Mystery Caller: Mobile broadband abroad

Mystery Caller is off to Spain but wants a mobile broadband deal that will keep him in contact with his business in the UK. Could the networks make a cheap offer?

6: O2

Another option is she was plain lazy, and did not actually ask her manager at all, preferring instead to rush me to fi nish so she could sip her tea or take another call

Manner – 0/5
Understanding – 0/5
Knowledge – 0/5
Helpfulness – 0/5
Clarity – 0/5
Overall – 0/5
Total – 0/30

=4: Virgin Mobile

A visit to Virgin’s website showed it would cost £5 for every megabyte used while surfing abroad, as Mark had said originally and then contradicted

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 3/5
Clarity – 1/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 16/30

=4: Orange

Claire didn’t sound too optimistic from the start or offer me any alternative advice should I consider the charges to be excessive

Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 16/30

=2: T-Mobile

We all know now there is no such thing as an ‘unlimited allowance’ so I pressed him more on the subject

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 3/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total 17/30

=2: Vodafone

Sakab was on the phone. Sakab wasted no time when I asked what mobile broadband deals he could offer to enable me to work from my villa

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 17/30

1: Three

John-Paul wasn’t fi nished: “I wouldn’t advise taking a UK dongle to Spain as it would be very expensive.” He was honest throughout

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 5/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 24/30

Summary

This wasn’t a particularly high-quality Mystery Caller but Three’s John-Paul was totally honest about the dangers of using mobile broadband abroad and was straight to the point and easy to understand.

Sakab at Vodafone was also honest but a little less forthcoming and I had to work slightly harder with him. T-Mobile’s Ryan was frustrating to begin with but Stephen rescued it with a solid cameo while Claire at Orange was rather abrupt and her explanations lacked detail.

Mark at Virgin confused me, and I think himself, with his explanation on pricing while Sara at O2 was a total failure, for one reason or another.

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