O2 tariffs, wtf ?!?!

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
2,159
Location
South, Scotland
Seriously what happened to O2 Tariffs in the last two years?

I'm going to be upgrading my 3GS and its currently with O2, £35.74 currently for 600mins 500 texts and unlimited 3G and WiFi. Fair enough my contract is a grandfather one in regards to the Data. But to get that combo of minutes and say 500mb of data is £42! or with 1gb its £46!

Seems like the cheeky bar stewards have been raising the price of late!

With the next iPhone I think I might jump ship to the likes of Tesco's as their iPhone 4 deal was the cheapest and pretty reasonable on minutes and data for £25.

Worst is I bet O2 wont bat an eye lid or do a deal for me on any new iPhone when it comes to me asking them.

Anyone know if the simplicity route is worth it?
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,634
Simple, don't get the phone on contract. High end phones are so expensive you pay way more even on the same minutes. Or look at around at other operators.

I got sick of the high monthly payments and silly long contracts. Especially with iPhone it is so much cheaper to buy it outright. Androids not so one sided, but can still often similar prices but you don't get tied in.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2007
Posts
9,688
Location
Liverpool
I have just found all O2 contracts to be overpriced tbh.
Go to one of the many other providers :).

I find retentions aren't too bad. I got a HTC Desire last year with 800 any-network minutes, unlimited any-network texts, unlimited landline calls, and 500MB data for £28 a month over 18 months.

There may be cheaper but I couldn't find a package offering all that for that price-point. New contracts are a different matter however, and they are always behind other networks on the phones they offer.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Mar 2010
Posts
4,081
My wife just moved frOm O2 to tesco. With tesco she got a samsung galaxy s ii. Paid £50 up front, £25 pm for 24months and gets 700min, unlimited texts and 500mb data. Lowish monthly payments were important as,.she had by this point been eligible to upgrade for at least 6months, and so was effectively continuing to pay a premium for a phone that was paid up ling ago.

I rang up O2 after we saw the tesco deal, to see if they would be willing to match it. They couldn't not even come close. Iirc I was offered something like £69 handset (reduced to £50 as a "deal"), £28/month and 300 min, and possibly less data as well. Needless to say we left, but they didn't seem to be interested in making any effort to match.
I am on O2 myself and could easily see myself switch provider at the end of my contract. We are O2 broadband customers, and I think as mobile customers we get something like £8 or £5 off our bill. They way things stand I could easily see it being cheaper to switch providers despite the extra broadband costs.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
1 Sep 2003
Posts
3,405
Location
US of A
When I cancelled my £30 /mo iPhone 3GS contract at the end of the 24 month period, I told O2 retentions that I was going to 3 PAYG (£15 all-in-one add-on). The guy at O2 retentions said they couldn't even come close and tried to make me stay by saying "oh but 3's customer services is in India". I said "I can live with that as they will give me truly unlimited data and let me tether at no extra cost". He let me go pretty-much instantly after that.

On a slight side-note, I called 3 CS a few weeks ago wanting a £25 add-on but only had £18 credit and could not topup online or via their mobile website or phone systems. After explaining the situation, the 3 rep then said "oh, we'll have to just give you £7 credit then" and did! I thought it was nice of him to do that even though that probably actually cost the company nothing.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
26 Mar 2010
Posts
4,635
Location
M4 Corridor
O2's current strat changed over the last 2 years (much like all the operators except 3/T-M tbh) to a "retain high, churn low" setup. There's a certain threshold a customer needs to be bringing in for it to be worth keeping them and the operators basically raised this bar and told retentions to act accordingly. All this means is if you shop about your deals will be fine still, just that retentions is less likely to be the best place for your next years deal unless you meet the criteria of being "worth keeping".
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Jul 2003
Posts
3,285
Location
South East Coast
should have done a bit more research into Tesco mobile, as just upgraded my contract last week. Have been on 600 mins, unlimited text and 100mb data for £25 the last 2 years but despite what phone I wanted to get 600 mins you had to get a minimum of £6 data tarriff and with the increased cost I now have to pay £32p/m for 600 mins, unlimited texts and 500mb data, on the plus side I got my o2 contact from CPW and managed to blag a free Samsung Galaxy S2 so got a good phone out of it but a bit miffed at having to pay an extra £7 p/m for the same minutes i've had for the last 4 years at £25 or under (Was £20 on my previous contract before). Unfortunately, o2 are the only provider who give good coverage everywhere here in Hastings so it was a necessity but hadn't considered Tesco mobile!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Jul 2004
Posts
44,080
Location
/* */
Pretty much, buy the phone out right, £25 a month goody bag nets you truly unlimited data and texts with 25 hours (1500 mins) cross network talk-time.

Wow, that's incredibly expensive when I can get a 12 month contract for same price as the phone alone (I bought a SGSII on vodafone a few weeks back).
 
Associate
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
2,159
Location
South, Scotland
To much crap with Giffgaff from what I remember, all the goodiebags were month long so you had to keep mucking around each month to get what you wanted.

Also Tesco's STILL don't have tethering which I'm guessing is due to O2 refusing to give that option to them. So you cant get a tablet or use your phone for a tablet :(

I'm not 100% sure about 3, not always the great rep in the past. Anyone know what network they buy from the big 4?

Also who does Giffgaff buy from?


Ideally I want to be able to get a mobile which can become a WiFi hotspot so tethering is a must. It would make my job easier as I can activate on the fly and not have to worry about it, damn you restrictive web proxies!
 
Last edited:
Joined
27 Jul 2005
Posts
13,039
Location
The Orion Spur
Also who does Giffgaff buy from?

giffgaf is owned by o2.

Anyone else feel like the networks are taking the royal flush by restricting how we use the data limits we buy?

No not really, not compared to the states for example, I think we get pretty good deals on mobile data tariffs here tbh, things well improve though, mobile broadband is still relatively new.

Looks like Three might be a good option, I'm temped to go with them myself as I need a new phone.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom