Three 4G

Hey

What is happening with Three's rollout. In one place they say 50 Cities by end of 2014 and in another they list a whole lot of towns for 2014

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/When_will_I_get_4G

So is it end-of 2014 or end-of 2015 that we might see widespread 4G coverage from Three?

It's still extremely patchy even in london compared to EE so I think it will be a while yet.

Still no reason to get a 4G phone then... still using an iPhone 4. Really should cancel and just use EE work phone for everything.

I'm on oxford street with a friend and they have no 4g on network 3 in this spot. Granted they get it in other parts of the street, although EE has a full 4G signal here. If 3 don't have key locations like this entirely covered yet I think other cities will take a while. That said I could be wrong! Personally I'm glad I'm with EE.

It's not just London. It's other big cities like Manchester and Birmingham too.

Rumours on the net are Three are not using 1800mhz as their main frequency like EE are. They are now submitting planning applications in various cities for additional 800mhz transmitters and cabinets.

This will massively improve coverage.

It will mean more people connected to each mast though and potentially slower speeds therefore...
EE are using both lower and higher frequencies nowadays.

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

I have no idea.

I have since moved to O2 because they are the only ones with signal where I live. And also from looking around at ofcom's site I have both 2100 and 900 within streets of me.

You will only lock at 900mhz as your device supports it though i might be wrong, though someone at O2 did say they might disable 2100mhz in future but I think that will be a while yet maybe even 5 - 10years.

2100mhz is only for older devices without support for 900mhz UMTS.

Also ofcoms site finder isn't that much upto date anymore, O2's website does however provide mast locations and very accurate to but don't give details such as operating frequencies and power output, and height of cells

Three have already declared their average 4G speed will be around 18Mb. It appears they are not geared by speed at all. Indoor coverage is what they want to improve. Understandable as 2100mhz 3G has always been an issue for them in regards to indoor coverage.

Currently it seems they are activating areas where the capacity on 3G is low, plonking the odd 1800mhz mast here and there and then declaring that town / city is enabled.

I must say I have been very disappointed with their 4G roll out so far. I thought it was going to be as aggressive as EE's has been, hence why I stayed with 3 and didn't jump over to EE. Even in areas where the coverage is supposed to be very good on the coverage map, the reality is different.

It will be a flat out battle between EE and Vodafone in regards to the best 4G network. From what I have seen of Vodafone 4G, the speeds are very impressive and the coverage in the areas enabled is also excellent, especially indoors. Vodafone are also using 2600Mhz along with 800Mhz in cities which is pushing the headline speeds up.