Vodafone - Pay As You Talk. (Vodafone Network)

Member Name: spikeyhairlou

Product:	Vodafone Network
Date:	22/04/08 (1509 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price plans to suit everyone's pocket.

Disadvantages: -

Since buying my first ever mobile phone, I have only ever chosen the Vodafone Pay as You Talk scheme, as I didn't like the idea of being tied into a monthly contract with the awful thought of how much I had run up on that month's phone bill, so this seemed the best option.
When I originally bought the phone Vodafone only had 1 tariff which was 'Original' but now they have 5 staggering tariffs or they did have, 1 to suit everyone's tastes.

Please find below a quick look at each one in a bit more detail:-

FIRST STEP:
Standard local/national and voicemail.
Daytime (mon - fri) - 40p.
Evenings and weekends - 10p.
Vodafone to Vodafone calls daytime (mon-fri) -40p.
Evenings and weekends - 5p.
Calls to other networks daytime (mon - fri) - 50p.
Evenings and weekends - 30p.
Text messages - 12p.

SMARTSTEP:
First 3 minutes - 25ppm.
All the rest of the calls for that day - 5ppm.
First 3 text messages - 12p each.
Cost for each text message after that for rest of day - 9p each.

NEXT STEP:
Daily min spend - 50p of calls and text messages per day.
Daytime, Evenings and Weekends - 10ppm at all times.
Text messaging - 10p.

ALL CALLS:
Mon - Fri daytime - 35ppm and 10ppm for evenings.
Sat - Sun daytime - 10pm and 5ppm for evenings.
Text messaging -12p.
But now Vodafone don't do this tariff, so all the lucky people who changed from the original tariff to all calls can stay with all calls.

ORIGINAL:
DAYTIME AND EVENING:
Standard Peak - 35ppm and Off peak - 2ppm.
Calls to other vodafone numbers Peak - 35ppm and Off peak - 5ppm.
Calls to other networks Peak - 50ppm and Off peak - 30ppm.
Voicemail Peak - 0ppm and Off peak - 0p.
Text messages Peak - 12p and Off Peak - 12p.
WEEKENDS:
Standard calls - 2ppm Calls to other Vodafones - 5ppm.
Calls to other networks - 30ppm Voice mail - 0ppm.
Text messages - 12p.
Vodafone cover 99% of the UK and have many other benefits which include.
SCOOT:
Dial 333 from your phone and you can find the nearest pizza place
etc...
AA ROADWATCH:
Dial 2222 for up to the minute traffic reports
192 - This one pretty much explains itself
TEXT ALERTS:
Choose to receive via their internet site, Horroscope, weather, news, sport, music sent direct to your phone.

When wishing to top up the credit on your phone you can either buy top-up cards in either £5, £10, £15, £25 or if you are feeling rich £75.

You can also use an electronic swipe card, which most shops now accept or even top-up using your credit/debit card either over the phone or the internet.

TARIFFS:
If you want a contract mobile phone, the Vodafone network offers a range of tariffs, aimed at Leisure or Business users. Each of the tariffs has a name, which is something like Leisure 250 or Business 1000, the number relating to the number of free minutes you receive per month. All the leisure tariffs give away free off-peak minutes and the business tariffs give away anytime minutes.
The charges for this are as follows:-
Connection £35 (does anyone EVER pay for connection when there are so many deals which offer free connection?)!.
Line rental £14.99 per month plus £2 itemised billing (itemised billing is compulsory so I would prefer it if they just included this in the price)!.
Peak calls 35p a minute.
Evening calls 5p a minute.
Weekend calls 2p a minute.
Vodafone to Vodafone 10p a minute.
Vodafone to other network 50p a minute peak, 35p a minute off-peak.
Text messaging 12p per message.
In general, the more line rental you pay the cheaper your calls are. Although free minutes seem like a good deal they are not really, not many of us need more than 250 a month - I know they are 'free' but you don't get anything for nothing and the free minutes are probably reflected in the higher call charges.
As it is, you proberly use the phone for the sake of it, or having to remind yourself to use it when you would normally have used your land line - and with all the negative publicity about mobile phones and health it does worry me a bit spending an hour on my mobile. I would prefer really just to use it for quick calls.
Off peak calls start at 7 p.m. and finish at 7 a.m., which is not overly convenient for the majority of people who want to use their mobiles on the journey to or from work. I'am aware that another network (namely Orange) was offering a deal where you could choose your off peak hours, which I think is an excellent idea and something I wish you could do on Vodafone.

