Hi there to all oz people...
Im heading for Sydney next week and will stay there for some three years to complete my Bachelor Degree on accounting..
Now as i use my PPC (HTC TyTN) for all basic e-mailing need (Push Mail) and some bit of internet browsing or talking in skype time to time on mobile gprs...so i will also need a gprs/edge/3g/hsdpa data connection plan when i wll buy a mobile sim after reaching there.and as this is my first time in australia so i dont have any knowledge on there mobile operators and the facilities they provide.so my question goes here..
1) Will i be able to use gprs in any prepaid (like pay as you go) package? Bearing in mind that im a student.and if yes then which network providers support this and whose cost is lowest?
2) Does they have any unlimited data plan in prepaid or postpaid?and if yes then which network providers support this and whose cost is lowest?
3) Which mobile operators facilities is the best and you reccomand most?
Thanks in advance....
br.
Sajib
PS: I also posted the same question on Network subforum but didnt get any answer in 3 days so posting it here again..
as i guess here definately has a number of oz people and they could help me out here..
it depends on how much you will travel and where you will based. I live across the road from unsw and get good coverage on 3. they have good data packs (for australia) but there is no unlimited here. pre paid is also not normally allowing full use of gprs or 3g. the problem with 3 is they have a small coverage area in the 3g zone, so if you travel much it will go back to gprs with high cost. I spend $85 on mobile+data a month and I doubt you will be able to do better and still be able to use it frequently. I think 3 push mail is $3 unlimited a month as an add on (this post was done under their 3g coverage on my heremes but 20 meters away I get no covereage)
Australia sucks for mobile data, 3G or gprs theres not alot of difference in the price.
we must give thanks to telstra for that
Australia is like third world country when it comes to internet/broadband. In saying that your best option is to go with 3 as they have least laughable data plans. Also, 3 is about to introduce X-Series which means unlimitied browsing, orb, MSN, Ebay all for very decent price. Mind you very limited number of handsets will be supported for X-Series.
Hi!
I will soon travel to London for a while and I realized I have no idea whatsoever on what providers exist over there and which is the best.
I will mainly use it for 3G (or are there lots of free WiFi-spots?) and phoning home to Sweden. I will probably need to send SMS and call inside UK sometimes to, but mostly Sweden. It should be a prepaid alternative.
Any recommendations?
I used an Orange card when I was there for a few days last winter. I used it for calls and texts, but I think they had 4 different pre-paid plans, depending on your preferences. It was cheap, and I'd use them again.
Thank you
Best coverage is vodafone, cheapest pay-as-go is orange (£1/day data). Vodafone has 3g pay-as-go, but cannot get 3g on my orange pay-as-go. Many wi-fi hotspots around. Best look at vodafone/orange websites - they are the biggest & best in UK
I'm with O2 and can't really fault them, but Vodafone currently have a deal where you don't pay extra for roaming, so you could take it back to Sweeden and not get caught for extra cash (check terms and conditions though...) O2 do a 'bolt on' which you can buy unlimted web data for a fixed fee (was about £7.50 when I subscribed).
Lots of free wifi (McDonalds is one, but there are more) and plenty of idiots that don't have security on their wifi access points. I know it's stealing, but it can get you out of a fix and it's not like you'll use it for hours on end sitting in someone's front garden...
Check out the '3' network.
Every time you top-up (GBP10) you get 150MB of free data, and a lot of free sms messages.
If 150MB is not enough for you, for GBP5 you can get the Internet Monthly add-on which allows up to 2GB limit over 30 days.
Also, they have a free Skype facility using a modified version of ISkoot (search XDA-Developers for details of how to make it work on WM devices).
I use data far more than calls and sms and I find '3' to be the best deal.
66mustang said:
I'm with O2 and can't really fault them, but Vodafone currently have a deal where you don't pay extra for roaming, so you could take it back to Sweeden and not get caught for extra cash (check terms and conditions though...) O2 do a 'bolt on' which you can buy unlimted web data for a fixed fee (was about £7.50 when I subscribed).
Lots of free wifi (McDonalds is one, but there are more) and plenty of idiots that don't have security on their wifi access points. I know it's stealing, but it can get you out of a fix and it's not like you'll use it for hours on end sitting in someone's front garden...
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This is what I do. £7.50 for unlimited 3G is brilliant, and even though I get EDGE on my Elf, it's still really quite fast. Albeit I only get G or 2G coverage where I live (north of Bristol) but it's still quite nice to have the ability to forget about my emails, and then pick it up and they're sitting there for me.
O2.
I just got my Nexus One unsubsidised about a week ago. Although it can apply for other phones I guess, but I'm interested what your thoughts are to the UK residents on here at xda. I don't plan on signing a new 12+ month contract because I want to save it in case some newer phone comes along.
