Cingular (lame) vs. Vodaphone Italy

I'm a Cingular family plan subscriber. I just got back from a vacation
where we used pay-as-you-go Vodaphone Italy SIM cards in our Razrs. I
was frankly astonished at the difference in service:
- V.I. has capability for multiple lines, the SIM card comes with a few
utility applications, and also has pre-installed contacts with Vodaphone
service numbers (both voice and text).
- The call quality was SIGNIFICANTLY better when calling to the U.S.
than Cingular within the U.S. People I called on U.S. landlines thought
I was on a landline (which is never the case with Cingular).
- The connection time when calling the U.S. was immediate when placing a
call - no more than one second, compared with Cingular taking about 10
seconds within the U.S.
- If I used my Cingular service to call Italy from the U.S. it's
$1.49/min to landline or $1.75/minute to mobile. Vodaphone Italy to
U.S. was .55E regardless of line type
- Had I turned on Cingular International Roaming I would have paid
$1.29/min calling within Italy. Vodaphone was .20E/min.

The price differences are even more striking when you consider that the
Vodaphone per minute rates are HIGHER for pay-as-you go customers.
Also, I found it odd that my husband's phone (a sub-account on our
family plan) had Cingular international roaming activated by default
when my (master) line didn't.

If you're travelling to Europe and don't need/want to be reached on your
regular cell#, get your phone unlocked and go with Vodaphone! (I'm
also sure there were a lot of other features I could have used but my
Italian is not good.)

---

› See More: Cingular (lame) vs. Vodaphone Italy

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Tue, 08 Nov 2005
18:53:24 GMT, bunny <[email protected]> wrote:

>I'm a Cingular family plan subscriber. I just got back from a vacation
>where we used pay-as-you-go Vodaphone Italy SIM cards in our Razrs. I
>was frankly astonished at the difference in service:
>...
>- The call quality was SIGNIFICANTLY better when calling to the U.S.
>than Cingular within the U.S. People I called on U.S. landlines thought
>I was on a landline (which is never the case with Cingular).

That may be due to a different speech codec, and may vary by area -- Cingular
call quality here in Northern California is very good.

>- The connection time when calling the U.S. was immediate when placing a
>call - no more than one second, compared with Cingular taking about 10
>seconds within the U.S.

Call connection time here in Northern California is about 3-4 seconds from
pressing Dial to start of ringing, roughly the same as a landline.

>- If I used my Cingular service to call Italy from the U.S. it's
>$1.49/min to landline or $1.75/minute to mobile. Vodaphone Italy to
>U.S. was .55E regardless of line type
>...
>If you're travelling to Europe and don't need/want to be reached on your
> regular cell#, get your phone unlocked and go with Vodaphone! (I'm
>also sure there were a lot of other features I could have used but my
>Italian is not good.)

Good advice for local calls, but it can be even cheaper to call the USA from
overseas with International Callback/Return-Call Service; e.g.,
<http://www.telestial.com/callback.php>, <http://www.kallback.com/>.

To be reached at your own number when overseas, change your voicemail greeting
to give out the phone number (including country code) of your overseas prepaid
SIM, which can be used for low-cost SMS text messaging in addition to voice.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

"bunny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm a Cingular family plan subscriber. I just got back from a vacation
> where we used pay-as-you-go Vodaphone Italy SIM cards in our Razrs. I
> was frankly astonished at the difference in service:
> - V.I. has capability for multiple lines, the SIM card comes with a few
> utility applications, and also has pre-installed contacts with Vodaphone
> service numbers (both voice and text).
> - The call quality was SIGNIFICANTLY better when calling to the U.S.
> than Cingular within the U.S. People I called on U.S. landlines thought
> I was on a landline (which is never the case with Cingular).
> - The connection time when calling the U.S. was immediate when placing a
> call - no more than one second, compared with Cingular taking about 10
> seconds within the U.S.
> - If I used my Cingular service to call Italy from the U.S. it's
> $1.49/min to landline or $1.75/minute to mobile. Vodaphone Italy to
> U.S. was .55E regardless of line type
> - Had I turned on Cingular International Roaming I would have paid
> $1.29/min calling within Italy. Vodaphone was .20E/min.
>
> The price differences are even more striking when you consider that the
> Vodaphone per minute rates are HIGHER for pay-as-you go customers.
> Also, I found it odd that my husband's phone (a sub-account on our
> family plan) had Cingular international roaming activated by default
> when my (master) line didn't.
>
> If you're travelling to Europe and don't need/want to be reached on your
> regular cell#, get your phone unlocked and go with Vodaphone! (I'm
> also sure there were a lot of other features I could have used but my
> Italian is not good.)

