yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[HD2 General] scaryprowler:
The guys instore couldnt be more helpful TBH, but the call centres suck. That coupled with the slow internet are enough to warrant me to leave. Albeit another similar contract with another carrier will cost me another £10+VAT p/m. If I was just using the net for Facebook, twitter and the other location based services on the HD2 - I would have stayed (£120 saving each year in essence). I like my tech so Im willing to pay a bit more the get the service.

The other thing I was thinking of doing was getting the contact dropped to a lower price, paying more for the handset, let my wife have that sim and keep the HD2 for me and go O2 simplicity, £20 p/m.

ATM tho, Im trying to bag myself a good deal - dont want to touch T-mobile, can only get the HD2 with Vodafone via 3rd parties. Currently looking at O2 online, 18mths; 600xnet/1000txts/unltd net for £35, £100 handset.
[HD2 General] harveyb:
CHIP - having similar problems with connectivity myself. Sometimes the signal is there and the next time I check, the phone seems to be searching for a signal. Also it says 3g but then reverts to H :-(

CC said someone from their techincal team would call tomorrow but I'm wondering this is a phone issue as the sim worked fine in another phone. If they don't manage to get it sorted, I'm getting one of those jiffy bags too!

Cheers
[HD2 General] Pezza4u:
Well I'm geting a constant 'G' at the top now and no more than 33kbps d/l speed...FFS :mad: As mentioned before even text based sites are taking ages to download. No chance of using my 1GB allowance at this rate.

I was getting 3G, sometimes H so maybe it's one of the tweaks I've installed that has done something? Gonna try me O2 sim in a minute to check.

I still haven't used my PAC code yet and I have until the 12th Feb to use it if I want to cancel O2. I'm loving the phone and don't want to send it back, plus I won't get another as cheap as this deal, only problem is the speed :(
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
I've been on the phone to them too. I made the mistake of porting over my O2 number onto Virgin before checking the signal/data speed. I just assumed it would be decent considering it's T-mobile. Now they are saying the only way for me to get a PAC from them is to send the phone to them in their jiffy bag, and when they get it back they'll send me the PAC. I reckon that'll be the best part of a couple of weeks.

The other concern I have is if they don't process the PAC when they receive my phone, and instead disconnect it, then I may loose my number. This is a number I've had for around 15 years and would have cost £600 at that time (memorable number type).

I spent a total of 3 hours yesterday evening trying to speak to someone in customer services, and they have a call centre in the same town I live in. I reckon I should drive over instead of phoning!
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
When you say they changed your contract to PAYG, did they trasnfer your Virgin contract telephone number over to the PAYG sim?

This is what I'm trying to get customer services to do but they say it can't be done.
[HD2 General] harveyb:
Made the same mistake of porting my number from 02. Will ask them tomorrow if I can return it to one of their shops.
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
I already asked if I can take it to one of their shops and the answer was "No".
[HD2 General] paulking:
just a quick one

i went into the shop today to cancel my old contract and they told me their whole system had crashed a few days ago and they was just getting it back up now and had a big backlog of calls etc hence the delays
[HD2 General] scaryprowler:
I was a little worried as someone on another forum said yesterday that you couldnt obtain a PAC whilst still in-contract. On my way to the VM shop I popped into O2 (to see if they had any stock) and I asked them if I had took out a contract with them and ported my number, but then canceled within their 14 days if I could retrieve my number via a PAC - they said yes. I was going to use this as ammo should Virgin kick up a stink. When I canceled with Virgin and told them that I also ported at the same time as opening the contract (like others have posted, I thought I'd have no issues) there was a slight look of horror on the reps face. He made a call to their CS who told him that I couldnt port straight off, but could cancel my contract and transfer it to a PAYG account with Virgin. He jotted down the PAC and gave me the SIM back along with the refund receipt and original receipt.

Its only just occured to me that they could have fobbed me off. Ive just popped the SIM into a phone and just got a text from 789001 saying 'Your Virgin Mobile airtime balance is £0.00 @ 3:59pm....' PHEW!

Again, I cant fault the guys in store (cheers Duncan@Reading VM!). I only purchased from them as I could wait a day for the post.

Now wondering if whether I should do the same with O2; will loose 50% more texts tho.

