I always think contract plans are much better than 'Pay-As-You-Go', generally because I feel much safer knowing I'm on contract and will never run out of credit if I run into trouble. At the start of 2008 I decided I wanted a new phone with a new service provider, and after scouring the Internet looking for the ideal plan for me, I came across a Vodafone leaflet which came inside my television magazine. Usually I throw these kind of leaflets straight in the bin, but they were offering 500 minutes and unlimited texts for £25 a month, as well as a brand new phone.

I didn't really know of anyone on the Vodafone network - my parents and siblings were either on 02 or T-Mobile, but I reasoned it couldn't be any worse than the '3' network, so I started a contract with Vodafone. The Sony Ericsson phone I had ordered came the next day, and even though I later went on to experience several problems with the phone (Sony Ericsson W910i), I couldn't fault Vodafone. Here's why:

SIGNAL STRENGTH

I can literally get a signal just about anywhere. The only times when I have difficulty is inside a few of the lecture halls at my University, but that's no major problem at all as I don't use my phone whilst in lectures. My girlfriend is on 'Orange' and struggles to get signal in the front room, whereas with Vodafone it's no problem at all. I've also been abroad a good few times since being with Vodafone, and have always managed to maintain signal even in other countries. I used to have a '3' phone - years ago now, probably back in around 2003, and I struggled to get a signal wherever I went. With Vodafone, as I've previously mentioned, I can make calls and send/receive texts wherever I want. If you're looking for a network for your children, I'd strongly suggest Vodafone, as you know that if they ever become stuck (e.g. can't get a lift home from a friend's house), you know they'll be able to call you wherever they are.

SENDING & RECEIVING TEXTS WITH VODAFONE

I had a few problems with sending text messages where my recipient wouldn't receive the messages either until hours after I'd sent the message or just wouldn't receive it at all. Now I'm not sure whether that was my phone's fault, the network's fault, or the recipient's fault, but it was annoying nonetheless, and even though it happens REALLY rarely now (I have a new phone, more on that later), it still does it occassionally.

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Right, here is my major problem with Vodafone! A couple of months ago I was ready for an upgrade, and Vodafone offered me a very decent price plan of 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited Internet, for £30 a month (I chose a BlackBerry Bold 9000 - I've reviewed the phone if you want to know more about that handset, just click to view my other reviews). They only offered me that good priceplan after I argued over the phone to get it down to 18 months (they tried to make me have the contract for 24 months, which is far too long in my opinion), but I was pleased with the end result. They'd also given me free insurance and warranty (although I later discovered they had charged me for this - more on that later). However, it takes absolutely AGES to get through to someone to speak to - I was kept on the phone for well over fifteen minutes before speaking to an advisor, and I kept being passed through to different people who had no idea why I had been passed over to them etc etc.
When my phone arrived two days later (they arrive between 8am and 6pm, and mine came at around 5pm), I was really pleased with it. However, a couple of days after that, my 'confirmation' of my contract arrived in the post. It said I had 600 minutes, unlimited texts and internet for £30 a month, which was correct, but they'd said it was on a 24 month contract and I was also paying an additional £7 per month for insurance, and a £2 extra charge for 'itemised billing'. I was fuming; I hate companies who add these little 'extras' on so you end up paying way more than you normally would, and so I rang Vodafone up to complain. The people I spoke to where quite rude, and were basically insisting that I was lying about what plan had been agreed with me over the telephone. One girl, who sounded young, said - 'are you sure someone offered you a BlackBerry for £30 a month? That sounds too cheap to me', implying that I was lying. I was getting angrier and angrier - how dare they accuse me of lying! Vodafone make it clear when you call that they record your conversations for training purposes, so I said defiantly - "If you don't believe what was agreed, I know you record phonecalls, so listen back to it." I was directed to other people who worked for Vodafone who apologised and said they'd made a mistake. I told them I was given free insurance, but they insisted that insurance comes at a monthly cost, but the BlackBerry was under warranty anyway, so it was no big deal. I made sure they took the £6 insurance off my bill and also the itemised billing, and asked for the contract to go back down to 18 months. This caused a bit of a problem - they kept trying to push me to take a 24 month contract, but I stood my ground and knew that they wouldn't want to lose my custom. Eventually it was agreed to 18 months, and I was told my '7 day cooling off period' started again, so I now had 7 days to decide whether or not to continue with the contract.
I thought that would be the end of it - but no, OVER 7 days later I received my first bill. I had been charged around the £52 mark, and was livid. I had been charged £8 for calls, which I knew I had made, because I had been on holiday and had made a few calls, so I wasn't debating that. But I'd been charged £10 on top of that, for what they were calling 'line rental', which had been included twice. I tried adding up the numbers on the sheet, and with a strong Mathematics background I was astounded that the numbers didn't even add up. They were charging me way more than the numbers listed on the page, so again I went through lengthy angry phonecalls with Vodafone. I spoke to a kind man who helped to explain things on my bill for me; it turned out I'd still been charged insurance for the few days I had had it for (even though I'd asked them to remove the insurance off my bill), and he assured me my next bill would be £30, as expected. I was more angry that I didn't receive this letter until well after the 7 day cooling off period; I was basically locked into the contract now, and I'm sure Vodafone do it on purpose so there's no way of you cancelling the priceplan. I'm awaiting my bill for this month and will update this review as soon as it comes - I've made sure I haven't called any 'premium rate' numbers, so if it's not dead on the £30 mark, there'll be trouble! I thought my plan was fool-proof - 600 minutes, unlimited texts and internet - where could you go wrong?! But with all these added 'surprises' on the bill, you know they're trying to get as much money off their customers as possible.

