Three HSPA+

Recently moved from o2 for my iPhone contact to Three with the release of the 4S.

To say I'm impressed with the service is an understatement. Amazingly good value -- £99 upfront on the 'one' plan when I signed up, but £150 quidco back which was paid swiftly. For 2000 minutes, 5000 SMS and unlimited data it's a steal.

This compares very favourably with what o2 was wanting -- I was on a grandfathered unlimited plan for £40/month for 900 minutes and unlimited texts. o2 wanted to charge me £51 (!) for 900mins/unlimited texts and 1GB data.

Coverage is *vastly* better than o2 in Edinburgh and on the main train lines (to Glasgow; east coast and west coast). I wasn't expecting such an improvement with it being 2100MHz vs 900/1800 for o2, but they've obviously done something right.

I've also not had a single dropped call on three yet, something which was a massive issue at peak times on o2.

And the speeds on HSPA+ are very impressive indeed. I'm currently using my iphone as a hotspot (which is inclusive in the package as far as I can tell) as o2s home broadband service is horrendously congested. Getting over 950kB/sec vs 20kB/sec on o2.

I'm also using my iPhone 4S as a hotspot - connection speeds in my area are up to 10Mbit off-peak.

I have to agree with you, I live right in the city centre of Aberdeen and get ZERO O2 signal, moved to 3 about 18 months ago and get full bars at home now.

Download speeds in excess of 7mbps and not uncommon! and I travel all over over Aberdeenshire for my job and even find myself getting HSPA+ signal in the middle of nowhere when my work phone cant even get 2G (O2)

The one plan is amazing value for money, the might aswell just call it unlimited everything as I can't really see anyone using more than 5000 texts of 2000 minutes (+5000 3 to 3 minutes). I pay £35/month and £88 upront for my 32GB iPhone 4S and love it!


Cant wait for LTE to start rolling out, looks like 3 may be a late starter, but I'm confident that they'll do it right!

In reply to a post by connormill:

I have to agree with you, I live right in the city centre of Aberdeen and get ZERO O2 signal, moved to 3 about 18 months ago and get full bars at home now.

Download speeds in excess of 7mbps and not uncommon! and I travel all over over Aberdeenshire for my job and even find myself getting HSPA+ signal in the middle of nowhere when my work phone cant even get 2G (O2)

The one plan is amazing value for money, the might aswell just call it unlimited everything as I can't really see anyone using more than 5000 texts of 2000 minutes (+5000 3 to 3 minutes). I pay £35/month and £88 upront for my 32GB iPhone 4S and love it!


Cant wait for LTE to start rolling out, looks like 3 may be a late starter, but I'm confident that they'll do it right!

When i was on o2 i used to use about 6000 mins a month give or take on there unlimited plan but 80% of that was to people on three so i switched onto the one plan to take advantage of the three to three mins i agree with every one three is by far the best network in the uk currently and exceptional value for money the net on the one plan is worth the money alone

with o2 i was paying £60 a month for unlimited texts unlimited mins and 100mb of net on the one plan im paying £32 for the 2000/5000/5000 with unlimited net so almost half the price and still getting just as much use out of it

plus with even more net i no longer have to have wifi enabled draining the battery on my phone in fear of going over my net amount.

Ash

Really? i live on geroge street cant get any signal with three/o2/orange/EE ect only vodafone -_-

Edited by epyon (Tue 27-Mar-12 14:09:08)

Enjoy these speeds while you can.

I was seeing those speeds on 3 in December 2011 but now 3 is horribly congested in Central London at all times on HSPA+. I typically see 0.5mbps.

I have heard that 3 has 50% of the UK's 3G capacity. The other mobile networks have the remaining 50%.

I have heard that 3 has 50% of the UK's 3G capacity. The other mobile networks have the remaining 50%.

If that was true once, it's not any more as O2 are now running 3G on 900Mhz as well as 2100Mhz and I think EE have 3G running on 1800Mhz, 1900Mhz and 2100Mhz!

Three haven't been given any more bandwidth while their competitors have been allowed to use 2G frequencies for 3G.

3G spectrum.

'3' 2100Mhz
O2 2100Mhz and 900Mhz
vodafone 2100Mhz and 900Mhz
Orange / T-Mobile 2100Mhz

Orange / T-Mobile want to deploy 4G LTE services in 1800Mhz.

