Help me choose: O2 or Vodafone

! This post hasn't been updated in over a year. A lot can change in a year including my opinion and the amount of naughty words I use. There's a good chance that there's something in what's written below that someone will find objectionable. That's fine, if I tried to please everybody all of the time then I'd be a Lib Dem (remember them?) and I'm certainly not one of those. The point is, I'm not the kind of person to try and alter history in case I said something in the past that someone can use against me in the future but just remember that the person I was then isn't the person I am now nor the person I'll be in a year's time.

I’m beginning to think we’re jinxed when it comes to mobile phones.

Last week I posted about the dilemma I have now that Three have turned off the mast closest to my house.  I left Orange because it was so unreliable so staying on Three when I can only pick up Orange on my Three phone is no good and T-Mobile doesn’t work in my house.

Well now it’s becoming more of a pressing issue because Orange have also just switched off a mast and you’ve guessed it, it’s the mast nearest my house.  Getting an Orange signal isn’t a problem but making and receiving calls and sending and receiving texts is a problem and data connections are a rarity because the already overloaded Orange network is now maxed out all the time.

So in a nutshell, I’ve got a choice between O2 and Vodafone.  I’ve been asking on Twitter and Facebook and so far pretty much everyone has said Vodafone.  O2 are apparently having the same capacity problems as Orange and T-Mobile.  But what about Vodafone?  Everyone can’t be happy with Vodafone otherwise there’d be nobody on the other 4 networks!  Their data allowances are rubbish, as are their upgrades but what about the network?

The coverage checkers for O2 and Vodafone both show reasonable coverage for where I live – not as good as Orange, T-Mobile or Three – but there’s not much difference between the two.  So it’s just down to reliability, customer service and value for money but which one should I choose?  O2 or Vodafone?

8 comments

  1. IcyPurplepants (13 comments) says:

    O2 for me. I’ve been with them for many many years after dropping Orange like the hot turd they are!

    Haven’t had any data issues and have recently had first an Omnia on an unlimited data bolt-on package through a reseller (O2 wouldn’t sell Omnias – they were too much of a threat to their beloved iPhoney). Now have a Blackberry (Bold 9700) for personal use, and it’s really and truly the best phone I’ve ever had (got so sick of touch-screen).

    Anyway, back to O2. I live in Surrey and work in darkest West Sussex and have no signal problems there – or anywhere else I’ve been around the country (inc regular trips to Milton Keynes and Alfreton if that helps)

    Customer Service has been OK, not needed them much, and the occasional frustration making myself understood to Indian Call Centre people, though I do get UK call centres occasionally. Mostly I’ve fired questions off via email and the responses have always been quick and helpful.

    They do have a good range of tariffs though mine is perhaps a little costly at around £40 a month for Blackberry, unlimited data and insurance.

    My work mobile is a crappy little Nokia and I have problems getting a signal at home, and a little at work, so I’ve just set up an automatic divert all calls to my Blackberry, so I’m not qualified to comment on Vodaphone – except to say their sponsorship of Manchester United has always put me off! 🙂

    Any questions, or anything you wanna know about O2, give me a shout!

    P.S. I don’t work for O2!

  2. jameshigham (87 comments) says:

    I’m OK with my voadaphone – it covers most areas and the overcharging they do can be alleviated by using it less.

  3. Kay_Vodafone (1 comments) says:

    Good Afternoon wonkotsane,

    My name’s Kay and I’m part of Vodafone’s Web Relations team. I’ve just seen your post whilst having a browse through different forums.

    It’s going to sound biased me saying ‘join us’ however, if you would like to see what we can do for you please feel free to tweet me @vodafoneukdeals.

    I hope to hear from you shortly! 🙂

    Kay
    Web Relations Team
    Vodafone UK

  4. Steve (38 comments) says:

    Hi mate,

    Good to meet you on Wednesday at the hustings.

    I’m with O2. A couple of months ago, I received 2 voicemail notifications on a Saturday morning at 9:30 am. They were for voicemails left on the Tuesday at 10:15 am!

    The reply to my complaint letter was a disgrace. What if they had been about business or sales deals?

    I am looking to leave O2.

  5. Scaffold (146 comments) says:

    I use Vodafone because their office was the first for me to come across. I can’t complain because it is on only 8 days each year when I’m visiting England.

  6. […] who’d support Andy Murray, apple-fest time, seizing our own property back, 02 or Vodaphone [?] and a photo to put you off your breakfast […]

  7. wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

    Kay, I’ll tweet you when my wife hears back from Orange.

    Steve, good to see you too. I don’t think I’ll be going with O2, too many people saying it’s a bad idea.

  8. germany (1 comments) says:

    Hi this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs
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