[SkyUser]

Can someone tell me what they think is the best value mobile phone network?

[BIGDOGUK]

Virgin mobile 15p for the first 5 mins and 5p thereafter 10p per call to the team free voicemail and brilliant coverage. Yje best customer serivce 10/10 no q's.

BIGDOGUK

[dreamypuma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyUser

Can someone tell me what they think is the best value mobile phone network?

On PAYG I think its a hard choice between o2 (Online) and Vodafone (Stop the Clock). I would place Orange in third place, only because their free 600mins a months for 5 years only included orange handsets.

It all really depends on what you want out of your phone. Some deals suit others better.

[Mikey_TM]

Tesco Mobile is a good service. 20p/minute & 10p/text or 10p/minute & 5p/text to 3 favourite numbers inc. any mobile network. Or you can go on a Tesco Value tariff (which i'm on) and calls will be 15p/minute and 5p per texts. With the value tariff you can't E-topup, use fast GPRS internet or use the phone abroad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyUser

Can someone tell me what they think is the best value mobile phone network?

It really depends on what you are looking for.

Contract or PAYG or do you care?

How long will you use the phone for? At what times of the day /week? How long for at any one call. How many calls? Are they cross network?

Do you send txts? how many on average?

Do you want other services? (e.g. internet access)

...and so on.

I think you need to consider the planned usage and then do some research yourself. I fear that this type of thread will just lead to people telling you how good their network is to them - but each persons requirements are different.

[dreamypuma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey_TM

Tesco Mobile is a good service. 20p/minute & 10p/text or 10p/minute & 5p/text to 3 favourite numbers inc. any mobile network. Or you can go on a Tesco Value tariff (which i'm on) and calls will be 15p/minute and 5p per texts. With the value tariff you can't E-topup, use fast GPRS internet or use the phone abroad.

I found Tesco Customer service very good. Far better that similar services like easyMobile and Fresh.

[Steven L Hunter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamypuma

On PAYG I think its a hard choice between o2 (Online) and Vodafone (Stop the Clock). I would place Orange in third place, only because their free 600mins a months for 5 years only included orange handsets.

It all really depends on what you want out of your phone. Some deals suit others better.

Orange does a better deal than O2, they do that if you top up more than £10 you get more free texts:

£10 = 300 FREE (Same as O2)

£20 = 600 FREE

£30 = 1,000 FREE (Same as T-Mobile but on T-Mobile you get charged the £30 but it lasts for 90 days on T-Mobile)

[dreamypuma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenGray16

Orange does a better deal than O2, they do that if you top up more than £10 you get more free texts:

£10 = 300 FREE (Same as O2)

£20 = 600 FREE

£30 = 1,000 FREE (Same as T-Mobile but on T-Mobile you get charged the £30 but it lasts for 90 days on T-Mobile)

Yeah I have to agree about the texts. Having thought about it, if your a texter Orange is a good deal.

If o2's online PAYG is still the same, I think you can mix your allowance between text and x-net calls. So this is quite handy too.

Vodfones Stop the Clock seems to be aimed at low usage, as i'm pretty sure there's no minimum spend, and can be used for landlines unlike the orange freebee.

But once again all depend on what your after. It has to be said that PAYG deals have come a long way. It's good to see PAYG users getting a fair deal at long last.

[Maven]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenGray16

Orange does a better deal than O2, they do that if you top up more than £10 you get more free texts:

£10 = 300 FREE (Same as O2)

£20 = 600 FREE

£30 = 1,000 FREE (Same as T-Mobile but on T-Mobile you get charged the £30 but it lasts for 90 days on T-Mobile)

But Orange's offer falls flat on its face if like me you text a lot but also use the phone during the day. With them I'd be paying 20p per minute to landlines if I wanted their text offer, whereas with o2 I get 300 free texts plus after the first 3 minutes of the day, landline calls are only 5p.

So IMO it's o2 one, Orange nil

[stevejk75]

O2,no contest.