Good luck!
[HD2 General] scaryprowler:
When calling about info on capping on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning and was greeted with a similar message. Monday lunch it was all back online.
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
I think the main difference with my situation is that I bought it online and they're saying they want the phone back before issueing a PAC. I suggested they transfer the number over to PAYG first but waiting for them to call me back.

Thanks for the info in your case.
[HD2 General] scaryprowler:
Had similar probs as you. Ive spoken to 2 members of their CS tech team today (via calls instore made by a rep) both confirmed that there is no capping for anyone. The first one suggested that I try chaging the SIM. So, instore I showed them the issue first hand with my SIM, an instore PAYG 'test' SIM and my wifes Three SIM. The results clear as day, a 6th of the speed on their network compared to Three (and this was on 2 bar HSDPA). I dont think their tech team are that techincal however as the 2nd tech asked if I was talking about mobile internet or WAP :eek:
[HD2 General] Towserspvm2000:
Thanks for your input everyone... makes for an interesting read. Hope everything works out for you all. I'm going to have to have a re-think!

Just wish 3 would bring out a plan with the HD2 instead of the Hero! :)
[HD2 General] paulking:
i didnt think phone companys ported to payg?
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
At the end of your contract you can transfer your number to PAYG with the same network or port your number to another network's PAYG service.
[HD2 General] Pezza4u:
Can anyone receive multimedia texts with virgin? I've just recieved one but need to view it on their website.
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
I think you're pointed to the webiste only when you don't have the correct MMS setting on the phone.
[HD2 General] irdawood:
well here is my 2 pence,

I too am on Virgin migrated over from Orange a week or so back due to the offer on the HD2.

I commute from London to Portsmouth, Okay in Portsmouth the signal is bad, i get G most the time but websites are still fast, and in London E10 the signal is fine... dont know what the problem is about.

I'm happy about it, worst comes to worst i would switch on Wi-fi but my signal is fine i think.
[HD2 General] beermonster65:
my settings for virgin mms were wrong in the settings option try this

go to messsage tab, then all messages, then menu - settings - options, then menu - mms server, select virgin mms

ip address should be 193.30.166.2

port number 8080

server address http://mms.virginmobile.co.uk:8002

wap version 2.0 then done, back, done and try resending it worked for me as my settings were slightly different.
[HD2 General] sat1986:
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm so glad that I came across it.

About 12 days ago, I signed a new contract with O2 for an HD2 at £35/month. I was horrified to come across the £25/month deal from Virgin earlier today.

I was seconds away from doing a hard reset and putting the phone back in the box and cancelling the contract after reading the first dozen or so posts in this thread.

My was I relieved when I read on. This prompted me to go for a midnight drive around town (otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sleep!) to find a good HSDPA signal and run a few tests. At full signal, I got speeds of 912kbps and 877kpbs, highest and lowest respectively from five runs, at very low latencies.

This has pretty much confirmed that I'll be staying with O2. Plus, I rate the customer service highly too; they've been a pleasure to deal with and helpful over the past 5 or 6 years I have been with O2.

Many thanks all :)
[HD2 General] theglenman:
credit check

Good deal if you can pass there credit check. i have been with virgin media tv from the beginning and still failed the check . i got a Good deal with Vodafone though some web site 25 a month 300 mins unlimited text and unlimited data fair usage
[HD2 General] rp-x1:
Mine is on O2:

500 mins

1000 texts

Unlimited data (750Mb FUP)

Free handset

£30 p/m for 18 months and free handset, so unless you're a text fiend, its pretty comparable (without your discounts). I've learnt that if you ask, you tend to get with O2, put your foot down and say "I would like this for £this" and for the last 10 years, they have!
[HD2 General] bubblubbly:
Just for some balance i thought i'd post my virgin mobile speed test times. average scores over 5 tests

825kbit/sec

0.178s Latency

9.985s d/l time

I had been very happy with the internet service so far (had the phone 3 weeks), although i originally suffered the sms bug and had to make 3 calls to get a new sim to fix it (2 dimwits and one very helpful man). So customer service is a bit iffy
[HD2 General] F4810:
I went to Virgin from Vodafone and in most areas in London I find the signal better.