PAY AS YOU TALK:
Vodafone also offer a good range of Pay as You Talk mobiles. Vodafone do seem to offer the most up to date phones on Pay as You Talk (no more bricks!) before the other networks, which was a plus point for my friend, who had previously had a tiny Ericsson phone on pre-pay so didn't want to have to downgrade to something huge and basic! You can also change your existing contract phone over to Pay as You Talk for a one off payment of £35.

VOICEMAIL:
You don't have to pay any extra to be able to use Vodafone Voicemail, but you do pay to receive your voice messages.
This can be expensive, as they come through as soon as you turn your phone on or finish your call, so if it is during the day you pay peak rate, where as off peak voicemail messages are included in your free minutes allowance. You can, however, opt to receive text message notification of new voicemail, which is better really as you can then wait until it is cheaper to phone and hear your messages.
The voicemail service is easy to use, with a menu system to change your options and record a new answerphone message.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Vodafone have a free customer service number which offers assistance with network problems and tariff enquiries. Calls are answered very promptly, without having to hang on and listen to music and I have always found the operatives to be extremely helpful and courteous. Last week I telephoned at a time when unfortunately their computer systems were down. I was told they would phone me back when it was operational, and didn't hold out much hope, but sure enough they called me back a day later!
For billing enquiries you contact your billing company - I have also found them to be most helpful.
The website - www.vodafone.co.uk has a wealth of information on tariffs, coverage, contact numbers etc.... and is a very comprehensive resource if you have a problem or query.

NETWORK COVERAGE AND RELIABILITY:
I have always found Vodafone's network coverage to be excellent. Nine times out of ten calls go through, although occasionally you get a "Network Busy" signal - normally at times when many other people in the vicinity are likely to be making calls as well, e.g. on a train when a delay has just been announced, or in a traffic jam! Reception is usually excellent once on a call. Text messages always get delivered promptly.
There have been two occasions since I have had my phone where I have had no network coverage at all at home due to a network fault.
I phone Vodafone on these occasions (from a landline) and they were able to tell me the cause and location of the problem and the approximate time they hoped to have it up and running again. Neither of the problems lasted for more than 24 hours and with a mobile it is not the end of the world as the transmitters seem to be so close together that you only have to go a mile or so down the road to pick up a signal from another transmitter!

INTERNATIONAL ROAMING:
I haven't used my Vodafone phone abroad.
It has been possible to use contract phones abroad for a long time, but recently Vodafone have introduced international roaming from Pay As You Talk phones as well. The website gives coverage information for all the countries covered by Vodafone's roaming agreements (there are a lot, and most of the ones you would reasonably visit on holiday or business have several networks to choose from).
If you are going abroad it is worth telephoning Vodafone as they will have up to date charging information and will be able to give you tariff information for each of the available networks in the country you are visiting and tell you the cheapest one to choose for both calls and text messaging.
The costs are always much greater than within the UK and it is also worth remembering that you have to pay to receive incoming calls. The person calling you from the UK will pay the normal call cost as if you were still in the country, but you pay a surcharge of around £1.00 to have the call "forwarded" to your phone.
My one slight gripe with Vodafone comes in here. When I recently enquired about the cost of text messaging in Spain, I was told that a charge of around 40p per message would apply for both sending AND receiving text messages. I have never been charged for receiving text messages abroad before so I queried this, as I normally receive a lot of text messages and if I was going to get charged 40p a time it could work out as an expensive holiday! I was told the charge was a new development. The following day, my friend with the Pay as You Talk phone received a text message from Vodafone informing her of the fact she could now use her phone abroad, and she called the free number to find out about tariffs. She was told, in a recorded message,that there was no charge for receiving text messages abroad. I found this a little strange, so telephoned Vodafone once again and was told that there may or may not be a charge for receiving text messages abroad, but it is up to the network you are on as to whether they make a charge, and that Vodafone are not party to this information.
It frustrates me that I have been given three different pieces of information and don't know which one to believe!

OVERALL:
On the whole their customer service is very good, but the problem detailed above does cause me a few worries about the reliability of their information.

I'm glad that I chose Vodafone for my mobile network provider as I feel that they have the widest range of tariffs to suit everyone's needs, the top-up cards are not too expensive because if you are a bit short on cash you can buy a £5 card they have the biggest network coverage and best of all they also stock all the latest phones.
But now the top-up cards are no longer in the shops, it's all done electronic now with your swipe card.

Summary: Reasonable.