Three should be getting the 800 band for LTE (unless O2 Stop the preallocation of the 800 band before its even sold to Three) as Three do not have as much 3h spectrum compared to the other networks

if three can get VOIP working under LTE wall issues should go away

but Three Need LTE like last 2 years ago (more like LTE 100mb at least to take on the load of the network but first every one has to wait until they upgrade there 2 year contracts)

In reply to a post by epyon:

Really? i live on geroge street cant get any signal with three/o2/orange/EE ect only vodafone -_-

Yep, getting over 7mb/s download speed on Rosemount Viaduct.

I work on George Street a lot too and get fine coverage there, don't see why you shouldn't. there is a mast on top of the phone exchange on Charlotte Street!

Thick walls i guess? lol

In reply to a post by leexgx:

Three should be getting the 800 band for LTE (unless O2 Stop the preallocation of the 800 band before its even sold to Three) as Three do not have as much 3h spectrum compared to the other networks

if three can get VOIP working under LTE wall issues should go away

but Three Need LTE like last 2 years ago (more like LTE 100mb at least to take on the load of the network but first every one has to wait until they upgrade there 2 year contracts)

3G - 2100mhz spectrum by operator (most to least)
Everything Everywhere
Three
Vodafone
O2

All operators will move to a IP core network (all are currently circuit switch core networks)
Once the operator has built this they will move to a all IP core and start taking voice over LTE.
I would expect all initial LTE deployments in the UK to be LTE for data only (even on handsets) the handset will drop to 2G or 3G when a call is made / rcd.

When LTE comes to the UK market it will change how everyone uses the mobile networks. People need to get away from using a data stick as a way to download masses of data, it's not really designed for that, not enough spectrum to service that bandwidth demand.

With the higher data rates LTE will bring to the CPE device the cell sites need larger backhaul but it will only be used in a very bursty fashion.

I have the HTC Desire S on the one plan.

It indeed is great, as I have used it as a hotspot when on the travels or here when sky has gone down.

Talking about that sky went down as the electric tripped for the second time due to a dodgy thermostat on the boiler.

It did not go down, it reset the wireless password to default.

Crazy eh? not the first time I have seen this but well done to the One Plan for the backup

I always thought it was the reverse. my battery drains like anything when I use 3G. When I am on wireless it lasts longer. The phones not always searching to keep the signal going on wireless.

Im on PAYG on 3. I don't tether but it's brill for my personal needs.

Yes WiFi is much lower power than 3G so using WiFi will mean that the battery would last longer. Although if you have no WiFi and therefore have to use 3G then disabling it 'can' make the battery last longer ... not by anything you'd notice though. You'd get better gains by dimming the screen brightness to the lowest.

Wait until 4G LTE arrives

Here in Canada you can expect about 3-10Mbit/s on HSPA+. On LTE I regularly get >25Mbit both directions. Rather splendid on a mobile It's ridiculous for the first few weeks as generally mobiles are usually far from "instant". On LTE it's comical how fast it feels. You do speedtests just to laugh at how good it is.

Edited by orly (Tue 07-Aug-12 01:24:03)

Recently moved from o2 for my iPhone contact to Three with the release of the 4S.

To say I'm impressed with the service is an understatement. Amazingly good value -- £99 upfront on the 'one' plan when I signed up, but £150 quidco back which was paid swiftly. For 2000 minutes, 5000 SMS and unlimited data it's a steal.

Three have some fantastic deals which is why I stayed with them so much.

Coverage is *vastly* better than o2 in Edinburgh and on the main train lines (to Glasgow; east coast and west coast). I wasn't expecting such an improvement with it being 2100MHz vs 900/1800 for o2, but they've obviously done something right.

I'm genuinely really shocked about this. I hover between London and Sheffield and honestly my 3 coverage has been terrible in both places. 3 doesn't cover my home in Sheffield - well it does but with 1 bar going in and out... In London I was constantly getting 1 bar even in giant populated areas such as shopping centres. Even in parts of Westfield shopping centre. o2 has consistent near on full signal in these same areas.

I've also not had a single dropped call on three yet, something which was a massive issue at peak times on o2.

I've just switched from 3 to o2. I used to get 'call failed' all the time with 3. Dropped calls are often caused by a lack of masts around you. So the local mast just gets over busy.

