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o2 vs t-mobile

Ok, I know this isnt really the place for this post - but my motives will become clear. My faithful Vario II is now reaching the end of its useful life (the battery dies without warning and lasts about 4 hours max at the moment). Its served me well these past 18 months.
I need a phone with Qwerty and WM, plus 3G is useful so the obvious choice is the Kaiser/TyTN II/Vario III/Stella. With that in mind I've been looking at rejoining o2 now they have released unlimited data (again! - I've still got my o2 genie sim card with unlimited WAP somewhere). T-mobiles service can be shocking at best, especially when in London when you'd expect full signal, sometimes it can take 2-3 minutes to make one call. So I put it to the floor - these are the current state of the offers I've recieved - and you'll see its a tough choice.
o2 (Business)
34.68 + VAT (41ish pounds) / Month
700 minutes, 450 texts
200Mb data (business contracts are like that)
Free o2 to o2 calls
Free voicemail
Free land line calls for 3 months - then to 10 changable landline numbers for the rest
free international call option thing (80% off all international calls)
free bluetooth headset
Free 3 months line rental
Phone - £76
However - 24 month contract - upgrade available after 12 months
T-mobile (this is where it gets interesting - after explaining the o2 deal)
£35 / month (inc VAT)
Flex 35 + Web and Walk (2Gb data) (equates to a combination of 900 minutes / 1800 texts, not both)
Free weekend calls
Free voicemail
(heres the interesting part) - Free USB Modem with data (laptop dongle).
18 month contract.
Free Phone.
What do you think? its a tough decision - even if I go for the stella on o2's consumer tarrifs id have to pay a whopping £90 for the phone. - and that usb modem could be useful...

If you push O2 hard you can get the phone for free. I did on the same business tariff, but it was an upgrade as opposed to a new contract. Tell them the phone is free with t-mobile & Orange (http://www.fones4free.com/FrontOffice/YourDealPage.aspx?ModelName=TyTN 2&DealReference=WGEX21).
Then at the last minute say you won't sign for 24 months & see if they reduce it to 12. They did for me.

As someone who is tied into a T-Mobile deal at the moment, it's a no-brainer. Coverage is everything - the best deal in the world is no comfort without a signal! Vodafone or O2 for me when I leave this contract.
chuk

crazy horse uk said:
As someone who is tied into a T-Mobile deal at the moment, it's a no-brainer. Coverage is everything - the best deal in the world is no comfort without a signal! Vodafone or O2 for me when I leave this contract.
chuk
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Can't argue there - without coverage, what matter the contract deal. Personally I have great T-Mobile coverage, which is why I swapped from O2. If your coverage from T-Mobile is OK, then the deal looks great

I'm on O2, and I live and work in areas with poor coverage but I always have 2 bars of 2G when inside. My GF and some work mates have orange and get no coverage at all.
This is todo with the 900mhz frequency that o2 and vodaphone uses (See here).
Depends on what you need.

I'd go for the T-Mobile deal. I'm on an 18 month contract, having left 3. Before I was with 3, I was with 02. I also had a Vodaphone contract running whilst with 3, but have recently dumped that. S, you could say I've tried everyone. T-Mobile coverage is great in my neck of the woods - and I'm out in the sticks...I even get HSDPA where I am, and I'm rural. Money-wise and deal-wise, T-Mobile is your best bet.

Bothsound ok, but as Crazy Horse said, make sure your coverage is going to be good. Tip - Google for "free O2 SIM" (here's a link). It's free (as in literally - you don't have to do an initial topup) and it will let you know whether it is going to work for you.
If you are already on T-Mobile then you should know whether that will work for you.

Thanks guys. T-mobile signal can be annoying - but as I'm in london most of time signal is OK.. The frustrating thing is the lack of t-mob signal downstairs in my house - whilst o2 is kinda border line!
Does o2 has HSPA yet?

your either a very VERY good customer with t-mobile or they have lied to you. if the offer was true it will not be available for very long, i work on the loyalty team in t-mobile and that offer has broken several different policys. so i would confirm that offer from them if i was you

Buzbe said:
Thanks guys. T-mobile signal can be annoying - but as I'm in london most of time signal is OK.. The frustrating thing is the lack of t-mob signal downstairs in my house - whilst o2 is kinda border line!
Does o2 has HSPA yet?
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Yes o2 has HSDPA, but it's not up to full speed yet. I believe it is currently running at 1.8mbps. I am getting full signal HSDPA in south london.
Also, are you aware that o2 re-launched their tarrifs on Friday?? The data bolt-ons are now "truly unlimited" (with a few limitations Ha Ha Ha, FUP applies etc.).
Unlimited data can be added for FREE to any 18month consumer tarrif that is £35pm+.

yep - but I prefer to bill through the business - thus i go for a business tariff, sure its 24 months, but I get the added bonus of 3 months free (paying for the phone) and an upgrade after 3 months..
I still cant decide. Right now I have GPRS and one bar on t-mobile in my home office - not great..

