We’re going to do a quick review of what’s available from the Irish mobile networks and we’ll try to find out who is offering the best value. All of the plans discussed here have 30 day contracts, so they’re very flexible if you want to change.

Our Criteria

We’re going to keep things simple and base our comparisons on a person who uses on average 100 minutes talktime, 100 texts and occasionally uses data too (250mb or less a month).

Criteria: 100 minutes of talktime, 100 texts, 250mb data

But we will also have a look at some of the other plans for those who are heavier users of their mobile phones.

Vodafone

Vodafone have two sim-only plans, Simply 100 and Simply Plus. ‘Simply’ offers 100 minutes and 100 texts for €20, ‘Simply Plus’ is €40 and gives you 400 minutes and 400 texts. Both plans include free calls and texts to other Vodafone users but no data.

Simply 100 €20 + 1GB data €9.99 = €29.99
Bonus: Free Vodafone calls and texts

Vodafone’s offering is the weakest of all networks in our comparison. It’s also a shame that there isn’t a smaller and cheaper data add-on. Most users wont come close to using 1GB of data.

O2

O2 also have two sim-only plans, Simplicity and Simplicity with data. They are priced at €15 and €20 respectively, for that price you get 150 minutes and 150 texts. The Simplicity with data plan gives you 250MB of data.

Simplicity with data = €20
Bonus: The plan is 50 texts and 50 minutes over our base comparison

O2′s offering is very strong and also happens to be the cheapest plan that meets our criteria. The only slight negative is that O2 doesn’t offer free calls or texts to other O2 users. Personally, I don’t know which network my family and friends use and I don’t want to try and find out just so I can save a few quid so this doesn’t bother me.

Meteor

Meteor have a total of four sim-only plans and a large number of add-ons too, so I’m just going to summarise the interesting ones here. If you want to have a more detailed look, you’d be better off checking their website. They have two ‘Smart Lite’ plans. The first is €25 if you order online and it gives you 200 minutes, 200 texts and 1GB of data. The second is €40 online and offers 400 minutes, 400 texts and 2GB of data.

Smart Lite = €25 (online only)
Bonus: Free Meteor calls and texts. Also, The plan is 100 texts and 100 minutes over our base comparison

Meteor also have a very strong offering. It’s €5 more expensive than O2 but it’s also a bit beefier and offers extra minutes, text and data.

Three

Three have a total of eight (!!) sim-only plans, you’d better check their website if you want more info. The one that fits our needs is the ‘Mini Flex’ plan which gives us 300 flexi-units (I’ll explain what they are in a second) and free three-to-three calls for €20, we’ll also have to add the 500MB data add-on for €5. A flexi-unit is equivalent 1 minute of talktime or 2 text messages. So for example, 300 flexi-units could buy us 250 minutes and 100 text messages or 200 minutes and 200 texts.

Mini Flex €20 + Internet Mini €4.99 = €24.99
Bonus: Free three to three calls and flexi-units

A very similar offer to Meteor and equally strong, the flexi-units offer flexibility if you talk more than you text (or vice-verse). One thing to consider is that Three’s coverage still isn’t quite up to scratch in some areas.

The Others

EMobile plans are all 18 month contracts so I haven’t included them in the comparisons (all of the comparisons here are 30 day contracts). If you do a lot of calling to landlines then perhaps emobile are worth a look because they offer free landline calls. Otherwise though, emobile’s plans aren’t particularly competitive.

Tesco Mobile don’t seem to offer any bill-pay plans so they didn’t feature in this comparison.

Conclusion

Vodafone don’t offer much value in this comparison and I’m hard pressed to think of reasons why you might want to choose them. Edit: Peadar points out in the comments that Data Roaming with Vodafone comes from your data allowance, so if you want to use data while travelling it makes a lot of sense to choose Vodafone.

O2 stands on it’s own as being the cheapest plan to meet our criteria (and surpasses it too), if you rarely find yourself exceeding 150 minutes and 150 texts then this is definitely the plan for you.

If O2′s plan doesn’t quite cover your monthly minutes and texts then Meteor and Three’s plans are a bit beefier. To be honest, it probably comes down to whichever network you have more friends on (to avail of the free calls), and which network has better coverage in your area. In my experience, Meteor has a slight edge in these regards.

My Choice: O2 Simplicity with data = €20.

If you need a bit more: Meteor Smart Lite = €25 (online only).

