EasyMobile Launches

Saturday 12th March 2005 07:48:00 AM

EasyMobile, a new low-cost mobile company, was launched in the UK two days ago by a joint venture between the Easy Group and Telmore of Denmark.

They aim to cut costs by relying on internet only sales and providing sim cards through their website.

I have to admit that they do have attractive prices; sms messages cost 5p each and calls are 15p a minute to any network. They use flat-rate charges so there is no peak/off peak.

until the end of June they have reduced their prices by 40% therefore sms are 3p and calls are 9p.

Services offered:

• Itemized invoice
  Available by logging into your account, or you have the option to have it posted for a charge of £4
• Call diversion
• Call waiting
• Call on hold
• Voicemail
• Caller display
  Basic feature which I thought was part of a mobile phone, but apparently the network has to have enabled aswell
• WAP
  15p a minute

A great aspect about the service is that there are over 10,000 numbers available and you can choose the one you like, alternatively you can port your present number across provided you have your PAC code.

To join EasyMobile you will need to purchase the start-up kit which costs £20 and includes a sim card with £20 credit. You will receive the sim card through the post within 3-5 days; postage is free.

Now that the positive news is over with I'll discuss the slightly negative hidden issues.

Topping-up your account costs a minimum of 40p or £1 if done through customer services. I cannot believe EasyMobile is charging customers to top-up! It's next to ridiculous.

If you run out of credit i.e your balance is 0p, a text message will be sent 'reminding' you to purchase credit and this costs 50p each. So now you will have a negative balance (the 1st mobile company in the UK to do this) and on top of this if they choose to block your account (because of the negative balance) they will charge a £5 unblocking fee.

Finally, they require you to spend atleast £5 over three months. If you fail to do this a charge of 75p will be applied on the first of every month until you do so. I don't think this point is a big issue as most people spend way over this amount.

EasyMobile, like Virgin Mobile, use the T-Mobile network to provide their service.

I have bought an EasyMobile sim card and am waiting for it to arrive; I'll post an update to let you know how good/bad the service it is. Do check it out for yourself ;-)

Posted by Piniyini in Mobile