yakleback55 said:
your either a very VERY good customer with t-mobile or they have lied to you. if the offer was true it will not be available for very long, i work on the loyalty team in t-mobile and that offer has broken several different policys. so i would confirm that offer from them if i was you
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What part breaks the policies.... from what I've been told its £20 off a deal they were offering for £50, which is Flex 35 + Usb modem with unlimited date.... thus working out £30 pm, (then plus the 7.50 I would need for WnW on the mobile).

they cant send a phone and a usb modem out from the same account the modem is classed as a phone. it can be done but it shoul not be done

also web & walk is web & walk once its on your line u can use the same sim in a modem or a handset you dont need 2 different options. None of it sound right thats all i would just advise you double check it with them

nah it would be two separate accounts - "a new deal" which normally would be £50 pm but they were offering it at £30 to me.
However I just asked for the £20 discount - now i have flext 35 + wnw and a free phone for 22.50pm.

I am about to transfer from O2 to (probably) t-mobile as I can no longer get my Kaiser to work where I live (and work).
I have made several calls to O2, in which they have admitted to "upgrading" my local transmitter a week last Friday. Since then, my Kaiser cannot make or receive calls (or use GPRS/3G etc) within about a couple of mile radius of my house. The display shows a very strong signal and (usually) the "H" or "3G" symbols.
O2 continue to say things like "your (Kaiser) phone is not compatible with the O2 network" and "you definitely have a defective phone". This is despite me pointing out that I have used the phone on their network since November and I can still use it everywhere else in this country.
As I work at home (for myself), my mobile phone is very important to me and I now have to remember to swap my SIM card into my old Nokia 6310i when I get back home.
So, I have no real alternative to switching away from O2 as they have refused to investigate the issue.
Does anyone have any bad news to tell me about reception in the Midlands on t-mobile (or any other network) before I take the plunge? Alternatively, is it really my fault that I am unable to use my Kaiser phone when I am at home?

You've got me worried now - I'm just about to jump from T-Mobile to O2 because of coverage problems! I didn't have any problems with O2 before, but then I never had a 3G phone before. I notice the free O2 sim deal has dried up - perhaps I should try a month's O2 sim-only deal to check coverage.
chuk

Orange UK diamond in USA?

I have 3 quick questions please.
1) I have a UK Diamond from Orange. I am going to the US next month. Will I be able to use my phone with an American SIM card?
2) and if so, which one? My phone is unlocked.
3) any good tarrifs to recommend? (on pay as you go, as I'm only staying for 2 weeks).
Thanks a lot.

I am going to bump this because I have exactly the same set up and want to know the answer please for when I visit New Jersey in the new year

as long as it's unlocked it should work.
att charges 25 cents a minute on a pay as you go plan. And i think t-mobile is around the same.

Thanks for that info - that is a lot cheaper than using a UK SIM card on roaming in the USA. How much does it cost to buy a pay as you go SIM and are they easy to find?

e3esxt02 said:
as long as it's unlocked it should work.
att charges 25 cents a minute on a pay as you go plan. And i think t-mobile is around the same.
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thanks a lot...

peterc10 said:
Thanks for that info - that is a lot cheaper than using a UK SIM card on roaming in the USA. How much does it cost to buy a pay as you go SIM and are they easy to find?
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they should be easy to find... However, you (and I) have to consider that in the US you pay to receive calls as well.. (right? correct me if I'm wrong)

You have to pay to receive calls when roaming, i.e. using a UK SIM in the USA. I do not know if you have to pay to receive calls when using a US SIM in the USA. Can someone living in the USA answer that please?
Can you only buy these SIMs in phone shops in the US. Or do supermarkets and other general stores sell them , as they do in the Uk and many other countries? And how much does the SIM itself cost please?

Yes, you pay as much when receiving calls in the US by the use of US Sim. More details on AT&T Pay-As-You-Go can be found at http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/pyg-plans-phones.jsp?_requestid=16571. Similar can be found at T-Mobile website, at http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?catgroup=prepaid-cell-phone-plan, where the rate depends on the number of minutes you purchase. The difference lies in the charge per minute as well as the period that you can keep/roll-over the unused minutes. For short-term visit, obviously, the charge per minute is more important. You can find the various phone cards (including AT&T's) in most grocery stores, such as food stores, Wal-Mart, Sears, etc. You chose the minutes, insert the sim with included minutes, and you call a number to activate the number.
There are international roaming SIMs that are tailored to the country (including the US of course) you will be visiting with the calling-back-home plan at a much cheper rate. Calling from China back home to the US, for example, the rate is $0.38/min as compared to 1.89/min on AT&T International Roaming. Type "International SIM" on google search to find all these deals.
Welcome and have a nice trip to the US

Anyone used a prepaid sim card with their N1 while traveling in Europe?

