Will VM be short for Vodafone Media?

[Kushan]

I'd be shocked if Three and Sky end up merging, that doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me but what do I know.

With the EU regulations coming in regarding roaming within the EU, it does make sense for the various telcos to start merging operations into Europe-Wide ones. I'm not really sure how that fits in with the broadband and media sides of things but I suppose having an EU-wide quad-play company could have its uses.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Likewise,
Liberty can continue across Europe with their cable infrastructure and MVNO model.

I don't see the tie up as being as attractive or inevitable as the city vultures make out.

Buy hey, what do I know?

I'm not sold on quad-play either, but then you and I are perhaps not the 'average' punter.

Vodafone wanting to pay out £37 billion and take on £39 billion in return for various cable companies where they have synergy is a tricky one for them to sell to their shareholders, however rumours carry on. Whether anyone will push the button or not is different of course.

[Superblade7]

I don't think quad-play bundles have really taken off yet as they've never really been sold correctly until recently. VM have always focussed on offering triple-play with a back seat given to a separate slightly cheaper mobile deal if you are a customer. Only recently have they started doing true quad-play by bundling a SIM in with the Big Bundles.

If VM (or other providers) sold a bundle of TV, BB, landline and mobile all in one then you may get much more interest, especially if you could then add additional discounted mobiles in for family members. Obviously the pricing would have to be right but I and probably many others would consider it if it made economic sense.

Obviously if VM were to be acquired by Vodafone, I would expect mobile to become as much of a selling point as the core triple-play and we may then see some true quad-play offers.

Interesting times ahead!

[Kushan]

I think what would sell quad-play for me would be if there was more of a focus on my household rather than myself as a customer. What I mean is, the broadband and TV is for the house - I may pay for it, but everyone in the house uses it. I'd love for them to have SIM packages that can give everyone in the house a bundle of minutes, texts and data to share. Plus some additional SIM's for our tablets and whatnot.

That would be pretty killer for me, as it would turn 3 or 4 separate contracts into one.

[Virgin N00b]

Why would Vodafone want/need to buy Liberty/Virgin Media, when they already own (as part of the C&W acquisition) the ex Bulldog LLU infrastructure?

[Superblade7]

Originally Posted by Kushan

That would be pretty killer for me, as it would turn 3 or 4 separate contracts into one.

That is exactly what I was getting at above Kush and I think if they used that sort of model then quad-play would take off. I, like yourself, would much rather have everything in one contract providing the costs were right.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Superblade7

That is exactly what I was getting at above Kush and I think if they used that sort of model then quad-play would take off. I, like yourself, would much rather have everything in one contract providing the costs were right.

And there lies the rub. Even with the discount for existing customers, I don't find Virgin's deals to be particularly competitive. Then again, I really don't care about mins and texts, all I want is data and I find most of the mobile operators are pretty crappy in that regard. That's the only reason I stick with Three - unlimited data.

Now if Virgin was happy to give me 3 or 4 SIMs with a nice big bundle of data (say 8GB) between them, I'd be very interested. Especially if they throw on more data depending on what broadband package I've got.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Kushan

I think what would sell quad-play for me would be if there was more of a focus on my household rather than myself as a customer. What I mean is, the broadband and TV is for the house - I may pay for it, but everyone in the house uses it. I'd love for them to have SIM packages that can give everyone in the house a bundle of minutes, texts and data to share. Plus some additional SIM's for our tablets and whatnot.

That would be pretty killer for me, as it would turn 3 or 4 separate contracts into one.

The American mobile firms have been doing this kind of thing for years , choose a family plan , then the number of handsets needed and your allowance is shared across all handsets only problem is they don't get the hardware as heavily discounted as traditional contracts here.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

The American mobile firms have been doing this kind of thing for years , choose a family plan , then the number of handsets needed and your allowance is shared across all handsets only problem is they don't get the hardware as heavily discounted as traditional contracts here.

This is true, though I'd hardly call the hardware "discounted" here - often you just about break even at best on the RRP of the hardware (or at least it seems it these days). It's usually cheaper to take out a loan and buy the handset outright, then get a cheapo sim-only deal.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Kushan

This is true, though I'd hardly call the hardware "discounted" here - often you just about break even at best on the RRP of the hardware (or at least it seems it these days). It's usually cheaper to take out a loan and buy the handset outright, then get a cheapo sim-only deal.

Very true , fair point. Slightly off topic but does anyone think VM will ever allow wholesale access to its BB network ? Openreach seem to take an age with improvements , vectoring being a perfect example.

