3 and Voda3G - Which is best?

[bleubean]

Hi, is there anyone out there who CURRENTLY USES both a 3 and a new Vodafone 3G phone. for those that do what do they think? Reliability, Speed, entertainment, ease of use...etc.... overall opinions


NICK!


p.s this isnt an invitation for 3 or Voda bashers or lovers....just an unbiased chat

[pure ginge]

u mean an unbias chat, i'll let u know next saturday fella

[99901]

Hi

I have used both Voda and 3

Vodafone and V800

The handover is good when switching between 3g and 2g. SOmetimes the 3g wi switch over to 2g even if the signal is good. The 3G performance is better than expected and I get 3G coverage in most of the places I have been, despite being advised in the Voda store that I would not get 3G coverage in Sheff and surrounding areas until March 2005. The content is not have good as 3 with a few added features like my bill (which 3 have) but it gives you more detail about what you subscribe too and so on. But is only been a week. One thing with voda is the ability to downoload contenteven if you are out of a 3G coverage area. I have tried a video call and that is better than 3 but they may be down to the phone quality. I have also expirence going out of 3G coverage when on a call and it justs calls down to a normal call. I am waiting for my bill to see if they charged me at normal call rate after it dropped The games on Voda are very good, but it does not have the rent option like 3. I have also just purchased a new sony memory stick 256 MB. The customer service is very good. However I do like orange customer service more.

Three

No handover so if you are on a call or downloading it just cuts off. The phones are good ( New motorola). I thought the content services are a tiny bit better than Voda because of the choice, but bear in mind voda have being doing this a week when 3 have loads of time to perfect this. 3 dont let you access the video content when out of a 3 area and you cant download them ( i suspect this wil always be the case while they are with O2).
One thing I like on 3 is the angry kid series.


Tarrifs tried

Voda
£40
500 mins x net
50 Video call mins X net
£12 of text/MMS/video msg
Free news/sport/weather and film downloads worth 12 pound a month
Free music downloads untill Feb 05
and the icing on the cake SE V800

Three
£35
500 mins xnet
100 texts xnet

extras
you have to pay for content pack at £5 which gives you
Unlimited content (Top shelf and stuff like that not included)
20 video mins
50 video msgs

All on about the same but you get a little bit more on each in other areas.

Result

Voda have been going a week and very impressed with the quality so far

Three have been going 1 year plus and the content is more or less the same. It will be interesting to see what 3 do next. The best thing for 3 to do is to try and equire there own GSM network (that will never happen)

Recommend Voda

It can oly get better and its great now. Seamless handover and great solid network

Recommend THree


If you want a better 3 G coverage, and good content

Vodafone 3G
8/10

Three

6/10

[bleubean]

thanks for ur review of Three n Voda 3G. I do hope Three have something up their sleeve coz im on Three now and i wanna be given a reason to stay with them lol

[daveislander]

Wife Just got a Voda 3G on PAYG and son is using Three.. The differences are quite apparent! We cannot get a decent signal with Three, but Voda 3G gives us a rock solid 2g signal and we have been promised full 3G signal in the 'near future'. When in signal, the Voda 3G gives access to a wider range of services than Three, and on PAYG the voda wins hands down for pricing as there are NO 30 day limits. On transfer from 2G to 3G the Three phone drops every time, whilst the Voda 2G-3G is seamless.
If you get a good solid Three signal, then it is a matter of pricing, if you suffer with poor Three signal, then the Voda is the way to go IMHO.

[sngd2.1]

i was on 3 for a year. been on voda 3g for 3 days... its better already.. the best thing is there is no walled garden.. i can just imagine watching the news in a couple of months time, once all other networks release 3G. three will anounce bankruptcy. cos everyone will bring there 3 phones back or throw them a away..

i my self have a nec e606 collecting dust.....

[uno]

I would say overall Vodafone is better than 3 because of the seamless call switching but they are definitly catching up which is good and nobody can beat 3s value for money so its fairly even but for Voda just get it for the good customer service.

[daveislander]

It should be said that buying a Vodafone mobile on PAYG is 3 times more expensive because the cheapest is £150, whilst Three have handsets down to £30.. BUT in my opinion Voda is still the best bet as the phone is great quality and I estimate that over a year the savings make the outlay worthwhile.

[solo12002]

It should be said that buying a Vodafone mobile on PAYG is 3 times more expensive because the cheapest is £150, whilst Three have handsets down to £30.. BUT in my opinion Voda is still the best bet as the phone is great quality and I estimate that over a year the savings make the outlay worthwhile.

Were can you get Vodafone on PAYG and what mobiles, ive been looking, cant see anything on the web.

[daveislander]

Got ours (I got mine today) from the Vodafone shop here on the Isle of Wight. Cheapest was the Motorola V980 at £150, I understand they do the A1000 for £250 (I think) and I hear rumours of a third one for £350.
Having had mine for a Day I must admit it is far superior to the Three service due mainly to the area and complete lack of decent 2g/3g signal with Three, and the constant full 2g service I get with Voda! No walled garden either!!! Although the costs for roaming outside of 'Vodafone Live' are expensive. You can download some free video content from Vodafone live even in a 2g area (I have loads of film trailers and two music vids and have yet to visit a 3g area).
The V980 is brilliant with a camera, video, MP3 player/ringtones, includes 32Mb memory card & adapter, photos for contacts, decent battery life, USB cable, software and some very good price packages.
All in all Vodafone 3G PAYG is a godsend for us.

[99901]

the 3rd phone is a SE V800 for £350

[Andy Cripps]

BUT in my opinion Voda is still the best bet as the phone is great quality and I estimate that over a year the savings make the outlay worthwhile.

Are you saying that Voda prices are cheaper? I thought that Voda 3G was quite a bit more expensive to use generally than Three. It's hard to see where you could make savings over Three, other than X-net video calling.

[daveislander]

No, I am not saying that. To be honest I haven't worked out the price difference yet due to the complicated way these things are calculated. What I DO know is that with Voda you do NOT get a 30 day limit when you just put credit on your phone. You can buy packages that do expire which give things like 3p texts and 2p calls and 9p MMS etc but if you just buy £5-£50 top up it stays for as long as it takes you to use it. On Three I was regularily throwing away 50 texts or 80 minutes of calls every 30 days or so because I am a light user.. At least with Vodafone I know my money is safe!

[DaveC]

On Three I was regularily throwing away 50 texts or 80 minutes of calls every 30 days or so because I am a light user.. At least with Vodafone I know my money is safe!

Then simply 3 is not for you. They are only suitable for heavy users.

[daveislander]

More to the point, if Three had the services available that their site CLAIMS are available in my area, I would have been able to use a majority of the pre-paid texts/minutes, but when one has to Blu-Tak a mobile phone to a Window in order to get a slight 2g signal it makes calling and texting awkward! With the Vodafone I have a full 2g signal all the time and will be able to decide what bundle will work best for me.. maybe the end result will be slightly more expensive, or cheaper than Three but having a signal is the the important point, and as my first post said, IMHO it comes down to signal strength in most cases. If one has a good solid 3g Three signal then the pricing may be the decider, but if the signal is either unreliable of low whilst Voda is good, then Price is irrelevant.