E.g. your mast can support 100 calls (this is an example). You switch over to this mast and you are the 101st caller. Your call drops. o2 is generally very good in this respect as o2 has lots of masts. So usually you just switch to another mast seamlessly and there's not a dropped call. 3 on the other hand often don't have an alternative mast within range so the call just drops.

It's probably just a case of 3 have far less customers than o2 so you're fine for now..
In London with so many people having 3 and 3 only installing the bare minimum number of masts there's very often a capacity issue and a dropped call. o2 on the other hand seem to have masts on every building in sight.

At times on 3 I was getting 0.1mbps down and up in London. o2 is better than this hands down...

And the speeds on HSPA+ are very impressive indeed. I'm currently using my iphone as a hotspot (which is inclusive in the package as far as I can tell) as o2s home broadband service is horrendously congested. Getting over 950kB/sec vs 20kB/sec on o2.

Yes 3 allow you to tether. I used to do it lots. They do operate a fair usage system nowadays though so don't go absolutely wild.

Glad to see you're happy with Network 3. The ONLY thing I miss about 3 is the almost constant 3g coverage. That said it very often had no coverage whereas my o2 always at least has GPRS.

Each to their own. 3 is very good in some areas. I just don't believe they can handle their customers in some areas. In particular London it feels very congested and awful to use.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 07-Aug-12 01:45:01)

i agree with @ukhardy07 statements with the issues with 3UK main issue been network not working but still got an signal (calls text data stops for about 1-2 mins before the Radio detects its Really not connected to the cell any more and forces an reconnect) second issue black spots signal (full bars or 1-2 bars and phone is unreliable {above issue}) or no signal spots

and all of that = bad battery life as well as the phone has to keep the power on high to try and find an network or get the signal to the mast when low signal (and no 2g to get batter battery life as well as 3g is an power hog)

where i live they Need to stick an mast right next to me on the pub that's 100m from me as there are 3 three/t-mobile Masts that cover me but issue is they are all at there range limit due to the amount of houses where i am, if the put on on the pub next to me no more black spot hole (unlikely to happy any more as t-mobile will no bother to pay 50/50 with Three to place it there as t-mobile has orange masts to connect to now{quite shocking how bad t-mobile coverage is compared to orange})

around Warrington and its connected areas i found hardly an spot where o2 (and t-mobile/orange) does not work,O2 seem to be the only network actively building Pole masts that are norm 1-2 miles apart from each other
Three does not overlap the masts enough that's the issue (and they cant as they do not have enough mhz frequency space compared to the other 3 networks)

Three do have normaly the Best deals on phones and plans, but its no good if the phone does not work indoors (three good for Open greenbelt land or out side away from house) 1-3 bars out side norm = 0 bars indoors

every spot in the UK has its good spots and bad spots

The problem I had with 3 and the reason why I left them was indoor coverage.

Outdoors, out in the middle of no where you can find yourself with a decent 3G signal, unlike other operators.

Deep inside a metal building I got nothing, because they had turned off the Orange 2G back up.

O2 and Vodafone = full 2g with 3g outside.

I've been with Vodafone 2 years now and can't think of many places where I get 'No Service'.

I myself have just moved from o2/giffgaff (been with them around 10 years)

I travel a lot around the country, and the fact that o2 cant even get a 3g signal on a lot of the motorway network is bad!

Where ever i go with 3, i get constant 3g.

With my 3 mobile broadband, i often get hspda+ and its brilliant.

I agree with motorway with o2 and 3g not got much coverage there(in and out) , but as I am normally moving most of the time 3g not so important there

But they could do with building some 3g masts around service stations see bit lacking there

O2 seem to focus on house areas (good idea as more likely to keep customers if there phone works at home or work, something Three are not interested in doing why my brother is no longer with three any more as three need an mast at school and around where I live been like that for 5 years pore coverage )


I just think three are bending the rules an little with there coverage even the map is incorrect most of the time (best to use T-Mobile coverage map as three and T-Mobile share most of the masts and there coverage map tends to be right )

Edited by leexgx (Tue 14-Aug-12 05:10:05)

Well I was amazed to have coverage where I was at the weekend. It was on the map as having no outdoor coverage. However I had 3G, admittedly only 1 bar and it did disappear at times. But it was enough to make calls and even upload photos to facebook.

I must admit that come the end of my contract in December it is unlikely that I'll stay with three. I still have very poor reception at home and three refused to give me Home Signal.

Thing is who to go to? No other network has better 3G coverage, speeds and allowance.