You can compare the costs of credit cards, electricity prices, personal accounts, and loans on the site by using their online calculator.

From their about page:

bonkers.ie is a free-to-consumer, impartial online comparison and switching service which helps you to compare prices on a range of products and services including electricity and personal finance products. Our aim is to help you take advantage of the best prices and services on offer from suppliers.

Bonkers.ie is competing with existing Irish price comparison sites such as Compare.ie and freetocompare.ie.

I’ve found that a lot of the blog posts that I’ve wanted to write were too short and insignificant to warrant a new blog entry.

So now you can get lots of little tips by following me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/irishconsumer
]]> http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/bargains-is-now-on-twitter/feed/ 2 bargainsireland http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/shopping-in-the-uk/ http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/shopping-in-the-uk/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:30:01 +0000 bargainsireland http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/?p=24 Continue reading →]]> As I write this, €1 will buy you 85p in sterling (GBP) and from next Monday the British government will reduce VAT to 15%, that’s a 2.5% reduction. You can make fantastic savings if you decide to shop in the UK.

Groceries

The big boys in the UK grocery market are Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Make sure that you check out mysupermarket, It is a fantastic resource for research on how to get the best value out of your shopping basket. According to their latest report, Asda are the cheapest by a long way.

Christmas Shopping

A good way to get an idea for the savings that you can make is to compare argos.ie and argos.co.uk. For Electronic goods Currys are very competitive. If you don’t fancy the drive across the border then Amazon.co.uk offer great value and will deliver to your door (Note: Amazon.co.uk will not deliver electronics outside of the UK).

Traveling to the UK

Crossing the border by car is relatively painless, Irish citizens don’t need a passport but you should carry identification with you. You could also go to Wales — Irish Ferries have a special offer at the moment which ends at midnight tonight (Tuesday, 25th November). You can take yourself and your car to Wales from either Rosslare or Dublin for €49.

Caveats

The vast majority of products are cheaper in the UK at the moment, one exception is petrol prices which are marginally cheaper in Ireland than the UK. Generally there are no restrictions when bringing back items from the UK but watch out for cigarettes (no more than 800) and alcohol, have a quick look through the customs regulations.

But buying from abroad hurts the Irish economy!

On my Soapbox: Especially during these tough economic times there is a big push to encourage consumers to buy Irish. The fact is that Irish retailers are not competitive enough (I’m not suggesting that all the blame lies with retailers). Subsidising Ireland’s lack of competitiveness isn’t going to solve the problem, it will exacerbate it. If the Government wants to ‘Stem flow of shoppers across border’ then prices will have to become more competitive.

Check out the latest EUR » GBP exchange rate at xe.com.

There is an exception however. If you book with a Visa Electron they will waive the credit card booking charge, which means that you will be paying €0.01 per flight including all charges.

I rang around a few of the Irish banks (AIB, BOI, Halifax, Permanent TSB) and none of the banks offer a visa electron card. I was determined to see if I could get my hands on an electron because I wanted to book in bulk a series of about 30 flights. 15 return trips, 30 x €5 = €150. Which could come in handy with Christmas coming up.

A bit of research and a few emails to some helpful people and I found EntroPay who provide virtual visa credit cards but crucially they are recognised as Visa Electron cards by Ryanair.

An Entropay Virtual Credit Card

1. Sign up for EntroPay but make sure that your chosen account currency is GBP (This is because your card will not be recognised as a Visa Electron if you choose EUR). Postal code is required so type in EIRE or some random postal code.
2. Use your regular credit card to fund the account.
3. Activate the account using the activation email that they send you.
4. You will need to load at least €10 on to the account from your existing credit card, they also take a 4.95% commision, so it will cost €10.50.

That’s it (Well almost, see appendum below), you should be able to log on and get your new visa electron credit card details. Make sure that you choose Visa Electron when booking your flights with Ryanair and you will only pay €0.01 for your flight.

Appendum: EntroPay are now asking for you to email them identification once you have registered, this is because Sterling (GBP) is not the currency of Ireland. if you have any questions then the best thing to do is drop the EntroPay guys an email they are very nice and they responded to all my questions very quickly.

Here is what a one cent flight booking confirmation looks like!

This site will regularly blog about money saving tips and bargains with a slant towards Irish consumers. So make sure to subscribe by RSS or check back regularly for the latest updates.