My contract on my T-Mobile Vario 3 (kaiser) ran out over half a year ago and have since changed to a 30 day SIM only plan (Solo 20 on T-Mob). I was thinking of changing to O2 as since it's the UK provider that actually supports EDGE nationally. Well Orange I think supports it too but it's not on a national scale I dont' think. I travel fairly often on the motorway as well as on trains so I figured having EDGE available while I go through some countryside would be nice.
All 4 providers offer 600 mins for £20 a month, but Orange doesn't include internet at all, Voda only 500MB, while O2 and T-Mob offer unlimited (with FUP of course). Going lower than £20 a month none of them offer internet as part of the package, which is the main reason I am on the T-Mob £20 pm package.
My typical usage hovers around 300 mins a month, I rarely text, and I mostly use my phone for surfing (news, mail, occasional social sites). Now here is the dilema. Last week T-Mobile just overhauled their SIM only monthly plans. All their plans now allow a choice of flexible boosters, which includes unlimited internet as 1 of them. The boosters are available to even their £10 100 mins plan as well! I am more interested in their £15 plan with 300 mins and choosing the internet booster.
So the question is, do I stick with T-Mobile and change to their £15 plan, goto O2 for £20 with EDGE support, or maybe even goto Vodafone because they are using gnomes to speed their internet speed that I am not aware of?
Why havent you mentioned 3? They have the best 3g or hsdpa coverage in the country and also offer unlimited data.
Only trouble is their customer service call centre is in India and they arent very helpfull.
Thats a good point. I have totally forgotten about 3 for some reason. The £15 package from 3 looks interesting. But as I understand that 3 only uses UTMS (3g) frequencies and does not support GSM (2g) frequencies? Which is the reason they always say that 2g only phones are never supported.
I am using a Shift on O2, 30 day contract sim only which is 14.99 per month + £7.50 for unlimited data. This works well though HSDPA cells are not as frequent as I'd like them (on the North Kent Coast).
My Touch Pro 2 is on T-Mobile payg. Plenty of HSDPA cells wherever I go and as long as I topup 10/month data is unlimited for the following month. This setup works quite well for me.
3 have 2g roaming with orange. If you can't pick up a 3g signal, then it connects to oranges 2g towers. The sim cards will only work in a phone if it has 3g, but it doesn't need to use 3g, (just costs them more if you dont).
im with o2 on a 30 day rolling contract, its great.
for £20 u get 600 mins 1200 texts (600 double texts and 600 single texts) + i have added the unlimited data bolt-on as my free bolt-on.
go with o2 my friend, i have never had a problem with them
Do you have EDGE working on the O2? As it's one of the main reasons for me considering O2 as I don't like to be stuck on GPRS while around the countryside without a 3G signal.
Well I've finally nailed it down to either O2 or 3. 3 for their biggest 3G coverage or O2 for EDGE (if it's confirmed working that is).
Use O2 on pay as go Text & Web pretty much always HSDPA or 3G coverage when go out in the sticks it flips between GPRS & EDGE.
I moved to T-Mobile when purchased Touch Pro but soon went back to O2 as constant connection problems when surfing and problems with signal dropping out.
3 meant to be good coverage but @ home had to go outside house just to get signal.
Orange are good for signal but absolute bismal on data usage p/m.
Makaijin said:
Do you have EDGE working on the O2? As it's one of the main reasons for me considering O2 as I don't like to be stuck on GPRS while around the countryside without a 3G signal.
Well I've finally nailed it down to either O2 or 3. 3 for their biggest 3G coverage or O2 for EDGE (if it's confirmed working that is).
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EDGE works fine, im rarely in a 3g area so i have to use EDGE and GPRS a lot. both work fine.
OK, went over to my mates this afternoon to borrow his O2 sim, he's currently on the £20 30 day so I had a play with that on my Nexus one. EDGE works great on the N1. My brother has a spare 3 Pay & Go card lying around that he dug out just now. Testing on it now. If you turn off 3G it roams on the Orange network in 2G mode which connects with EDGE as well!
Now I'm even more at a loss. O2 is £20 pm with 600 mins, but its over-minutes charges are 20p a min(same for land, and all mobile networks). 3 has £15 for 300 mins, but it's over-minutes to other mobiles are 40p a min, wtf? But 3 does have unlimited skype calls which my girlfriend might like since she calls back to China a lot. My average useage hovers around 300 mins, but I do go over it a bit sometimes. Do I control my phone useage a little bit for better 3G coverage and free Skype calls? Or go with O2 for a little more flexibility in minutes?
Argh! Which to choose, which to choose...