T-Mobile aren't far behind 3 in terms of 3G coverage - plus you can use Orange now, if needed who have around 96% UK 3G coverage (population).

You can get the equivalent of 3's one plan on t-mobile.

I think T-mobile have removed tethering on new contracts.

Correct, new customers on T-Mobile's Full Monty plan will not get tethering:- http://www.reghardware.com/2012/08/08/t_mobile_puts_...

I'm genuinely really shocked about this. I hover between London and Sheffield and honestly my 3 coverage has been terrible in both places. 3 doesn't cover my home in Sheffield - well it does but with 1 bar going in and out... In London I was constantly getting 1 bar even in giant populated areas such as shopping centres. Even in parts of Westfield shopping centre. o2 has consistent near on full signal in these same areas.

How long ago was this? They now have a sharing agreement with EE, so you theoretically anywhere you get coverage on tmobile or orange you should also get 3G coverage on three.

E.g. your mast can support 100 calls (this is an example). You switch over to this mast and you are the 101st caller. Your call drops. o2 is generally very good in this respect as o2 has lots of masts. So usually you just switch to another mast seamlessly and there's not a dropped call. 3 on the other hand often don't have an alternative mast within range so the call just drops.

This was completely the opposite for me -- loads and loads of dropped calls on o2 in Edinburgh/Glasgow. Still had full indicated signal so it must of been overcongestion on o2.

Yes 3 allow you to tether. I used to do it lots. They do operate a fair usage system nowadays though so don't go absolutely wild.

Yeah, apparently they do. While I'm waiting for bb to be installed in my new flat I've been absolutely hammering it though with no slowdowns so far (about 15GB in 2/3 days).

Also seem to be on the best mast so far, as I'm actually getting 10-12mbit/s throughput on downloads on tethering. Very impressive.

3 customers can only use orange 2g in selected areas

Where there SHOULD be coverage on network 3 the sharing agreement isnt operational

3 only use orange in areas they believe have no coverage. I find 3s coverage map misleading though as I get nothing where it claims "indoor and outdoor."

3 have better 3G coverage though

How long ago was this? They now have a sharing agreement with EE, so you theoretically anywhere you get coverage on tmobile or orange you should also get 3G coverage on three.

That is incorrect.

Where a 3UK user do not have a 3G signal provided by the 3UK Network they will revert to Orange 2G service. 3UK have decided to switch off the 2G fall back in most areas of the UK.

3UK users cannot roam on to Orange 3G or T-mobile 2G. Then can roam on to a T-mobile 3G signal but the network name on the handset still appears as '3' 3UK.

Orange UK and T-Mobile UK customers can roam between each others 2G and 3G network seamlessly, they can also roam on to 3UK 3G signal but the network name will show as 'T-Mobile' or if a Orange sim it would normally show as 'Orange T-Mobile'.

If Orange and T-mobile customers can roam on Three why does Orange and T-mobile not haver coverage where Three does?

Three doesn't have roaming on Orange 3G or T-Mobile 3G.

Three does have voice only (no data) roaming on Orange 2G in some areas ... often most rural areas where there is no Three 3G coverage.

It's not roaming in the same way, the roaming between OUK / T-mobile <> 'three' is not on every cell site. (aka not nationwide). Only selected cell sites.

The PLMN is seen as equal on OUK / T-Mobile. The PLMN on 3UK is different.

3UK customers can roam on the T-mobile cell site (which have the roaming agreement in place) The network name on the device will still show the users 'home' network.

Search the 3UK coverage map and the T-Mobile 3G coverage map for Kirkby Lonsdale. Look at the predicted coverage footprint along the A65 between the M6 and Skipton.

3UK and T-mobile roam mainly on rural areas, more urban locations already had 3G cells from the all the networks so no real reason to share those sites. (other than cost saving but in the grand scheme of things the cost is minimal.)

that's not completely correct (force 2g Orange on 3 network)

as long as its not an 3 Branded phone you can just switch it to GSM/2g only (why i never buy 3 branded phones as the network mode switch is missing even if unlocked phone) as long as you do not do it for more then an week your ok as they cut you off if you stay on orange for more then an week 2g, text and voice will be fine but getting Data on roaming orange 2g is another problem as i could Never get an data to work when it was roaming on orange 2G (maybe they turn of data where they Think they know they have 3g coverage)

the roaming agreement is with Orange masts only (no access to EE/NBNL or t-mobile network but then again that's 3 and t-mobile any way as most NBNL masts or t-mobile masts are 3/T that's why i use the t-mobile map to get three coverage as three coverage map is just an Lie, like saying you got indoor coverage when you got barely outdoor coverage) i find t-mobile coverage map to be mostly dot on (for both networks on t-mobile) if you cant see t-mobile you likely not going to get an Three signal as well (but some phones now Hide the fact your on orange mast when on an t-mobile phone)

Where I live there is not an agreement to network share with Orange.