QUALITY OF PHONES AND RANGE OF PHONES

My Sony Ericsson w910i was of awful quality and would frequently switch itself off, but my girlfriend also had the same phone which did the same thing on 'Orange' network, so I think really it was Sony Ericsson's fault, not Vodafone's. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 is superb and I've had no problems with it at all (as yet!) - I'm sending and receiving texts easily, making calls easily, the mobile Internet is VERY speedy and quick (although that might be because the BlackBerry Bold has a really fast processor). Vodafone have a very good selection of phones on their website, always having the latest available (but not the iPhone). They also have a range of Pay-As-You-Go phones, and have 'Super Sims', where you can buy a Sim card to put in your original phone which is extremely good value and they have 600 mins and unlimited texts right now for just £15 a month. If you have a mobile you're happy with, go for 'SIM only', because you get the best deals this way. They have a large range of Pay-As-You-Go phones, which are at good prices, so if you don't really mind what phone you get, just get a cheap-ish one off there and put a 'SIM only' in it to get the best deal available.

VODAFONE PRICE PLANS

Obviously, priceplans will change frequently, but I feel Vodafone are one of the best for getting great value deals. You can choose from 18 month, 12 month and 24 month contracts (the longer you stay with them, the cheaper the deal will be, but personally I couldn't keep the same phone for 2 years in case it was useless!). For an 18-month plan, they start from as little as £15 per month for 100 minutes and 500 text messages. The most expensive is £45 for 1200 minutes and unlimited texts, which is great if you use the phone excessively. I would try to work out how much you will actually use your phone - I have 600 minutes but never go over, however it's good to know that if I do want to ring my girlfriend for a very long chat, I can do so without worrying about how much I'm going over. If you talk on the phone a lot, there's no point in buying a price plan with 100 minutes included, because you'll no doubt go over, and end up having to pay a very expensive bill! Like I said before, you can get cheaper deals the longer you have the contract for - for example, the £45 per month I mentioned above would now be £40 a month if you had it over a 24-month period. So it's worth getting a 2 year contract if you need to save as much money as possible. 12 month plans are a lot more expensive - the same price plan I've just mentioned would go up to £50! I always get an 18-month as I feel you get the best deal this way.

VODAFONE CHAT

On the website, if you're browsing through phones, you might get a little window which pops up asking if you'd like to chat with one of their advisors. I used this a couple of times because I was stuck over which new phone to upgrade to, but to be honest they weren't very helpful. I'd say which two phones I liked, and they'd say 'Yes - they are both great phones!' without much more information. They were Ok, and you don't have to spend ages waiting to speak to someone by telephone, so it is worth using, especially if you have simple questions you need to get answers to!

VODAFONE PASSPORT

Vodafone abolished roaming charges in 35 countries this Summer, which meant when you went abroad you'd only be charged your normal rate instead of the expensive usual rates. However, I persistently tried to sign up for this, but never got it. I was sent text messages saying along the lines of 'Thank you...you will hear from us within 24 hours...', but I ended up going on holiday and spending (like I mentioned earlier!) around £10 on calls and texts back home! I'm sure other people managed to get Vodafone Passport and were thankful of it, but personally I was really annoyed and hopefully if they do it next year it'll actually work for me, as I have a holiday in Egypt coming up and I don't want another large bill waiting for me at home on my return!

