Telephones

[taimatsu]

I am looking at switching from Orange to Vodafone, as my Orange PAYG plan is very expensive and Dave and Eve, the people I call most, are on Vodafone (though actually Vodafone do not do differential rates per network - but they do have the Vodafone Family scheme - £5 per month for unlimited free calls -up to 60 mins per call- between 4 people, which sounds very very good. Only one person has to pay, so it would be a fiver between the three of us). I have a few questions for the all-knowing interwebs.

Firstly, I do not understand the price plans as outlined on this page - I do not see why anyone who used the phone much would stay on the Anynet Plan, as the Anytime Plan looks like it would be cheaper overall. (Not if you only make two one-minute calls on a typical day, clearly, but otherwise...) Can anyone explain/clarify?

Secondly, anecdotes about Vodafone's coverage? Orange were shit enough that I could not get signal in my bedroom at Norris Road (which incidentally precipitated the second, more damaging part of the row I had with my housemate).

Also, are there good reasons to avoid Vodafone? Are there other providers who, based on my requirements (cheapness for a relatively heavy user, coverage, cheap calls to Vodafone, PAYG preferred) might be worth considering?

Also, show of hands from my friends - what phone provider are you with?

Thanks :)

Comments

[medusa.livejournal.com]

I am with Vodafone and haven't had any problems with them at all. The only place that I haven't been able to get coverage is in the children's playground bit at Longleat, for some unknown reason. I haven't had any problems anywhere else. :)

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

I'm with Tesco Mobile (http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/). Except for the trouble I had with my dob, I love them so far. They use O2's coverage, and certainly round my area live I've frequently had better signal than Nick (who's on Vodafone). Whether that's also the case where you are though, I've no idea.

No special Vodafone advantage. The best thing about them is that their tariffs are clear, simple and sensible. As is their website. I'm not certain that they'd be appropriate for you, but I would say that they're well worth checking out.

As I said on Sunday, they *only* do PAYG, so you don't end up feeling that as a PAYG customer you're not really important to them.

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

In Oxford, Vodafone seem to have the best coverage by a long way. This may not be true anywhere.

If you can be organised with hanging on to bills and reciepts and sending them back at the right time, you can get a free phone with a free calling plan with all your calls and texts free from e2save (http://www.e2save.com/). However it requires paying for an expensive tarrif up-front, and remembering when to apply to get your money back. Might be dangerous, but it's there.

[taimatsu]

The e2save thing sounds like my absolute worst nightmare :) Thanks for the info, though!

[darkwaterfairy.livejournal.com]

Having been a longtime user with Orange, T-mobile, and Vodafone (the one I stuck with), I've found Voda's coverage to be far superior to the other 2 in both Kent and South Wales. As for general UK-wide coverage, in comparison to friends on other networks in recent years, I've always found Voda to beat Orange and match or beat the others. Althou UMMV.

[darkwaterfairy.livejournal.com]

As for price, no comment, since I'm crap at anything money wise (apart from mayb finding cheap rail fares).

[brrm.livejournal.com]

I've been with Vodafone PAYT for ~9 years now. I've always found coverage entirely satisfactory (ISTR I had a bar or two even in your old room?). Given the fun & games I had with securing an unlock code from T-mobile, I'd disrecommend them on the basis of their support at least. Didn't really get much of a chance to test them beyond that. Likewise, I get decent coverage with vodafone in my house when Saffie gets touchy coverage even at the window. But, as half_of_monty says, Voda coverage this good could be Oxford-specific.

I appear to be on the Smartplus price plan (which they no longer do), with Stop The Clock- but I don't really make many calls, either, so I'm probably not much help on the price plans.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Vodafone have coverage in the centre of Whitby, which is notoriously deadspotty.

[thinkstoomuch.livejournal.com]

I'm on Vodafone. Can't give you much experience re plans or other networks, as it's my first contract phone. I can say that the only place I haven't had great signal is in Wiveliscombe. Do you plan on visiting the quantocks much? Orange are the only network that work out there.

Oh, and after 12 months you can ring them up (or they will ring you) to jiggle your plan about a bit. Stock options are that you keep the same rates and they give you a new free phone, or you keep your phone and they reduce your monthly payments. I imagine this is similar for all network contracts though.

[(Anonymous)]

I am on Orange, originally for reasons that were relevant in 2001, and subsequently because being a continuous contract customer for that long gets one a certain amount of clout with customer service.

As far as coverage is concerned, up here the anecdotal ranking goes:

Vodafone - great
Orange - fine
O2 - fine
T-Mobile - previously known as 'One2no-one' - shite
3 - hahahaha

...but whether that correlates at all to your parts of the country I don't know.

[martling.livejournal.com]

I am on Orange, originally for reasons that were relevant in 2001, and subsequently because being a continuous contract customer for that long gets one a certain amount of clout with customer service.

