I'm not saying Vodafone are responsible, but a £1 token payment for 50,000 users is more attractive to an administrator than nothing at all and the hassle of giving PACs. So I don't think they are in administration.

Vodafone wouldn't have to keep them on free deals - Orange didn't when they took on Blyks users.

My sympathies tonight are with both those customers who have had the rug pulled from under their feet and are stuck until tomorrow morning with no phone service whatsoever and those who tonight have just lost their jobs and livelihoods. There is nothing to celebrate in this sorry tale which has unfolded very dramatically tonight.

When Ovivo said it was trying to raise more finance, I guess it was lying about its state.

It needed money to stay afloat, but the world was told it was to expand.

I lost £15 but hey ho. The service was crap anyway, so I'd have never been able to spend the money and I couldn't cash out. I lost it the day I bought the SIM!

Wow, what a scummy company. Lets make a note of the directors and call them out if they ever try to start up another company!!

This is the push I’ve been waiting for as I just couldn’t let the free lunches go but now it’s happen I’m over on 3 now and a proper 3 and 4G network that works.

The dire network speeds I was getting on Ovivo are mirrored on my Vodafone sim too so it’s not just an Ovivo thing when it comes to data.

If anybody from Ovivo just happens to pass this way, may I thank you for the 100’s of pounds you have saved me the past year and a half and I wish you and your staff good luck in the future.

Ovivo R.I.P.

P.S.
The £10 credit that’s been on my account since September 2012 is yours to keep so buy yourselves some tea, coffee and some ginger nuts and chill out.

Yeah, it's a blessing. I knew I should ditch it but was naive enough to hope the speed might one day improve and it would be usable.

Obviously that was never going to happen. And even if Vodafone did take over and move me, I'd still have the same crap data speeds.

Now I'll just make do with a 4G EE PAYG card for a bit and consider my options.

Or I could use my Samba SIM and spend a year watching videos to earn a few more megabytes.. As I said, it must be at huge risk now, as I always thought it would go under before Ovivo.

Maybe Ovivo have taken EE down with them?

I completely disagree, you have to watch a video to earn just a few megs on Samba and that will earn Samba some money per impression, it will also cost them maybe 1p in wholesale bandwidth for that block of data so you can't really go wrong with that as long as you keep attracting advertisers, and with video it is more engaging and appealing to the advertiser.

Vodafone aren't to blame for the closure, no but I am still surprised they didn't step in and offer some sort of transition to Voda PAYG to ensure continuity of service.

Perhaps they figured everyone would just port out anyway to other MVNOs? Or perhaps they made an offer to ovivo but it was rejected?

Agree with this. Out of the two I'd say Ovivo are more at risk as they also offer calls and texts which they didn't/couldn't monitise.

That's a fair point. I am just thinking of data.

But I am still not convinced Samba can make a profit. A case of waiting to see then, and if it does go then like Ovivo, I haven't lost much.

At least using Three (and the standard APN working) means Samba is usable for data.

I wonder if Three will allow access to 4G in due course? Presumably at no extra cost.

Exactly, some probably never used the data, just the calls and texts, or streamed or used VPN's etc whereas with Samba you only earn data by watching ads, which is guaranteed revenue for Samba.

Well that article you linked too stated 68% of users using data on a daily basis. If that is true, that's almost a third of their customer base not generating any revenue.

I think Samba is a safer bet than Ovivo as with Samba you do have to work for your data but with Ovivo I’ve scratched my head for nearly 2 years trying to work out how they are paying for the calls and texts I was using.

I never, or should I say very rarely used the browser on my phone due to the naff network so I have never watched or seen any advert in 18 months of use other than a daily e-mail with offers in.

On the subject of the e-mail offers I once tried to take them up on one for a microwave oven from Argos but it was out of stock and it looked like the model had been discontinued months before so it was a no sale.

Even If Samba were to go tomorrow I’ve saved a fortune with them too so would have no regrets but I think if we are to believe the upturn in the economy is happening then there will be even more money going into advertising.

6 months of calls and data cost me £15. Ended up with £20 credit cos I recomended myself on a couple of other sims. Hey ho. Good luck Ovivo people. If you have access to my £20 then head for the pub with it.

I still have incomming calls and texts and filled in the PAC form so heres hoping. Will be an arse if I cant port but had worse things happen in my life.

I think the point was that if it is in Administration then the administrators have a legal duty to make as much money as possible for the creditors. So its very unusual for the business to be shut down completely. At the very least you would expect them to try to sell the business. Vodafone would be the obvious candidate.

I think its more likely this is a forced closure. Perhaps the sudden withdrawal of a backer or regulatory issues or withdrawal of service partner.

For me I have had a year of no phone or text bills with a start up fee of £10 for the sim. I can't complain - as an occasional user it was perfect for me. The worst thing for me will be if I can't retrieve my number but I too have had many worse things than this happen in my life - it will be a minor inconvenience.

I am sorry for those that have lost money and more so those that have lost jobs.Good Luck to the employees finding something else soon. Hope I get my PAC code but like you said HEY HO.

The alertnative thought is that it really was a pyramid scheme in the early days, each new member (and paying more than the previous earlier customers) propped up the businesss, the adverts propped it up a bit more and they were hoping they'd somehow get enough customer base to sell it on to another company perhaps before the plop hit the fan? like all pyramid schemes do.

it was good deal while it lasted but it had to come to a end

I got 14 months free call/texts for my £10 so im happy

like all the advertising based business model companies its not reallly viable longterm

take note FB

I have no idea considering the high average data usage on the Voda network how this service was sustainable. Sounds like bank pulling funding or something involving the directors (Tax?) as there are only a few reasons why you'd pull a company this way.

Take note Freeview and Freesat. Take note free-to-air radio stations. Take note every website which is reliant on advertising - like this one!

Virtually all the low user deals now require an amount per month investment, not ideal for low, occasional users or people with a poor credit rating, for them its Three 1-2-3 PAYG or more expensive PAYG providers, and with Three having to raise prices and substantially cap tethering, I have to wonder if their PAYG offering will change for the worse in the near future.

That's been my thoughts exactly, but it was good while it lasted, well for calls and text anyway but a pain in the neck for data.

According to the BBC they had 50,000 subscribers.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26659929

I wonder what the chances are of getting our PAC codes as I remember 10 years ago when a company I was working for went bust and I can remember the last thoughts in our office was of making sure the costumer was satisfied.

If they have problems issuing the codes I rather they told the truth and let us get on with distributing our new numbers.

Have you requested the code?