Vodafone.. Are they that bad?

nutty · Post by **nutty** » Tue May 03, 2011 11:27 pm

So long story short.. work has locked the blackberry down even more.. so now its basically a Nokia 5110 without snake..

So I was looking at getting a new phone, While I really like the look of the Samsung Galaxy S II its price point is going to be quite high and isnt due on anything other then telstra for awhile.. then I noticed this

http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/and ... pb-her-cta" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Looks like a great deal, good phone, enough data/calls for me and Voda have insurance too..

but ive heard of all the crap about how bad it is.. So anyone actually a user? whats it like day to day? whats 3g speeds like?

[youtube] [/youtube]

petey · Post by **petey** » Wed May 04, 2011 12:16 am

Vodafone speeds from my experience aren't quite up to telstra but not terrible. The only gripe I had with vodafone in general is the 3g coverage was pretty poor. Regionally speaking that is anyway, in town its fine.

ysu · Post by **ysu** » Wed May 04, 2011 12:25 am

There are still coverage problems, one of my business partners have had problems, and he's not even living out of sydney. (western suburbs, but not the far west) After some complaining and no solutions he wanted to leave them, and they offered him a good deal so he's with them, but with patchy coverage. (he was offered $30/mo to pay for the rest of the lifetime of his $100/mo unlimited plan) He said he stays because once they fix the coverage it'll be a sweet deal.

Even I had problems on gsm network, it was suddenly gone in my area, and they'd not admit it or do anything about it. There wasn't any reception on 2 different phones after an advertised "planned outage to upgrade equipment". So I've left them after a week of this. but I was on pre-paid.

Doso · Post by **Doso** » Wed May 04, 2011 12:46 am

im counting down the months till I can swap to Telstra from 3. The biggest problem with 3 (& Vodaphone) is that once you step out of 20km from melbourne cbd you pretty much roaming onto telstra gsm network which is fine for sms/calls but data costs a fortune (i have recieved $40 charges for using 20-30mb a month while roaming

)

honestly if you don't use data all that much and don't go far out of the city 3 & vodaphone might be ok, but Telstra's 3g network is far FAR better

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Wed May 04, 2011 1:23 am

from my experience all telcos are arseholes. So why not have the one with the best coverage and speed. Telstra. Im switching to them from 3 when my contract is up (and the new iPhone comes out). 3 use Vodafone unless roaming.

wobblysauce · Post by **wobblysauce** » Wed May 04, 2011 5:55 am

I am with Voda(Pre-Pay 365day plan) and haven't had an issue with any calls dropping or no data available. In any area I have been.. but I know others have had issues with no bars or delayed messages, which they have had to use my phone to call out.

But I still have a real phone Nokia 6300. Got it just after the iPhone came out(was over $600, now $100 back then) It does most of the things other phones do but on a smaller screen and not with the big app makers.

wabbit · Post by **wabbit** » Wed May 04, 2011 6:46 am

A good mate of mine at work can't wait to leave. Webpage requests are the real killer, just seems to take a age to do anything, then later on the same day it seems okay/usable. Flakey and annoying really. 3G speeds are good, it's really down to the quality of service I guess. To the point he'll often just grab my phone (on Optus) to get things done.

Last year it was a lot better, fine all the time. If your in the Brisbane CBD a lot, we'd both say pick another carrier.

nutty · Post by **nutty** » Wed May 04, 2011 7:06 am

Hmm I guess i should just suck it up and pay for Telstra then

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Wed May 04, 2011 9:36 am

The grass is always greener. When youre with telstra you take your flawless coverage and speed for granted, and start to look around at better deals wondering why you're paying more and thinking the same thing as what you posted. Are the others really that bad!? No they arent that bad, but they are bad enough to occasionally drive you up the wall.

smithcorp · Post by **smithcorp** » Wed May 04, 2011 10:09 am

Vodafone customer complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in the last quarter have risen by 96 per cent when compared to the previous quarter, the telco ombudsman revealed today.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/techno ... 1e744.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

wobblysauce · Post by **wobblysauce** » Wed May 04, 2011 10:26 am

they seem to be the AT&T of Australia.

NeilPearson · Post by **NeilPearson** » Wed May 04, 2011 11:05 am

When the new iphone comes out, im jumping back to telstra from 3.

When i was in melbourne in March it was horredous, either i had no Data network or it was super slow, chantel who's on vodafone had the same issues. was maddening. i would have to say 1/2 of my trip to melbourne/tassie i was without data coverage. when i got back to perth it was okay but still bad. The other day chantel couldnt send a txt message for the whole day. despite having a full signal.

On my train ride to tafe, my phone drops out quite a bit. despite being right in the city. I have had enough of 3, i was on telstra before and will happily go back.

Exar Kun · Post by **Exar Kun** » Wed May 04, 2011 11:24 am

Whilst Telstra may not have the best deals going but they are at least competitive these days - particularly with the quality of their 3G service. I jumped back from 3 to Telstra at the end of last year and the difference in my coverage was night and day. I couldn't get phone reception in my office in central Canberra, let alone 3G when I was on 3. Now with Telstra I get awesome internet speeds pretty much everywhere. Melbourne at grand prix time was slower than here but still much quicker than 3.

When I was leaving 3 they offered me some fantastic deals to stay - basically their $49 cap for only $29 (including whatever phones were free on $49 being free on $29) but it wasn't enough.

w00dsy · Post by **w00dsy** » Wed May 04, 2011 6:02 pm

i'm with 3/Vodafone and can't wait to leave and go to Telstra. I have trouble getting phone reception in my own house on the outskirts of Melb let alone any sort of net connection. They are truly terrible. They used to be ok but have gotten a lot worse.

petey · Post by **petey** » Sat May 07, 2011 10:35 am

Yea I haven't been with them for 2 years, switched to telstra because I couldn't put up with the odd coverage. They were pretty bad then, could be worse now. I was having trouble getting signal at a rellies house in carindale which ofcourse was full reception for anyone with telstra.

kwijibo · Post by **kwijibo** » Sat May 07, 2011 12:02 pm

My girlfriend recently switched to Vodafone, and I haven't head any complaints yet. I don't think their issues are as big in Adelaide as in the eastern states.

NeilPearson · Post by **NeilPearson** » Sat May 07, 2011 11:35 pm

My cellular data has been down for 4 hours now. Stupid 3

plastik8 · Post by **plastik8** » Sun May 08, 2011 5:06 pm

I've been on 3 for about 6 years now (in Adelaide). Until about 12 months ago 3G data was pretty reliable and quick, however since then (around same time they merged with Vodafone) it has been HORRIBLE. Voice/SMS has been fine, but 3G data is basically unusable, even though I have strong reception reported.

Like others above I've been counting down the days till I can change to Telstra. So if you care about data at all (even browsing facebook, sending emails, browsing the web here or there) I'd highly recommend Telstra.

NeilPearson · Post by **NeilPearson** » Sun May 08, 2011 7:19 pm

before they merged with vodafone, they were allied with telstra i believe, so if they roamed it went to the better network. now it goes to the horrible vodafone network.

3 and Vodafone are seriously going to have to fix there shit soon, everyone i know who is on them want to go to telstra.

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:11 pm

Same here Neil, I'll be moving for sure. But I want to wait for the next iPhone.

NeilPearson · Post by **NeilPearson** » Mon May 09, 2011 12:06 am

yeah im hanging out for the next iphone. But im seriously struggling at the moment.

A.R.S.E.