Wow, FXT 1, thank you for your experience.
I'm moving to UK for study purpose, so I'm gonna stay there a little bit.
From what you are saying the only 2 decent options are O2 and 3. Btw, I can't use that excuse at O2 store because I've already 3GS (sold my 3G a month ago).
So, basically, we have:
O2: £10 a month for unlimited data
3: £5 for 1Gb data
Right?
Can I ask you what "when you top up" exactly means? It occurs when I spend £5x2 a month?
How about O2 vs 3 reliability? I've heard a lot of complains about O2 networks instability on this forum, not sure about 3.
Correct.
I'm assuming that you don't want a contract (Correct?), so on Pay as You Go "Topping Up" is when you add money to your mobile balance, this money can be spent on Calls, texts and data
that is not included in your free allowance when you top up. You can top up whenever you want, and as frequently as you need to. Also you can top up in UK at the Post Office, a Cash machine and at the major supermarkets (you don't have to look far to find a Tesco
)
but you can get more Texts on 3-UK if you Top Up online (again, another heads up
).
The minimum top up on O2 is £10 whereas 3's minimum top up is £5
3-UK Give you some rewards when you top up, the most important being 150MB of data, I'm sure O2 reward you as well but no data so its insignificant.
Now, in terms of O2 vs 3 reliability it will depend on a number of other personal factors that will ultimately decide which one you choose:
As I'm sure you already know, 3-UK are a 3G only network, forcing iPhone users on their
to keep 3G ON all the time. While you might not think this is serious 3G does kill the battery IMO when used a lot
and turning this OFF will leave you with signal for a while but soon after you will be disconnected. So keep your battery in mind. We know how fast those things go
Also OFCOM (The British competition regulator) has issued the 3G Coverage maps for the different providers in the UK, you will find them
here. As you will notice O2 seems to fare badly, with skirmish 3G coverage, yet 3 provides the best coverage for 3G.
I suggest you look
here for O2 Coverage in the area in which you'll be studying and
here for 3 Coverage.
Now, in terms of network reliability, I personally have not been caught up in any of O2's network crashes, except one of them, where I was on holiday in Scotland at the time and relying heavily on O2's 3G Network, and I mean
heavily, as the nearest WiFi spot at the hotel was hosted by T-Mobile
But if you have a WiFi spot nearby where you study and in your accommodation you should be fine. This is one the advantages with O2 BTW, The £10 data add on includes WiFi at The Cloud. So if your studying at a major city you're assured WiFi, also if you like McDonalds there's free WiFi there included
IMAO All the O2 reliability problems have been over-hyped, it's happened maybe three times if I recall correctly and its not too drastic. I mean you'll hear a lot more about network etc. (obviously, with 1 million+ iPhone users) but that's not to say that you'll always receive bad service. I have personally experienced few dropped calls (in low coverage areas BTW) and NO DROPPED CALLS with Full signal.
Furthermore, I am trying not to be biased but must admit I have been through a few O2 "dead spots".
In case of cost and value for money it depends what you want to do , again
If you text a lot 3-UK gives you a lot of texts for £10 (300 normally, 600 online) But I recognise data is key for you.
You said Vodafone's 125MB is not enough for you. And I realise 3's is double that but I'm sure you'll use 3 a lot more as there is more coverage for 3G.
Thus, as I have not had much active experience with 3's network I cannot highlight or point out any peculiarities I have experienced with them.
However, Dias, It's not a Life or Death situation in the end.
When you come to the UK, pick up a 3 SIM and an O2 SIM (you can order them cheap on Amazon UK for 50p a sim with no credit though) and try them out for yourself and see what works and what signal your getting with each.
Personally, I'd recommend O2 for you, even though calls and texts are a bit more expensive, the unlimited data for iPhone option is a tailor made plan for iPhone, a plan for which 3 has not properly catered for; yet
But as i said, try them out yourself and see which one you prefer and perhaps monitor you usage monthly so if your not using a huge amount of data then you could switch to 3's 1GB a month plan.
Hope this helps
