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Best UK phone company to go with?

Silver-Fox

Silver-Fox

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 8, 2007
1,091
2
England
Yeah so that or who does good deals for contracts??

I dont really want an iphone seeing as i have an ipod touch

any suggestions welcome
 
Would it not hurt to just google? I mean its really not that hard, there only a handful of popular phone companies. I tend to find the most competitive are orange and vodafone based on my past dealings.

But really....just look!
 
I'd say o2: they have by far the best reception in the country, have an english call centre and, if you manage to become one of their "select" customers, you get treated incredibly well: phone answered after 3 rings, friendly customer service people really going out of their way for you. In fact, I had to leave since 3 were giving a killer offer on international calls that I had to take up, but they gave me a free phone, and free 18 month contract so i keep my select customer number incase they can ever match the deal.
 
Another vote for O2. Been with them for about 5 years and they are great.

Don't go through a third part dealer (eg craphone warehouse), go direct to an O2 store.

Also, if you are going on a contract, ring up the company and try and barter a deal, I managed to double my minutes and texts because I threatened to switch to Vodaphone last year. ;)
 
cristo said:
I'd say o2: they have by far the best reception in the country, have an english call centre and, if you manage to become one of their "select" customers, you get treated incredibly well: phone answered after 3 rings, friendly customer service people really going out of their way for you. In fact, I had to leave since 3 were giving a killer offer on international calls that I had to take up, but they gave me a free phone, and free 18 month contract so i keep my select customer number incase they can ever match the deal.
Click to expand...

What makes you so sure their call centre is in England?

O2's coverage is AWFUL. By far the worst of all of the major networks. In my area I get 3 bars on my iPhone at best and in other built up towns I rarely see the 3G indicator. It isn't just limited to towns round about me though, I've been to areas many, many miles away which suffer the same problem.

Orange is the best UK network. Their customer service is faultless and their customer service is really friendly and respectful. An example would be that when I called to cancel my contract after buying iPhone, I was asked if there was "anything else they could do" but when I said no he accepted it, he didn't try to sell me anything else.

Coverage was much better too. 5 bars pretty much everywhere.
 
neiltc13 said:
What makes you so sure their call centre is in England?
Click to expand...
The fact that every person I've spoken to has a real English accent kind of gives it away.

O2's coverage is AWFUL. By far the worst of all of the major networks. In my area I get 3 bars on my iPhone at best and in other built up towns I rarely see the 3G indicator. It isn't just limited to towns round about me though, I've been to areas many, many miles away which suffer the same problem.
Click to expand...
Of course, it could be your iPhone. I've never been anywhere where the reception on someone else's phone was better than my o2 phone; then again, I don't own an iPhone, and don't live in Scotland.

Orange is the best UK network. Their customer service is faultless and their customer service is really friendly and respectful. An example would be that when I called to cancel my contract after buying iPhone, I was asked if there was "anything else they could do" but when I said no he accepted it, he didn't try to sell me anything else.
Click to expand...
For what anecdotal stories are worth, this hardly trumps mine: o2 gave me a free phone and free 18 month contract with entirely free minutes and texts when I called them up to cancel mine. They didn't try to sell me anything, but immediately started offering me free things.
 
cristo said:
The fact that every person I've spoken to has a real English accent kind of gives it away.
Click to expand...

I've called Sky, whose call centre is not far from my home and I've been greeted by accents which aren't from round here. I knew they were from somewhere in the UK, but I never tried to pin them down between historical borders which mean nothing to me or anyone else.
 
neiltc13 said:
I've called Sky, whose call centre is not far from my home and I've been greeted by accents which aren't from round here. I knew they were from somewhere in the UK, but I never tried to pin them down between historical borders which mean nothing to me or anyone else.
Click to expand...

My point was that the call centres are in England. I know what you're trying to imply with this comment, but don't go there.
 
To be fair orange customer services along with a lot of other UK phone companies are based in England so hardly a selling point. Customer service however is. The argument about O2 having the best signal is flawed as that is not based on fact its on opinion. I am pretty sure it was proven that Orange and Vodafone had the best average signal over the country.

Why does everything in this forum spiral? I'm only a newbie and I can see it. Its almost like people posting the "new mbp tommorow?" when there are dozens on the same page. Are people to busy to read? Or do they a need an individual answer as their request is unique? Just because you ask the question a hundred times doesn't mean you get any closer to an answer!

When I get my MBP next week I will search, if i then can't find an answer then post, is that so hard? Not everyone is so utterly unique unless it is for the fact there lazy and can't be bothered to read!
 
ORANGE!!!!

Why? You get half price cinema tickets on Wednesday. I probably save more money going for cheap than I spend on the phone.

Got to be good.

In terms of coverage etc they are all pretty much the same...
 
Unless you want the iPhone, I would avoid O2. Another vote for Orange. They are fantastic in many ways. I have been with them for 5 years now and have zero complaints. I get great deals every year for being a long-time customer and also free 8MB unlimited broadband, which is also faultless.
 
T-Mobile.

I actually almost cried leaving them. For contracts at least, they are amazing.

NEVER TOUCH ORANGE WITH A BARGE POLE!

  1. Your phone will have Orange-branded software
  2. They're rude
  3. Everyone you speak to is foreign
  4. They refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes
 
Kardashian said:
T-Mobile.

I actually almost cried leaving them. For contracts at least, they are amazing.

NEVER TOUCH ORANGE WITH A BARGE POLE!

  1. Your phone will have Orange-branded software
  2. They're rude
  3. Everyone you speak to is foreign
  4. They refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes
Click to expand...

