[richcandy]

Hi

I have just recently ended my last contract and now looking to go on a sim only deal. I can then just buy a handset from ebay and swap and change whenever I want.

My question is do I go with O2 or Vodafone?

I use 200-250 text per month and about 100 mins so I am not really a high user. Both O2 and Vodafone offer this or more for £15.

I know that O2 lets you text the UK from overseas with one international text costing 4 from my UK allowance and I would use this from time to time as I send part of the time in France.

However has anyone got any reasons why I should go with Vodafone over O2 or v.v.??

Currently have a Blackberry 8120 locked to O2, an unlocked Blackberry curve, an unlocked iphone, a n95 locked to Vodafone and waiting on an N95 8GB locked to voda.

Rich

[RobM]

Swings and roundabouts really. If one network has a feature or option that the other doesn't that you really think will benefit you, go for that network.

Coverage is the same, the amount on offer is the same, customer service is equally inept in both cases so it's just about finding that one killer option that does it for you

[zeffania]

I thought you were meaning contracts

I have the same dilmea at the mo. Looking to get the new W960i and only Vodafone and O2 offer it. I am with Orange at the mo and looking to go the O2 route as they dont fill the phone with all their crap unlike Vodafone and Orange

Personally on your question, I would go for one that offers a better service or signal

[unique]

i've been with o2 for the last 8 years roughly. i originally joined up for a sony z5 phone that's deal was best on o2, then i went PAYG for a while before getting a motorola Z3, and then retentions gave me good deals including £100 credit to my account as i kept the same handset. i just did the same last week and got 200 mins + 200 txts for £15 a month, which factoring in the £100 retention cashback is £6.66 a month, and with the £7.50 data bolt on its under £15 a month and works with my unlocked iphone

the benefit to me is the rentention and cashback/credit to account deals that don't involve any mucking about or sending back bills or claims, not to mention it just so happens to work with my iphone

i've never used vodaphone personally, i was with orange for a couple of years before o2, back in the 90s, as they had a deal where you paid something like £75 upfront and got a motorola phone and 18 months line rental and minutes (not a lot of mins, but that was in the 90s when you didn't get many), which was a really dirt cheap deal at the time. the company i worked for had orange, which was fine for business with it's shared minutes between a number of handsets, but never seemed to have great value very cheap packages for low users, and never seemed to have the best phones, plus they were badged with the organge logo i didn't like. fair enough when you get a really cheap package, but not if you are paying good money. personally i wouldn't use 3, but i've never tried it, although the deals seem good, but they just don't have the same choice of phones

you mention an o2 locked phone, so i presume you were on o2. if you haven't completely ended the contract i'd suggest working out a deal with retentions for a sim only deal, and get a PAYG or unlocked phone at another time. even if you have cancelled and still have the sim, they might work out a resign deal with you

[WelshBluebird]

Just signed up for an O2 contract, and the only problems I'm having with O2 atm are the fact you can't check how much you've used on the phone itself. You have to use the website (which is a day out of date). And you can't get delivary reports on text's (even if you have it set to "on" on the phone). You have to type *0# in your text before your message.

[truscotsman72]

If your happy with both deals, I would personally go for 02 only for the fact like zeffania said, vodaphone fill their phones full of crap, as do orange. I debrand every orange phone that passes my way if I can

[zeffania]

Originally Posted by truscotsman72

If your happy with both deals, I would personally go for 02 only for the fact like zeffania said, vodaphone fill their phones full of crap, as do orange. I debrand every orange phone that passes my way if I can

ooo, how do you manage to debrand the phone?

[truscotsman72]

I can debrand all modern Nokias no problem (my N95 and my g/f's N80) and I've debranded my SPV M3100 (hermes tytn). All you're effectivly doing is replacing the whole ROM software (the operating system) with either the original factory one or a 'cooked' ROM which is home built by some genius who's seen more computer screen than daylight.