The deal for £25 p/m plus two months free blew all others out of the water. I have been with Vodafone for 15 years and the best they could do for simliar pakage was £35 p/m.
[HD2 General] sat1986:
I went to my O2 store saying I'm leaving (ofcourse I was not going to...). I managed to squeeze out of them £75 into my O2 account!

I got 1217kbps today in central London!

:D
[HD2 General] lepszy:
Doesn't really matter for everyday browsing, its not like you're gonna download movies or anything like that to your phone. Certainly not worth a tenner more a month. I'm with Virgin and quite happy. o2 has always been overpriced.
[HD2 General] jellywobbles:
FWI - I have had my HD2 on Virgin for 3 weeks (& a Nokia E71 for 18 months prior) - I have an HTC Touch from work on Vodafone. In my area of Hamsphire, Virgin blows Vodafone into a cocked hat & I get far better service via my HD2 on Virgin. Its a no brainer @ £25 / month! Brilliant deal - am well chuffed :)
[HD2 General] Sunil_237:
glad i visited and searched my old posts today. ye that sounds like a great deal, i would be tempted even at the ~£50 extra. just because o2 service is great and the internet is unlimited and uncapped.
[HD2 General] leoni1980:
T-Mobile results

1mb file - first test: 1341 kbit/sec forgot to note latency

2nd test: 1354 kbit/second (0.352 sec latency)

3rd test: 1432 kbit/sec (0.285s latency, 6.002s d/l time)

I tried the 400k file but it kept saying my speed was too fast.

This is at approx 1900-1930 hours GMT on the outskirts of Derby, UK.

I am on a Flext tarif with Web n Walk. I have no idea if these results are particularly good, but I can stream Youtube fine and I've never had any problems on T-Mobile thus far. I often use my phone to stream web videos and download and I have no hint of restriction in place that I've ever been made aware of, no matter how much I download.

JUST ON A SIDE NOTE: to say that O2 are better in terms of speed is somewhat deceptive. I know for a fact that where I am my friends' phones on O2 hit nowhere near as fast as speed as me. If I put my T-Mobile SIM in my iPhone and load up a YouTube video and my O2 pal does the same on his mine buffers so much faster than his that it would be enough to sway anyone into believing that o2's speeds are crap; the fact is though it varies from region to region. I have three friends with HD2s on Virgin so I will ask them to take some speed tests when I get chance as it will give me an idea if they suffer any bottlenecking.
[HD2 General] Dogmann:
Hi all,

Although i have a TG01 seeing what Windows Phone7 may deliver i decided i wanted to stay with WM6.5.X and the great range of cooked Roms and tweaks that are available for the HD2. Something sadly just not available for the TG01 plus the HD2 does improve on the TG01's specs well IMO they do.

I had an upgrade due from VodaFone but for some strange reason they only offer it on Business Tariffs which are all plus VAT and start @£35pm with the HD2 for free.

I know in the past there have been mixed reports about Mobilephonesdirect but found they really had the best deals plus you get a Sim free unbranded device.

The deal i got is with T-Mobile on a 18 month contract for their £30 Unlimited Web Tariff giving me 600 minutes 500 texts and unlimited Web(which we all know isn't unlimited but a 1GB fair usage policy) and of course the HD2 for free. Total cost of ownership over the 18 months is just £540 which compared to the cost of just buying a HD2 and getting all the minutes and web use is pretty good IMO. Hope this helps anyone still looking for the best deals out there.

Marc
[HD2 General] leoni1980:
I think it's worth pointing out that although TMobile says their limit is 1gb, this is a DOWNLOAD limit; none of your web browsing counts towards this. once you have reached your download limit they will restrict your ability to do so, but you will still freely be able to browse.

It is also worth pointing out that I have received a text from Tmobile in the past saying my allowance had expired yet I was still able to freely stream YouTube and iPlayer for over a week until my new allowance came on, with no discernible hit in speed.

Thought Tmobile customers might be interested to hear this. I would much rather have my reliable TMobile speeds in Derby than O2s crappy and unreliable service, regardless of their supposed true unlimited data promise. To my mind (and in my experience) it makes absolutely no difference anyway.