Rubbish. T-Mobile have been poor for me. I left them five years ago and switched to Orange. Have never looked back.

  1. My phone does not have Orange branded software.
  2. The staff have NEVER been rude to me.
  3. Everyone I have ever spoken to has been clear and concise
  4. Never made a mistake with me so they haven't had to take responsibility.
 
Silver-Fox said:
Yeah so that or who does good deals for contracts??

I dont really want an iphone seeing as i have an ipod touch

any suggestions welcome
Click to expand...

It really depends on what you want. 3 has a contract with a monthly fee of 12 pounds (promotional offer with the Skype phone, free skyping included), which is the cheapest I'm aware of. Any other provider charges at least 15 pounds a month.
 
I think this is the first time i've heard people giving praise to Orange. Personally i dont like them, their contracts seem complicated to me, they brand their phones heavily and lock them down too

My vote would go for O2, great service, clear cut/decent value tariffs and don't lock their phones/brand heavily

I also have to give some props to Vodafone, even though i dont like them they have a reliable infrastructure i.e. great coverage, fast 3G networks etc but they also brand their phones heavily...even worse than Orange and lock down their phones too and seem a tad more expensive overall

I don't really have much experience with T-Mobile but everyone seems to love them...i would guess for their various deals
 
daneoni said:
I think this is the first time i've heard people giving praise to Orange. Personally i dont like them, their contracts seem complicated to me, they brand their phones heavily and lock them down too
....
Click to expand...

In five years and five handsets, I have never had any Orange branding on my phones either in software or hardware.
 
davidjearly said:
In five years and five handsets, I have never had any Orange branding on my phones either in software or hardware.
Click to expand...

Indeed. The last phone I bought from Orange (Samsung D900) was actually fully unlocked when they gave it to me. Not that I would be bothered if it said Orange on it.
 
davidjearly said:
Rubbish. T-Mobile have been poor for me. I left them five years ago and switched to Orange. Have never looked back.

  1. My phone does not have Orange branded software.
  2. The staff have NEVER been rude to me.
  3. Everyone I have ever spoken to has been clear and concise
  4. Never made a mistake with me so they haven't had to take responsibility.
Click to expand...

There's no need to be so rude.

I was giving my opinion, just like you have given yours.

I personally think Orange are rubbish, and love T-Mobile and O2.

You like Orange, and don't like T-Mobile.
 
In regards to orange I can say that everyone I know (apart from my sister) who were on orange are no not due to serious problems with their backend i.e. billing, customer services etc.

In regards to the phone branding I think it might be a case of it is done with specific manufatures. For example the Sony Ericssons that my sister get come with all matter of rubbish put on their by orange. Although that said it is usually a quick firmware flash and everything is fine and dandy.

Everyone has stories of bad personal experiences with any of the phone companies so it is a case of finding the tariff you want and checking that their coverage in your area is good enough. For example T-Mobile is shocking where I live where as O2, Orange, 3 etc. all have great coverage.

If I could start all over again I would probably go with 3 but I have a first gen iPhone so that isn't going to happen. Plus I have negoiated a pretty amazing tariff with 02 which the other companies can't/won't give me.
 
It does depend what area you live in.
Here in the south west Orange reception is pretty much non existent so I'll probably switch to O2. I'll keep the orange phone for free Wednesday cinema ticket though.
 
Silver-Fox said:
Best UK phone company to go with?
Click to expand...

various people said:
"Go with O2"
..."O2 Sucks! go with Orange"
..."O2 and Orange suck! Go with T-Mobile"
..."O2, Orange and T-Mobile suck! Go with 3"
..."O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 suck! Go with Vodafone"
Click to expand...

What did you really expect? :rolleyes:

fwiw, after trying various different providers, O2 seems to (slightly) have the best reception in my area, and as all the network's prices are pretty competitive, I'm quite happy going with the best reception. ...Though the main deciding factor for me tbh was the iphone 3g.

It will be different for you depending on where you live though, ask your local mates what their reception is like.

If you want the cheapest and are organised enough to post a letter 4 times over the next year - go for one of the carphonewarehouse (or other 3rd party) -type cashback deals. Go through a cashback site like quidco or rpoints too and for the next year you can have a totally free phone, totally free 600 ish minutes+texts a Month and also earn about £60 for signing up. ...End of the year, cancel the contract, sell the phone and start again - no strings, really.

search somewhere like hotukdeals.com to find out more about it. It really does work. Personally, I don't do it as last time I tried a free years contract deal with vodafone via carphonewarehouse (sim was in an unlocked iphone), I forgot to send the bill back in the first 3 Months (buggering up the whole deal). But as long as your not bone-idle like me, you should be fine.
 
Kardashian said:
I actually almost cried leaving them. For contracts at least, they are amazing.

NEVER TOUCH ORANGE WITH A BARGE POLE!

  1. Your phone will have Orange-branded software
  2. They're rude
  3. Everyone you speak to is foreign
  4. They refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes
Click to expand...

I agree with the "Don't Touch Orange" thing as I had the worse experience I got cut off for no reason, Got yelled at, Then when I went to upgrade the stupid f*** of a sale person drops the new phone not once, not twice but THREE times how someone can be so f***ing stupid is beyond me.

It all ended well as I left them and so the rest of my family at are with them (50 odd people), I then went O2 were it has been blissful and I wished I was with them from the start.

Kardashian said:
T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
BTW T-Mobile are good but not as good if you in a rural area go O2 if you are.
 
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