Which of 3UK and Vodafone has least branding?

[westbros]

As I have mentioned before, I ideally wanted to have an unlocked and unbranded phone, and for that reason I was going to buy my phone through CPW. I have just had a rather stressful 48 hours - CPW declined my credit check for some unknown reason, even though my credit rating is excellent and has no negative aspects. I spent around 2 hours yesterday trying to discover the reason why it was declined, but came up against a brick wall. CPW can't/won't tell me the reason for the decline ("the computer says no"....). I will make one last attempt tomorrow by trying the credit check on another card, but otherwise I will have to give up and go for a branded and locked phone.

O2 are just way too expensive. Orange are out of the question as I'm currently with them and their reception in my area is dreadful, so I want to leave Orange. T-Mobile are jumping into bed with Orange on coverage, so I'm avoiding them too. This leaves Vodafone and 3 UK. Which of these puts least branding and bloatware on their Desire?

Of course Vodafone have released FroYo now, and I don't think 3 UK have said when they will release FroYo on their phones yet. Does FroYo on Vodafone include all the Vodafone 360 bloatware that came out a while ago?

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[chris 290]

I believe the bloatware with vodaphone is an option on the froyo update.

There was no branding on my 3UK phone, it was unlocked when I bought it 8 or so weeks ago. 3 are usually good at not putting too much branding on.

If orange reception bad in your area, I would check first what 3 reception is like. I'm in town and its fine, but when I move into the country, it usually roames on the orange network.

Seems to me that vodaphone might be the best option for your needs.

 

[skoodbeef]

The Voda froyo pack has all the 360 crap removed
So Vodafone is Pretty much unbranded and what there is can
Easily be removed.

 

[master_yoda]

3 dont put very much branding on their handsets. You will probably get a splash screen on boot up and a link to planet 3 but not much else.. it's certainly nothing anything like the branding orange put on their firmware.

For 3G coverage vodafone is left lacking compared to 3 generally aswell so thats something alse to consider. Although Vodafone have very good gsm (2G) signal coverage ....but that sucks for data speed!

Note: T-Mobile now do site share with 3 on 3G sites, so at this moment in time I would say they are worth considering aswell.

 

[westbros]

Thanks for the replies so far. I appreciate what one of you said about T-Mobile, but my understanding is that they are sharing coverage with Orange, and that rules them out for me. I am therefore left with the following alternatives:

Vodafone
I can get a

 

[chris 290]

I'm on 3 payg, bought the phone outright for 350, unlocked and as such im already on froyo

I get good coverage in town, usually roaming when a few miles out of town though.

Very happy with 3, although there customer services people are generally not very useful. Any problems I have had have been sorted out by myself or by hunting through forums. This forum has been ace in my Sep.

Suggest you check signal strength on both networks in your area and use that to make your decision.

Has any of your friends got 3 or vodaphone in your area?

 

[westbros]

I'm on 3 payg, bought the phone outright for 350, unlocked and as such im already on froyo

I get good coverage in town, usually roaming when a few miles out of town though.

Very happy with 3, although there customer services people are generally not very useful. Any problems I have had have been sorted out by myself or by hunting through forums. This forum has been ace in my Sep.

Suggest you check signal strength on both networks in your area and use that to make your decision.

Has any of your friends got 3 or vodaphone in your area?

Yes, I have friends on both networks, and both say the signal is fine. All I want is a signal which is better than Orange, which in my area won't be difficult....

 

[chris 290]

I'd go with 3 then as better 3g coverage.

 

[Hippotech]

I got mine on Vodafone through Expansys. Phone is completely unbranded and unlocked.

Contract was cheap, although 24 months.

Hippo

 

[master_yoda]

I'd go with 3 then as better 3g coverage.

Agree

 

[adzila]

Mine is on 3, contract. No branding at all to speak of and was able to update to Froyo a few weeks ago.

As far as credit checking goes, CPW are not physically able to tell you why your credit check has failed. Whichever credit check company they use, equifax or experian if i remember rightly, only send them the results of the check. So a yes or a no basically.

To find out the actual reason for the fail, you would have to contact the credit companies and request a full credit report. However, this will set you back about 12 quid.

 

[westbros]

Mine is on 3, contract. No branding at all to speak of and was able to update to Froyo a few weeks ago.

As far as credit checking goes, CPW are not physically able to tell you why your credit check has failed. Whichever credit check company they use, equifax or experian if i remember rightly, only send them the results of the check. So a yes or a no basically.

To find out the actual reason for the fail, you would have to contact the credit companies and request a full credit report. However, this will set you back about 12 quid.

I spoke to Equifax at great length yesterday, and they were adamant that they do not keep records of CPW's decision. CPW just checks the credit report on Equifax and their own software then decides yes or no. Equifax referred me back to CPW who eventually told me they are not allowed to ask for the reason for the decline. Equifax did tell me that, whatever check CPW performed, it left no "footprint" on my credit report, so they have no record of it. All in all I spent about 2 hours yesterday going backwards and forwards between CPW and Equifax and ended up against a brick wall. I felt like I was in a Franz Kafka novel....

I will wait and see how things develop tomorrow....

 

[adzila]

Very strange. have you tried going directley to a 3 store. my credit rating is far from desirable, but still got contracted up with no deposits etc.

Even stranger though that the CPW check left no record. Thats the whole point of a credit record, surley?

 

[dj.GETAFIX]

1 thing with equifax that could stop ur getting the credit is if you have had a credit check twice put threw there system in the last 30 days then they will stop a 3rd aplication.... not sure if this is just on 1 type of goods or if say you get credit for clothes then a hi-fi and the 3rd time you aply for a phone..

i got a phone from orange but had to return it to 1 of there limited sales stores and had an agreement that i could get a better phone from there full range orange store... becasue they had to run a check again as it was classed as a new contract i was refused the contract as i had got credit for
a computer monitor earlier in the month... even though i have a high credit rateing the orange shop said it was to stop some people abuseing the system and to return in 30 days when it would pass the equifax check...
so you can only have a credit check go threw 2 times a month, maybee this was the problem??

 

[westbros]

There has certainly not been a previous credit check on my card for a mobile phone, at least not in the last 18 mths. The logic behind the credit checks seems competely random. I am going to try another card tomorrow and see what happens. If CPW rejects me again, I think I will going across the road to the 3 Store.

 

[westbros]

One other quick question. There has been a lot of talk about Vodafone blocking streaming audio/video on their Android phones. Can any VF user please confirm whether this block is still in place? And does it apply only to live streaming? Or does it also affect recorded material?

 

[micktee28]

I'm on vodafone and just tried tvcatchup.com and bbc i player and they are working fine. Is there any others I could check for you?

M

 

[westbros]

Thanks so much for everyone's help on this. I am delighted to announce that, having finally got CPW to sort out the credit check manually with 3, I am now the proud owner of an unlocked and unbranded Desire. Happy days!!!