OVIVO gone ! : Where to go next ?

marvin

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

The way I see it being a Three customer means keeping another SIM card going on a 2/2,5G network so that you have a fallback if you need data access in a rural area. This hardly seems either desirable or acceptable.

Dual sim phones all networks have issues somewhere and yes 3 not having service in some cities let alone rural is not acceptable.

Best signals (regardless of network) I have ever got? Rural Scotland but then I was standing underneath 02's mast at the time and city inside Dartford Tunnel went from poor to good inside tunnel to poor again outside.

NonGeographicalMan

Actually on reflection I think that Virgin Mobile's 30 day contract deal with 150 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB data at £7 per month is actually probably best for anyone who has a Smartphone but doesn't use it a huge amount and doesn't want to be tied down long term. As long as you keep track of your minutes you can usually always switch over to using texts if you have run out of them for that month.

See http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/sim-only/pay-monthly-sim.html

I would never ever even consider any of the very silly high cashback deals run by various blatant con artist mobile phone shops and/or websites where you have to remember to submit bills within a 1 month window every 3 months. Cashback from TopCash or Quidco is also a gamble because although it usually works sometime it doesn't and if it doesn't there is very little you can do about it. This is much worse if there was a very large cashback involved for a single transaction.

In my own case though in January I went for Tesco Mobile's then special deal at £12.50 with 2GB of data, 750 minutes and 5,000 texts as I figured I could use the data for internet access on the move in the summer months and cut out £5 a month I was having to pay for Anytime calls on my landline. However Tesco Mobile have now withdrawn the 2Gb tariff at £12.50 and are only offering the 1Gb service at that price.

Its very important though to remember that you must pick a tariff where you won't exceed any of the bundled allowances as if you do the costs are normally absolutely hideous, especially for data and calls. So it doesn't always pay to go for the very cheapest bundle. 150 minutes of calls with Ovivo was never enough for me in the summer although I suspect that 300 minutes usually would have been. I never got even vaguely close to the data or text caps with Ovivo, although in the case of the data that was because the service was virtually useless and tethering was banned. Whereas with Tesco Mobile and 2Gb I can afford to tether from time to time and tethering is Tolerated (on the admission of their own staff) even if not formally allowed.

John_Stone

Can anyone suggest a good ovivo replacement for an iPad i.e. broadband data only. Three 321 looks attractive but they exclude tethering so I guess a 321 account would be suspended or wouldn't work.
Basically I am looking for a genuine PAYG without time limits i.e giff gaff and similar would be excluded.
The only account I can see like this would be FamilyMobile.
Has anyone any thoughts.

Ypaymore

Emuchops wrote: »

went into my local Carphone WH shop last week and asked for a PAYG Talkmobile sim and they denied such a thing existed!!Contacted Talkmobile and they confirmed that CW DO stock them so going back to try again tomorrow....

Yes they do normally sell them,and they sell them online if you buy a £10 top up.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/sims/pay-as-you-go/pay-as-you-go-sims

tyllwyd

John_Stone wrote: »

... Basically I am looking for a genuine PAYG without time limits i.e giff gaff and similar would be excluded. ...

White mobile are 2.5p per mB for their data PAYG rate. I looked around on their website to see restrictions, but didn't spot any.

NonGeographicalMan

John_Stone wrote: »

Can anyone suggest a good ovivo replacement for an iPad i.e. broadband data only. Three 321 looks attractive but they exclude tethering so I guess a 321 account would be suspended or wouldn't work.

Depends how much data you are going to use. At 1p per Mb that's still £10 per Gb with Three.

www.sambamobile.com is free apart from the initial £5 for the SIM if you just want a data only SIM you can use from time to time and don't mind having to view advertisements in order to top up your data allowance for free.

You can also buy a 500MB data bundle for £5 (valid for 30 days) if you get tired of viewing advertisements as a way to top up your data allowance. That's the same price (1p per MB) as Three charges for data on their Pay As You Go plan.

Clearly this is a more sustainable model than Ovivo Mobile's where customers could in effect simply skip the advertisements and a huge number of their customers didn't even use Smartphones at all.....

d123

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

with Ovivo, although in the case of the data that was because the service was virtually useless and tethering was banned.

Whereas with Tesco Mobile and 2Gb I can afford to tether from time to time and tethering is Tolerated (on the admission of their own staff) even if not formally allowed.

1. Ovivo used to allow tethering (the software was clever enough to actually show the adverts on the tethered iPad).

2. Tesco specifically allow tethering, they have even just released a carrier update for iPhone that allows the hotspot feature without jail breaking (it was always possible on Android handsets).

bubieyehyeh

John_Stone wrote: »

Can anyone suggest a good ovivo replacement for an iPad i.e. broadband data only. Three 321 looks attractive but they exclude tethering so I guess a 321 account would be suspended or wouldn't work.
Basically I am looking for a genuine PAYG without time limits i.e giff gaff and similar would be excluded.
The only account I can see like this would be FamilyMobile.
Has anyone any thoughts.

You can use giffgaff with a gigabag, or payg data. You just can't use the unlimited internet goodybags.

asset2004

Herongull wrote: »

Where can you get the Three 321 sim? I ordered White Mobile sims last week, but still not yet arrived (presumably 2nd class post), then ordered Three 3 2 1 sims, but these have still not yet arrived.

I'm keen to port out ASAP, and wondered if I can just go into a shop and buy a Three sim, like you can with some other networks? There isn't a Three shop near me, but there is a mobile shop and various corner shops that sell topups etc. Would they sell the Three 321 sim?

I'm amazed that Three and White aren't rushing sims out to people. This is a great opportunity to pick up tens of thousands of new customers who want a quick port out. If you put the sim on the slow boat, they will have gone somewhere else by the time it arrives.

I wish my White Mobile sim would hurry up too I ordered it on Thursday, postman has just been and it's not here. Really needing to use the phone but reluctant to get another sim. Not sure where to go from here

John_Stone

bubieyehyeh wrote: »

You can use giffgaff with a gigabag, or payg data. You just can't use the unlimited internet goodybags.

Sadly not their terms and conditions state
You may not use your SIM Card:
a) in, or connected to, any other device including modems, dongles and Tablet devices ... etc.