How do you find the signal coverage? Is it reliable? Have you had any issues with this?
Signal coverage seems to be ok but we haven't really had the chance to test it too far away from home. I currently have a phone on the Orange network and signal is very patchy with dropped calls and delayed texts. we don't seem to have the text delays but we have had a couple of dropped calls. I have assumed that as the calls were made from the Sainsburys network to my Orange phone to an area where I have previously had issues, that it the orange signal strength that was the issue. We will test this out further in the next few days
How has your family been using the service? i.e. is it you or your DC/DP who has the handset? How useful have you/they found the Mobile by Sainsbury's service?
My son has the phone, primarily as a way of being able to keep in contact with me. As a single parent who is at work during the school holidays I have peace of mind that he can easily contact me as required, although I'm not too sure that he has enjoyed me phoning him to wake him up before midday in the same way.
The phone is more up to date that his current brick which just used to text and talk so the internet feature has caught his eye and he has been able to access the social media sites that he would usually access via his ipod. He hasn't tried the internet signal outside of the home yet but we will do in the next few days.
The unlimited texts have certainly been useful and have allowed him to keep in contact with his friends and I haven't had to worry about the cost implications. Like lots of other, I'm on a tight budget so this feature of the bundle is a huge bonus to me.
Do you think that the Nectar offer of double points on all of your shopping for 30 days each time you purchase a bundle makes the service more desirable or not?
Not sure, it's very nice to have but if I was looking at an incentive to change networks I don't think this would convince me to change unless I was spending huge amounts in Sainsburys. I shop there regularly but budgetary constraints means that the value of the double nectar card points wouldn't swing it for me. If you were part of a larger family or likely to spend more than I would in the store then yes the double points could be a really nice bonus.
How have you found the Mobile by Sainsbury's customer care?
I was one of those testers who didn't realise that validating the top up voucher didn't automatically allocate a bundle. in my mind a £10 top up equal a £10 bundle. I like to think that I am reasonably intelligent but as I am used to a contract phone it just didn't "click" with me that I needed to do anything else. My experience with the customer care team was excellent. There was no waiting in a queue, I didn't have to spend what felt like hours being directed through menu after menu and pressing loads of numbers before I got to speak to a human. The man I spoke to was polite, informative, helpful and professional and got the bundle sorted despite the fact that we had used some of the top up voucher.
Like some of the other testers I would prefer that the cost of the call was included within the bundle rather than costing up to 25p but the cost of the call was mentioned very early on.
If it came up in conversation, would you recommend this network to your friends or not?
lots of my family and friends already know that we are testing the network service so are doing their bit in helping us test by texting and calling. Would I recommend the network - yes over my current one
Bearing in mind that the bundle of 200 minutes/unlimited texts/250 MB data costs £10, do you think that the service is good value for money or not?
Unlimited texts - yes fabulous value for money when you have a teenager who HAS to keep in contact with his school friends.
Not too sure about the internet value yet as this is a new feature to him, we'll have to see how that goes, although whilst at home and connected via the home broadband router I have assumed that the phone bundle's internet allowance isn't affected.
No complaints as yet but I would consider it still very early days and not all features re the network service have been tried. It will be useful to see what the network service is like when he goes back to school as this is the area I need to ensure that he has good coverage for my peace of mind.