One Bad Apple

Most people know that I always try and find the positives in situations , as to many people try and focus on the negatives because its easier to focus on one negative than 99 positive things. The reason I'm talking about this is because after having a rolling mobile 3G broadband contract with 3 for a few years I finally don't need it anymore.

I had been stung by the costs of train , BT Hotspots and Hotel WIFI so dropped into a Carphone Warehouse shop who found me a rolling 30 day contract with 3 which would give me 5Gb for £15 a month plus £5 for the dongle. The guy sheepishly , and with a laugh said he had to ask me if I wanted to take out insurance for the dongle . With a laugh I declined but thats the sort of service that makes you go back and trust a shop. This was Carphone Warehouse in Worcester.

Things went fine , and when I bought my first tablet (an Advent Vega) I needed to get a Mifi device so I could use it away from the house. The mifi device was going to be £40 but I was told on a 3 shop that I had to cancel my current contract and take out a new one to get the Mifi device, and I had to phone up to cancel. This seemed a bit convoluted but I did so and got an asian guy on the other end , who asked why I was cancelling , was the service not up to scratch etc. I explained the situation and he said he could just continiue my contract and get me a new device for nothing which sounded good. He then said I'd be on a two year contract which I didnt want , so he said he would have to charge £40 for the device , which I was expecting anyway. \he then said he would increase my data allowance to 15Gb for no extra charge , which was nice. SO a case of excellent customer service.

Also in that time the signal from 3 has been reliable and generally excellent.

Anyway now I dont need it so gave my 30 days notice and the first guy seemed fine with my reasons and passed me to retentions......

This guy would not let it go he offered me a free iPad (I hav one , dont want anoter) , laptop (I have one dont want another ) a reduction in my tariff to £6 a month (I dont need it) , , he would not listen to me at all and eventually the connection dropped. He never called back. They sent a customer satisfaction survey in which I invited the to call me about my experience. I have heard nothing.

I can thoroughly recommend 3s Mobile 3G Broadband service but am not too happy with their retentions process . If you are losig 5-0 with 5 minutes to go , the game is over

There Are Lies , Damned Lies and Mobile Phone Contracts

Not long ago I thingk it was Talk Talk who won a case allowing them to advertise ridiculously low ceilings as "unlimited" . More and more companies are offering seemingly unlimited all inclusive packages. Oftenthese are based on two year contracts , with a "free" phone that of course just carries a one year guarantee. To protect this you have to take out a care package that will cost at least £150 for the duration of the contract.

O2's Best Ever Contract

Today I saw O2's latest foray into the arena. O2 are a market leader and have their "On and On" Best Ever Tariff that offers a "massive" 1Gb a month data, from £36 a month . This also doesnt include picture messaging and lets face it everyone picture messages so that could add a tidy sum to your all inclusive rates . 1 Gb is about a weeks normal web browsing with no downloads of MP3s or films. A single DIVX movie will be almost a Gb , and when you that that watching Youtube , streaming radio as data , you could use up that "massive" 1 Gb in a couple of days. T-Mobile used to have an excellent Flext plan that included everything with a limit where you started paying but everything came out of the same pot. It annoys me that so many companies hide behingd the small print almost getting like insurance!



I have my Mobile Wifi with 3 , who charge me £15 for 5 Gb on a monthly rolling contract which is more than adequate . I seldom come anywhere near that but its a good data package. Another company offers unlimited data on a similar rolling contract except in the small print is capped at 1 Gb per month.

So when you are taking out a new contract ensure you check the small print. Probably one of the most honest I've encoutered is Orange and as I say 3 offer excellent value for money , but a lot of companies are still trying to take you for a ride . Be wary!!

What's The Meaning Of Free?

After Carphone Warehouse's re-imagining (see Orange Goldspots ad below) of the word "unlimited" in relation to mobile downloads (250 Mb a month se article here) we now have Sky offering free broadband, calls and Sky+ Box as the main thrust of their advertising campaign. In the small porint it does mention that you have to pay a minimum of about £16 a month to get these "free" services.

A similar thrust is 3s "never pay for another phone call" advert , the condition being that you make Skype to Skype phone calls using VOIP and incur the related internet access data charges . Yes, you dont pay for the calls , but you DO pay for being able to make them!!

The Orange Goldspot that uses THAT word: