[3GScottishUser]

After a long and bewildering look at the market I selected Vodafone as I know call reliabilty is good where I live.

I wanted a smartphone and did not like the i-phone (not an apple fan), so went in the opposite direction with a Windows 6.1 mobile deivice.

Voidafone offered a Samsung i900 Omnia with 700 x/net mins, unlimited calls to landlines, 250 sms and 500MB inclusive mobile internet for £35 a month. They also included a set of Bose in-ear headphones and a free 231 PAYG mobile phone with £5 credit.

The deal was a bit more than I was paying with 3 and probably more than I need but it was the handset that was the draw and it has a premium.

More about the handset in the Samsung section but Vodafone have been a bit bizzare.

I selected to provide a PAC code on-line when I ordered. They said I would get an e-mail when the number would be transferred. The phone complete with new number was delivered efficiently within 5 days with all the freebies :) No word about the port though...

I called Vodafone and they agreed to trasfer the number. The porting team took all the details and promptly disconnected the number allocated and informed me that the port would take place 6 days later! Talk about seamless!!

So I have an Omnia on Vodafone that isnt...

Well it is... on a PAYG SIM for now.

Thankfully Vodafone have provided an Omnia that is not sim locked so I can use it with any network.

I am going to have to wait until next week to use Vodafone contract services and I will ensure I am not charged for the 6 days they have chosen to disconnect me for whilst they effect the PAC.

I am sure all will work out in the next week or so but think Vodafone have made a simple task very complex in the meantime.

[Hands0n]

Thats a pretty spectacular fumble by Vodafone. They usually handle PAC very well, it is not anything new. It sounds like you got yourself a trainee or something. They could have very easily re-assigned the number back to the SIM. It takes not more than a few minutes at the most. I have had them swap numbers between two SIMs before - entirely my error in giving the SIMs out - and they didn't blink.

I think you'll be okay getting a credit for the mistake they made, they've always been reasonable to me in that respect.

[3GScottishUser]

I hope so... what is annoying is that I have no access to data services presently without paying PAYG rates which are really prohibitive and silly.

I will perhaps call Vodafone tomorrow from my PAYG handset (25p charge to customer service applies) to see if they can sort out the problem. I can't imagine when they know the porting date that they cannot maintain the assigned number until the day before the port is arranged at the very least.

I am off to Turkey next week where Vodafone own a network and charge UK subscribers £1.69 a minute to make calls to the UK, £1.20 a minute to recieve and £8 per megabyte for Internet access!! Bonkers!!! Needless to say I will be dumping their UK service and if I choose to use them at all I will be buying Vodafone airtime locally using a Turkish SIM.

[getti]

I wanted a smartphone and did not like the i-phone (not an apple fan)

Are you allowed to say that here? :D

[Hands0n]

Are you allowed to say that here? :D

Of course he can, dear thing. :cool: Its all good, honestly :p

[Ben]

Oh dear Vodafone, that's a poor show WRT the porting! :o

Those roaming charges are terrible, too.

Lets make it a triple... Windows Mobile 6.1? ;) 6.5 should be out soon I believe, which brings some improvements, but will likely require a new handset. Still, I hope you'll share with us your experiences of 6.1 and applications that you install to perform various tasks.

I hope that the combination of the handset and Vodafone create a great experience for you. Good luck!

[miffed]

Not sure why I didn't go into shock when I read Vodafone messed up your port , But at least with Vodafone you are subject to a better quality of messing around than all the other networks. ;)

Best of luck with your new device too , I think this whole "skinning" of Windows Mobile is really paying off , and the OS is now coming along in leaps and bounds now, Even some of the latest ROM's (home made !) for my Ameo and Vario III take these devices to levels that Microsoft wouldn't even have bothered attempting - Great to see other manufacturers running with the baton after a long time of Microsoft standing around, holding it , wondering what to do with it !

[Hands0n]

I still remain to be convinced about Windows Mobile. I've been a user of it since its 3.x days - gawd they were 'orrible guvnor. My last flirtation was with version 5. I'm hearing that version 6 is oodles better. But in a conversation with our own 3GSU last evening I get the impression that my appreciation of Windows Mobile is unlikely to be any improved by GUI overlays, no matter how flashy they may be.

We chatted for a short while (out of a very long while) about WM's web browser bookmarks. Allegedly importing your desktop bookmarks file brings them in, but if you've got them arranged in folders that the folders come across too, but empty! WTF? How could Microsoft miss that simple little trick?

Now, I know that I shouldn't but it is important to realise what the state of the game is. If Microsoft cannot achieve a simple little matter of moving bookmarks, and their folders, intact between their own platform what hope does the poor punter stand? Has he/she really got to go out and seek some 'ware that will solve the problem for them? Why the hell should they have to do that?

And so I will do the logical and compare this with life in the Mac/iPhone world. It is a fair comparison after all, and surely if better can be done it should be presented.

Life with a Mac, iPhone and MobileMe - strictly in the context of browser bookmark sharing - delivers a whole experience in that it is fully functional and completely simple. Using MobileMe the user is able to sync (or not) bookmarks across as many desktops and iPhones as are registered on to the MobileMe account. Add or change a bookmark on one device and that is reflected across all of the registered devices, completely seamlessly and effortlessly. There is no notion of export/import. The changes simply sync, simply.

Now, without MobileMe the method is slightly different - you use iTunes to import your bookmarks from previously exported Safari or Internet Explorer (not so easy with Firefox (http://www.technipages.com/iphone-sync-bookmarks-from-firefox.html) allegedly).

Stuff like this is basic - it shouldn't be at all difficult or complex. Its time that [all] the various manufacturers got that simple little message into their heads.

[solo12002]

Well I dont think this is the best vaule not if you look at Virgins offer of free text and internet


http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/freedom-packs/