Confused by O2 tariffs

thor

I have been searching mobileshop.com for a suitable O2 tariff but have been having difficulty figuring out which would be best for me.
I want to be able to use anytime x-network minutes to call 0844, 0845 & 0870 numbers and know that O2 tariffs do allow this but I don't know if this applies to all of them. Also looking at these 2 tariffs below both are for 12 months and have 250 Anytime, Landline, Same Network & Cross Network minutes included

1. B4B O2 250 + 50 Free SMS £35/month
2. O2 250 + 100 Free SMS £30/month

but why is 2 five quid cheaper than 1 when it allows 50 more free texts?

Fedz

Are you comparing high street tariffs with on-line tariffs as o2 make on-line better deals in general.

Yes the inclusive numbers are the same for any pay monthly tariff.

Hope this helps

thor

These are tariffs I saw with phones being sold online by mobileshop.com so I guess these are online tariffs. I really can't see why anyone would go for the B4B tariff when you can get the same number of minutes and more texts for £5 less although I think that B4B give you an extra rollover month but is that all you get for the increased cost?

reelcrazy

O2 have very recently changed their "high street" tariffs which is what Mobileshop, Dialaphone, OSPS etc are currently in the process of changing to. I would leave it a week and see how things pan out.

Dialaphone are offering 400 mins and 100 texts for £35 on a 12 month deal with cashback depending on which handset you want.

Check them out as well.

raj75

thor wrote:

I have been searching mobileshop.com for a suitable O2 tariff but have been having difficulty figuring out which would be best for me.
I want to be able to use anytime x-network minutes to call 0844, 0845 & 0870 numbers and know that O2 tariffs do allow this but I don't know if this applies to all of them. Also looking at these 2 tariffs below both are for 12 months and have 250 Anytime, Landline, Same Network & Cross Network minutes included

1. B4B O2 250 + 50 Free SMS £35/month
2. O2 250 + 100 Free SMS £30/month

but why is 2 five quid cheaper than 1 when it allows 50 more free texts?

B4B is the old tariff. I don't know what B4B stands for.
B4B O2 250 has free Voicemail and Minutes Rollover for atleast 1 month.
O2 250 Voicemail is not free, but goes out of Inclusive minutes and Minutes doesn't rollover.

O2 400 is best bet, as it is same £35 as of B4B O2 250, but has got additional 150 minutes, and has free Voicemail and minutes rollover and also got LONG WEEKEND calls.

Check my post of the old and new tariff comparison -> http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2485950&postcount=40

Mobile_Mole

There's a bit of confusion in this thread. Hopefully I can set a few things straight.

thor wrote:

1. B4B O2 250 + 50 Free SMS £35/month
2. O2 250 + 100 Free SMS £30/month

but why is 2 five quid cheaper than 1 when it allows 50 more free texts?

raj75 wrote:

B4B is the old tariff. I don't know what B4B stands for.

The first plan (B4B O2 250) is a Best for Business plan. It is not the 'old' version of O2 250. The second plan (O2 250) is one of the recently revised consumer plans.

As part of O2's changes to the consumer price plans they have removed the Double Minutes and Texts promotions. Before the change, minutes and SMS were doubled for 6 months when buying direct from O2 and for 3 months when connecting via a third party dealer. They have also removed rollover on plans costing less than £30 per month.

On B4B 02 250 the Double Minutes Free promotion remains. Minutes are doubled for 6 months when buying direct from O2 and for 3 months when connecting via a third party dealer. On this B4B plan unused minutes rollover for 3 months.

Note that with B4B plans the free minutes are applied as a Shared Minutes Bolt On and once the promotional period ends the Bolt On becomes a monthly chargeable subscription.

At least mobileshop are clearly promoting it as a B4B plan. Some retailers fail to mention it is a B4B plan when customers sign up and so they don't realise they need to cancel the Shared Minutes Bolt On after the promotional period. Read my comments in this thread if you want to see who the guitly party (still) is!

thor wrote:

I want to be able to use anytime x-network minutes to call 0844, 0845 & 0870 numbers and know that O2 tariffs do allow this but I don't know if this applies to all of them.

The revised standard consumer price plans still include calls to these numbers. As far as I am aware B4B plans do not include these numbers.

thor wrote:

These are tariffs I saw with phones being sold online by mobileshop.com so I guess these are online tariffs.

No these are not online tariffs. O2 online tarrifs are only available direct from O2.

reelcrazy wrote:

O2 have very recently changed their "high street" tariffs which is what Mobileshop, Dialaphone, OSPS etc are currently in the process of changing to. I would leave it a week and see how things pan out.

The changes were made to the mobileshop website on 12 July ready for the new plan rollout on 13 July. As of 13 July it would not be possible to connect to an old O2 price plan. I cannot comment on the other delears you mention because I do not recommend them.


I hope this helps.

Cheers
Mark

reelcrazy

Thanks for the info Mobile Mole. When you say you do not recommend the other dealers I mentioned (DAP, OSPS), do you actually recommend Mobile Shop? Just a question as I am tempted by one of their offers. Thanks.

Mobile_Mole

reelcrazy wrote:

Thanks for the info Mobile Mole. When you say you do not recommend the other dealers I mentioned (DAP, OSPS), do you actually recommend Mobile Shop? Just a question as I am tempted by one of their offers. Thanks.

Yep, you can't go wrong with mobileshop. You might find a slightly better cashback deal elsewhere but it will always be a trade off between a reliable dealer and the best deal.

The only other dealer I recommend is e2save (for contracts which aren't O2 and Vodafone).

Cheers
Mark

thor

Thanks MM. From your description the O2 250 plan seems to be by far the best deal for me and has most of the features I require. I was worried that it may have had some catch due to it's cheaper pricing but apart from lesser rollover months I can't see it being inferior to the business plan.
I've only ever had one contract phone before and it was from mobileshop. As has been noted many times they are slow payers but do always pay exactly on the date that they claim they will. They also keep you informed via email when they recieve your vouchers as well as when a refund is due and this is why I'm thinking about taking out another phone from them.