[Hidden-tech] Vodafone /was Re: AT&T...

michaelbix michaelbix at straight-arrow.cc
Wed Oct 14 20:14:52 EDT 2009


Hi Jodi - If you don't mind a shared answer to all h-t'er's... I'd  
like to recommend Vodafone highly.

I use Vodafone's prepay "Ready-To-Go" service (currently called  
"Vodafone Advantage"), which is the kind of service I wish were  
available here.

The only difficulty is... what will you use for a phone?  Since with  
Unicel I've been using an unlocked phone all along, including my  
Treo... over there has been no issue with functionality, just switch  
chips.  I can't tell you if your iPhone will work in Ireland with a  
"foreign" Vodafone (non-AT&T) SIM/GSM chip... my guess is not.  It  
would be nice, but that has been my biggest reason for staying off  
that otherwise attractive platform.

Vodafone is offering a good selection of phones to their prepay  
customers for a one-shot cost.  The featured Samsung S5230 with a  
3.2mpixel still camera, video recording, 3" touchscreen and Web  
browser will feel like a miniature version of your iPhone (for €100  
no-contract, unlocked)

If sheer phone sensitivity and usability in rural terrain is more  
important, I recommend the Sony-Ericsson S510 (for €140, unlocked)  
with the same feature set - 3.2mpixel camera, video recording at  
30fps, Web browser, no touchscreen but add also a photo light, that  
it in the Cybershot camera family with a good lens, will take  
external microSD cards up to 16GB (despite what it says on sheet  
about 8GB) and has excellent backup and support software from Sony.

Either phone - when registered - will put a lot of euros credit on  
your prepay account... so you get much of the purchase cost back  
immediately.  Incredible deal, either way.

Once you plop down your starter €20 or so for a Voda prepay SIM card  
you are assigned a number with an 87 prefix (or 453-87 if dialed from  
the U.S.).   What comes with that is nothing short of amazing.   
Activate your on-line account via "myvoda" and give yourself a  
password for entry into the system.   You are assigned a free email  
account at the same time, with the suffix @vodafone.ie - always  
accessible through your "myvoda" account as long as you "Top Up" once  
every six months (either from Ireland at any AIB ATM, outlet/corner  
grocer, or by credit card over the Internet).

The telephone number comes with free voice mail and... (today they  
say the offer expires on 31 October) a special offer for either 300  
free text messages (to any network) per month for life, or free Voda- 
to-Voda calling/texting.

I chose the free text to anywhere... here's why.  From here in the  
U.S. I can text directly to any Irish mobile phone.   I just open up  
the texting window in "myvoda" (a bit like a Twitter window), tap out  
my text, and send my message.   My recipient has two options for  
reply (despite the fact that I'm here in the U.S. at the moment).    
He/she can text me back... a very typical response from anyone under  
40 in Ireland (in which case it will show up on my texting "IN" box  
on my computer... and on any phone here in the U.S. that I have set  
up with the chip... no charge) OR they may call my Irish number, in  
which case they will hear my voicemail, and likely leave a message.

Next time I go to "myvoda" on my computer, I will see an alert that I  
have a voicemail.  I go to that section of my dashboard, open up my  
voicemail, click on the .wav file, and listen to my voicemail.  I  
reply via text again, or call/email Ireland if suggested.

The services which come with a Vodafone telephone number are nothing  
short of phenomenal.  The minutes via a pre-pay are immediately  
available, you can track them, customer service is very good, and  
Vodafone has a unique "I.O.U." service where if, during a call, you  
go over your pre-paid limit... they will "advance" you up to €2 in  
credit to complete your call and call Vodafone to arrange a Top Up.   
The credit, of course, is deducted from your post-payment next balance.

All follow-up, account balance, Top Up, email, text and voicemail  
functions are accessible, activated and updateable from your home  
computer or laptop.

