Hey, we'll do 4G for £15, says O2 And please don't look at the Three UK website

Hey, we'll do 4G for £15, says O2 (just mind how you go on the 1GB limit)

And please don't look at the Three UK website


O2 is touting a new low-cost, low-limit route to 4G mobile broadband, and slipped in a few price rises for good measure. It's still not quite as low as Three UK.
Calls on O2 Pay & Go are now billed by the minute, rounding up to the nearest minute; so a call lasting 1min 21sec will now count as 2min. And O2 has dropped its Talkalot tariffs that lowered call costs from 25p a minute to 2p a minute. They are now always 25p a minute, and picture messaging goes up from 25p to 35p.

O2 however cannot rest on its laurels having lost 208,000 pay-and-go customers the first three months of this year, and has introduced pay-as-you-go data tariffs where there is no price difference between 3G and 4G.
These pay-as-you-go SIM-only Big Bundles include:

• 100 minutes of voice calls, 1,000 texts and 500MB of mobile data (sub-4G only) in a month for £10;
• 200 minutes, 2,000 texts and 1GB of data (4G supported) for £15;
• 400 minutes, 4,000 text messages and 2GB of data (4G supported) for £20.

(O2 quotes its monthly data allowances in Mb and Gb – megabits and gigabits – but we assume the telco's marketing bods meant bytes.)
Compare these bundles to Three's "pay monthly" SIM-only selection, which offers:

• 200 minutes, 5,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data on 4G in one month for £12.90;
• 2,000 minutes, 5,000 texts, and all-you-can-eat data on 4G in one month for £23.00.

Note, we're comparing one-month pay-as-you-go contracts; committing to a year-long deal will lower the per-month cost, of course.
The O2 decision to level the playing field between 3G and 4G follows a similar move by Tesco – Tesco Mobile is a joint venture between Tesco and O2. The new O2 prices take effect from 29 May. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05..._data_tariffs/

Sure I read somewhere that you can use your data allowance abroad for nothing as well with Three (in certain countries, including the US) Think I'll be moving to them in the very near future.

Why isn't everyone on GiffGaff ?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JonEp

Why isn't everyone on GiffGaff ?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

---

I used to be on giff gaff but have switched to 3 on there 12 month sim only contract.

It costs me £15 per month for 2000 min, unlimited texts and unlimited data that i can tether. I also get free 4g.

Lycamobile are currently doing a great deal

4G (unlimited)
500 talk minutes
unlimited texts

Only £12 month

I went on GiffGaff and sold the dream to my mates.
In the end we all had too many problems and left (I lasted about 18 months) - im sure they cut your received calls off so you phone people back and use up your allowance.
To many similar problems for it to be a coincidence!

Waiting on the LG G3 deals before I move.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by copey123

Sure I read somewhere that you can use your data allowance abroad for nothing as well with Three (in certain countries, including the US) Think I'll be moving to them in the very near future.

---

I work in the US a week each month and use my mobile there just as I do at home. The only restriction is I can't tether for free.

I'm on the One Plan, about £37 a month. (Started with an SGS4)

Giff Gaff now is a recognised seller for Apple now so you can get the hotspot features. They now use a legitimate apn and giff gaff appears at the top left of an iphone and not 02

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bub

Lycamobile are currently doing a great deal

4G (unlimited)
500 talk minutes
unlimited texts

Only £12 month

---

Which network do they use?

O2

"International MVNO Lycamobile has launched what it calls “unlimited” 4G mobile data but there is a catch. After the first 10GB of data, the speed drops to 2G speeds of 128kbps."

Coincidentally, signed up to Three for 12 months Sim Only today - after using the All-In-One 15 for 18 months.

600 minutes / 5000 Texts / All-You-Can-Eat Data

for a measly £15.90 per month. Beginning to weigh up the extra £4 per month for 2000 minutes instead.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk with Three UK and their Unlimited 4G Data Plan :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DejaVu

Coincidentally, signed up to Three for 12 months Sim Only today - after using the All-In-One 15 for 18 months.

600 minutes / 5000 Texts / All-You-Can-Eat Data

for a measly £15.90 per month. Beginning to weigh up the extra £4 per month for 2000 minutes instead.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk with Three UK and their Unlimited 4G Data Plan :p

---

Do you really rabbit that much ?