So if you have a Nokia and want it the way Nokia intended it to be, gimme a PM and I'll give you a few links and some help, same goes for just about any windows based phone or PDA

[andykn]

Originally Posted by richcandy

Hi

I have just recently ended my last contract and now looking to go on a sim only deal. I can then just buy a handset from ebay and swap and change whenever I want.

My question is do I go with O2 or Vodafone?

I use 200-250 text per month and about 100 mins so I am not really a high user. Both O2 and Vodafone offer this or more for £15.

I know that O2 lets you text the UK from overseas with one international text costing 4 from my UK allowance and I would use this from time to time as I send part of the time in France.

However has anyone got any reasons why I should go with Vodafone over O2 or v.v.??

Currently have a Blackberry 8120 locked to O2, an unlocked Blackberry curve, an unlocked iphone, a n95 locked to Vodafone and waiting on an N95 8GB locked to voda.

Rich

I'm on Vodafone SIM only monthly deal and one problem I found is that it is very difficult to switch to a contract. I was told by a Vodafone shop that I had to swap to Vodafone PAYG for at least 3 months. I rang about 5 different Vodafone departments who could do nothing.

I realised that I could PAC out and then PAC back and it was only when I did this that I was rung back by retentions who could do it.

[Sketch]

Personally I love the Vodafone 30 day sim only deals.
£20a month 200 Anytime minutes and 1000 texts.

Pretty good deal with only a 30 day cancellation period at any time! The one thing that won it for me was the coverage too.
Guess it's all swings and roundabouts depending on what kind of user you are? I use more texts than minutes so.....

[johnelf]

Originally Posted by Sketch

Personally I love the Vodafone 30 day sim only deals.
£20a month 200 Anytime minutes and 1000 texts.

Pretty good deal with only a 30 day cancellation period at any time! The one thing that won it for me was the coverage too.
Guess it's all swings and roundabouts depending on what kind of user you are? I use more texts than minutes so.....

O2 simplicity is £25 a month, but has 600 Anytime minutes and unlimited texts. 30 day notice. Surely worth the extra fiver?

John

[Crapjokes]

Just moved from Vodafone to O2 and it's like a breath of fresh air ! customer service is superb, phone (N95 8GB) is unlocked and after 2 years of Vodafone Live it's so nice to be able to actually use the web for what I want, without wanting to chuck the phone at the wall.

Also Vodafone retentions offered me a worse deal than a new customer, whereas O2 stated that they prefer to offer better deals to loyal customers (free phones, better packages etc) than new ones.

Got a very good tariff with O2 and am very happy with my switch

[dds14]

Originally Posted by Crapjokes

Also Vodafone retentions offered me a worse deal than a new customer, whereas O2 stated that they prefer to offer better deals to loyal customers (free phones, better packages etc) than new ones.

That's not entirely true, O2 only offer you a better deal if you're a reasonably high spender. I certainly didn't find that the case come renewals time.

Having said that, I'm pretty happy with the O2 customer service (UK call centre), coverage and general tarriffs (am on simplicity now and will probably upgrade to N82 on new, superb, £35 tarriff including 200 Mb data/month).

VF were awful when I was with them, constantly misbilling me and then threatening to cut me off. Admittedly this was about 6 years ago but I vowed I'd never go back and haven't since. I've been with all four major UK networks and they were by far the worst (in my limited experience though)

[unique]

Originally Posted by Sketch

Personally I love the Vodafone 30 day sim only deals.
£20a month 200 Anytime minutes and 1000 texts.

Pretty good deal with only a 30 day cancellation period at any time! The one thing that won it for me was the coverage too.
Guess it's all swings and roundabouts depending on what kind of user you are? I use more texts than minutes so.....

the £15 o2 simplicity package gives 200 mins + 400 txts. it depends if you really need another 500 txts for £5 with vodaphone, but you can get bolt ons with o2 to add more txts. i'm not a txter myself, i'll maybe send 2 a month on average

[merkin51]

Originally Posted by Crapjokes

Got a very good tariff with O2 and am very happy with my switch

What did you manage to get out of o2 crapjokes? I'm looking on making the exact same switch, and hope to get the N95 for free on a £25 contract...

