Looking for a UK operator with decent data and roaming charges in the Republic of Ireland

Hi,

I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data charges
and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data. PAYG prefered but can consider
contract if that's the only option. I've already spent a while on the
various operators web sites but finding out what the data and roaming
charges are for their different plans, options and bundles is a complete
nightmare. I can't believe how difficult it is to find this most basic
information.

So far I've found out that Three has no roaming charges for calls and texts
(no sure about data) when roaming on Three's networks but Three's coverage
in Ireland is pathetic (no coverage at all where i'm going to use it the
most) so it's not really an option.

O2 has a special bundle for the Republic which removes roaming charges for
calls and texts for £2 per months on PAYG but it doesn't mention data and
O2 doesn't seem to have any decent data plans anyway. On top of that, I
remember that O2 used to limit data usage to WAP on PAYG (you had to get a
contract to get real Internet access). Is this still the case? Do they
offer any decent data plans and what are roaming charges for data?

Vodaphone have good coverage and they only charge a 75p roaming charge per
incoming and outgoing call which is still a complete rip-off for short
calls but OK for longer ones. Roaming data however is a silly £10/MB. Their
new data tarif coming in June (£1 for 15MB in a day) doesn't seem to
include roaming and it is unclear whether it applies to contract users only
or to PAYG as well. Any more info on that?

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

"Mehdi" <vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1gjdx7dslp1l9.gzfj33ivs9d8$.dlg@40tude.net...
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data
> charges
> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data. PAYG prefered but can
> consider
> contract if that's the only option. I've already spent a while on the
> various operators web sites but finding out what the data and roaming
> charges are for their different plans, options and bundles is a complete
> nightmare. I can't believe how difficult it is to find this most basic
> information.
>
> So far I've found out that Three has no roaming charges for calls and
> texts
> (no sure about data) when roaming on Three's networks but Three's coverage
> in Ireland is pathetic (no coverage at all where i'm going to use it the
> most) so it's not really an option.
>
> O2 has a special bundle for the Republic which removes roaming charges for
> calls and texts for £2 per months on PAYG but it doesn't mention data and
> O2 doesn't seem to have any decent data plans anyway. On top of that, I
> remember that O2 used to limit data usage to WAP on PAYG (you had to get a
> contract to get real Internet access). Is this still the case? Do they
> offer any decent data plans and what are roaming charges for data?
>
> Vodaphone have good coverage and they only charge a 75p roaming charge per
> incoming and outgoing call which is still a complete rip-off for short
> calls but OK for longer ones. Roaming data however is a silly £10/MB.
> Their
> new data tarif coming in June (£1 for 15MB in a day) doesn't seem to
> include roaming and it is unclear whether it applies to contract users
> only
> or to PAYG as well. Any more info on that?
>
> Any other ideas?
>


Vodafone's roaming data charges are even worse than you think... The min
increment is 100Kb - so each time you use it costs £1 - b**t**ds

After several years with Vodafone this was enough to p*** me off and finally
make the move to Tmobile. Get a contract then add WebnWalk for 7.50 - 3gb
per month allowance in the UK, and £7.35 per Mb when roaming but in 1kb
increments.

--
John Blessing

http://www.LbeHelpdesk.com - Help Desk software priced to suit all
businesses
http://www.room-booking-software.com - Schedule rooms & equipment bookings
for your meeting/class over the web.
http://www.lbetoolbox.com - Remove Duplicates from MS Outlook, find/replace,
send newsletters

vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com declared for all the world to hear...
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data charges
> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data.

If you find one (which you won't), let the rest of us know.
--
Regards
Jon

"Jon" <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.20bc0084e8e9014c98a9f8@text.usenet.plus.n et...
> vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com declared for all the world to hear...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data
>> charges
>> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
>> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data.
>
> If you find one (which you won't), let the rest of us know.
>

Three, with "Three Like Home"?
Three like home isnt an added cost benefit, its just there wether you are
PAYG or Contract.