I have 2 3 masts within 2 streets either way of me. So a 3 mast within about 50m either way.

If I switch to 2g only it just displays no service as there isn't an agreement to fall back on orange here. The 3 service is deemed good enough to not warrant a fall-back.

Orange is hosted on the same mast as 3 so should work. It's also much higher on the tower...

That being said SOMEHOW 3 still manages no service in parts of this house. I think it's because I'm where the masts would theoretically overlap.

I ALSO found that data didn't work when on orange 2g which really did my head in as I'd often spend weeks at a time in one of those areas and just getting emails through would have been nice (even slowly).

You can only force the 2g if there's an agreement in place. In and around London this really is not very often (if at all)

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 04-Sep-12 02:11:06)

last mast with orange 2G was turned off a couple of months ago - info from three Uk Facebook.

Three is great when it works, Mast CV0276 on Tachbrook Park, Warwick, which covers South Leamington Spa, Whitnash, Warwick Gates, Tachbrook Park & Europa Way (main road Into Town). The Three Executive office informed me that the mast needed a major Repair / upgrade which wont be completed before the end of the year. This is why they cancelled my data contract as it was only used in this area.
I tried it also at my home address in Central Warwick, nr the Train Station & got 0.4 DL & 0.2 UL Mbit/sec at 2 pm.

I too found three to be pretty good. I dont use my 'phone' for talking, only for internet and texting. I too use my phone daily on the train and get a decent connection between Stirling and Edinburgh most of the way.

Three's coverage for 3G is brilliant, even in the far north and west of Scotland.

The only thing I did not like about three was that their 2G roaming agreement with orange is voice/text only, no GPRS. For that reason alone, when my contract expired, I shifted to Virgin mobile. £12/mnth sim only monthly contract for unlimited data, unlimited texts and 150mins of calls. Their 3G coverage post merger is as good as Three's and they do allow GPRS data over 2G (lots of patience required!)

Speedtest shows about 2Mbits both up and downstream.

Nigel

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

Recently moved from o2 for my iPhone contact to Three with the release of the 4S.

To say I'm impressed with the service is an understatement. Amazingly good value -- £99 upfront on the 'one' plan when I signed up, but £150 quidco back which was paid swiftly. For 2000 minutes, 5000 SMS and unlimited data it's a steal.

This compares very favourably with what o2 was wanting -- I was on a grandfathered unlimited plan for £40/month for 900 minutes and unlimited texts. o2 wanted to charge me £51 (!) for 900mins/unlimited texts and 1GB data.

Coverage is *vastly* better than o2 in Edinburgh and on the main train lines (to Glasgow; east coast and west coast). I wasn't expecting such an improvement with it being 2100MHz vs 900/1800 for o2, but they've obviously done something right.

I've also not had a single dropped call on three yet, something which was a massive issue at peak times on o2.

And the speeds on HSPA+ are very impressive indeed. I'm currently using my iphone as a hotspot (which is inclusive in the package as far as I can tell) as o2s home broadband service is horrendously congested. Getting over 950kB/sec vs 20kB/sec on o2.

I've just got a contract on 3 and the one plan. I am moving about alot so being told i CAN tether was a god send. If I am getting 12mbs down and 5 up now I will stay on 3G when y'all go to 4G because it should get faster with less on it

Woot!

I love my Three connection! It's ridiculously fast, even though I live in a tiny little town in a county called Rutland!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2291294896.png
http://www.pingtest.net/result/71883207.png

Not bad for a 3G connection, eh?

Very good indeed -- I am really tempted to get a new phone, not for LTE but DC-HSPDA.

People honestly don't know what they're missing with three. Best network I've been on by miles and miles. Cheapest, best 3G network and the most generous allowances on tariffs. Absolute no brainer.