For wireless access while traveling in Ireland I tend to use  
McDonald's (get a directory on line) and after making a purchase, ask  
the manager if the Eircom cards are still available.   Most still  
have them behind the counter... each are good for a half hour.   
McDonald's have an excellent cafe Americano (made a cup at a time,  
not like here).   Another option I use, with an increasingly extended  
network - I don't know where you're most frequently been in Ireland -  
but it's handy in Cork and Dublin, is to start an online account with  
Bitbuzz (buying by the minutes rather than the day).  However if you  
go through their Internet town-by-town directory you'll probably find  
(as I did) that cafe proprietors will hand out a free 20-minute or  
half-hour Flexipass to customers in their zone.

For further information about Vocafone pre-pay plans (no contract  
necessary) see - http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/prepay/index.jsp

If you know someone with an unlocked phone they'll part with, the  
simple "buy a SIM plan" is here - http://www.vodafone.ie/df/simonly/? 
ts=1255561331956 (the bottom-most plan is usually for new customers,  
but you may also qualify for "switch" credits with your existing  
gophone number.)   But my guess is that you'd like the other services  
which come with the prepay plans above such as Irish email and texting.

[Addendum:  I forgot to mention the "Passport Option" which I  
recently used when I was in Edinburgh to present a paper. This is a  
free option for the no contract, prepay customers - just choose it,  
from "myvoda."  It is Vodafone's version of International Roaming.
	How does it work?  All calls made anywhere in the UK, to UK or  
Ireland, are the same as if made in Ireland... exactly the same price  
per minute, no connection fee.  When in every other one of 35  
countries - including Iceland, (every EU country except Bosnia- 
Herzogovenia, Slavakia and Hungary), Japan, Turkey, Cyprus, Estonia,  
Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand and Australia - all calls out are  
exactly the same cost per minute as if made in Ireland on your chosen  
plan... except add a €.79 one-time connection fee per call.  Received  
calls... to you in those countries, and from any of the 35 Vodafone  
countries plus Ireland... costs exactly €.79 total... no cost per  
minute to you, no matter how long the call.]

Michael Cerulli Billingsley
Straight Arrow Recordings
Location Recording - CD Mastering - Sound Solutions/FX
The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
802-254-3975

Irish Spiritual Heritage Association/Working Pilgrimages
440 Canal St., Brattleboro, Vermont and The Old Mill, Bruree, Co.  
Limerick
(0)87-762-2387
-----------
On  14 October 09, at 2:33 AM, Jodi Schneider wrote:

> Michael,
>
> Thanks for the info you shared about AT&T! Do you recommend Vodafone?
>
> I just moved to Ireland (am on the airport bus now).
>
> For the past 15 months I'be been using  a go phone, with a wifi- 
> only iPhone for data.
>
> I'm debating phone options here-- and if there's anyhing more  
> complicated than phone shopping it must be crosscultural phone  
> shopping!
>
> Any advice or pointers about cells in Ireland?
>
> Thanks in any case!
> -Jodi
> http://jodischneider.com
>
>
> On 2009 DFómh 13, at 21:00, michaelbix <michaelbix at straight- 
> arrow.cc> wrote:
>
>>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the  
>> member's area.
>>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>
>>
>> I think I'll weigh in here, having just attempted to make the  
>> switch to AT&T, given the Unicel (Vermont) is going off-line in  
>> December.
>>
>> The sales pitch at the store was definitely misleading (the rep  
>> was trying to push me to a more-minutes plan based upon usage  
>> patterns he could "see on his screen" - but Unicel told me later  
>> the next day that AT&T doesn't have access to their customer  
>> records, and that he was fakin' it).
>>
>> I decided to shop/sign-up via the Internet.   On line was a bit  
>> slower but the slow "reveal" that there was (first) a required  
>> monthly data plan paired with my chosen high-end phone, and  
>> (second) a connection fee to port-over my old number - were left  
>> to the very, very last minute/last pages.  And a crucial piece of  
>> information for you world travelers, the key attraction with any  
>> "international" phone is portability from one GSM-based plan to  
>> another.  Pull the SIM/GSM chip, put in another... and change  
>> carriers.   I like Sony-Ericsson phones (I prefer them for their  
>> signal pickup in remote Vermont valleys).    But only after a day  
>> of analysing fine print did I finally see in the "returns" policy  
>> that, ouch, this phone and all other sold by AT&T are "locked" to  
>> them... meaning, on their network only.
>>
>> I had begun to set up the arrangement but had not yet digitally  
>> "signed" the agreement (a separate "click to agree" email) when I  
>> discovered this "locked" phone issue.  So I called the sales team  
>> back to arrange a different plan, where I could use my existing  
>> feature-primitive "unlocked" phone instead.
>>
>> They couldn't accommodate.  Sorry.  The phone had been shipped.   
>> The plan had been initiated and the phone activated from the time  
>> my order was taken down by the sales team.  And, somehow  
>> (according to them), although my activated "new number" on AT&T is  
>> the same as my in-use "old number" on Unicel, the phone-plan  
>> charge clock is already running.  Two plans on one number?  Didn't  
>> make sense.  (A different, U.S.-based AT&T rep has since told me  
>> the India-based supervisor was talking through his hat.)  Who do  
>> ya trust?
>>
>> And the initial sales rep had definitely instructed me to be  
>> certain to acknowledge and agree to the plan (by live-link check- 
>> off) in that return email - otherwise the phone would not be  
>> shipped.  Simplexity (AT&T's fulfillment company) had screwed  
>> up... apparently this is standard, however.  Several supervisors  
>> and two days later I finally got the locked high-end phone and the  
>> plan cancelled (neither of which I had given final approval for)  
>> but the charges stayed on their books.  I'd have to return the  
>> phone to their warehouse for inspection.
>>
>> It has since arrived here and has now been returned with their  
>> RMA, and they have acknowledged receipt at their warehouse (as  
>> agreed).  So many calls had to be made, to get to this point.
>>
>> Do I get my refund?  No.
>>
>> I've (yesterday) received an email saying their accounting  
>> department will review "my account" (I have none... I've agreed to  
>> nothing, ordered nothing) to see if I qualify for a refund, which  
>> will be "processed" sometime within up to seven business days in  
>> the future.  Who knows when I will actually see the money (for  
>> this high-end Cybershot phone) back inside my bank account.  Gees.
>>
>> After all this I will still go AT&T eventually - signing up  
>> through my friendly Radio Shack store rather than the sharks at  
>> the AT&T front end.  I'll go for the bottom-bottom plan and the  
>> "free" phone... then switch that chip over into my unlocked phone  
>> (whichever one I get on the open market... whenever I choose to  
>> upgrade).   Meanwhile, for my other data needs, I'm getting an  
>> iPod Touch.
>>
>> I've had a many-year Vodafone plan in Europe... my calls in  
>> Ireland/UK for instance cost me about the equivalent of $.37 per  
>> minute, whereas using AT&T's no-roaming "international minutes"  
>> would, I believe, cost $1.39 each.  No way.  I'll pull my AT&T  
>> chip when I step off the plane, and slide in my Vodafone chip  
>> instead.
>>
>> Was this "switch to AT&T" complicated?  Way too much.  Losing more  
>> than a full working day on the phone and in emails and shipping,  
>> so I can come back to zero with AT&T was very disappointing.    
>> It's been said here before, and I thought I was doing it too...  
>> but pay close attention, and then... pay closer attention.
>>
>> Now.   Time to start again.
>>
>> Best
>> Michael Cerulli Billingsley
>> Straight Arrow Recordings
>> Location Recording - CD Mastering - Audio Solutions/Sound Effects
>> 802-254-3975  ~~  The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
>>
>>
>> On  7 October 09, at 2:11 PM, Stefan Gonick wrote:
>>
>>>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the  
>>> member's area.
>>>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>>
>>>
>>> Hey Everyone,
>>>
>>> I'm considering switching to AT&T Wireless specifically to get  
>>> the iPhone.
>>> However, I've heard some disturbing things about their service.  
>>> In particular,
>>> I have a friend who says that she can have her voicemails delayed  
>>> significantly
>>> (hours or even a day). That would be unacceptable to me if it's a  
>>> regular
>>> occurrence.
>>>
>>> What has your experience been with AT&T Wireless service in general
>>> and the voicemail situation in particular?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Stefan
>>>
>>> =====================================================
>>> Database WebWorks: Dynamic web sites through database integration
>>> http://www.DatabaseWebWorks.com
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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