Orange or T-Mobile? (Austria)

[Ja Di ksw]

Does anyone have an opinion on using Orange or T-Mobile on Austria for the iPhone? T-Mobile costs more - for both the phone and the monthly bill. They offer more minutes, but the plan from Orange gives me plenty of minutes and even more data that I can download (which I care about more). This makes me want to go with Orange (cheaper, enough minutes, more data), but I don't know if there's some hidden thing that I don't know about, since I don't speak German. Such as, is it possible for the 3G network to be slower with Orange? Just an example, I really am not sure if there's a reason to go with T-Mobile since I don't need that many minutes.

Any opinions or experiences with either of these in Austria (specifically, Vienna)? Thanks in advance!

 

[skoops]

Orange does not offer ANY EDGE coverage whatsoever, and a VERY SPOTTY 3G coverage. So If you can't connect to 3G - which I repeat is sub-par - you're doomed and have to use GPRS. Also, there's no Visual Voice Mail - AND they charge 2€ per Month if you want to use tethering.

T-Mobile on the other hand is a bit more expensive but has adequate 3G coverage and EDGE as fallback. VVM and tethering are included in the monthly price plans.

 

[Ja Di ksw]

Hmm, that's pretty ****** about the no EDGE network, and you're sure about 3G? Everyone I've talked to here says that Austria is great for any phone company.

On a slight tangent, if I plan on doing a lot of web surfing every day (leo for translating german, google maps, etc), do you think the 1 GB plan will cover it, or should I go with 3 GB? I've never really paid attention to how much data I was dl'ing when I surfed, since it's all been unlimited with computers before.

 

[skoops]

Hmm, that's pretty ****** about the no EDGE network, and you're sure about 3G? Everyone I've talked to here says that Austria is great for any phone company.

Well compared to other countries orange's 3G network would still be among the top 10 but compared to the other austrian carriers it has pretty bad 3g reception. - Be prepared to fall back to GPRS as soon as you enter a building for example... but this is just my biased opinion based on observations amongst my friends; two of them chose orange as their carrier and are complaining constantly... (I'm a T-Mobile customer)

1 GB should be sufficient for your needs. As long as you don't start listening to a web-radio stream for a few hours every day

 

[Ja Di ksw]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll go with T-Mobile. I might go with 3 GB, though, simply b/c I'll probably tether the computer a decent amount, possibly up/downloading pictures / videos, and it's not too much more expensive when you consider the price cut you get on the phone itself.

Now to try to navigate through T-Mobile's online page in German . I get €49 off for doing it online, but when you don't speak the language it's a little tricky!

 

[dobe]

-

I can also recommend you to use T-Mobile. They definitely provide the far better 3G experience than Orange would be able to do. A lot of my friends who decided to pick the latter are now constantly complaining about network problems.

Though A1 is, at least in my humble opinion, far and away the best Austrian carrier, their lack of offering the iPhone literally forced me to choose T-Mobile too. And so far i've been quite satisfied.