I'm going to Germany for a month and am interested in getting a prepaid sim card for my N1. I've never done this before and am curious whether its worth it. I would like to use my phone for both voice and data, but I'd be fine with only one of these features. Do prepaid sim cards in Europe include both voice and data plans? Can anyone recommend a place to purchase a reasonably priced prepaid sim card? Also, do I need to ask T-mobile to unlock my phone in order to use a foreign sim card?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Prepaid in Germany
actually I don't have a nexus one yet but it is sold with plans on all networks, so I'd guess you can take any prepaid card.
There is a commom provider who sell a starterset in some supermarkets (e.g. Norma, Mediamarkt, Saturn, dm-drogeriemarkt, Kaufland, Budnikowsky, Real... according to their website ). It's name is blau.de or blauworld.de.
I'm not sure how it actually is done with these startersets, but usally you buy the simcard for ~10€ and it already has 10€ credit.
If you only want to use voice in Germany than you'd choose blau.de ( voice 0.09€ per minute in germany and data: 0.24€ per MB)
blauworld is cheaper if you want to make international calls, but more expensive for data and inner-german calls.
If your credit is used, you can buy vouchers to top it up in supermarkets and mostly every gas station.
I guess there a different cards available in these shops, this is just one I know and have good experience with.
so hopefully i could help and you'll enjoy staying in germany
[EDIT]
dict.leo.org/
^^ this translator might come in handy while your in Germany you can listen to the pronounciation and they have a android app

Nexus and prepaid in spain

I´m going to Spain for a cupple weeks this summer (a week on menorca and two in Barcelona) and i am planning to take my phone and use it like i use to. like google navigation, gmail, google talk and so on.
Anyone know a good prepaid card to use, i will call a lot of domestic call, and some home to Sweden. And then the data.

I believe Yoigo offers cheap prepaid 3G sim cards with cheap data. You may need to buy 2 or 3 of them (use, dispose rather than topup)
Works out about €1.20 + vat per day.
As far as I know you need photo ID to buy any sim card in Spain.
HTH.

Thanks, I would check it when I arrives to Barcelona.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

I use Yoigo (as you can see on the left) and I can recommend it to you, I'm on a contract but they offer prepaid data as cpm said.
The best part of Yoigo is that, even though they have their own 3G coverage it is quite bad, so they have an agreement with Movistar and in areas where they don't have coverage you automatically use Movistar's coverage. Movistar has clearly the best coverage nationwide (been a client there for many years), so you get Movistar coverage at Yoigo prices basically.
Another plus of this situation is that if you have to use 2G (probably it will happen to you in Menorca...), you will be, again, using Movistar's network and they are the only ones who have deployed EDGE in some areas, the rest of the spanish operators only offer GPRS in 2G.
Anyway if you need other options you can check Simyo or Masmovil, these are MVNO who offer cheap data
Hope this helps!

On prepaid SIM cards there are two companies that have unbeatable balance between price & quality: SIMYO and PEPEPHONE.
Check their sites and ask me back if doubts appear.
If you want SPEED...and wide coverage: forget about Movistar ( Vomit-star) and check my signature

justclimb said:
On prepaid SIM cards there are two companies that have unbeatable balance between price & quality: SIMYO and PEPEPHONE.
Check their sites and ask me back if doubts appear.
If you want SPEED...and wide coverage: forget about Movistar ( Vomit-star) and check my signature
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Good luck getting Vodafone 3G coverage in Menorca

[Q] Ireland - travelling in June

Any recommendations for a cell carrier while travelling... looking for a decent deal on phone and data for a couple weeks,or should I just cough it up for the ATT international plan?

I used meteor virtual provider in Ireland. The prepaid SIM is free (the "real" providers charged for the SIM) and 8 Euro buy you a 2GB data plan for a week. Note that I was mostly in a city. In a single day of travel, there were a lot of places with only GPRS data, and some with GSM service but no GPRS.

3.ie pay as you go
€20 gets you all you can eat data for a month and calls at 30c a minute.
Sim card is free from either phone shops or you may be able to order on-line
Service is generally excellent in the cities/towns and good enough on the main inter urban routes.
I can't post Speedtest links but I'm getting 2.4mb d/l at the moment in Dublin. I use Skype and Viber all the time and quality is excellent so that should cover you.
Raybo
PS. Don't forget to bring an umbrella and I hope you enjoy your stay.

Thanks to both of you.

raybo1 said:
3.ie pay as you go
€20 gets you all you can eat data for a month and calls at 30c a minute.
Sim card is free from either phone shops or you may be able to order on-line
Service is generally excellent in the cities/towns and good enough on the main inter urban routes.
I can't post Speedtest links but I'm getting 2.4mb d/l at the moment in Dublin. I use Skype and Viber all the time and quality is excellent so that should cover you.
Raybo
PS. Don't forget to bring an umbrella and I hope you enjoy your stay.
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Thanks again, Raybo... arrived this morn and got my 3ie card early afternoon in dublin... really a great deal, and works perfectly so far in town... we'll see what kind of covg I get later this week in Monaghan, but for €20 I really can't complain if it isn't great - what I'll use in Dublin would cost me a fortune roaming international on ATT.