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
Makaijin said:
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
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I think that's a good choice, I'm on O2, SIM Only for £20 and I get:
700 mins
1400 texts (MMS is 1:4)
My Choice of Bolt On (currently Web but has been Blackberry sometimes)
ITS included
[I got their January offer which upped the online tariff from 600 mins and 1200 texts]
I moved to O2 because I travel quite a bit and in addition to ITS you get:
Text messages to the UK taken from bundle at the rate of 1:4
MMS messages to the UK taken from bundle at the rate of 1:4
You can buy a data bundle currently 10MB/£20 and 50MB/£50 - better than £7.50 per MB that I had to pay with T-Mobile.
Best of all, if you don't like it you can give notice and move.
edenc said:
I am using a Shift on O2, 30 day contract sim only which is 14.99 per month + £7.50 for unlimited data. This works well though HSDPA cells are not as frequent as I'd like them (on the North Kent Coast).
My Touch Pro 2 is on T-Mobile payg. Plenty of HSDPA cells wherever I go and as long as I topup 10/month data is unlimited for the following month. This setup works quite well for me.
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Wouldn't you be better off moving to their £20 per month tariff?
DuoM said:
Wouldn't you be better off moving to their £20 per month tariff?
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Only valid reason for his choice would be that he's using a different inclusive Bolt-On, like unlimited O2 to O2 calls, or maybe unlimited weekend calls? Having just checked, things like unlimited internet can be paid extras whereas things like unlimited O2 to O2 you can only take up with your inclusive Bolt-On.
Makaijin said:
Only valid reason for his choice would be that he's using a different inclusive Bolt-On, like unlimited O2 to O2 calls, or maybe unlimited weekend calls? Having just checked, things like unlimited internet can be paid extras whereas things like unlimited O2 to O2 you can only take up with your inclusive Bolt-On.
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Ahh, yes. Good point.
Thanks
Well, just to keep this thread alive, yesteday Vodafone just updated some of their 30 day plans. One interesting plan is a £25 pm plan that comes with 1GB internet and WiFi with BT Openzone.
With 4 of the major providers updating their plans since January, it'll interesting what Orange will come up with if they do update their packages.
Ah, the wonders of 30 day contracts.
Makaijin said:
Well, just to keep this thread alive, yesteday Vodafone just updated some of their 30 day plans. One interesting plan is a £25 pm plan that comes with 1GB internet and WiFi with BT Openzone.
With 4 of the major providers updating their plans since January, it'll interesting what Orange will come up with if they do update their packages.
Ah, the wonders of 30 day contracts.
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That 1GB plan looks like an iPhone plan. I asked them about their contract plans with 1GB data, etc last month and they said that you could only get them with an iPhone but since these are SIM Only it should be possible to use them with any phone (unless Vodafone try and restrict the device somehow).
Makaijin said:
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
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You do realise that all "Free Skype Calls" means is that they allow you to use the internet freely to make skype to skype calls using their app?
You'll get the same on o2 seeing as how you're getting an internet bolt on, all you need to do is get a Skype app.
Actually no. The 3 version of the skype app actually dials out a number and doesn't connect via 3G internet nor via wifi if it's available. It reroutes the voice data using a voice connection within the 3 network. The IM portion of skype still uses the 3G data network though. According to my brother, using skype voice via 3 is a really good experience. You don't get drop-outs at all, unlike when you are in a car travelling and it switches cells and/or the connection switches between HSDPA and EDGE etc. Plus all other 4 major carriers have ToC's explicitly restricting VoIP use, although none of them actively block out VoIP apps atm.
I think im going to be going to South Korea this summer.
I was wondering if it will change anything if my phone is in Korea?
like
- phone call signal
- Extra phone bill for international? (for calling america while in korea)
- texting from korea to USA
thanks!
Mostly Asia is using a different 3G band than NAM. Probably you'll gonna see the "E" instead of "H" above your screen. It means lower data transfer speed. That's the bad news, good news are the rest of your phone will work exactly the same as it does in your area.
Talking about fees, be careful and look at your operator webpage, voice roaming is about $ 2-3 per minute (It doesn't matter if you place the call or just pick up), data can vary some companies offer a day (24h)unlimited for $10, some others bill you per mB downloaded.
after a quick google search, it appears that south korea does NOT use GSM. this means no roaming, and no sim switching for you. looks like you'll be stuck on wifi with your phone :\
i've been looking at giffgaff but after receiving 4 sims - none of which will register i'm wondering if they're that difficult to get registered with, how bad can the service be?
hit me up with genuine Uk unlimited no-cap-throttles or fair usage nonsense on uk networks please
payg preferably, sim only contracts considered.
thanks
I have been using 3UK for years, and I have the all-you-can-eat data plan, sim only.
I pay a MONTHLY contract of 15 pounds ( so I can stop it wherever I want), with 300 min+ 5000 SMS, free 3 to 3 calls, and all-you-can-eat-data.
Works flawlessly. With Speednet test I got always 6/7 MB download sometimes more, I watch in streaming a lots of football games without issues (even on my old Hero), and I got a good signal everywhere. My friends are using 3UK too, no problem so far.
Hope this can help.