I would certainly stay away from networks like Orange though as they offer a paltry allowance then charge you if you go over it.

Bastards.
[HD2 General] Dogmann:
Hi all,

Well somehow i got refused the T-Mobile contract no idea why especially as i currently have both Orange and VodaFone contracts running and no credit problems. But i do remember reading this was one of the problems with mobilephonesdirect they seem to get a lot of fails even for those people already with a contract with the Network they are trying to connect to, think it was something to do with the bad way they entered the data. So may re apply or indeed have to spend a bit more and get it on VodaFone after all.

Marc
[HD2 General] :
Got mine yesterday, Virgin £30 month, 800 mins, unlimited text, unlimited web, (capped i think) first 2 months free. :) oh yeah free phone :)
[HD2 General] amh82:
Has anyone had any joy with Virgin about the mobile internet speed cap?

I've been with O2 since the beginning, and year on year have had good deals. Last contract I had the Diamond for £27/month, 600 mins, unlimited text & data, with handset for free. That was through retentions.

Phoned up today to see what they would offer on HD2. Retentions would hrdly budge, basically knocked £50 off handset price, so boiled down to either 18 x £35 for 600 mins, unlimited text & web, with £100 for handset, or same deal but £30 for 24 months.

I mentioned Virgin deal, and also that I had been a long term customer, but the guy in retentions didn't seem interested at all.

It sounds like O2 have taken a turn for the worst recently with respect to keeping loyal customers. It had been mentioned on the O2 site that they wouldn't offer particuarly good deals anymore, yet plenty of people have had the Virgin deal matched.

There's no rhyme or reason to O2 at the moment. I'm tempted to go to Virgin, but am worried that I'll be disappointed with the service.

The £100 doesn't bother me too much, but it's the principal - other customers have been offered cracking deals, so why haven't I :(
[HD2 General] :
I went in my local shop as it was advertised online for the deal I have posted a few above this chech it out, unlimited net capped at a gig, but i dont no if i will use that, but i got the phone free:)
[HD2 General] Bandare:
I spoke to T-Mobile the other day who were offering the HD2 at what looks like a good deal:

:: £15 / month

:: 24 month contract

:: 300 minutes

:: 300 txt's

:: can use booster that gives free land line numbers

:: internet with 3 gig fair use limit

:: phone £146

TOTAL: £506

To me that seems like a pretty good deal all round. What do you think?
[HD2 General] Bandare:
I meant to add, the original deal is to pay £206 for the handset but after really laying it on thick, they went down to £166 then £146.
[HD2 General] jellywobbles:
FWIW - I am with Virgin (& have been for over 3 years). My works PDA (HTC Touch Pro) is on Vodafone. Without exception in every place I have been the signal quality etc is better on my HTC HD2 on Virgin.

I am running Push Email for my Gmail account - use weather updates, facebook etc etc & I just had my 1st bill - against my 1Gb internet usage I had used less than 30Mb.

Virgin is a "Virtual ISP" of T-Mobile & since T-Mobile & Orange are now merging, you will get the very best coverage in the UK by going with Virgin.

I am chuffed to nuts with mine - any slight niggles are ONLY about the HD2 & not about Virgin.

My deal is phone @ £79-99 - 18 month contract @ £25 / month for 500 mins, unlimited Text & Data & FREE Voicemail. Its a no brainer!

Hope this helps

JellyW
[HD2 General] iainbp:
got my hd2 on virgin in jan. 1st I got the blackberry 8500 I think but after a hour I noticed it was crap . so rung virgin up and they swapped it for the hd2 . such a better phone. think I'm paying 30 p/m with 3000 txts 800 mins and unlimited web.
[HD2 General] jigners:
got mine 2 weeks ago same tariff as yours, but i explained to the customer rep in store that i have eveything with virgin over the last 5 years (NTL it was then) landline, broadband, tv and mobile, since this is going to be my 2 mobile contract and with an excellent tract record with Virgin, she WAIVED the £79.99 downpayment, so i had the HD2 free on £25 a month for an 18month contract! Thanks Virgin and Mr Branson!

best of all is - the handset is unlocked and unbranded with the latest HTC Stock 1.66 ROM. SO the flash junkie in me is very happy!

i read somewhere that Mr. Branson the owner of Virgin his personal mobile phone is the HD2
[HD2 General] Aleemz:
I'd have though the cap will be out of their control, and simply what their service agreement with t-mobile includes (limited).