[wavejockglw]

Hard to beat Vodafone's Stop The Clock deal if you want the max amount of time for your money. Work it out - you get 57 free minutes for evry 3 minutes you pay for off-peak. So on a 200 minute contract you could actually get over 3850 minutes to any network!! Passport is a brilliant offer if you travel to Europe too.

It's well worth investigating the value of add-on's like those above when making a decision about tariffs as the headline figures don't always reveal the full details.

[Wilma Foot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavejockglw

Hard to beat Vodafone's Stop The Clock deal if you want the max amount of time for your money. Work it out - you get 57 free minutes for evry 3 minutes you pay for off-peak. So on a 200 minute contract you could actually get over 3850 minutes to any network!!

In theory, yes.

However, how many calls ACTUALLY last 60 minutes? Unless you make a lot of long calls, Stop the Clock may not be as good value as it appears. On my last Voda bill I had used around 1500 minutes - of these calls most were under 3 mins, and the very longest calls were around 30-35 mins, so my potential free minutes and actual free minutes would be very different.

I do agree with previous posters who say that the best network depends on their requirements. I have one colleague who has three mobile phones - on for daytime calls, one for evening calls and one for texting. At least two (and possibly all three) are on contracts. he reckons he saves a considerable amount of money by organising things like this. Although all of his contacts use just one number to contact him, I think it is a bit excessive to carry three mobile handsets around.

[castle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilma Foot

In theory, yes.

However, how many calls ACTUALLY last 60 minutes? Unless you make a lot of long calls, Stop the Clock may not be as good value as it appears. On my last Voda bill I had used around 1500 minutes - of these calls most were under 3 mins, and the very longest calls were around 30-35 mins, so my potential free minutes and actual free minutes would be very different.

I do agree with previous posters who say that the best network depends on their requirements. I have one colleague who has three mobile phones - on for daytime calls, one for evening calls and one for texting. At least two (and possibly all three) are on contracts. he reckons he saves a considerable amount of money by organising things like this. Although all of his contacts use just one number to contact him, I think it is a bit excessive to carry three mobile handsets around.

And I thought I was doing well wit two handsets!

[Mr Cable]

While Stop is Clock is fairly good - It's absolutely no use whatsoever to someone (like me) who wants to use their phone whenever they like.

Also, be wary of Vodafone Passport as it counts as a tariff change and can lose you your free bundles - like many 3G 500 customers found out much to their disgust over the summer and several are still trying to get their free downloads added back on.

Although, for a low user - the Tesco Value mobile seems best.

[moox]

For calls, nothing beats vodafone stop the clock (for evening calls) and o2 online (during the day, especially on their PAYG original tariff to landlines and other o2 mobiles).

For text messages, I don't know - I can't remember when I last sent one of those things. It might have been 2004.

For GPRS, nothing beats Orange for their GPRS bundles - £1 for 24h browsing or £4 for 4mb (full internet access) compared to vodafone and their extortionate price.

(all PAYG btw)

Cue StevenGray and his monologue on how o2 never works and it's tin-pot customer service. I have had no problems apart from new years day and the recent snow outbreak (if you lived in Cornwall, you'd have known about it). The customer service is very good and get things done quickly, even better if you know the 01xxx number instead of the 0870.

[mattworld]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

Cue StevenGray and his monologue on how o2 never works and it's tin-pot customer service.

I think some people are being unfair to Steven, there are plenty of people on here who don't rate O2, myself included. From experiance Customer Service is now really good, however I've yet to come across a less reliable network/business. If you've had a many bad experiences with them (like I have) you aren't going to speak favourably about them. Lots of people seem to like O2 and thats great, but many people have had a poor quality product from them and are as equally entitled to voice their opinions.

If you're a really money saving scrimper then you will need to use more than 1 network. Like everything else in life, no one company does everything cheap.

BTW O2 is pants if you're texting during busy periods (eg new years eve, during the final of strictly come dancing/x factor)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilma Foot

In theory, yes.
Although all of his contacts use just one number to contact him, I think it is a bit excessive to carry three mobile handsets around.

you can get dual sim card holders, not sure if they do triples though!