It includes data. There are no costs for recieving calls/texts.

http://www.three.co.uk/personal/cove...me_details.omp
Small print at the bottom of the page states:
"3 Like home applies to all Voice Calls, Video Calls, Skype Calls, Text
Messaging, Picture & Video Messaging and Data usage by all Pay Monthly and
Pay As You Go customers. When on a participating network, you will be
charged in per second increments"

"Andrew Scott" <me@overheresomewhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:GCm4i.23252$Ro3.7199@text.news.blueyonder.co. uk...
>
> "Jon" <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.20bc0084e8e9014c98a9f8@text.usenet.plus.n et...
>> vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com declared for all the world to hear...
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data
>>> charges
>>> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
>>> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data.
>>
>> If you find one (which you won't), let the rest of us know.
>>
>
> Three, with "Three Like Home"?
> Three like home isnt an added cost benefit, its just there wether you are
> PAYG or Contract.
>
> It includes data. There are no costs for recieving calls/texts.
>
> http://www.three.co.uk/personal/cove...me_details.omp
> Small print at the bottom of the page states:
> "3 Like home applies to all Voice Calls, Video Calls, Skype Calls, Text
> Messaging, Picture & Video Messaging and Data usage by all Pay Monthly and
> Pay As You Go customers. When on a participating network, you will be
> charged in per second increments"
>
>

Or you could just ignore that as where your'e going dosen't have Three
coverage. Sorry!

"Andrew Scott" <me@overheresomewhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:aEm4i.23255$Ro3.8802@text.news.blueyonder.co. uk...
>
> "Andrew Scott" <me@overheresomewhere.invalid> wrote in message
> news:GCm4i.23252$Ro3.7199@text.news.blueyonder.co. uk...
>>
>> "Jon" <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote in message
>> news:MPG.20bc0084e8e9014c98a9f8@text.usenet.plus.n et...
>>> vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com declared for all the world to hear...
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data
>>>> charges
>>>> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
>>>> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data.
>>>
>>> If you find one (which you won't), let the rest of us know.
>>>
>>
>> Three, with "Three Like Home"?
>> Three like home isnt an added cost benefit, its just there wether you are
>> PAYG or Contract.
>>
>> It includes data. There are no costs for recieving calls/texts.
>>
>> http://www.three.co.uk/personal/cove...me_details.omp
>> Small print at the bottom of the page states:
>> "3 Like home applies to all Voice Calls, Video Calls, Skype Calls, Text
>> Messaging, Picture & Video Messaging and Data usage by all Pay Monthly
>> and Pay As You Go customers. When on a participating network, you will be
>> charged in per second increments"
>>
>>
>
> Or you could just ignore that as where your'e going dosen't have Three
> coverage. Sorry!
And free 3 data is only for their garden walled webshite, it does not
allow you to connect a laptop to the internet. That needs an add on of
either £15 or £45 per month.

"Mehdi" <vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1gjdx7dslp1l9.gzfj33ivs9d8$.dlg@40tude.net...
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data
> charges
> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data. PAYG prefered but can
> consider
> contract if that's the only option. I've already spent a while on the
> various operators web sites but finding out what the data and roaming
> charges are for their different plans, options and bundles is a complete
> nightmare. I can't believe how difficult it is to find this most basic
> information.
>
> So far I've found out that Three has no roaming charges for calls and
> texts
> (no sure about data) when roaming on Three's networks but Three's coverage
> in Ireland is pathetic (no coverage at all where i'm going to use it the
> most) so it's not really an option.
>
> O2 has a special bundle for the Republic which removes roaming charges for
> calls and texts for £2 per months on PAYG but it doesn't mention data and
> O2 doesn't seem to have any decent data plans anyway. On top of that, I
> remember that O2 used to limit data usage to WAP on PAYG (you had to get a
> contract to get real Internet access). Is this still the case? Do they
> offer any decent data plans and what are roaming charges for data?
>
> Vodaphone have good coverage and they only charge a 75p roaming charge per
> incoming and outgoing call which is still a complete rip-off for short
> calls but OK for longer ones. Roaming data however is a silly £10/MB.
> Their
> new data tarif coming in June (£1 for 15MB in a day) doesn't seem to
> include roaming and it is unclear whether it applies to contract users
> only
> or to PAYG as well. Any more info on that?
>
> Any other ideas?

Virgin? No roaming charge for GPRS but, of course, roaming charges for voice
calls. Virgin seems to be the best bet for GPRS roaming.

Gareth.