How much per minute is the vodaphone in the US?

bunny wrote:

> I'm a Cingular family plan subscriber. I just got back from a
> vacation where we used pay-as-you-go Vodaphone Italy SIM cards in our
> Razrs. I was frankly astonished at the difference in service:
> - V.I. has capability for multiple lines, the SIM card comes with a
> few utility applications, and also has pre-installed contacts with
> Vodaphone service numbers (both voice and text).
> - The call quality was SIGNIFICANTLY better when calling to the U.S.
> than Cingular within the U.S. People I called on U.S. landlines
> thought I was on a landline (which is never the case with Cingular).
> - The connection time when calling the U.S. was immediate when placing
> a call - no more than one second, compared with Cingular taking about
> 10 seconds within the U.S.
> - If I used my Cingular service to call Italy from the U.S. it's
> $1.49/min to landline or $1.75/minute to mobile. Vodaphone Italy to
> U.S. was .55E regardless of line type
> - Had I turned on Cingular International Roaming I would have paid
> $1.29/min calling within Italy. Vodaphone was .20E/min.
>
> The price differences are even more striking when you consider that
> the Vodaphone per minute rates are HIGHER for pay-as-you go customers.
> Also, I found it odd that my husband's phone (a sub-account on our
> family plan) had Cingular international roaming activated by default
> when my (master) line didn't.
>
> If you're travelling to Europe and don't need/want to be reached on
> your regular cell#, get your phone unlocked and go with Vodaphone!
> (I'm also sure there were a lot of other features I could have used
> but my Italian is not good.)


That's the result of a mandated technology...what it does, it does well.

The US has so much territory to cover with so many *current*
technologies that we don't measure up.

TH

>How much per minute is the vodaphone in the US?
>
>

It depends...Vodafone co-opearates Verizon Wireless (with Verizon
Communications being the other operator) in the United States.

Are you asking how much it would cost to use a Vodafone Italy prepaid
SIM while visiting the United States?

TH

"Tropical Haven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:YPucf.9349$0l5.1424@dukeread06...
>
> >How much per minute is the vodaphone in the US?
> >
> >
>
> It depends...Vodafone co-opearates Verizon Wireless (with Verizon
> Communications being the other operator) in the United States.
>
> Are you asking how much it would cost to use a Vodafone Italy prepaid
> SIM while visiting the United States?
>
> TH

yes

Interesting - if what you say is true ("mandated technology") then a
collection of E.U. governments has poked and prodded the cellular
industry to produce better technology and services than what it's
developed in the U.S. under the holy grail of the free market.

The European cellular advantage must be at least partly the result of
the E.U. getting its act together early to standardize the core
technology (G.S.M.) so that providers can focus on innovating in
consumer-oriented services.

bunny wrote:

> Interesting - if what you say is true ("mandated technology") then a
> collection of E.U. governments has poked and prodded the cellular
> industry to produce better technology and services than what it's
> developed in the U.S. under the holy grail of the free market.
>
> The European cellular advantage must be at least partly the result of
> the E.U. getting its act together early to standardize the core
> technology (G.S.M.) so that providers can focus on innovating in
> consumer-oriented services.
>
>
>
I wonder what "free market" gasoline would be like? Could imagine how
many types we'd have?