[Digihoho]

Originally Posted by unique

i've been with o2 for the last 8 years roughly. i originally joined up for a sony z5 phone that's deal was best on o2, then i went PAYG for a while before getting a motorola Z3, and then retentions gave me good deals including £100 credit to my account as i kept the same handset. i just did the same last week and got 200 mins + 200 txts for £15 a month, which factoring in the £100 retention cashback is £6.66 a month, and with the £7.50 data bolt on its under £15 a month and works with my unlocked iphone

the benefit to me is the rentention and cashback/credit to account deals that don't involve any mucking about or sending back bills or claims, not to mention it just so happens to work with my iphone

i've never used vodaphone personally, i was with orange for a couple of years before o2, back in the 90s, as they had a deal where you paid something like £75 upfront and got a motorola phone and 18 months line rental and minutes (not a lot of mins, but that was in the 90s when you didn't get many), which was a really dirt cheap deal at the time. the company i worked for had orange, which was fine for business with it's shared minutes between a number of handsets, but never seemed to have great value very cheap packages for low users, and never seemed to have the best phones, plus they were badged with the organge logo i didn't like. fair enough when you get a really cheap package, but not if you are paying good money. personally i wouldn't use 3, but i've never tried it, although the deals seem good, but they just don't have the same choice of phones

you mention an o2 locked phone, so i presume you were on o2. if you haven't completely ended the contract i'd suggest working out a deal with retentions for a sim only deal, and get a PAYG or unlocked phone at another time. even if you have cancelled and still have the sim, they might work out a resign deal with you

Hi Unique, I have yet to switch to O2 Simplicity to use on my Jailbroken iPhone, but today got my Pac code from Vodaphone and decided to get on Simplicity £15 + £7.50 Unlimited Bolt on. With the web bolt on, on the iPhone will that means 'automatically' connect u to web via Edge or GPRS?? I am asking cos technically this Simplicity Web Bolt-on is not for iphones and therefore will it work on the jailbroken iphone?? Hope u know what I am asking, cheers.

[unique]

Originally Posted by Digihoho

Hi Unique, I have yet to switch to O2 Simplicity to use on my Jailbroken iPhone, but today got my Pac code from Vodaphone and decided to get on Simplicity £15 + £7.50 Unlimited Bolt on. With the web bolt on, on the iPhone will that means 'automatically' connect u to web via Edge or GPRS?? I am asking cos technically this Simplicity Web Bolt-on is not for iphones and therefore will it work on the jailbroken iphone?? Hope u know what I am asking, cheers.

well i entered the edge settings before i put in my o2 sim, which was before i got the data bolt on. i can't remember the exact point i did it, but i could access the settings to let me put in the details. it might have been when i was on 1.1.1, and before i did the jailbreak part via wifi as i had to do that at work, and then take the phone home and run the final part

from what i read, if you can't access the edge settings on the phone you had to edit one of the files on the iphone to enter the settings to us edge. if you google you should find the details. there is a sticky on this forum with links to the edge settings

i had edge working before i had the data bolt on, using my existing o2 contract, and then i just renegotiated to a 200 min + 200 txt deal with £7.50 bolt on (ie. not the iphone contract). i didn't get the simplicity deal as by agreeing to another 12 month contract i got £100 credited to my account, making the overall 12 months of 200min + 200 txt plus bolt on equate to under £15 a month, but simplicity isn't a specific sim chip, although it sounds like it. it's just an o2 sim thats tied to a "contract" called simplicity. if you have an existing o2 sim or any type they could make it a simplicity contract and you keep the same number. it's just if you don't have an o2 sim already they send you one

so once you get the sim and it's working, you can edit a file on the iphone and get the edge settings and it'll work

if you haven't already jailbroken and/or you can access the edge settings you can do it before you get the sim and they are then set in the phone. if not, it didn't look hard to edit the file on the phone (it's like editing a file in notepad)

[beetle]

Originally Posted by Digihoho

Hi Unique, I have yet to switch to O2 Simplicity to use on my Jailbroken iPhone, but today got my Pac code from Vodaphone and decided to get on Simplicity £15 + £7.50 Unlimited Bolt on. With the web bolt on, on the iPhone will that means 'automatically' connect u to web via Edge or GPRS?? I am asking cos technically this Simplicity Web Bolt-on is not for iphones and therefore will it work on the jailbroken iphone?? Hope u know what I am asking, cheers.

