I’ve been a subscriber to Orange’s Everyday 50 service for the past year, primarily because the tariff offered 50 free minutes of off-peak calls each and every day. Great, but costing 50p a day on contract (approx. £15 per month) and just too many dropped calls, and non-existent signal meant I was not benefiting at all and paying for a service that just wasn’t up to what it promised. So when my minimum 12 month contract expired, I was keen to leave Orange and find an alternative.
Genie Mobile had the answer! They offer a few tariffs using the BT network, and I found the ideal one for me. I wanted to keep my existing WAP enabled mobile and just connect to a new tariff so I opted for the Off-Peak SIM card pay monthly tariff. For a monthly subscription of £10, I get 50 free off-peak minutes of calls each and EVERY day, 600 free text messages a month (10p each once you use up your free ones), completely free WAP calls at all times (via Genie), free online e-care and billing (including usage for current month so you can track your next
bill carefully!) and voicemail costing just 10p to retrieve. Call charges outside the free minutes are very reasonable too, at 20p/min for peak calls and 2p/min off-peak. These call rates apply to both national landline numbers AND for calls made to other Genie or BT mobile phones (and you can use your free minutes too!). Calls to other mobile networks cost 50p/min peak and 35p/min off-peak. Peak time is from 8am to 7pm Monday to Friday, off-peak is all other times, including weekends and Bank Holidays.
Ordering the SIM card was a piece of cake using the website order service and completely free of charge, alternatively you can call Genie on their freefone number to place your order. Within minutes, I received email confirmation to say my order had been received and was being processed. Within two hours, another email arrived to tell me that my new SIM card was in the process of being despatched. It arrived the very next day! However, it seems now that orders are taking longer to process due to the huge demand for this service.
The only snag was that I had to have my mobile phone ‘unlocked’ from the Orange network, and they wanted to charge me £35 for the privilege! But I found a much cheaper alternative at www.sellanokia.com. They charge just £7 plus postage (£5) and can unlock any Nokia phone and send it back to you within an hour of receiving it using Royal Mail’s Special Delivery service (which includes insurance up to £250). The service was excellent, the work is completely guaranteed and I had my phone back just two days after sending it off! Sorted! :O)
Anybody who doesn’t want to keep their existing mobile can still opt for the same deal, but it will cost you an EXTRA ten pounds a month. But for the extra tenner, you get a brand new Nokia 3330, so in effect, this is costing you £120 over the 12 month minimum contract period. Or you can choose from a wider range of phones starting at £49.99.
The Genie website is excellent, offering a wide range of services and products. You can send free SMS text messages from there (no limit) and they even have some pre-selected SMS jokes you can send to your pals via text message. The SMS service allows you to store names, numbers, email addresses etc so you won’t need to keep typing in numbers when wanting to send a message.
The site has a comprehensive Customer Service section where you can view all previous statements for your contract plus view unbilled usage (shows all calls/texts made up to day before) which is great if you’re trying to stick to a budget. There are also clear and detailed instructions for setting up the Genie WAP service on your phone, just choose your handset from the list provided for specific instructions relating to your phone. You can even sign up for free Genie SMS alerts to get the latest info on sports, horoscopes and humour!
You can download icons and ringtones for your mobile, but at a cost! You can set up a voicemail greeting for when you’re too busy to take calls, and most of these are based on celebrities or humour. Again, there is a charge for this service. The site really does have a lot to offer, apart from just trying to sell you phones and tariffs!
Overall, I’m thrilled with the service I receive from Genie. Prompt, efficient and friendly and the signal I receive (via BT) on my phone is perfect, always at maximum strength and not one dropped call yet! I couldn’t be happier :O)
www.genie.co.uk (Genie website) www.mobile.genie.co.uk/shop/ (Genie Mobile Shop)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Good op covering all the great aspects of Genie (now O2), however i haven't been as impressed with the customer service, i've been trying for about 4 months now to transfer my number to genie and they havent done it causing a great deal of frustration, money and anger! Getting in contact with them over the phone also costs loads as its a premium line number, even worse when you have to sit on hold for 30 minutes, that cost me almost a tenner! Apart from that its great for those of us who are textaholics and has saved me loads! Kate.xx
jaypeet 05.01.2002 21:13
Excellent op Squiggles, wish I read it before paying Orange to unlock my handset! They appear to want to charge me £23.50 to unlock - see my op for more info. One thing you could have mentioned in your op, when my Genie SIM arrived the packaging conviniently fitted through the letterbox, so no trip to the local postal sorting centre!
whydontudropdead 04.10.2001 01:22
great op. i just received a free sim card form genie and as soon as my wap fone arrives its going in :)
Oct 2nd, 2001
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