I haven't come across O2 matching Virgin's offer on the HD2 on any forums, have you?

I returned my HD2 and reconnected onto similicity with O2 with my old SE Xperia X1. I need the speed!
[HD2 General] :
For the guys that have the HD2 on Virgin is mms included in my sms bundle or do i pay separate? anyone know,
[HD2 General] jellywobbles:
NOT included. MMS messages are charged extra. ;)

Cheers

JellyW
[HD2 General] xelon999:
Yeah got the same deal as above, was a ittle worried about only 500 mins, but the icing on the cake is the 3000 virgin to virgin mins included, my wife, mother, sister and brother in law are all on virgin mobile, so no worries about exceeding my inclusive mins. Have to say love the phone, anyone installed TV catchup yet? you get all the freeview channels in realtime for free streamed to the HD2, killer App.
[HD2 General] athealan:
Got mine 3 days ago 18 month contract £99.99 down 500 mins unlimited Texts and internet ( The small print is I am allowed 3 Gig a month usage Tmobile is only 1 Gig) £25 per month.
[HD2 General] :
Ok man thanks for that :) guess it will just be email then lol glad the missus has a bold 9700 ;)
[HD2 General] mattyhagar:
Hi everyone,

I fell across this thread while researching my own Virgin speed problems, and I have some info I think you might find interesting.

I had my HTC Desire from Virgin nearly a year ago. In all this time I have never EVER been able to exceed about 350Kbps downstream. I have spent countless hours on hold to customer services and tech support, their service is absolutely disgraceful. I was told I should be getting far better speeds than I was, been sent replacement SIMS, told to do firmware updates you name it, but nothing worked. Nearly a year into my contract my wife bought exactly the same phone, also with Virgin and on the same tariff. I was amazed to see that she could regularly get downstream speeds of upto 2Mbit. I swapped our SIMS over and all of a sudden my phone was downloading at about 6 times the speed and found my wifes was stuck at about 350Kbps! I tried tech support again but said they didn't know why and couldn't help so I wrote an email complaining and demanding they sort the issue. A couple of days later I get a call from someone at Virgin's tech services and I have to explain the whole situation again. After about 45 minutes of being put on hold and him digging for info he told me that the reason I was getting slower speeds is that when I took out my contract I was put on something called the JV12 platform. He checked my wifes account and said the she was on the JV15 platform. HE CONFIRMED that the JV12 platform IS CAPPED at 384Kbps, and that the JV15 is capped somewhere between 2&3Mbit (can't remember the exact figure). He said the only way I could get better speed was by being on the higher platform, which they can't change me to because that's not what was available when I took out my contract. What amazes me is that this guy was tech services and he'd never heard of this platform system either. Virgin have consistently LIED to it's customers, including me, claiming that download speeds are not restricted. I have since sent an anonymous email to Virgin asking if download speeds on any of their tariffs are capped. Undoubtedly, the reply will come back "No, not at all", at which point I intend to contact Watchdog!
[HD2 General] aled99:
I had the same trouble with T-mobile (UK). I was getting 360 kbps, whilst my mate sitting next to me was getting ~2mbits. Rang up t-mobile several times and was fobbed off with rubbish about signal strength, incompatible phone/sim etc.

Once I knew exactly what to say (see thread in link below) finally got through to someone who fixed it immediately. I'm now getting the speeds I should be getting!

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=666162&page=2

Same problem with customer service people claiming the service is not limited. The person who finally sorted my speeds out told me that I was on a data plan for 'normal' phones, and they upgraded me one for smartphones.

Just mentioning this -don't know if it's related as virgin use tmobile's network.

Virgin customer support must be as bad as tmobile's if not worse!

Glad you finally got yours sorted. I was angry at t-mobile after just 1 week slow speeds!
[HD2 General] DuoM:
Thanks for posting this.

Could you tell us when your wife bought her new phone? I'm wondering if this new "JV15" has something to do with the recent changes that T-Mobile have made to their data packages.

Also do you know what her monthly data cap is compared to yours?