Digihoho-Did VF charge you for giving you your pac code? I am on contract with VF until 9th March and called them today as I want to buy iPhone and move to o2 at same time.Having gone through the usual "please don't go-why are you going anyway?-let me speak to sales about a great new deal for you- an iPhone ? why on earth would you want one of them ? They are very very basic you know!!! Anyway she finally tells me I need to give 30 days notice AFTER 9th March AND pay £50 for a pac code to be sent.Did you experience any of this ?

[dds14]

Originally Posted by beetle

Digihoho-Did VF charge you for giving you your pac code? I am on contract with VF until 9th March and called them today as I want to buy iPhone and move to o2 at same time.Having gone through the usual "please don't go-why are you going anyway?-let me speak to sales about a great new deal for you- an iPhone ? why on earth would you want one of them ? They are very very basic you know!!! Anyway she finally tells me I need to give 30 days notice AFTER 9th March AND pay £50 for a pac code to be sent.Did you experience any of this ?

AFAIK, you don't have to pay for a PAC after your contract has expired.

[Digihoho]

Originally Posted by beetle

Digihoho-Did VF charge you for giving you your pac code? I am on contract with VF until 9th March and called them today as I want to buy iPhone and move to o2 at same time.Having gone through the usual "please don't go-why are you going anyway?-let me speak to sales about a great new deal for you- an iPhone ? why on earth would you want one of them ? They are very very basic you know!!! Anyway she finally tells me I need to give 30 days notice AFTER 9th March AND pay £50 for a pac code to be sent.Did you experience any of this ?

£50 for the PAC code? That is total nonsence, I would have told them to . I have been with VF for 8 years now, 4 years contract and PAYG until I rang them up to request PAC code, told them I have bought iPhone, no hasle, gave me the code straight away! Go back to them and request it again, I dial 191 on mobile (25p flat charge).

[Digihoho]

Originally Posted by unique

well i entered the edge settings before i put in my o2 sim, which was before i got the data bolt on. i can't remember the exact point i did it, but i could access the settings to let me put in the details. it might have been when i was on 1.1.1, and before i did the jailbreak part via wifi as i had to do that at work, and then take the phone home and run the final part

from what i read, if you can't access the edge settings on the phone you had to edit one of the files on the iphone to enter the settings to us edge. if you google you should find the details. there is a sticky on this forum with links to the edge settings

i had edge working before i had the data bolt on, using my existing o2 contract, and then i just renegotiated to a 200 min + 200 txt deal with £7.50 bolt on (ie. not the iphone contract). i didn't get the simplicity deal as by agreeing to another 12 month contract i got £100 credited to my account, making the overall 12 months of 200min + 200 txt plus bolt on equate to under £15 a month, but simplicity isn't a specific sim chip, although it sounds like it. it's just an o2 sim thats tied to a "contract" called simplicity. if you have an existing o2 sim or any type they could make it a simplicity contract and you keep the same number. it's just if you don't have an o2 sim already they send you one

so once you get the sim and it's working, you can edit a file on the iphone and get the edge settings and it'll work

if you haven't already jailbroken and/or you can access the edge settings you can do it before you get the sim and they are then set in the phone. if not, it didn't look hard to edit the file on the phone (it's like editing a file in notepad)

A friend of mine just bought OTB 1.1.2 hand jailbroken it and used his exsisting O2 Simplicity with the data bolt-on immediately and got Edge working straight away! He said he didn't do anything to Edge whilst he was on 1.1.1 before upgrading to 1.1.2 whilst doin the jailbreaking and he has no Edge setting options in his iphone! Would he still be able to connect to 'Edge' without editing the plist files for Edge to work?? And may be he is actually using GPRS and NOT Edge even the signal is showing 'E'?? Can some one clarify this pls, thanks.

