Check small print on mobile packages

Mobile-addicted consumers could, for once, hardly accuse the mobile phone industry of being all talk and no action this week, as Eircom took over Meteor and a long-awaited fourth operator, 3, launched its third-generation (3G) services.

3, owned by the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchinson Whampoa, says it will bring "much-needed competition to the country's stale mobile phone market".

Meanwhile, Eircom has promised that the cost of using mobiles will fall by up to 20 per cent over the next three to four years, indicating that it will try to attract more customers to Meteor by cutting the cost of its bill-pay deals.

This is all good news for the Irish chatters and thumb-weary texters who pay higher mobile bills than most of their EU counterparts. But for those looking to sign up to a bill-pay service (perhaps migrating from the more expensive pre-pay services) and people so horrified by their last bill that they want to change their package, what's on offer?

The table opposite shows the monthly fees, including VAT, for bill-pay packages sold by Vodafone, 3, O2and Meteor.

Newcomers 3 are not targeting the low-user end of the market, instead offering bill-pay services to people who regularly spend at least €25 a month.

Infrequent mobile users and people who don't want to commit to too high a monthly sum may be tempted by contracts with lower monthly fees, such as Vodafone's Perfect Fit 30 or O2's Five +.

But both Vodafone and O2 charge higher per-minute call rates to people who sign up for their lower value packages, meaning anyone who exceeds their monthly allowance of free calls will be penalised with much higher call rates than those who opt for the higher monthly fees.

At O2, in particular, opting for the cheapest package could prove to be a false economy. Rather than including a certain number of free minutes in its packages, it includes calls up to a certain euro value. This makes it more difficult for users to calculate when they are exceeding their quota of inclusive calls, especially if they shu O2's flat rates.

It also means that the €5 call value included in Five + will be used up at a faster rate than the €10 included in Ten +. A Five + customer who makes a landline call in peak hours (at a rate of 50c per minute) will use up their monthly allowance in just 10 minutes. But a Ten + customer who makes the same call (at 35c per minute) can stay on the phone for almost half an hour before they exceed their free call value.

Even where prices are the same, comparing and contrasting different operators is tricky, thanks to an often confusing array of additional services.

Much will depend on exactly how customers use their phones. For example, a consumer might estimate that they would talk on their mobiles for around 400 minutes a month - an average of one hour and forty minutes a week.

At first glance, 3's Video Talk 400 at €45 seems like much better value than Vodafone's Perfect Fit 400 at €69 and Meteor's Talk 400 at €60. But there are many differences between the plans.

The Vodafone plan includes unlimited "call a friend" minutes.

Vodafone users can also get 400 minutes worth of calls for just €39, by selecting Perfect Fit 100 for €29 and then an add-on called Talk 300, which includes a further 300 minutes for €10, albeit off-peak ones.

Unlike both 3 and Meteor, Vodafone allows users to carry over unused minutes to the next month. (O2 also allows customers to carry forward unused call value if they have a quiet month.)

Meteor, which also sells two higher cost plans not shown in the table, includes 90 free texts with its Talk 400 package. Unlike Vodafone and 3, however, it does not offer 3G services yet.

3, which uses an 083 prefix, is marketing itself as the first network to offer users a range of 3G video entertainment services with every price plan at no extra cost. These include Premiership and GAA match highlights, video news bulletins from RTÉ, showbiz gossip and film clips.

Vodafone does have some free 3G content, such as video downloads of GAA match highlights, but for other services, users must pay extra. For example, a Premiership football add-on costs €9.99 a month for unlimited access to goals, match previews and post-match interviews or €2 per clip.

Vodafone's 3G services are available only on the Perfect Fit 400 and Perfect Fit 600 monthly plans, meaning 3's Video Talk or Talk & Text 200 package may appeal to moderate users who want the option of 3G downloads.

Alternatively, 3G content is available to Vodafone's pre-pay users. 3 has not yet entered this market, which accounts for over 70 per cent of Irish mobile users.

People who do sign up to 3 should beware that they are committing to a 12-month contract and they won't be able to trade down to a lower value package for at least six months.