In reply to a post by pavvyben:

I love my Three connection! It's ridiculously fast, even though I live in a tiny little town in a county called Rutland!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2291294896.png
http://www.pingtest.net/result/71883207.png

Not bad for a 3G connection, eh?

You will have because Three put more in places that are served less by landline services.

My parents are on 20CN - They can get 1 LLU service which is the same speed (max 7mbps)

HSPA=@ I got 21 down and 5 up last time I tried my Mifi there

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

Very good indeed -- I am really tempted to get a new phone, not for LTE but DC-HSPDA.

People honestly don't know what they're missing with three. Best network I've been on by miles and miles. Cheapest, best 3G network and the most generous allowances on tariffs. Absolute no brainer.

Agreed. I will be clearing 200GB this month (heavy month due to having no other broadband)

Three don't care

Hearing all of these glowing reports makes me wish 3 covered well here. Despite them having a mast 2 streets from me in both directions they get no service in most of my house.

Go to http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search and search post code UB8 1GD
There's a shopping centre around here & it's a fairly busy area.

You really get a feeling of why o2 and orange have such great service around these places. They literally have a mast every few metres. Comparatively 3 seem to have very few masts...
Sadly, everywhere I look 3 have far less masts than the rest. I'm just checking around where I live.

I even had issues getting signal inside Topshop on Oxford street London with 3.
Around London it's not great.
Check it out...
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search
Search london oxford street and zoom in.

It's so easy to find an o2, t-mobile, orange and voda mast. They're everywhere.

The 3 ones are quite sparse comparatively.

Not saying 3 is bad. They are fantastic, cheap and customer service isn't too bad. If they got a few more masts and could match o2 / orange I would switch back any-day.

I also notice where 3 has one cell pointing one direction. Other networks tend to have 2, 3 or 4 all pointing in different directions on the same site.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Mon 12-Nov-12 04:29:38)

I'm not sure what is 'feeding' the masts around here but i've never seen over 4Mb on 3.

Fixed line speeds are around 6/7Mb.

Fair point.

I am sure three's masts are Omni Directional. I've also noticed that 3 seem to run their sites at 40-50% less power than they can cope with , or are licensed for.

3 is good because they do AYCE internet and give away the biggest allowances (that i've seen) for a decent price.

I am sure this new EE service will compete when they get he dat allowances and prices sorted. (even when 3 start 4G that will be interesting)

3 could do AYCE on 4G it's not about speed it;'s about allowance. Why should someone who does 30GB on 4G pay more than someone who does 200GB on 3G? Just because they get it faster?

I did notice however the 4 Macrocells on the oxford roundabout kick out more power than the Airwave one. But being on a difference frequency the Airwave one uses less but goes further.

For anyone wondering what the Airwave one is - it's the Police Radio System

3 in terms of network quality is far better than EE from my recent experience.

The old T-Mobile network is excellent, pretty much matching 3 for speed in most areas.

The Orange network..........horrendous. Getting sub 500k speeds in most areas, never seen over 2Mb and pings over 150ms.

Can't stream music etc.

I went on a 12month contract with three (£15 - 600mins 3000 txts/ultd data), but got out of it after three months, 3g network is fine in built up areas, towns/cities etc, but between them it is horrendous around East Anglia from my experience. I had tried all the modems I could in my SGS3. I told them a number of postcodes I couldn't get a signal and eventually they let me have my PAC code.

Moved to Virgin as of Monday (which runs off the back of Tmob/Orange aka EE) much better more consistent connection when I was out today (probably the 2g helps maintain a connection between residential areas?) plus speeds are better at my home and work address, bonus.

Edited by benbird7 (Tue 13-Nov-12 23:57:58)

I have a sim only plan with Vodafone, on a very good deal (basically half price).

Unfortunately the data allowance is only 1Gb and I constantly go over so i've been trying out the various networks recently.

I know what you mean by 3. Weird network in the fact that they don't have a data connection at all on 2g. Outdoors, the signal is excellent and I am quite rural but there are places where it drops to 2g.

EE seem to have extensive Edge coverage. Saying that, the only time EE really drops 3G is in the rural location where 3 does.

The T-Mobile data network is excellent, really fast speeds. Orange is shockingly slow, can't even load photos on facebook.

O2 and Vodafone are MILES behind EE and 3 for 3G coverage.

Funny, as I was on Vodafone in exactly the same predicament, kept going over the 500mb allowance (I was paying £10.50 for 600 mins, ultd texts, 100mms, Vodafone passport and 500mb internet).

