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11 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

The most perplexing thing on this table is O2 being the highest of the main carriers. 

 

And I maybe wrong, but Tescos, I thought, piggy-backed on O2.

 

 

Edited by Higgs
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20 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

 

If you're thinking of, who I think you're thinking of.  I don't think he has any involvement with Sky any more.  Sky is owned by Comcast, which is owned by its shareholders and he doesn't appear on the board of directors.

 

 

Thanks for that info, that does somewhat change my views about Sky. 

Re the customer satisfaction thing, I take your point that the bar is perhaps lower for some of the customers who use the cheaper providers, and that some of them might be more generous in their ratings. 

But the cheaper providers do also have plenty of well informed customers who can spot a good deal (e.g. Ian's partner, and Loddon of this parish)- so there is that. 

Whatever the breakdown and the 'savviness' of their customer base, it is still worth noting that Tesco mobile have higher ratings than most others.

My new conclusion is that even if the satisfaction scores for cheap providers are falsely elevated, it may be that since Tesco stands above the others in that segment, Tesco might perhaps be in the same ballpark as EE and the other major providers.   

In other words, maybe a score of 4 for a cheap provider like Tesco is roughly equivalent to a score of 3 from a major provider like EE? 

 

Edited by Tony1
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15 hours ago, M_JG said:

 

This is interesting.

 

Please expand, I've previously considered switching to Plusnet as they piggy back EE who I have found to be excellent.

 

I was thinking one would get the same coverage and speed but you suggest no, one (I'm from Yorkshire but obviously from the posh end) wouldn't. 

 

 

 

Plusnet only have access to 3 out of the 4 RF bands that EE use for 4G, the missing one (B20? not sure...) is the lower-frequency one commonly used to extend coverage in rural areas -- so EE are likely to be better than Plusnet here.

 

Plusnet also don't support 5G, so data rates in areas which support this (mainly towns and cities, but coverage is expanding) will also be worse than EE.

 

So Plusnet are fine (and good value, and 30 day contracts) for the "normal" phone use that we need, but for a router on a boat EE would be better.

 

https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/compare/ee-vs-plusnet-mobile

https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/ee/virtual-providers-on-ee

 

But the unlimited Scancom SIM I described earlier is *way* cheaper than any of these, £13pcm paid in advance up to Jan 2025... 😉

 

https://www.scancom.co.uk/products/rural-broadband-data-sim-ee-prepaid?variant=42609488560304

Edited by IanD
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43 minutes ago, IanD said:

But the unlimited Scancom SIM I described earlier is *way* cheaper than any of these, £13pcm paid in advance up to Jan 2025... 😉

 

https://www.scancom.co.uk/products/rural-broadband-data-sim-ee-prepaid?variant=42609488560304

That does look a remarkably good deal, I have been looking at a way of adding EE and have been considering 1p mobile but Scancom looks like it might be better.

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3 minutes ago, Loddon said:

That does look a remarkably good deal, I have been looking at a way of adding EE and have been considering 1p mobile but Scancom looks like it might be better.

 

Quite a few people are using them (I plan to) and are very happy with them. The downside is having to pay a big chunk up front. Don't forget to add VAT to their prices though... 😉

 

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/search/8687/?q=Scancom&t=post&c[child_nodes]=1&c[nodes][0]=106&o=date

Edited by IanD
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There is also this one for low users under 1TB a month 😉

https://www.scancom.co.uk/products/rural-broadband-data-sim-three-pre-paid

What did I miss in the small print?🤔

Just got to find out what the deal is with roaming in Ireland.

 

Ah no roaming on those Sims so can't use in Ireland ☹️

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2 hours ago, Tony1 said:

 

Re the customer satisfaction thing, I take your point that the bar is perhaps lower for some of the customers who use the cheaper providers, and that some of them might be more generous in their ratings. 

 

 

I've been using Smarty since about last June. If I was asked about Customer Service, I would have to choose N/A as I havent needed any. Everything has worked as I would hope and expect. In terms of satisfaction, I suppose my answer would be 100%.

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21 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

 

I've been using Smarty since about last June. If I was asked about Customer Service, I would have to choose N/A as I havent needed any. Everything has worked as I would hope and expect. In terms of satisfaction, I suppose my answer would be 100%.

 

I think that sounds a sensible approach, but its hard to imagine most/all of the thousands of Smarty customers surveyed would never need to use customer service (and thus respond with NA). So you would think there would be enough respondents to post a score with some degree of validity.

But who knows, that's just guesswork on my part. 

I guess my thinking is that if all other aspects are equal (ish), then you might as well choose the option with a known (and good) score, rather than one which is probably good, but you cant be certain.

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

I think that sounds a sensible approach, but its hard to imagine most/all of the thousands of Smarty customers surveyed would never need to use customer service (and thus respond with NA). So you would think there would be enough respondents to post a score with some degree of validity.

But who knows, that's just guesswork on my part. 

I guess my thinking is that if all other aspects are equal (ish), then you might as well choose the option with a known (and good) score, rather than one which is probably good, but you cant be certain.

 

 

Smarty and GiffGaff use customer-driven forums/chat for support, so there is no "network operator customer support" as such, hence the "N/A" rating.

 

However customers seem to find this customer-driven support more helpful than that which many of the network operators provide -- certainly the couple of times I asked a question on GiffGaff I got an informative (and correct) response back very quickly, certainly faster than hanging on a helpline for ages. IIRC people who solve problems correctly on the GiffGaff forum get some kind of bonus, or at least used to...

Edited by IanD
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24 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Smarty and GiffGaff use customer-driven forums/chat for support, so there is no "network operator customer support" as such, hence the "N/A" rating.

 

However customers seem to find this customer-driven support more helpful than that which many of the network operators provide -- certainly the couple of times I asked a question on GiffGaff I got an informative (and correct) response back very quickly, certainly faster than hanging on a helpline for ages. IIRC people who solve problems correctly on the GiffGaff forum get some kind of bonus, or at least used to...

 

Thanks again Ian, that's interesting to know. Does this approach have limitations? For example, who do you call when you want to end your contract, and you want to port your number over to a new provider? Is that stuff done on a website?

Obviously I dont know, but I imagine there are some issues that require the direct intervention and action from someone with administrator-type access to the network, and to the systems that manage user accounts? 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Thanks again Ian, that's interesting to know. Does this approach have limitations? For example, who do you call when you want to end your contract, and you want to port your number over to a new provider? Is that stuff done on a website?

Obviously I dont know, but I imagine there are some issues that require the direct intervention and action from someone with administrator-type access to the network, and to the systems that manage user accounts? 

 

 

All done via websites and online chat (or SMS for PAC codes). There are online agents for billing/account queries but same contact methods, no phone number.

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4 hours ago, Higgs said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_mobile_virtual_network_operators

 

Just found it and able to post, I have never figured how (or even if its possible) to post a link while on the mobile. Anyway, I see you found the list too, with not too much trouble.

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Interesting to see from that link that Virgin are shutting down their network by the end of this year and switching everybody to their carrier network O2.

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We pitch up all over the UK and very rarely never get a signal with EE. And good enough for decent internet too.

 

One memorable place we didnt get a signal was quite close to the A1 which was a bit surprising. Other networks were the same though.

 

 

Edited by M_JG
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