Mobile networks - next stop, Voodoofone?

[denny]

I'm considering moving away from Orange... they used to be pretty good for new handsets, but lately they seem to be well behind on offering the shiny toys I want. They also keep putting their own firmware on them (Orange Homescreen), which is incredibly poor quality crap which destroys the UI, but I think most networks do similar these days from what I hear. Firmware flashing seems to be the way forward where that problem is concerned.

Anyway, I'm thinking Vodafone is probably the next network to check out for reliability and coverage (two things that I've never had a problem with on Orange). Unless anyone has either recent Vodafone horror stories to offer, or better networks to pimp?

I'm probably looking to get either a Nokia N95 8GB, or an N82 if anyone is offering those yet. I'll want a data package, quite a few texts per month, and a relatively low amount of minutes (use a phone to talk to people? What a strange idea!)

Comments

[adjectivegail]

I moved to T-Mobile last May, having used Orange for years and years before. It cut my bill by 50% while giving me more free minutes than before(and greater flexibility; I have 450 minutes per month and I can either use them as minutes or two text messages = 1 minute. I'm averaging 300 mins and 300 texts a month), and as I got a Blackberry I give them an extra £10 pcm for unlimited emails to be pushed straight through (this has actually been pretty useful given how rarely I'm at a computer during 'working' hours these days - and it really does seem to be unlimited). You can also do £10 pcm for unlimited web, and I do think it's pretty unlimited, certainly more than 120MB!

They were definitely more helpful than Orange have been recently, and people may say the coverage isn't as good but I haven't had any problems (although I have had problems with the Blackberry - absolutely rubbish at getting signal, even just in buildings).

Basically don't write them off - I've been using them since last May and have been lots happier than with Orange, AND their customer service were helpful in the early days when I needed them.

[adjectivegail]

(oh, meant to say, my brother got the N95 with T-Mobile's web 'n' walk and seems pretty happy - tis a fab phone and the coverage was good enough for him to use the satnav thingy down in some gloomy little valleys in Oxfordshire when we got lost!)