As far as coverage is concerned, up here the anecdotal ranking goes:

Vodafone - great
Orange - fine
O2 - fine
T-Mobile - previously known as 'One2no-one' - shite
3 - hahahaha

...but whether that correlates at all to your parts of the country I don't know.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

i am on orange payg but i probably ring someone on my phone about once a year. i mainly use it for texts and have somehow managed to keep my 5 free texts per day no matter how often i top up. maybe because i have been doing it for about 7 years. maybe more in fact.

if i started actually using my phone to speak to people i am pretty sure i'd change.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I am with T-Mobile payg, and tbh their coverage is not brilliant, although fortunately it's always been OK wherever I've actually lived. They are good and cheap though.

[softfruit.livejournal.com]

I'm with virgin who piggyback t-mobile's network and definitely there are more black holes for coverage than for most of my friends. For me it's not too big an issue but it's worth checking reception in areas you're likely to use the phone. For instance the main student halls area of Manchester has zero t-mobile reception -- came as a nasty shock running a BiCon there and having to go five minutes walk from reception to get a signal.

[barakta]

Those were the days... And the bloody radios.

[v15u4l-3rr0r.livejournal.com]

I was with Vodaphone for 4 years on PAYG and disliked it. Was way too expensive for me. Coverage was good though. But I like being on Orange better. I don't really have any problems with them. They're good to deal with and coverage is not an issue for me or tobes down here. It hasn't been an issue up on the Islands either. So overall I prefer Orange. My pennies go a hell of a lot further with them than they did with Vodaphone.

[taimatsu]

Er, Orange's minimum PAYG charge is now 15p/min whereas Vodafone goes down to 10p a minute. How does Orange manage to be cheaper for you?

[diffrentcolours]

I hate Vodaphone with a passion and will switch from them the instant someone convinces me that any other network are any less rip-off merchant scumbag fly-by-night shysters.

[(Anonymous)]

Any particular reason?

[darkwaterfairy.livejournal.com]

Grr, for some reason LJ decided to post the post, then look at my details, strange strange computers

[taimatsu]

Ah, that's awkward. Why's that?

[medland.livejournal.com]

I am with 3. Meh. They're ok but nothing special. I need to change.

[markbanang.livejournal.com]

I don't have any experience of any network other than three, but I've been reasonable happy with them.

Until last year I was on a £0 per month, 0 minutes/texts included contract and spent around £5 per month, which suited me fine. Then my phone died and I needed a new one.

Rather than shell out £250 up front for the phone I wanted, I got a free one on a 12 month contract (£20/month, 100minutes/100texts per month, half price for the first 3 months). So effectively I got the phone for £150, and most months had bucket loads of leftover minutes/texts.

Last month, I phoned up to cancel the contract, unlock the phone and move to PAYG, but three are *so* desperate to keep contract customers, that a bit of hard bargaining left me on the same 100/100 tariff for just £8 a month, which I'm more than happy with. It's only slightly more than I used to pay, but includes many more minutes/texts than I need most months.

Another advantage of three is their international roaming policy and their new data tariffs. I've just been to Australia and using Three-like-home I could make calls via the three network (big cities only) using my included contract minutes. I also signed up to their Three Broadband for this month, which was £10 and gave me a GB of data transfer, which is actually comparable with wired broadband! True, my phone doesn't support high speed broadband (2.2Mb/s) but even 384Kbps is perfectly adequate for basic web browsing - I even watched a few youtube videos while out in Oz.

So, people may laugh at three, but most of the bad blood was down to their abysmal coverage 4 years ago. Now their coverage is excellent, and when roaming onto O2 all you lose is video and 3G data. You only need to worry about three coverage if high speed data access is important to you, which is what they are currently rolling out.

Overall, I'd say - get on a contract, especially if you need a new phone anyway. Mobile operators are desperate to keep their churn figures down, so after your minimum contract term is up, they will offer you all sorts of deals to keep your custom. If they don't offer you the deal that you want, or you can find a better deal elsewhere, simply walk.

As a PAYG customer you have almost no bargaining power with your mobile provider. It's a shame that PAYG customers are often treated like second class citizens, but it's a fact and with a little planning no matter what your usage, you will eventually be able to get onto a contract which suits your pocket and usage patterns.

[taimatsu]

Because I am a student and my income can be irregular, I do not want to be in a situation where I have unpredictable bills coming in. With PAYG I can simply stop topping up if I am running out of money, where on a contract I would not know exactly what I owed till it was too late.

[markbanang.livejournal.com]

It's precisely because I don't want unpredictable bills that I want to be on a cheap contract rather than on PAYG. Plus, I know that even if I go over my (generous for me) contracted minutes, the excess minutes will still cost me less than if I'd been on a PAYG tariff. Sure, some months I don't use all my minutes/texts, but I'm still probably paying less on average than I would be if I was on PAYG.

Anyway, it sounds like the Vod Family scheme might be worth more to you than any normal tariff on another provider, so I hope it works out for you.

[softfruit.livejournal.com]

Virgin. Indeed, I have a few virgins what with the Manchester-Bi-Line and such.

Voicemail is free to collect on PAYG. Texts are okish in price. Those are the things I most want from a phone. Especially things like Bi-Line where we make few calls but do need to keep costs low to collect messages.

Plus back when I got a mobile, they were the cheapest brand available, at £40 a handset just as the first wave of cheap supermarket phones started to dry up in 2001.