Just wish Three would hurry up with their 4G rollout to more areas.. Cracking speeds when you are in one..

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/29/ebyzebas.jpg

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by andmor

Just wish Three would hurry up with their 4G rollout to more areas.. Cracking speeds when you are in one..

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/29/ebyzebas.jpg

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

---

I think you will get better speeds on 3 as it stands than this so called 4G which given its correct name has LTE on the end. I'm trialling GiffGaff 4G. Right now sat in central London typing this and the speed is nothing like my friends who has a 3 PAYG sim in his phone.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Do 3 have any form of signal extender as the signal in my house is terrible for all the mobile operators. That was the reason I originally went to Vodafone as they had the sure signal box.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hangman

Do 3 have any form of signal extender as the signal in my house is terrible for all the mobile operators. That was the reason I originally went to Vodafone as they had the sure signal box.

---

Home Signal from Three.

Dunno quite how it works, but pretty sure you need an internet connection/Wifi Router.

Taken from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/dat...ng-femtocells/

Quote:

---

What exactly is a femtocell? The short answer is that a femtocell is a very low-range, low-power base station, able to be deployed in a home, home office or office. It is usually provided by a mobile network operator, and operates in licensed frequency bands. A small amount of terminology may be of use before we proceed further into the world of femtocells. A macrocell defines the cell controlled by the base station of a mobile network operator. A femtocell is the cell controlled by the femto base station. The main difference between a femtocell and a base station is the range. A base station might have a radius of 20-30 km, whereas a femtocell has a radius up to 10 metres.

However, a femtocell uses the same licensed frequency band as the macrocell. Femtocells can operate with various types of mobile systems such as UMTS and CDMA2000. In future, LTE and WiMax capable femtocells are expected to be deployed.

For backhaul, the femtocell requires a connection to the mobile network operator. This is typically via a fixed line, be it cable, fibre-optic or a twisted pair telephone line. This connection enables the femtocell to interface with the operator’s base station, and provides a way for the two to coordinate when (for example) to handover your mobile device to the femtocell or back to the main base station.

http://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/20...mto_closed.jpg Photo: Vodafone

The femtocell needs to co-exist peacefully with neighbouring users and possibly neighbouring femtocells. This is not too difficult; a femtocell can sniff the spectrum and detect other femtocells. A femtocell will only use the frequency bands it has been allotted. Its short range and inbuilt intelligence means that it can adjust transmission power up or down, according to where its users are and whether neighbouring users are using the spectrum.

Advantages and disadvantages

There are a few controversies around the deployment of femtocells. One of them was pointed out by an erstwhile colleague when he was trying to sort out his home phone issues. He got somewhat irate when the company suggested a femtocell. His gripe was that the Telco company was making him fix their black spots.
Of course, there are advantages to having a femtocell. One of these is that the coverage is likely to remain consistent wherever you are located in the office/home, due to the femtocell. This has the flow-on effect that your mobile terminal/phone won’t use as much power, hence giving more battery time. A further advantage is that a mobile phone can be used as the main phone(s). Femtocells have the capacity to limit how many people are permitted to log on. This is a mechanism to restrict coverage. It makes using a femtocell in a small office attractive.

There are drawbacks. Femtocells utilise the broadband connection, which may also be used for other applications such as video streaming. There can be problems when the provider of the broadband service differs from the mobile network provider. These relate to Quality of Service guarantees. A further issue relates to interference. Although the deployment of femtocells suggests that interference with other femtocells is not a huge issue, there is still some controversy over whether this will continue to be the case.

The use of femtocells is part of a more general trend in mobile communications toward smaller cell sizes. Whilst there are some drawbacks to femtocells, the advantages of using them could be seen in homes and in small offices or home offices.

---

Excellent, no reason to stay with Vodafone any more

Until recently I had been with three for years. Only reason I left was because I moved into a poor signal area. When I asked three about their Home Signal femtocell device they said it had to be offered to you if they thought you needed it.

I jumped ship to Vodafone (and have a sure signal femtocell at home) and cancelled my contract with three. It was only then that they decided I was allowed a Home Signal - i.e. too late.

I would have happily stayed with three tbh, I've never had a problem with them.