Vodafone and Three Merging Networks to Form UK's Largest Mobile Operator

[copydeskcat]

You're forgetting that some people have two connections (personal phone, work phone), then add data/broadband plans etc.

I have personal, work & data plans so I will count as 3 connections just by myself.

At the start of 2022, there were 71.8 million mobile connections in the UK (4.2 million more than the UK population)—an increase of 3.8% from 2021 (around 2.6 million). This is likely because many people will have more than one connection registered to them (i.e. personal and work phones).

That’s still not “customers” or “users”. For the stat to be valid, babies, the elderly, people in hospitals and prisons (I know, I know) would need to have multiple accounts. It’s nonsense. “Active numbers”, “accounts”, “connections” - or some other description would be more appropriate.

 

[crazytrain]

At the start of 2022, there were 71.8 million mobile connections in the UK (4.2 million more than the UK population)—an increase of 3.8% from 2021 (around 2.6 million). This is likely because many people will have more than one connection registered to them (i.e. personal and work phones).

That’s still not “customers” or “users”. For the stat to be valid, babies, the elderly, people in hospitals and prisons (I know, I know) would need to have multiple accounts. It’s nonsense. “Active numbers”, “accounts”, “connections” - or some other description would be more appropriate.

It is 'customers' if they are on different networks - both Three and Vodafone see me as a 'customer' - do you expect Vodafone to say 'okay we won't count him as one of our customers because he's already a Three customer'? Of course they won't, hence I appear on two 'customer' lists, hence the numbers quoted...

 

[H2SO4]

At the start of 2022, there were 71.8 million mobile connections in the UK (4.2 million more than the UK population)—an increase of 3.8% from 2021 (around 2.6 million). This is likely because many people will have more than one connection registered to them (i.e. personal and work phones).

That’s still not “customers” or “users”. For the stat to be valid, babies, the elderly, people in hospitals and prisons (I know, I know) would need to have multiple accounts. It’s nonsense. “Active numbers”, “accounts”, “connections” - or some other description would be more appropriate.

It's more than that.
Lots of things have mobile connections, cars, hotspots all sorts.

 

[ric22]

I've been with Three for 17 years now, primarily because I've happened to live in areas where their coverage is best, and secondly because I liked their roam abroad for free option. My phone worked for no extra cost in about 100 countries! Now it works only in the UK, not even in Europe.

The company has absolutely gone down the ******* in the last year... they obliterated their app so it has no functionality and looks like it was made for the first iPhone, and even their website doesn't let you do things like change spend cap or view past bills any more! If I didn't know better I'd think they were about to shut up shop.

O2 have no signal near my house, as their mast near me broke about 4 years ago and they've still not fixed it. My mum made the mistake of going with O2 so I asked them about fixing the long broken mast... they claimed it was near a train line and on private property, and the owners won't let them on the property. Well, it's kinda near a train line, on the rugby club field. I called the rugby club, they confirmed it was on their land, but said O2 never contacted them. I told O2 this. No change... Awful, awful company. Liars too.

Vodafone or EE I guess it is next...

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Are you in a remote field in the UK? Haven’t seen speeds that slow since 3G was the dominant signal.

Nah.

Last time I used them O2 was practically unusable in central Manchester and Three is very patchy in places. Those kinds of speeds are common with both

 

[Ctrlos]

I've been with Three for 17 years now, primarily because I've happened to live in areas where their coverage is best, and secondly because I liked their roam abroad for free option. My phone worked for no extra cost in about 100 countries! Now it works only in the UK, not even in Europe.

The company has absolutely gone down the ******* in the last year... they obliterated their app so it has no functionality and looks like it was made for the first iPhone, and even their website doesn't let you do things like change spend cap or view past bills any more! If I didn't know better I'd think they were about to shut up shop.

O2 have no signal near my house, as their mast near me broke about 4 years ago and they've still not fixed it. My mum made the mistake of going with O2 so I asked them about fixing the long broken mast... they claimed it was near a train line and on private property, and the owners won't let them on the property. Well, it's kinda near a train line, on the rugby club field. I called the rugby club, they confirmed it was on their land, but said O2 never contacted them. I told O2 this. No change... Awful, awful company. Liars too.

