Edited by deleted (Wed 21-May-14 12:08:50)

O2 are shutting the network down in my area late this month to "upgrade" it.

Complete shutdown, got an email and sms to warn me.

So will be interesting to see what this "upgrade" entails.

I still have my three sim as three are sort of like how VM manage their congestion, they find it cheaper to pay customers to stay with them instead of upgrading their network. I effectively have three free now as compensation for the performance.

Three I have so far from bit of testing while travelling found it consistently quite good in any out of city area, but slow in every city I have been in. But never excellent.

Edited by Chrysalis (Wed 21-May-14 20:21:37)

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

So will be interesting to see what this "upgrade" entails.

Probably replacement of mast and cabinets to enable the totally new kit supporting 4G, 3G and 2G, and most likely to be ready for co-working with Voda under Cornerstone.

Three here is about 3megabit at lunchtime today. EE 3G was 8megabit, and 4G was 15megabit. Nothing earth shattering.

will this new kit have extra bandwidth capacity you think?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

will this new kit have extra bandwidth capacity you think?

If they're installing 4G they should be increasing the backhaul. Its reported the EE sites that have been upgraded to 4G have at least 1Gbps backhaul compared to old MBNL (T-Mobile/3) sites that mostly have 100Mbps links. Old Orange, old Voda might have only had 2 or 8 meg links. O2 seems to be "it depends" on age of the mast and when last upgraded.

Voda has improved around here, so I suspect 4G is planned before end 2014, as 3G used to max out at 7 meg in the town centre, and in housing estates around 3meg. Now I get 9meg in most places, which sounds like the cap for people not on a 4G plan.

All depends on area. I've seen 32mb on my 5S on 3 but I also get 1.2mb at work - out performed by O2 and Vodafone.

Congestion where I work is an issue for 3.

In reply to a post by wolvesmad:

Congestion where I work is an issue for 3.

Since 3 have about 9.5 million customers, and the other three have over 20 million each, and 3 was the only network to offer "all you can eat data" (including tethering) - they've been victims of their own success.

I know people who bought a cheap phone and used it as a WiFi hot spot for 3 months in rented accommodation. Must have used hundreds of gigs of data streaming movies and games via PS3 and XBox. Not a good use of 2100mhz airwaves.

Probably right but I still have no issues streaming music where ever I go from spotify and Google Play with three. As long as I can maintain the speeds for that I'm happy.

Got this speed during rush hour in Manchester today.

In reply to a post by brandscill:

Probably right but I still have no issues streaming music where ever I go from spotify and Google Play with three. As long as I can maintain the speeds for that I'm happy.

Yes, I have a Three MiFi and it still works well to keep me connected to work over our VPN, vastly superior to my work issued mobile on Vodafone which too often is 2G only with not enough data to get WhatsApp or iMessage to work.

Got this speed during rush hour in Manchester today.

Great speed, I assume 4G

Yep 4G. Moving back to the countryside in just under a month where I can scrape 1 bar of 3G outside if I'm lucky.
To make matters worse I can't get anything more than 2-3mb ADSL.

Edited by deleted (Wed 21-May-14 23:03:55)