News: get 8000 Virgin Points with Tesco Mobile, HfP shortlisted for three major awards

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• Froggee says:

  15 Nov15 November 08:04

  Given that we’re at the end of 2023 and it is a two year contract with Tesco Mobile the “until at least 2025” line doesn’t quite cut it if no roaming fees are a dealbreaker for you.

  I hate mobile phone operators – the necessity to either switch to a new provider (using a third party because the best prices tend not to be available direct) or call your existing provider to say you will leave if they don’t give you a better deal is beyond annoying.

  • JDB says:

    15 Nov15 November 08:29

    Isn’t that onerous call the one people make to Amex to get a better deal?

    Back to the point, O2 is quite good in this regard – you get a letter saying your contract is ending and clearly setting out the options. I have just renewed for two years and each of the three options I was offered was lower than the existing one which I thought was already fairly competitive. They slightly improved when I called to accept. You can also do mix n’match – I pay for five telephones and they each have fairly different usage. The Europe roaming using UK allowance is big plus.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    15 Nov15 November 15:59

    I’m with O2 and have been so for years. I’ve always looked for a new deal once one contract ends. Never had a problem getting a good offer that’s always available to the public.

    Never had to call and never had to threaten to go elsewhere.

  • Froggee says:

    15 Nov15 November 18:24

    Just me then. I took out a £23 / month contract with O2 which included a phone for “free” two years ago. Obviously this wasn’t direct with O2 as much better deals were available via third parties (but O2 contracts, not MVNOs). This was for 20GB of data. I have averaged 1.7GB over the last six months.

    This worked its way up to over £30 a month courtesy of RPI+ price increases.

    With the contract done and phone mine what do O2 offer me? Minimum 150GB data and nothing cheaper than the existing tariff.

    No letter.

    So I call stating O2 selling 30GB for £8 a month via resellers. “Just for new contracts. It will be £15 a month to you sir”. I ask to cancel. I’m then offered 12GB for £10 a month which I take.

    Having accepted this I then get a hard sell on unlimited data (I average 1.7GB) with the first three months “free” at which point I can apparently upgrade so there is no risk to me. Hah!

    None of these tariffs relate to anything on O2’s website.

    The mobile phone operators’ business model is premised on ripping off their customers. End of.

    I have no idea what you guys pay and what your perception of a good deal is but I’d say it is very, very different to Amex.

    • AL says:

      16 Nov16 November 01:24

      The experience above reminds me of Sky, an absolutely cretinous organisation, whose attempts to keep people in pricier deals and lock them in to contracts are abhorrent.

      AL’s parent wants to move from Sky Q to Sky Stream. Said parent is already out of Sky Q contract so only 31 days notice required, which is reasonable. What isn’t reasonable is that the advertised £22 price isn’t available unless you’re a new customer. Price she was quoted was £39 upfront for postage plus £40ish a month.

      “Believe in better”, apparently.

• ianM says:

  15 Nov15 November 08:14

  £16 a month is very expensive. For 24 months it’s a royal rip off.

  ” (for Rhys, who generously spent 70+ nights in four and five star hotels across 2022/23 on your behalf)”
  Sorry…isn’t that his job???

  • Richie says:

    15 Nov15 November 08:21

    10 weeks away from one’s luxury home in London is a helluva long time.

  • Peter K says:

    15 Nov15 November 08:23

    It came across as very tongue in cheek to me 🤷🏻‍♂️

    • Rob says:

      15 Nov15 November 08:53

      Far too early in the morning, clearly 🙂

      If we’re honest, Rhys should have been nominated for his aviation work instead, which included 3 airline CEO interviews plus umpteen flight reviews. He logged 295 hours of flying time last year, which may deter anyone who thinks they’d like his job.

      • Jimmy says:

        15 Nov15 November 12:41

        I’m pretty sure I’d still like his job!

      • Mr. AC says:

        16 Nov16 November 02:05

        I logged 105 hours, most of them just for fun…
        Almost half of it was just one monster trip with 50 hours of flying where I admittedly went a bit overboard trying to fit the maximum # of interesting airlines (8) and airports (17) into it.

  • Mike Hunt says:

    15 Nov15 November 08:54

    IanM – regarding your comment relating to Rhys, I am guessing you must be American ! (Rob is using what we call in the UK, sarcasm)

  • lumma says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:05

    Indeed, with O2 on a 24 month SIM only deal, you can “upgrade” to a 30 day deal at any point if you ever want to leave. I don’t think you can do that with Tesco mobile

  • Paul says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:13

    It’s called humour 😉

• WaynedP says:

  15 Nov15 November 09:36

  Well done to you both, Rob & Rhys on receiving some official recognition of your fine contribution to both the knowledge and the enjoyment of ordinary folk who enjoy a spot of travel.
  I derive great pleasure from all of your contributors , including Sinead and the occasional guest contributor (there should be a whole category just for the likes of @Froggee / Paterfamilias).
  Rhys just needs to keep plugging away with consistently good aviation articles and will be rewarded all in good time.
  As some wise sage remarked to me when I first landed in the UK as an immigrant over two decades ago, “The British culture is wary of newcomers. You need to demonstrate consistency for quite a while before you’re eligible to start being considered as part of the furniture. But don’t worry, just be yourself and you should be fine in about 400 years.”

• mikeL says:

  15 Nov15 November 10:07

  Many congrats on the nominations. As you well know, the Brits like to support the underdogs.

• DeB2020 says:

  15 Nov15 November 10:31

  Congratulations on the nominations.

• DeB2020 says:

  15 Nov15 November 10:36

  Just noticed that the Tesco Mobile website has the offer at £17.50 per month, instead of £16, for the deal mentioned in the article.

  • Rob says:

    15 Nov15 November 10:47

    The Clubcard Price is £16, and obviously you need a Clubcard in order to get the Clubcard points.

    This is marked in a huge yellow banner underneath the £17.50 ….

• robkeane says:

  15 Nov15 November 10:36

  “Tesco Mobile runs on the O2 network so if you are already with O2 there would be no difference in your reception.”

  Reception yes, but 1) no visual voicemail on tesco, 2) if Traveling outside the EU zone to 60+ other countries(USA OZ,NZ etc), tesco have no packages or bolt on options, you pay the full international costs.

  • Ironside says:

    15 Nov15 November 12:29

    Also “no difference in reception” but 3) lower priority bandwidth across the network compared to ‘true’ O2 customers.

    A practice which is, I believe, common across most virtual operators.

    • AL says:

      15 Nov15 November 13:57

      This. MVNOs ordinarily receive deprioritised traffic on the parent network.

• Paul says:

  15 Nov15 November 11:15

  Congratulations on the nominations- well deserved! HfP is my morning coffee break read. I’ve also got a Qatar Business Class flight look forward to over Christmas thanks to the insight you guys provide us with

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