Vodafone (gulp), O2 or a virtual?

MikeWhite

Lost touch a bit with MVNOs etc.
Currently on Three which is great everywhere but home. Three in touch is no good for me, and when working at home I lose important calls, they cant't hear me etc. So, time to switch.
EE gives no signal, either, so it needs to be O2, Vodafone or a virtual.
I need about 200 minutes, 500 texts and 6gig data. Any suggestions, please?

HappyMJ

MikeWhite wrote: »

Lost touch a bit with MVNOs etc.
Currently on Three which is great everywhere but home. Three in touch is no good for me, and when working at home I lose important calls, they cant't hear me etc. So, time to switch.
EE gives no signal, either, so it needs to be O2, Vodafone or a virtual.
I need about 200 minutes, 500 texts and 6gig data. Any suggestions, please?

6GB of data is quite a lot of data. Can you cut the usage down by using wi-fi more often which would cut the data usage requirement right down?

I'd go with O2 but that's only because of my area having better O2 reception indoors than Vodafone. I'm actually with TalkTalk which runs on Vodafone and it's not very good.

GiffGaff runs on O2 and has some quite reasonable deals for 6GB. 6GB would cost £18 per month.

System

Talkmobile are ok if you are happy with Vodafone 3G.
4GB for £10 and 15GB for £15 on a 30 day sim only.

O2 were doing some ok 12 months deals lately and Tesco Mobile is one of the better MVNOs on O2.

I would suggest avoiding giffgaff like the plague. They are cheapish but they are low priority on O2 and their data speeds are awful.

ballyblack

TESCO mobile (o2)

MikeWhite

ballyblack wrote: »

TESCO mobile (o2)

Thanks, I was with them last year but data speeds were awful. That is true, too, of giffgaff (partner has a sim of theirs but does not use much data). Have things improved on the data speed front?

bod1467

I think it depends on where you are and how busy the network is. I'm with giffgaff and haven't really noticed any data speed issues.

However, a network provider will always give priority to their direct customers ... MVNOs only get the bandwidth that they pay for. So if speed is important, go with O2.

As said above though ... why the need for fast data rate and lots of data whilst at home? Surely you'd use your WiFi network?

KingS6

If you experienced slow data speeds on Tesco. You are likely to experience the same or slower on Giffgaff as they are even on a lower priority when subscribed to an O2 mast. Unless there's been significant investment in network upgrades in the areas you wish to use you are likely to have the issues again. Another boon is that O2 have a deal to share some masts with Vodafone so could aid with coverage issues. O2 also have their TuGo app which I believe is similar to Three's in Touch.

I would give Vodafone a wide berth until at least they have sorted their numerous issues out. Same goes for any MVNO who uses their network unless you can be assured their customer service and billing is not done by Vodafone.

Having said that I am now with Giffgaff having just left Vodafone and have seen no issues regarding poor data speeds. The beauty of Giffgaff is there is no commitment. Thereore advice would be give them a try and if it is unsatisfactory plump for O2 with the assurance you will have top priority.

MikeWhite

bod1467 wrote: »

I think it depends on where you are and how busy the network is. I'm with giffgaff and haven't really noticed any data speed issues.

However, a network provider will always give priority to their direct customers ... MVNOs only get the bandwidth that they pay for. So if speed is important, go with O2.

As said above though ... why the need for fast data rate and lots of data whilst at home? Surely you'd use your WiFi network?

We have somewhat unreliable broadband at home, which is partly the problem with the InTouch app, I think. On days I'm working at home, I cannot take work calls and then if the BB goes off too I have no internet either.
I have an active gg sim around somewhere (payback!) - I will try the data speeds and see if they've improved their game.

System

The giffgaff issue is their low priority on O2 (which already not the best for data)
GG get the slow lane behind O2 and Tesco customers.

However, they also rent a fixed amount of data capacity on O2, meaning when more 'Giffgaffers' are using data, you get slowed down to a crawl on even 4G.

You can divert voicecalls from 3 to your home landline (within inclusive mins) if that helps.

MikeWhite wrote: »

I have an active gg sim around somewhere (payback!) - I will try the data speeds and see if they've improved their game.

HappyMJ

MikeWhite wrote: »

We have somewhat unreliable broadband at home, which is partly the problem with the InTouch app, I think. On days I'm working at home, I cannot take work calls and then if the BB goes off too I have no internet either.
I have an active gg sim around somewhere (payback!) - I will try the data speeds and see if they've improved their game.

I would look at improving the BB at home before considering paying for a mobile phone with data.

You can get a mobile wi-fi router to replace your home broadband which may be a better choice than running through your mobile.

You will get better 3G/4G reception from a mobile wi-fi router than you would have got on your mobile. You can install a directional aerial to the router and put it on to the best part of the house to point directly at the mobile tower and you will get much better reception than an internal mobile aerial.