Now I'm not usually one to write rant posts like this, but hey, there's a first for everything right? And when I saw the above tweet by Vodafone yesterday it took all my strength not to laugh uncontrollably (had to remind myself the other people on the train would think I was a bit of a creep). And I felt it was my civil duty to warn people against the trap that is Vodafone AU.
I signed up to my first post-paid plan in about November last year when I decided to get an iPhone 4. And here comes my first gripe before I even have service with them. When I ordered my phone the site said delivery within 2 weeks, it came in 4. Now, I know that at the time the phone was in high demand, but is it not false advertising to make a statement that you can't reasonably perform? I'm no legal guru but it was severely annoying, so we immediately got off on the wrong foot.
The area that I live in is relatively new and approx 37km north of the CBD (or as some of my friends like to refer to it: South Geraldton). So before I signed up, I looked at the coverage checker which showed I should be able to get 3G reception fine in my area. Lies! My calls frequently drop and my 3G indicator rarely gets above 2 (though it likes to remain at 1, if at all, or even worse- Edge) and on the rare occasion it gets to 3 or 4 (it has NEVER been to 5 at my house) the data speed is super slow. Even if I am in the CBD with a full 5 bars of reception sometimes my tweets don't load, facebook doesn't refresh and my apps time out.
Now, I have tweeted the telco numerous times with complaints and I keep getting told the same things; try the SIM in a different phone, have you had a check done in your area? And the one I love most: well, we're doing upgrades in your area, so hang tight and you should be able to see some improvement in Q4. Wtf? That's it? Just wait? My bf gets annoyed with all my complaining and that I don't get on the phone and get angry with them and have my plan cancelled because I'm too nice when I have to actually talk to another human being.
Personally I can't believe they are even allowed to sell new plans before they have the infrastructure to support it. I'm definitely not getting what I am paying for. If I could use 1.5GB of data I would, but the short of it is I regularly get frustrated and abandon whatever task I am attempting that requires 3G and just wait until I have access to actual internet.
So if you were even remotely thinking about getting a data plan with Vodafone, don't. If they can't even provide decent call and data quality to a tiny device that probably doesn't require so much data to complete tasks and load mobile sites, then I can't even imagine how much of a fail it will be on an iPad trying to load full web pages. Spend that little extra moolah a month and go for a provider that can actually provide the service that they advertise.
*Breathes*
