SMS Text News: powered by Vodafone
Last Friday I made the ultimate switch over.
Oh yes indeedo.
After quite a long on-off love affair, I have committed to Vodafone.
I decided that, whilst I am a huge fan of data services, and in particular, 3UK’s X-Series Gold/Silver offerings, I prized call quality and the Vodafone spectrum above all else.
The sham that was the X-Series blog really struck home to me. Yes 3UK were always just a mobile operator — but the blog there gave me the impression — the absolutely false impression — that the people there ‘lived it’ — that a small dedicated ‘X-Series’ team really believed in open data, smart applications and so on. Then, come January, they just switched the blog off, catapulting them from my ’shit hot’ to ‘how not to do it’ slide on my How To Do Blog Relations presentation I regularly give. So I was freed from the dilemma of switching to 3UK full time.
The only other decision in my head was whether or not to consider the other networks. I gave serious consideration to o2. I didn’t bother thinking about Orange.
T-Mobile… meh… well, I think it’s only fair that I finally dump them after the amount of ridiculous, ridiculous reporting that I’ve done on the site here over the years.
Data is good and it’s really nice to have unlimited data — but the nail in the coffin for T-Mobile came when I phoned up to ask how I could get a proper unrestricted all-ports-free data service (I wondered if Web’N'Walk Max would let me use IM, properly), and the helpful yet entirely, entirely unknowledgeable customer support lady mangled the issue. She didn’t understand what I meant by unrestricted. Not her fault at all. Network policy. Next.
My decision was ultimately made when, sitting in front of the very helpful Saj, in the Vodafone Oxford Street store, I discovered that my credit check with Vodafone had been approved. After three or four years of wrangling, the system has finally forgotten the issue we shared. I paid up fully after running up a 1,200 data bill … my attempt to object to it caused goodness knows how many problems with Vodafone’s credit people — so much so I was persona-non-grata for years. All fixed now.
Instead of getting a 30-day rolling contract, as I originally intended, I made an executive decision with Saj and hopped on to an 18 month contract. Unlimited landline calls. A paltry 120mb of data per month. 250 text messages. We. Shall. See.
This wasn’t a half baked switch. Oh no. I even took out a 15 quid a month USB broadband modem (3gb allowance). Done.
Here’s Saj sorting out approval for my new modem:
I am lock, stock and barrel Vodafone. And I love it. You can actually PHONE me and you will, provided I’m around, be able to speak to me without crackling, hissing or my calls inexplicably dropping.
I didn’t bother taking my existing number. I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see just how well Plaxo works. If you’ve got me in Plaxo, you’ll already have my new number (Add me to your plaxo by searching for ewan@smstextnews.com, I’ll approve you).
If you don’t have my new number, here it is: 07769 658 104
Or, if you’re international, you want: +44 7769 658 104
And what handset did I get?
I must say Ewan, I am shocked that you went with the Verizon of the UK. I’m also surprised that 3 closing your blog affected your decision so much. I am so impressed with your phone pick of phones. I hope you enjoy it. I saw an enormous amount of E90 at MWC and it made me want one again.
Congrats on the new service and phone.
Posted by Jeb on March 7th, 2008 at 5:10 am.You are right about the xseries blog - their heart was never in it - and they way they just dropped it was pretty brutal. Still they led the way and the x-series is as wicked as it was when it started. I have also never had any problems with dropped calls or call quality any time I was with 3uk. Honest. Vodafone isn’t everything it is made out to be having been with them for 3 years. Call quality where I live (right next to a tube station) is 1 bar max - is and forever has been. Actually, I never understood what all the fuss was about. Good luck with Vodafone. I am off to O2 myself - for a change of scenery more than anything else.
Posted by AJ on March 7th, 2008 at 8:20 am.Yes, come to the Dark Side!
Posted by Terence Eden on March 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am.Hi Ewan,
I loved Vodafone, I just didn’t love their bills, particularly when roaming. With regards the E90, its a cracking device I love mine, however like alll Nokias you can’t load it with a 1000+ contacts because otherwise it starts to play up.
If you have a Mac Nokia have a great iSync plugin that makes the whole process a cinch
Enjoy
Ged
Ged Carroll’s last blog post..Links for 2008-03-06 [del.icio.us]
Posted by Ged Carroll on March 7th, 2008 at 11:24 am.Can’t say I’m entirely shocked. I’ve recently re-committed to 3 (for 18 months, for heaven’s sake! I hate that - but…) because our relationship has been okay and I don’t want to be worrying about going over data allowances. Big BUT here though - when my father-in-law retired from a job that provided his mobile and needed one of his own for his new business I told him to go to Voda! Why? Because he just wants a phone that works for voice and SMS wherever he is and I’ve become nervous about recommending 3 to people because CS and coverage can be patchy.
