed with them. Only one month? Hardly an offer I can't refuse.

Tech Overhaul

I'm also in the same boat. I think I'm going to head down today and make the switch. I've been with vodafone since the Nokia 5110 was the hottest phone on the market. Lately a lot of my mates have been changing over and have no problems. Don't think Vodafone make any effort on lowering prices anymore and I need to save money so thats why I'm changing.

deadduck

i'm with meteor pay as you go for about a year now and it's been pretty much bullet proof. it did go down for a couple of hours on 2 occasions but apart from that, no complaints. i'm in and around dublin by the way. i think o2 and vodafone are operating a kartel between them. the more people switch to meteor the better. unless eircom buy meteor, then we're all screwed

derv

i was with vodafone for 5-6 years
switched to meteor last october and i think it is the best decision i ever made.

saving myself a fortune!!

i use it all over the country and find the only place with no coverage is in the depts of connemara.
but then again O2 does not have any out there either.

metoer has the same coverage as O2 because it uses thier signal when it runs in to a patch of no coverage.

those of you with meteor may have noticed this.

i'd say go metoer all the way!!

Tech Overhaul

Just back from Carphonewarehouse. I made the change over from Vodafone to meteor. They said it might take up to 2 hours for the change to go through but it was done in 15 minutes. Nice phone as well, Nokia 6230i for €79. (I could have got it for €59 if I had an old phone to trade in). Just have to wait for the first bill now to see if there is any big change....

rymus

I got a call today from someone conducting "customer relations research" or some fluff like that following the call I had with Vodafone last week about getting out of contract. It'll be interesting to hear what response she has when comparing tarif's when I speak to her later. What tarif did you take to get it for 79 wizard? I thought it was 100!?! I have an old crapola 6310i here I can trade in for it if need be.

Tech Overhaul

I got the 400 minute tarriff. €60 per month inc vat. Seems very good to me.

Dr Cox's Ego

Any free texts with that?

Dr Cox's Ego

Wizard Archer wrote:

I got the 400 minute tarriff. €60 per month inc vat. Seems very good to me.

Any texts with that?

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Free Meteor to Meteor until 31st December 2005, 9c to other networks.

dshakey

if meteor had bundles i would defo switch over.. i like my text bundles

SonicDoom2005

Obviously no has heard that meteor may be waving bye bye at the end of the year?

P.S O2 are doing this 1 cent sundays thing.

grimloch

SonicDoom2005 wrote:

Obviously no has heard that meteor may be waving bye bye at the end of the year?

P.S O2 are doing this 1 cent sundays thing.

Could you elaborate? I heard SMART or something launched a bid on them. Coincidentally I'm considering switching to meteor soon too.

SonicDoom2005

Meteor are funded out of the pockets of AT&T a massive network provider in the US. They were given a set amount of time to make a dent in the irish market, thus pulling out all th stops to try and bring in the customers. BUt unfortunatley it seems their coverage may be the death knell for them. At the time they came out the other networks were preparing for the arrival of 3g and as such meteor couldn't develop sites for coverage efficiently due to planning issues and the debate surrounded radiation emitted from having too many masts in one area.

As such they have been given till the end of this year to gain a market share of 10% to remain active. They currently have around 6% of the market and would need approx 900,000 people to join their network to reach that target. 900,000 customers are NOT going to join meteor by the end of the year...

Dizzyblabla

I was with Vodafone for 6years, tried to upgrade again as I did every Christmas and I wasn't eligable? after 14 months I still wasn't eligable, so I moved... I haven't had one problem and my bills are fine, I get 3hours and 20mins for €40, and considering I make a alot more calls than texts, it's been fine, oh, and that 200mins also includes England as far as I know....

grimloch

SonicDoom2005 wrote:

Meteor are funded out of the pockets of AT&T a massive network provider in the US. They were given a set amount of time to make a dent in the irish market, thus pulling out all th stops to try and bring in the customers. BUt unfortunatley it seems their coverage may be the death knell for them. At the time they came out the other networks were preparing for the arrival of 3g and as such meteor couldn't develop sites for coverage efficiently due to planning issues and the debate surrounded radiation emitted from having too many masts in one area.

As such they have been given till the end of this year to gain a market share of 10% to remain active. They currently have around 6% of the market and would need approx 900,000 people to join their network to reach that target. 900,000 customers are NOT going to join meteor by the end of the year...

I see, better reconsider said conversion. Or just change again at the end of the year.

As a metter of interest what happens to all the customers if meteor goes? They hardly say "tough luck lads, your credit is gone, good luck to you" do they?