[Superblade7]

Originally Posted by Kushan

And there lies the rub. Even with the discount for existing customers, I don't find Virgin's deals to be particularly competitive. Then again, I really don't care about mins and texts, all I want is data and I find most of the mobile operators are pretty crappy in that regard. That's the only reason I stick with Three - unlimited data.

Now if Virgin was happy to give me 3 or 4 SIMs with a nice big bundle of data (say 8GB) between them, I'd be very interested. Especially if they throw on more data depending on what broadband package I've got.

I'd agree Kush, their mobile contracts on the high end handsets aren't particularly competitive even if you're a VM customer. Their SIM only deals aren't too bad but the downside is there is currently no 4G.

You're right with Three though, they do some really generous data allowances. They've got a really good network too (where I live anyway!) as I used them for a while before I (regrettably) got a contract with O2. I did get a great deal with O2 but for me (and a number of friends/colleagues), the O2 network is shocking. I've never had so many failed calls and data drop outs and will be scurrying back to either Three or EE as soon as my contract is up.

Also, back on topic, the network quality would also be an issue if Vodafone were to buy VM as Vodafone have a notoriously poor network too so I guess even if they did do decent quad-play, would you want it on their network? Guess it would depend where you live as I know the experience of all the networks varies across the country for users.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Very true , fair point. Slightly off topic but does anyone think VM will ever allow wholesale access to its BB network ? Openreach seem to take an age with improvements , vectoring being a perfect example.

I believe that's happened in the past but I'm not sure really what VM has to gain from it. I believe that it has been mused that OFCOM might even force them to do this, but as it is a privately built network I'm not sure how realistic that is.

Originally Posted by Superblade7

I'd agree Kush, their mobile contracts on the high end handsets aren't particularly competitive even if you're a VM customer. Their SIM only deals aren't too bad but the downside is there is currently no 4G.

You're right with Three though, they do some really generous data allowances. They've got a really good network too (where I live anyway!) as I used them for a while before I (regrettably) got a contract with O2. I did get a great deal with O2 but for me (and a number of friends/colleagues), the O2 network is shocking. I've never had so many failed calls and data drop outs and will be scurrying back to either Three or EE as soon as my contract is up.

Also, back on topic, the network quality would also be an issue if Vodafone were to buy VM as Vodafone have a notoriously poor network too so I guess even if they did do decent quad-play, would you want it on their network? Guess it would depend where you live as I know the experience of all the networks varies across the country for users.

Every time the debate about which network is best comes up, there's always people that swear one network is tip top and another is dire. Like yourself, I generally get a great signal on three and have had issues with Orange/T-Mobile in the past (have a guess when I switched networks) but I've seen loads of people complain about Three as well. It really does seem to be a postcode lottery.

I'm hoping that 4G will resolve most of that, as each provider got a nice chunk of 800Mhz spectrum which should hopefully mean much better coverage.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Very true , fair point. Slightly off topic but does anyone think VM will ever allow wholesale access to its BB network ? Openreach seem to take an age with improvements , vectoring being a perfect example.

ntl sold wholesale to AOL for a while. AOL were paying absolutely silly money for it, mind

[Superblade7]

Originally Posted by Kushan

I'm hoping that 4G will resolve most of that, as each provider got a nice chunk of 800Mhz spectrum which should hopefully mean much better coverage.

Funny you should say that as ironically the O2 service getting worse in my area coincided with their 4G launch but obviously on the numerous times I've complained about poor service, there is no connection between the two! Hmm!

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Superblade7

Funny you should say that as ironically the O2 service getting worse in my area coincided with their 4G launch but obviously on the numerous times I've complained about poor service, there is no connection between the two! Hmm!

Funny the number of people who do not understand how things work and jump immediately to this false and illogical conclusion that is completely unsupported by facts.

Hundreds of thousands of tests by multiple independent investigators have found data speeds to have increased by 2x-3x on average across all users, including all existing 3G customers.

---------- Post added at 11:22 ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 ----------

Originally Posted by Kushan

I'm hoping that 4G will resolve most of that, as each provider got a nice chunk of 800Mhz spectrum which should hopefully mean much better coverage.

4G will provide much better coverage - yes. However, not all providers got a "nice chunk" of 800Mhz. Only two providers did - and those two providers already hold all the 900Mhz as well, giving them a massive advantage they've so far made little of.

The other two operators (3 and EE) actually have too little 800Mhz to run an effective network on, hence why neither of them have actually used their 800 yet. It will mostly be restricted to VoLTE purposes as it lacks the bandwidth for anything else, at least until the 700Mhz auction ends. The average speeds on 800Mhz alone will be lower than 3G for both those networks, but will carry a big range advantage over 2100Mhz 3G.