In the end I left them for three, but like I said it just didn’t work out. I need a phone to have signal in most areas, not only built up ones.

So far so good on Virgin

Edited by benbird7 (Thu 15-Nov-12 12:52:25)

coverage is subjective depending what street you live on or general area you live in

tried 3 twice my self over 2-3 months and my brother was with them for 2 years, main issue is out side or in green belt land or an motorway three is good, indoors your lucky if it works, where as O2 and orange put masts in housed areas and work places, not sure about other networks as i have only ever seen O2 expanding placing pole masts every 1 mile apart now (guess they are putting the 3g900 to good use)

also the other issue that was persistent issue with 3 in general getting Stuck with phantom 3G network (you got signal bars but they do not move, no voice/text or data services for 1-2 mins before the phone works out its really not connected any more and forces an network reconnect)

but TBO the other network operators have the same issue with Phantom 3G as well but 3 make the issues happen often due to bad cell placement and overloaded data load (the one plan)and not overlapping the 3g cells so to many dead spots for the phone to get confused and stuck
The phantom 3G happens on me giffgaff some times (same 1-2 min recover time) and my orange blackberry 9870 phone does it as well(but blackberry recover time is only 30 seconds to self fix the issue) why i tend to just leave my BB on 2G so i get no lost/missed calls due to 3G not been used (get 3x more battery life as well)

well t-mobile the full monty (£26 or £36) 3G only no 4G, Mostly unlimited data with constant traffic management (need VPN to use youtube i found)
and giffgaff they use O2 (£12) with 1gb an hour and 3gb an day data Ban limits

Have to echo the comments re Three being good in urban areas yet hopeless in the country. I'm currently with GiffGaff (O2) who have an excellent 2G network and reasonable 3G - it covers almost everywhere I need it. But I'm sick of their major outages (3 or 4 this year, one lasted 3 days) so have been trying ThreeUK on PAYG for a month. They are fine outdoors especially in urban areas but go indoors especially a mile or more from a mast and signal evaporates.

Check out the RootMetrics UK coverage maps for a "real world" view of signal. Data is crowd-sourced using iOS & Android mapping apps so the more people contributing the better. I've mapped most of Lytham St Annes (postcode FY8) on Three whilst a friend did O2 and they compare fairly well. However look at Three in South Ribble area of Lancashire (Leyland/Chorley - start with postcode PR7 and head Northwards) and you can see the difference outside of urban areas.

With regards to speeds I usually got 2-4mbps on Three, similar to O2. If next to a Three mast then I got 5-8mbps whereas O2 always stayed about 2-3mbps so they have that in their favour.

The conclusion I've come to is that no network is "Perfect" and you need to go with whichever network has coverage where you need it - home, work, friends houses etc.

yep Giffgaff do not seem that reliable (2 year old running the back end systems/billing systems) but i only use them for Data only (£12plan) not to bothered if it goes down for short time as i use giffgaff on my second phone for internet only (i would not recommend giffgaff for important or business or even day to day use ,due the the odd issues they have every 3 months)

GG is cheap so works fine for me, i would of been on Vodafone or O2 if giffgaff was not on offer, as i need my backup phone to not be on Orange or t-mobile as my main BB phone is on orange that can use t-mobile signal when Orange mast is not in range, i would of still been on t-mobile now on that second phone (most likely on The Full Monty plan due to 2000 mins text and unlimited data ish i May switch my orange phone to t-mobile when its contract runs out for that but i prefer Orange and i have been with them for 10+ years same account number)

i be with Three now if i knew that it work in most places same as you indoors is an issue (i have 3 Three Masts that cover my house but all of them offer less then 10% signal and not much better out side so my phone often gets stuck in phantom network 3g mode (it says its connected but its not,signal bars so on for 2 mins)

problem is they do not place there masts close enough to each other i have got 1 mast that is less then 500m from me but there is like 10 lines streets between me and it, so it may had be 1-2 miles away due to that

Edited by leexgx (Fri 23-Nov-12 16:51:46)

It really does amaze me how it varys from cell to cell. I've just been on my usual bus route. Taking speed tests roughly every 1/2 a mile over the 6-7 mile stretetch lowest I got was 284kbps/386kbps to 13mbps/9mbps

I got 10mbps on one test but only 2mbps literally round the other side of a block of flats I know the macrocell is on in my area.

Weird