SonicDoom2005

I actually don't know what will happen. I suppose existing customers would be issued a refund of some sort but i honestly can't say.

Dizzyblabla

When "Imagine!" flopped, everyone got the opportunity to go back to vodafone, as far as I know vodafone bought all the customers back, but I don't think there was any compensation...

BuffyBot

Meteor are funded out of the pockets of AT&T a massive network provider in the US.

Wrong, their US backer is Western Wireless, which is currently the subject of a take-over bid.

They were given a set amount of time to make a dent in the irish market, thus pulling out all th stops to try and bring in the customers.

Wrong. Western Wireless is looking at selling all it's non-US operations, including Ireland and Austria.

BUt unfortunatley it seems their coverage may be the death knell for them.

How so? They now that the same coverage as O2, with their own network expanding anyway. Why would their coverage now be a problem, considering what it was previously?

grimloch wrote:

As a metter of interest what happens to all the customers if meteor goes? They hardly say "tough luck lads, your credit is gone, good luck to you" do they?

As they guy has quite a lot of his info skewed, I really wouldn't panic. It's business as usual for Meteor it seems. All that will happen, should it come to it, is that they'll be sold on to a new owner and may or may not get a new name.

Stench Blossoms

If meteor gets sold do you think that the free meteor 2 meteor texts will go?

I depend so much on my free messages. Saves me a fortune

BuffyBot

If meteor gets sold do you think that the free meteor 2 meteor texts will go?

I'd imagine anyone who is on one of their current plans will be left on it. Vodafone still has people on price plans that were created by Eircell for example. New customers can't sign up to them, but those who were on them before and still on them now if they want to be.

grimloch

Thanks for that info Buffy, I probably will change to them within the week.

jrey1981

Rymus, if you're interested in getting rid of your 6310i I'll give you a better price towards your new phone than Carphone Warehouse, Meteor or anyone else will...

paulm17781

SonicDoom2005 wrote:

As such they have been given till the end of this year to gain a market share of 10% to remain active. They currently have around 6% of the market and would need approx 900,000 people to join their network to reach that target. 900,000 customers are NOT going to join meteor by the end of the year...

When did Ireland's population reache 22.5 million?

samo

paulm17781 wrote:

When did Ireland's population reache 22.5 million?

Glad someone asked that question....

grimloch

Either way I changed to Meteor today, stilll waiting for my number to transfer over though. I was wondering about those figures myself, unless he meant 90,000?

JTMan

SonicDoom2005 wrote:

As such they have been given till the end of this year to gain a market share of 10% to remain active. They currently have around 6% of the market and would need approx 900,000 people to join their network to reach that target. 900,000 customers are NOT going to join meteor by the end of the year...

What rubbish .... Meteor Already have 10% market share. Comreg several months said thay have 9%, most in the industry say they now have 10% and Meteor say they have 11%.

MagicBusDriver

About 6 months ago it was over 7% so I'd say you're probably right.

In response to BuffyBot, Meteor don't have the same coverage as o2 (unless they signed a new deal with them recently). Meteor coverage is far far inferior to o2's, which isn't as good as Vodafone's.

Meteors roaming deal with o2 covered "Kerry, Donegal, Mayo, Cavan, Sligo and Leitrim, as well as parts of Limerick, Galway, Cork, Clare, Roscommon and Longford." (That's from the press release). That's 6 counties plus bits of 6 more.

The Meteor network is fine for some people, especially those who have no interest in the voice call functionality on their mobile, but for most they're aren't worth a biscuit.

My advice to anyone who's considering changing network to save money is to look into Three when they launch. You might have to turn off UMTS though if you want to stay in a call because they've had a lot of problems with 2g/3g switchovers in the UK.

Dummy

I switched from O2 to Meteor about 4 weeks ago. And quite simply, I'm delighted with my decision.

I went for the 400 minute bundle at 60 euro per month, I pay for texts except to meteor phones. I just checked my bill month to date and it amounts to just over 2 euro. Compared to my 150 euro per month spend with O2, I'm delighted.

As for coverage:

- Dublin no issues
- Louth no issues (Drogheda, Dundalk, Ardee)
- Just in the door from a weekend in Youghal, Co Cork. Came back to Dublin via Carrick-on-suir, Kilkenny. The only place en route I lost my signal for a long period of time was around a village called 9 Mile House. Signal was down for roughly a 10 mile radius.

Am delighted with my move. My wife moved from O2 to Meteor and likewise she is happy with her move.

MagicBusDriver

Well I'm glad it worked out for ya, I can't say I'm happy with what I'm paying o2, but a lot of people I know switched to Meteor only to switch back after a couple of months.