Request for information: service providers and tariffs

Hi Guys,

I wonder if I can tap you collectively for some information?

I'm thinking of putting together a list of service providers still in
existence so that I can ascertain what differences exist in terms of
tariffs offered, charges levied and T&Cs applied.

For instance, it seems that ALL Carphone Warehouse flavours of O2 &
Vodafone tariffs have mandatory itemised billing whereas this is not the
case for the network-direct versions of these tariffs. Obviously this
affects the minimum term cost of any package offered via CPW, E2Save &
OSPS who all use CPW Services as the Service Provider for O2 & Voda.

Now I already know the following:

(1) The Service Provider issue only affects O2 & Vodafone
(2) Both networks bought up most of their SPs when the regulator eased
their operating conditions a few years back.

So, can anyone tell me how many independent SPs still exist for Vodafone
& O2 and what they are called. It would also be interesting to know
which retailers use which SPs.

One final question...if you look on my site, there are a number of deals
from Buy Mobile Phones on O2 250 + 50 texts:

http://www.reestitmutton.co.uk/MOBIL...ariff&value=13

Now, this isn't a standard O2 tariff offered either on their website or
via their high street stores - infact, it also doesn't feature on the
Mobileshop site...all of these outlets bundle 100 texts with the 250
minute tariff. Moreover...only the minutes are doubled for 3 months on
the BMP.net O2 250 tariff whereas both minutes & texts are doubled for 3
months on the O2 and Mobileshop websites.

Having spoken with someone at BMP.net, they assure me that their SP is
O2 Direct and that their tariff information is correct. Can anyone
explain this discrepancy? I know that networks sometimes offer
additional sweeteners/discounts and website-exclusive tariffs when
purchasing direct from their websites. However, the fact that the
Mobileshop O2 250 tariff matches the O2 website one tells me that this
particular discrepancy is nothing to do with any O2 website-only offer.

thanks in advance,
RM
--
www.reestitmutton.co.uk

Bringing you the best-value mobile phone contract deals in the UK
Presented the way it should be...in plain English

In article <43a8d5c6$0$82657$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net>,
Reestit Mutton <not@this.address> wrote:

> For instance, it seems that ALL Carphone Warehouse flavours of O2 &
> Vodafone tariffs have mandatory itemised billing

What do you mean by mandatory? I cancelled mine on my CPW Vodafone
Anytime 200 without any problem.

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 04:10:28 -0000, Reestit Mutton <not@this.address>
wrote:

<snip>
> One final question...if you look on my site, there are a number of deals
> from Buy Mobile Phones on O2 250 + 50 texts:
>
> http://www.reestitmutton.co.uk/MOBIL...ariff&value=13
>
> Now, this isn't a standard O2 tariff offered either on their website or
> via their high street stores - infact, it also doesn't feature on the
> Mobileshop site...all of these outlets bundle 100 texts with the 250
> minute tariff. Moreover...only the minutes are doubled for 3 months on
> the BMP.net O2 250 tariff whereas both minutes & texts are doubled for 3
> months on the O2 and Mobileshop websites.
>
> Having spoken with someone at BMP.net, they assure me that their SP is
> O2 Direct and that their tariff information is correct. Can anyone
> explain this discrepancy? I know that networks sometimes offer
> additional sweeteners/discounts and website-exclusive tariffs when
> purchasing direct from their websites. However, the fact that the
> Mobileshop O2 250 tariff matches the O2 website one tells me that this
> particular discrepancy is nothing to do with any O2 website-only offer.
>

Strikes me that BMB are providing the Business Tariff described here:
http://www.o2.co.uk/business/tariffs...utesindividual

--
JonPhred

Reestit Mutton wrote:

> One final question...if you look on my site, there are a number of deals
> from Buy Mobile Phones on O2 250 + 50 texts:
>
> http://www.reestitmutton.co.uk/MOBIL...ariff&value=13
>
> Now, this isn't a standard O2 tariff offered either on their website or
> via their high street stores - infact, it also doesn't feature on the
> Mobileshop site...all of these outlets bundle 100 texts with the 250
> minute tariff. Moreover...only the minutes are doubled for 3 months on
> the BMP.net O2 250 tariff whereas both minutes & texts are doubled for 3
> months on the O2 and Mobileshop websites.
>
> Having spoken with someone at BMP.net, they assure me that their SP is
> O2 Direct and that their tariff information is correct. Can anyone
> explain this discrepancy? I know that networks sometimes offer
> additional sweeteners/discounts and website-exclusive tariffs when
> purchasing direct from their websites. However, the fact that the
> Mobileshop O2 250 tariff matches the O2 website one tells me that this
> particular discrepancy is nothing to do with any O2 website-only offer.

Not sure if it helps, but I recently bought a deal from buymobilephones,
with an O2 250 min / 50 text tariff... I have my first O2 bill in front
of me, and it describes it as "Best for Business 250".

David

Chris Leuty wrote:
> In article <43a8d5c6$0$82657$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net>,
> Reestit Mutton <not@this.address> wrote:
>
>
>>For instance, it seems that ALL Carphone Warehouse flavours of O2 &
>>Vodafone tariffs have mandatory itemised billing
>
>
> What do you mean by mandatory? I cancelled mine on my CPW Vodafone
> Anytime 200 without any problem.

Interesting...OSPS claim it's mandatory...infact, on O2, it's built into
their tariff prices and, rather misleadingly, their X months free line
rental deals do NOT include the extra 99p/month...or so I've been told
when I pointedly and very specifically asked about this.

Is there anyone else here that has managed to save money by cancelling
the IB as well, especially on OSPS O2 tariffs?

RM
--
www.reestitmutton.co.uk

Bringing you the best-value mobile phone contract deals in the UK
Presented the way it should be...in plain English

jonphred wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 04:10:28 -0000, Reestit Mutton <not@this.address>
> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> One final question...if you look on my site, there are a number of
>> deals from Buy Mobile Phones on O2 250 + 50 texts:
>>
>> http://www.reestitmutton.co.uk/MOBIL...ariff&value=13
>>
>> Now, this isn't a standard O2 tariff offered either on their website
>> or via their high street stores - infact, it also doesn't feature on
>> the Mobileshop site...all of these outlets bundle 100 texts with the
>> 250 minute tariff. Moreover...only the minutes are doubled for 3
>> months on the BMP.net O2 250 tariff whereas both minutes & texts are
>> doubled for 3 months on the O2 and Mobileshop websites.
>>
>> Having spoken with someone at BMP.net, they assure me that their SP
>> is O2 Direct and that their tariff information is correct. Can
>> anyone explain this discrepancy? I know that networks sometimes
>> offer additional sweeteners/discounts and website-exclusive tariffs
>> when purchasing direct from their websites. However, the fact that
>> the Mobileshop O2 250 tariff matches the O2 website one tells me that
>> this particular discrepancy is nothing to do with any O2 website-only
>> offer.
>>
>
> Strikes me that BMB are providing the Business Tariff described here:
> http://www.o2.co.uk/business/tariffs...utesindividual
>

Fantastic! This is just the info I was looking for.

At last I can explain the apparent discrepancies between BMP's O2 250
tariff & most everyone else's. I'll change the tariff name on my website
now so no-one else gets as confused as I did.

Thanks Jon.

RM
--
www.reestitmutton.co.uk

Bringing you the best-value mobile phone contract deals in the UK
Presented the way it should be...in plain English