UPGRADES

You can get an upgrade with Vodafone 90 days before your contract runs out. Their website kept telling me I wasn't eligible for an upgrade, but when I emailed one of their advisors, they told me I'd been eligible for one for well over a month, so that's when I decided to upgrade to my BlackBerry. They DO offer really good upgrade deals, just make sure you try and get as much as you can for as cheap as you can! They want your custom at the end of the day and will do anything to keep you as their customer; they don't want you running off to Orange or 02. I asked for more minutes and for unlimited Internet usage which they were happy to give (despite having plenty of problems with agreeing on the agreed contract!) and I only ended up paying a little more, which I had expected and way happy to pay for. You get a '7 day cooling off period', so if you aren't happy with your mobile phone (even if you've played with it, made calls and texts etc) then you can replace it within those 7 days and you aren't obliged to keep anything. You can cancel the contract altogether within the 7 day period and go elsewhere if you so wish. I do think though that you should stay a loyal customer because you get much better deals. They love your custom so will bend over backwards to keep you with them and will throw in all kinds of extras if asked. It's worth keeping with one phone company and getting out of them as much as you possibly can!

E-MAILING CUSTOMER SERVICES

This was a more positive experience. They were a little delayed in responding but, to be honest, I was sick of phoning them and waiting for ages for someone to pick up the phone that I emailed a few questions (about upgrading my Sony Ericsson) and they replied a day or so later with a polite and lengthy email which was extremely helpful and detailed. So if you have a question which isn't urgent then e-mail them - you are left waiting for a while for a reply, BUT you aren't sat impatiently at the other end of the phone for ages, with your phone battery dying out!

CONTACT PROBLEMS

It's hard to actually find out HOW to contact Vodafone. Their website isn't very user-friendly when it comes to calling them and asking them for help. They have a very big phone number on the home page about how to BUY their phones - very cleverly putting it right on the home page where you can't miss it, but it's difficult finding a number you can ring for customer services. I ended up finding it by chance several times, whereas I think they should have a 'CONTACT US' button on the very main page so people can call their helplines if they have problems.

TIPS

• When upgrading, always ask for the best deal they can offer you. If it's not good enough, ask to go through to 'disconnections', which is basically where you go if you want to leave your contract. Here they will literally beg you to stay with them and will just about give you everything you ask for in your upgrade, so it's worth trying. If they say 'No, we can't do what you're asking, I'll cancel your contract now...' then just say 'Let me have some time to think about it' and then you'll know to try again asking for something a little more reasonable. Try and BE reasonable when asking for a new priceplan - there's no point asking for 1000 minutes and unlimited texts and Internet for £10 a month with a Nintendo Wii thrown in, because it's not going to happen! (I don't think!). Just ask for 100 more minutes on top and free Internet thrown in. It's worth asking for.
• If you have teenagers who frequently run over their priceplan, try getting a SIM only. They'll get unlimited texts (which teens use most) and a large number of calls for a cheap price for you (around £15, whereas most contract priceplans are around the £35 mark). Even if they DO go over their calls, you won't end up paying TOO much more as you've been paying a cheap monthly price in the first place.
• Go for 18-month contracts. They might not have the CHEAPEST deals but if you have a major problem with your phone then you don't have to put up with it for 2 long years.
• Make sure when you phone customer services you take peoples' names and extension numbers. Remember that your phonecalls are recorded, so if there's a dispute and you know you're in the right, then you know you can complain further.
• Make sure you ask if there are any extras added to your phonebill. Go over your price plan over and over again with the sales person so it's recorded clearly on their records and so that you know when your bill comes that it's what you asked for.
• Use their e-mail service if it's not urgent.
• To call them, dial 191 from a Vodafone handset for free.
• Try and stay with them when you get a new phone. The longer you stay with Vodafone, the better deals you'll get.

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== OVERALL = =

Overall, my experience with Vodafone has been mixed. The signal strength is of top quality and their price plans are very good and of high value, but their customer service is appalling and the way they add extras onto bills are just shocking. However, I'm generally pleased with Vodafone and will stay with them next year too IF things settle down this year and my bills go back to normal.

Thanks for reading this review, have a good day!