Vodafone or EE I guess it is next...

Wow. I’ve been with O2 since they were Cellnet and I have never had any problems the staff never bent over backwards to sort out. I recently upgraded to the Max iPhone and they not only knocked £300 off the phone price (over a 36 month contract) but also gave me an extra 20% off airtime due to a slight mix up with an online order.

The 5G signal in Sheffield is close to 100mb in the city (and I’ve got around 900mb in central London!) which is plenty fast. My only real complaint is the lack of 5G where I live but being a Virgin Customer I get 1gig WiFi as a free upgrade for being with O2 so I can’t really complain.

 

[ric22]

Wow. I’ve been with O2 since they were Cellnet and I have never had any problems the staff never bent over backwards to sort out. I recently upgraded to the Max iPhone and they not only knocked £300 off the phone price (over a 36 month contract) but also gave me an extra 20% off airtime due to a slight mix up with an online order.

The 5G signal in Sheffield is close to 100mb in the city (and I’ve got around 900mb in central London!) which is plenty fast. My only real complaint is the lack of 5G where I live but being a Virgin Customer I get 1gig WiFi as a free upgrade for being with O2 so I can’t really complain.

When buying premium phones through carriers in the UK you usually pay a couple of hundred quid more than buying outright from Apple... did they bring the price down to parity with Apple's price, just spread across 3 years?

 

[Ctrlos]

When buying premium phones through carriers in the UK you usually pay a couple of hundred quid more than buying outright from Apple... did they bring the price down to parity with Apple's price, just spread across 3 years?

I got the 128gb Pro Max, normally £1299 from Apple’s web store for £929 spread over 36 months (about £26 a month + airtime)

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

When buying premium phones through carriers in the UK you usually pay a couple of hundred quid more than buying outright from Apple... did they bring the price down to parity with Apple's price, just spread across 3 years?

You don’t pay £200 more for the phone, that’s the carrier adage. Ultimately you still pay the full phone retail price within the contract. My contract had a cost breakdown and my iPhone 13 Pro Max was £900 and the additional was the plan.

 

[ric22]

I got the 128gb Pro Max, normally £1299 from Apple’s web store for £929 spread over 36 months (about £26 a month + airtime)

That's astonishing, unless the airtime was more than £8ish?

 

[ric22]

You don’t pay £200 more for the phone, that’s the carrier adage. Ultimately you still pay the full phone retail price within the contract. My contract had a cost breakdown and my iPhone 13 Pro Max was £900 and the additional was the plan.

With the companies I looked at for my mum a year ago, in every instance it was false economy to buy for the carriers. Maybe I was unlucky that month or with the carriers we looked at

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

With the companies I looked at for my mum a year ago, in every instance it was false economy to buy for the carriers. Maybe I was unlucky that month or with the carriers we looked at

The only other alternatives are to either buy the phone outright, which is unpopular because its a lot of money in one hit, or use Apple's 0% finance option at £51 a month, but then you've got to add a sim plan on top and most of the unlimited plans at £30+.

I was smarter with my contract as I opt for 24 months, and buy last years Pro Max model to reduce the cost significantly. I have a 14 Pro as a works phone that is also a 24 month contract and that is around £80 a month which of course I do not pay for. Using both phones side by side, is there much noticeable difference to the end user? Not really.

 

[Ctrlos]

That's astonishing, unless the airtime was more than £8ish?

The airtime is an additional £26 bringing the total cost to £52 a month. With Volt benefits that’s 60gb data, the advertised ability to change your handset every 90 days if you wish and 15gb free EU roaming.

 

[ric22]

The airtime is an additional £26 bringing the total cost to £52 a month. With Volt benefits that’s 60gb data, the advertised ability to change your handset every 90 days if you wish and 15gb free EU roaming.

20 gigs can be had with Three for 7/8 quid a month, and beyond that is meaningless for 99% of people, so that's £18 a month extra for nothing but data roaming abroad. That's £648 over three years, ignoring the annual price rises...

 

[George Dawes]

They may as well merge everything and rename it skynet

That’s definitely the way things are heading ….