My new N95 8GB is all good news though - holds a signal like you wouldn’t believe and didn’t cost me a penny for the upgrade (also have the 3 USB modem which has been a great performer - home and abroad).
Posted by MarkW on March 7th, 2008 at 12:58 pm.if you liked the Xseries blog as a 3 customer, you’ll love
Posted by John on March 7th, 2008 at 1:51 pm.http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/
I went T-mobile across the channel since they are the only that don’t have a real data limit. Also they are the only ones allowing SIP over web-and-walk. Okay, the bandwidth is a bit tight for this stuff. Still. IT works! I have not yet found any port restrictions except smtp of course.
Vodafone is setting limits in the Netherlands, you get a undisclosed datalimit. They call it fair user policy. 10x the average user… Well, that’s not me. If I hookup my N95 to my desktops USB-port for power and start streaming 128kbit radio during worktime. I’d do 10+ GB per month…
Besides no free e-mail or other annoying services that bind you to a carrier. No Vodafone live of t-mobile t-zones for me. I just connect to carrier-independent solution anytime.
snoyt’s last blog post..N-gage not long now…
Posted by snoyt on March 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pm.ewan, i’m shocked you moved to vf.
Posted by se fanboy on March 8th, 2008 at 4:51 am.i was considering leaving vf for 3, reason for leaving is the restricted access to the internet on my mobile. the browser on my mobile can’t open certain addresses because vf does not allow it, i’m not talking about 18+ sites, normal sites. also i can’t save my numbers via mobyko from vf 3g service, i have to do it when i am in a hot spot.
i hope you’ll let us know about the differences in mobile internet from these 2 companies. let us know if there are some sites you can’t access from vf that you used to access from 3.
thanks.
John wrote: if you liked the Xseries blog as a 3 customer, you’ll love
http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/
Just spent 15 minutes laughing at the variously misread, misinterpreted and sometimes downright misinformed responses from some of the VF team.
I especially enjoyed Matt15’s struggle to update his N95 firmware: NSU wouldn’t recognise the product code — turns out VF had sent him a dodgy replacement phone. But it was up to *him* to figure out how to change the code back to a legit VF-UK one! And then he got warned that doing such naughty things might void his warranty!
How on earth do VF justify charging £3/mth for a branded version of Windows Live Messenger? (Even if you *can* send 3000 messages every day!)
And that’s on top of £7.50/mth for 120MB!
Ewan, you’re a disgrace and I hope you’re thoroughly ashamed of yourself!
What kind of example are you setting the industry by supporting these rip-off merchants?
Posted by HeavyLight on March 9th, 2008 at 12:01 am.HeavyLight’s last blog post..The Cloud hails iPhone traffic & looks to WiMAX
Was bowled over by this:
“A paltry 120mb of data per month. 250 text messages. We. Shall. See.”
Good luck! Minimum 3G data package in Indonesia is 250 Mb for seven Euros a month. Twenty Euros a month gets you 3 gigabytes.
Sounds like you’re getting just enough to get in trouble.
Still, congrats on your upgrade. Now get JoikuSpot on your E90 and an iPhone and do your web browsing on the iPhone at megabit speeds from taxis. That’s what we do over here…
E90 plus iPhone at 3G speeds via JoikuSpot- yes ! Now we’re talking…
Posted by Ben Whitaker on March 9th, 2008 at 1:30 pm.I think I’m “Vodafone-curious”…
Love the idea of the rock-solid network and could tolerate high-ish tariffs (Passport’s nice though), but always use more than 120MB per month so that could get expensive. Having gone from nothing to unlimited with x-series I’m not even sure I could develop the discipline to track my usage to avoid the nasty bills…
Posted by Ben Smith on March 10th, 2008 at 12:56 am.HeavyLight wrote: how on earth do VF justify charging £3/mth for a branded version of Windows Live Messenger? (Even if you *can* send 3000 messages every day!) And that’s on top of £7.50/mth for 120MB!
Its not though, is it - the data for the messenger service is included within the £3.
Posted by John on March 10th, 2008 at 10:38 am.Sorry I wasn’t clearer, John.
What I meant was that you’d have to *pay* £3/mth (to use WLM) “on top” of the £7.50/mth (for 120MB of data).
By comparison, on Three’s X-Series I can use WLM (or any other IM client I fancy) *within* my 1GB data allowance for £5/mth. And lets face it, it’s not going to amount to *that* much data.
So for what I’d consider a normal smartphone airtime package, VF charge more than twice the price of Three for much, much less data.
Any other ‘additional extras Ewan ought to know about?
;-*)
HeavyLight’s last blog post..Apple, RM Battle Shapes Up
Posted by HeavyLight on March 10th, 2008 at 12:55 pm.