3 mobile broadband coverage

I was thinking of signing up for 3 mobile broadband, first I checked their website which said that 2G and 3G coverage is available in my area, but when I checked the OFcom sitefinder database, there are only (two) 3G transmitters listed for my area, Vodafone and O2, nothing for the 3 mobile broadband service is listed. Is it possible that the 3 network share transmitters with other providers, or maybe the OFcom database is not up to date. I don't want to sign-up with 3 if their coverage is poor. I live in the London N9 area. Any advice appreciated.

The Sitefinder database is probably out of date.

OFCOM published a national survey of 'real' 3G reception almost a year ago.
Might be worth checking your area.

Checking coverage is of very limited use with '3'Mobile.
I live in a very strong coverage area in Portsmouth but rarely get any service at all. This is because in any evening and all day and all evening every weekend the service is simply too congested to use. Good signal but nil traffic.
Three are aware of this problem and supposedly upgraded their nearest tower to me last November. This made a huge improvement until last week but now it is useless again. Coincidentally enough the 'upgrade' and improvement in my service came at around the time of my contract renewal and as the service had been 'fixed' I renewed my contract. Now here we are just two months later and I have to use Voadafone to get on the internet unless I am awake between the hours of 0200-to-0800hrs when I can manage to connect on '3'.
I cannot believe that these firms have no sanctions made against their sweeping statements of coverage and speed.

I did go ahead and buy a 3 mobile broadband dongle despite there being no 3 transmitters showing up in Ofcom's sitefinder website. I was suprised to find there are no problems connecting on the 3 HSDPA network, I have 4 bars signal strength and download speeds are good varying from 1 Mbit/sec up to to 2.5 Mbit/sec, depending on the time of day I use it. Overall I'm quite pleased with the 3 service

Hi there anonymous,

Just wondering where abouts you live / use the 3G network? I'm interested in signing up with 3 cos they have a good deal with Spotify premium incl in the contract, but the phone (HTC Hero) would be pretty useless if the 3G signal is pants.

FYI I live and work in Brighton - I've had a phone on 3 before and the signal was rubbish. This was about four years ago though so they might have got their act together.

Cheers for any advice,

Jim

It will have changed a lot in 4 years ...

Use the Ofcom Sitefinder to check where the UMTS Transmitters are in the Brighton area, visit the link below, double click on the UK map, then enter your postcode. This will zoom the map into your area, the transmitters or base stations show up as blue triangles, double-clicking on a blue triangle will show the name of the operator (ie. Orange, Three, Vodafone, O2, etc) other details about the height and power output of the antenna, and the type of transmission. This will either be GSM or UMTS. For mobile broadband internet (3G, or 3G plus, or HSDPA) you need a UMTS transmitter.

The Ofcom website may not show all the operators in your area, I don't know why this is, I did find out that their sitefinder is updated every 3 months and that the operators supply information to Ofcom on a voluntary basis. If you'd like to see what your base station looks like you can navigate to the same location in google maps then select satellite view and zoom in to street level view. Mine looks pug-ugly, about 7 antennas on top of a hairdresser's shop.

One other thing is I wouldn't sign-up for a contract before trying out the service first, If they allow you a honeymoon period OK, if not you'd be better off buying a PAYG dongle with 1GB data allowance for 35 quid, if you get good service on that you should get the same service on the contract. Might save a lot of heartache later on.

http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/
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Edited by NVB (Fri 15-Jan-10 16:15:39)

Sound advice NVB

I work for a well know multi franchise mobile phone store which sells 3g dongles also.

I make a point of using the instore coverage checker to help me find the best network for signal, but this is not comprehensive.

It does infuriate me all the networks pretending they can deliver 3.6mbps NO ONE CAN!!! and no one will get it unless your in Gatwick airport or outside Voda headquarters. But because you can get 3.6 in these 2 places they can advertise up to 3.6 see how they mislead you. Clever aren't they.

So yes before you get obsessed with who 'can' provide the fastest speed you should be focussed on a good stable signal, so going pre-pay first is sound advice.

Orange apparently has the most stable coverage with Voda a close second however Three has the largest 3g coverage map.
O2 is overloaded by too many I phone users but is investing heavily to recttify the problem.
T-mobile well not too much traffic but coverage is sparse, wait for them to merge with orange maybe signal will increase.

I'm on 3 which has been good until late but signal is very much influenced by the weather where I am on the south coast.

However Signal is also influenced by;

- structure of the building you use it.
- distance from transmitter
- weather conditions
- traffic on network
- local geography ie hills, tower block anything that blocks signal
- AND FINALLY performance of network.

Hope this has been of help.

Dan

I completely agree with the sentiment of your post Dan however it is possible to achieve more than the advertised speed provided you use a decent modem. On O2 I get over 5Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up using an Option ICON 505 modem on a Mac. This is achieved in the West End and several other places I've been to. The E160 and E169 modems often dished out are poor choices, perhaps intentional to cap speeds.

bosie

It does infuriate me all the networks pretending they can deliver 3.6mbps NO ONE CAN!!! and no one will get it unless your in Gatwick airport or outside Voda headquarters.

Hmmm.

Three's own coverage map shows a blank "dead" area where we are with a signal available in the adjacent squares (various hills and dips round here) - however we get a 3 to 5 bar signal and 2.3Mbps down 0.4Mbps up (I recently discovered the speed tester on here and ran tests - does drop to 2.1Mbps around lunch times)

I thought you could return it if the signal doesn't work for you - within 14 days? Might be worth doing.