[unique]

Originally Posted by Digihoho

A friend of mine just bought OTB 1.1.2 hand jailbroken it and used his exsisting O2 Simplicity with the data bolt-on immediately and got Edge working straight away! He said he didn't do anything to Edge whilst he was on 1.1.1 before upgrading to 1.1.2 whilst doin the jailbreaking and he has no Edge setting options in his iphone! Would he still be able to connect to 'Edge' without editing the plist files for Edge to work?? And may be he is actually using GPRS and NOT Edge even the signal is showing 'E'?? Can some one clarify this pls, thanks.

maybe it just works if you have an o2 sim, i'm not sure. i did set the settings and now i can't see them, so it's hard to tell if setting them mid jailbreak did the job or if it was going to work anyway

i had edge working before i got the data bold on. you get the blue square if it's gprs and the E if you are on edge. it just depends on the quality of the signal in the area if you get edge or gprs. if i'm on the bus it changes between edge and gprs as i move about

i suppose you just need to put the sim in and see if it works, if not then edit the files on the phone (by googling the guide)

[Digihoho]

Yeah, only way to find out is put a Simplicity sim and see. I also posted this Edge setting in the Non unlocking thread, someone also just simply insert the O2 simplicity card and got Edge working without doin any editing the Plist files!
May be all UK iPhones are set up for Edge and US iPhones to use Edge with O2 or other sims require tinkering the files??

[unique]

Originally Posted by Digihoho

Yeah, only way to find out is put a Simplicity sim and see. I also posted this Edge setting in the Non unlocking thread, someone also just simply insert the O2 simplicity card and got Edge working without doin any editing the Plist files!
May be all UK iPhones are set up for Edge and US iPhones to use Edge with O2 or other sims require tinkering the files??

it's possible, but when i did have the settings (which i think now was when i had the 1.1.1 firmware) the boxes showed as blank before i typed the details. i would have thought it would have shown the settings there. maybe the settings get carried over from the sim after or during jailbreaking

i don't think editing the file looks that hard if you have to do it. personally i'd recommend "iphonebrowser.exe" to use to change/move/delete files on the iphone as it let's your phone show in a windows exporer type setting and it works via usb rather than wifi. i've seen sites offer files you can save and drag and drop to the phone to change things (ie. like vibrate longer when you get a txt) so you might find an already done file

[Digihoho]

Originally Posted by unique

it's possible, but when i did have the settings (which i think now was when i had the 1.1.1 firmware) the boxes showed as blank before i typed the details. i would have thought it would have shown the settings there. maybe the settings get carried over from the sim after or during jailbreaking

i don't think editing the file looks that hard if you have to do it. personally i'd recommend "iphonebrowser.exe" to use to change/move/delete files on the iphone as it let's your phone show in a windows exporer type setting and it works via usb rather than wifi. i've seen sites offer files you can save and drag and drop to the phone to change things (ie. like vibrate longer when you get a txt) so you might find an already done file

Thanks, will checkout 'iPhonebrowser.exe'. Editing iphone files via Wifi with winscp/Putty abit daunting for me since I am not familar with the unix coding commands etc, I read that if u mistype, wrong spaceing characters etc, can mess up the phone!?

[unique]

Originally Posted by Digihoho

Thanks, will checkout 'iPhonebrowser.exe'. Editing iphone files via Wifi with winscp/Putty abit daunting for me since I am not familar with the unix coding commands etc, I read that if u mistype, wrong spaceing characters etc, can mess up the phone!?

i don't know, i haven't edited anything myself, but i used the software to see if i could move mp3s or jpg's easily (but couldn't really as the files aren't shown like on a pc), but i did use it to fix a corrupted installer, by following the wifi instructions of where the files were to go, and doing the same with iphonebrowser, as i don't have wifi at home. i have a couple of wifi dongles but i've not set them up to do much. i'll eventually try and set them as ad hoc so i can connect the iphone to them