On Mon, 21 May 2007 19:44:06 GMT, Andrew Scott wrote:

> "Andrew Scott" <me@overheresomewhere.invalid> wrote in message
> news:GCm4i.23252$Ro3.7199@text.news.blueyonder.co. uk...
>> Three, with "Three Like Home"?
>> Three like home isnt an added cost benefit, its just there wether you are
>> PAYG or Contract.
[...]
> Or you could just ignore that as where your'e going dosen't have Three
> coverage. Sorry!

Thanks for that. Three would indeed be ideal but with no coverage at all
outside large towns in Ireland, it's going to be pretty much useless for me
as it'll roam on networks that are not included in their Three Like Home
plan.

On Mon, 21 May 2007 21:04:50 +0100, Robin wrote:

> And free 3 data is only for their garden walled webshite, it does not
> allow you to connect a laptop to the internet. That needs an add on of
> either £15 or £45 per month.

I thought they has ditched their stupid walled garden a while ago... I
guess things never change.

On Mon, 21 May 2007 23:14:24 +0100, Gareth wrote:

> Virgin? No roaming charge for GPRS but, of course, roaming charges for voice
> calls. Virgin seems to be the best bet for GPRS roaming.

That's what I'm using at the moment but roaming charges on Virgin are way
over the top (65p/min to make a call while in Ireland, 95p/min in the rest
of Europe). And they don't have any proper data plan even when you're in
the UK.

Thanks to all who answered. I already looked at this issue 3 years ago and
was desperate to see how bad the situation was. I thought that with all the
recent annoucements of cheaper roaming and data charges things were much
better now but it looks like things haven't changed much :-(

"Mehdi" <vioccc@REMOVEME.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1slgin0r2q9jm$.4ixtpqrn6yy5.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Mon, 21 May 2007 23:14:24 +0100, Gareth wrote:
>
>> Virgin? No roaming charge for GPRS but, of course, roaming charges for
>> voice
>> calls. Virgin seems to be the best bet for GPRS roaming.
>
> That's what I'm using at the moment but roaming charges on Virgin are way
> over the top (65p/min to make a call while in Ireland, 95p/min in the rest
> of Europe). And they don't have any proper data plan even when you're in
> the UK.

If you pay by monthly direct debit the roaming charges in the rest of Europe
reduce to 60p a minute which is very reasonable.

The only reason I stay with Virgin is that their data roaming charges are
the best and their voice roaming charges (for direct debit customers) are
pretty good too. Shame about the minimum call charge though.

Gareth.

On 21 May, 17:25, Mehdi <vio...@REMOVEME.gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to find a UK mobile operator that would have decent data charges
> and decent or no roaming charges when in the Republic of Ireland for
> incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data. PAYG prefered but can consider
> contract if that's the only option. I've already spent a while on the
> various operators web sites but finding out what the data and roaming
> charges are for their different plans, options and bundles is a complete
> nightmare. I can't believe how difficult it is to find this most basic
> information.
>
> So far I've found out that Three has no roaming charges for calls and texts
> (no sure about data) when roaming on Three's networks but Three's coverage
> in Ireland is pathetic (no coverage at all where i'm going to use it the
> most) so it's not really an option.
>
> O2 has a special bundle for the Republic which removes roaming charges for
> calls and texts for £2 per months on PAYG but it doesn't mention data and
> O2 doesn't seem to have any decent data plans anyway. On top of that, I
> remember that O2 used to limit data usage to WAP on PAYG (you had to get a
> contract to get real Internet access). Is this still the case? Do they
> offer any decent data plans and what are roaming charges for data?
>
> Vodaphone have good coverage and they only charge a 75p roaming charge per
> incoming and outgoing call which is still a complete rip-off for short
> calls but OK for longer ones. Roaming data however is a silly £10/MB. Their
> new data tarif coming in June (£1 for 15MB in a day) doesn't seem to
> include roaming and it is unclear whether it applies to contract users only
> or to PAYG as well. Any more info on that?
>
> Any other ideas?
>
> Thanks.

O2 online PAYG have the equivalent of 3 like home. I think it's £2 a
month or a one off set up fee (as a bolt on), you'll then get the same
price calls in the Eire as if you were in the UK.

Incidentally, I've only used 3 coverage in ireland in major areas but
it has been much better than 3 coverage in Manchester.