User's Opinion of Vodafone V800 on 3G

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 15:17:31 -0000, "Paul Busby" <me@privacy.net> wrote:


>Sorry to hear of your 3G problems. There has been a question mark over using
>the 2GHz band for voice calls in buildings for some years now. Maybe it will
>get sorted but I have doubts that 3G can cut it for mainstream voice use.
>However, I'd not go near O2 either - I've heard far too many stories of poor
>CS, billing & coverage for my liking. Will be interesting to hear both your
>experiences of the D500 back on uk.telecom.mobile in a week or 2 though.
>Lets hope Voda's 3G (or SE's 3G phones) is just going through teething
>troubles.
>
>The current 3G service is too little too late IMO. The Chancellor
>effectively slapped a Huge tax on mobile users with the 3G licences in the
>UK. The moral of your travails appears to be that being an early adopter has
>its downside WCDMA is supposed to be better at handover as well.


I've also heard the horror stories about O2 CS, billing etc... that's why I
have gone back to CPWS O2

I know there is a lot of criticism of Carphone Warehouse in various forums,
but I have never had any trouble with them. Obviously I've had some gripes
from time to time, but I keep finding myself coming back to them.

Take the port for instance....On the day I signed back up in store, both
phones received text messages confirming that the port had been actioned.
Today, both phones again received texts reminding us that the port was
going live on Monday and to put our new sims in the phone after 6pm that
day.

Their online billing is second to none, allowing call breakdown by type,
cost and number dialled.

I could have gone back to them on Voda 3G, but I have hardly ever had a
problem with O2 coverage..and dropped calls (a la Voda 3G)..... so plumped
for O2 instead.

I agree that 3G might never match 2.5G for indoor coverage, but until the
networks really get their acts together, at least I know that I will have a
reliable voice service!

CPWS might not have all of the bells and whistles of some of the other SPs
and might not be open 24/7, but if they save me the sort of aggro I've had
with Voda 3G and it's customer (dis)service, then I won't complain too
loudly!!

As for the V800...as a die-hard SE stalwart (T28, T68, T68i, T610 & Z600) I
was desperately disappointed with, of all things, the build quality..I
think it's shocking. If the hinges creak and move after a couple of weeks,
Lord knows what they'll be like in 6 months! The battery life was also not
up to serious everyday use! I don't know if the signal retention (or lack
of) was down to the phone or the network, but it was appalling!

I'm impressed with the D500 up to now, but will post a more comprehensive
appraisal in uk-t-m in the near future.
--

Regards

John [Essex, UK]
Remove the obvious spamtrap to reply

Thus spake JC:
> I've also heard the horror stories about O2 CS, billing etc... that's
> why I have gone back to CPWS O2
>
> I know there is a lot of criticism of Carphone Warehouse in various
> forums, but I have never had any trouble with them. Obviously I've
> had some gripes from time to time, but I keep finding myself coming
> back to them.
>
> Take the port for instance....On the day I signed back up in store,
> both phones received text messages confirming that the port had been
> actioned. Today, both phones again received texts reminding us that
> the port was going live on Monday and to put our new sims in the
> phone after 6pm that day.
>
> Their online billing is second to none, allowing call breakdown by
> type, cost and number dialled.
>
> I could have gone back to them on Voda 3G, but I have hardly ever had
> a problem with O2 coverage..and dropped calls (a la Voda 3G)..... so
> plumped for O2 instead.
>
> I agree that 3G might never match 2.5G for indoor coverage, but until
> the networks really get their acts together, at least I know that I
> will have a reliable voice service!
>
> CPWS might not have all of the bells and whistles of some of the
> other SPs and might not be open 24/7, but if they save me the sort of
> aggro I've had with Voda 3G and it's customer (dis)service, then I
> won't complain too loudly!!
>
> As for the V800...as a die-hard SE stalwart (T28, T68, T68i, T610 &
> Z600) I was desperately disappointed with, of all things, the build
> quality..I think it's shocking. If the hinges creak and move after a
> couple of weeks, Lord knows what they'll be like in 6 months! The
> battery life was also not up to serious everyday use! I don't know if
> the signal retention (or lack of) was down to the phone or the
> network, but it was appalling!
>
> I'm impressed with the D500 up to now, but will post a more
> comprehensive appraisal in uk-t-m in the near future.

Well, at least your V800s were supplied with batteries

I'm a big SE fan: GF880 (or something like that - flip, single line display,
green case!) T28, T39, T610 & currently a K700 which I'm more than pleased
with. Brand loyalty can be a blinding despite using the same charger etc, so
for my next phone... if going 3G, I'd even take a look at a Nokia(!) 6630 as
the V800 has never appealed. What happened to 100m BT range that the Z1010
had? Probably 3G drained the battery without BT adding to it!

Features I'd like to see on SE phones are more UI customisations - menu item
re-ordering, full screen picture viewing, external LED & silent shutter
sound being 4 of them.

Have just activated a free O2 PAYG SIM. *10# send just gives Command Error -
I'm hoping it's O2 being slow rather than my T39 being incompatible (works
fine on Voda & Orange).

--
Thank people in advance? Thanking or cursing them afterwards at least
gives some feedback!

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:22:06 -0000, "Paul Busby" <me@privacy.net> wrote:


>Well, at least your V800s were supplied with batteries
>
>I'm a big SE fan: GF880 (or something like that - flip, single line display,
>green case!) T28, T39, T610 & currently a K700 which I'm more than pleased
>with. Brand loyalty can be a blinding despite using the same charger etc, so
>for my next phone... if going 3G, I'd even take a look at a Nokia(!) 6630 as
>the V800 has never appealed. What happened to 100m BT range that the Z1010
>had? Probably 3G drained the battery without BT adding to it!

Probably the case
>
>Features I'd like to see on SE phones are more UI customisations - menu item
>re-ordering, full screen picture viewing, external LED & silent shutter
>sound being 4 of them.

The silent shutter sound would be a big plus
>
>Have just activated a free O2 PAYG SIM. *10# send just gives Command Error -
>I'm hoping it's O2 being slow rather than my T39 being incompatible (works
>fine on Voda & Orange).

Sorry, not familiar with that code...what is it supposed to do?



--

Regards

John [Essex, UK]
Remove the obvious spamtrap to reply

Thus spake JC:
> Sorry, not familiar with that code...what is it supposed to do?

Remaining credit

--
Thank people in advance? Thanking or cursing them afterwards at least
gives some feedback!

Thus spake JC:
>> Have just activated a free O2 PAYG SIM. *10# send just gives Command
>> Error - I'm hoping it's O2 being slow rather than my T39 being
>> incompatible (works fine on Voda & Orange).
>
> Sorry, not familiar with that code...what is it supposed to do?

Sorted - the handbook that came with the SIM is wrong! The correct code
taken from O2's www is *#10# Send, to obtain a display of remaining credit.

--
Thank people in advance? Thanking or cursing them afterwards at least
gives some feedback!