Mobile Network Comparison

BlackBerry users are still reeling from the mass outages that affected millions of customers over the last week. Around 10am BST on Monday users noticed problems with emails routed through the Blackberry servers as well as the BBM messaging service. It was reported that the outage was due to the failure of one of the core switches in Slough which resulted in a massive cascade failure but customers claimed to be seeing a complete loss of BlackBerry Services which appeared to be confirmed by BlackBerry.

In what swiftly turned into a huge PR fiasco, BlackBerry manufacturers RIM initially claimed via Twitter on Tuesday morning that the email issues had been fixed. However, a couple of ours later it turned out that issues were still ongoing across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Furthermore, RIM soon revealed that even more of its 70 million customers were being affected as problems spread to South America too. In the end, it wasn’t until Thursday 13th October, after almost four days of outages, before services were finally restored back to normal though a substantial backlog remained.

This isn’t the only major outage that have affected BlackBerry customers. RIM was struck by massive service disruptions in 2007 and 2009 as well as several more localised issues over the years. Customers in Central and South American countries also were hit by email and BBM outages in September when servers went down. The latest problems come at the worst possible time for RIM who are rapidly losing customer share to Android and iOS. They are already still reeling from the disappointing of the BlackBerry Playbook and have only just reported a crash in their share price to $25 from a healthy $60 back in January this year.

Many will wonder how much longer the Canadian company will keep afloat. Seemingly the only thing helping BlackBerry now is the ubiquitous physical keyboard and legions of mindless trend-following teenagers who don’t understand that BBM is uncool and inferior to all the free alternatives. Or that unlimited texts on Giffgaff is cheaper than any BlackBerry plan. Still, following this latest outage, RIM will be most worried about how it affects the trust of its remaining professional users who might react by questioning how dependable BlackBerry Services are for vital business-critical emails. Given the centralised nature of BlackBerry communications services (there are a mere four network operations centres worldwide to deal with all Blackberry data traffic), many will be arguing that this latest issue was only a matter of time.

Update 17th October:
After the whole débâcle, the only compensation RIM offered to their customers was roughly £60 of overpriced apps from the BlackBerry app store. Time will tell whether this will satisfy the affected users, especially business customers.

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TalkMobile‘s mobile phone plans are an increasingly well-known secret. Savvy customers have flocked to them for cut price PAYG rates backed by a strong high street brand through the Carphone Warehouse. Particularly popular are their unrivalled discounts on handset deals. They are currently offering new October offers on the BlackBerry Bold 9780, the budget-option-with-a-bang HTC Wildfire S and the new, vastly improved iPhone 4S. Best of all, TalkMobile’s handsets are all totally free of bloatware and completely unlocked.

They also offer incredible value with their Essentials Tariff that, according to our mobile price comparison table, offers pretty much the best value available in the UK. Calls to mobiles are only 8p per minute while SMS messages are just 4p each. If you are calling or texting other TalkMobiles, the prices are slashed to 4p per minute or just 2p per text. That’s pretty damn cheap! Even mobile internet is just 25p each day.

Despite how good the Essentials deal is, there are some less well-known options that offer fantastic value. Their SIMple SIM-only tariffs rival even Giffgaff for the cheapest mobile phone network going. There are a variety of options which start at just £1/month – perfect for even the stingiest cheapskates out there. And, for example, if you pay just £12/month you can get 600 minutes, 3000 texts and 750MB of mobile internet data.

We’ve looked at all of TalkMobile’s main competitors and were forced to conclude that they easily have the cheapest plans. In fact, many of their offers seem at least twice as good as those offered by the likes of 3 and Vodafone. Compare these amazing deals with other networks for yourself using our comprehensive table below. To learn more about any of the tariffs, just click on the network’s name in the table.

Comparison

Clearly, of the networks we’ve included in the table above, TalkMobile is obviously the stand-out option. For less money than their competitors, they give as much as twice as many minutes as well as way more texts and data allowance. You’d have to be a fool not to go with them. If you’re on the fence but want to save money, start a TalkMobile SIM-only plan today.

£20 or less deals

For a one month rolling contract, TalkMobile’s offering comes with a huge 800 minutes, 3000 texts and 1GB of data. And it costs just £18/month. In comparison, you have to pay £20 to O₂, Orange, T-Mobile or 3 and you’ll only get 600 minutes for more money. Vodafone as even worse charging you £20 per month for half as many minutes and just 500MB of data. What’s more, T-Mobile will only give you 500 texts instead of 300 and only 3 actually give you any data at all.

£15 or less deals

For just £12, TalkMobile will give you 400 minutes every month as well as 3000 texts and 750MB of mobile data. In comparison, you’ll have to pay 25% more to Orange for half as many minutes and no data at all. Only T-Mobile give you almost as many minutes with 350 for £15/month but you get ten times less SMS messages and no data either. O₂ and 3 only offer 300 minutes for £15 while Vodafone charge £13 but you only get 100 minutes and 500 texts. TalkMobile’s SIM only deals easily steal the show at this price band too.

£10 or less deals

TalkMobile’s £8/month SIM only offer creams the competition too. For £24 less a year you get twice as many minutes as any other network with TalkMobile ofering 200 any networks minutes every month. They also give you 500MB of data on the 30 day rolling plan compared to 3, O₂, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone who provide sweet FA.

£1 or less deals

No-one else offers such a low-priced option so if you are a low volume user you can’t go wrong. TalkMobile’s SIMple offer gives you 25 minutes and 50 texts every month for just £1. That works out to just 2p/minute for calls and 1p/text. Unbeatable!

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Earlier this year, Virgin Mobile introduced a brand new PAYG tariff alongside their existing Addict Tariff. It’s called the Simply 8p Tariff and – simply – calls, texts and voicemail all cost just 8p (geddit?) We found it such a refreshing change from their reputation as the most overpriced virtual network that we thought we’d look at it in a little more detail. First, the run down:

Simply 8p Tariff

As you can see, all the charges are pretty reasonable, especially compared to the Addict Tariff on Virgin Mobile. In fact, calls are now a massive 70% cheaper and texts are 20% cheaper. You even save money on premium rate numbers. The only disadvantage is that you don’t get top-up bonuses so it’s best for people who aren’t high-volume users and rarely top-up.

To see how much you would save compared to on the Addict Tariff, imagine someone who makes 60 minutes of calls and sends 50 texts a month. On the Addict Tariff this would cost you £15.60 (you get unlimited texts with your top-up). However, if you were on the Simply 8p Tariff it would only be £8.80 which is almost a 45% saving. Do remember that other networks are still much much cheaper such as Giffgaff, ASDA Mobile, TalkMobile and others.

As for the other charges, voicemail is only 8p per minute (a saving of 70%) and you get 50 free minutes per month of calls to other Virgin Mobiles. What’s more, you can still get Blackberry passes for just £2 a week or £5 a month.

If you’re on Virgin Mobile and want to switch to the Simply 8p Tariff, simply send a text to 789050 saying “SIMPLY8p” and you’ll be moved over automatically. Bear in mind that it’s only available to current Virgin Media customers though. Please let us know if you’ve done this or plan to.

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