Best network at the moment to use.
- Thread starter David1956
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Soldato
I would never recommend Vodafone based on my user experience. I am London based but travel all over the south of England for work and the speeds on Vodafone (on an iphone 14) are generally pants.
Soldato
On unlimited data plans, what data cap is in the fair use policy from the major providers nowadays?
I'm on Three and they are true unlimited as I have ripped through 180GB over the past month on my home 5G no probs, but I know some providers have limits. I probably won't move away from Three as £17/month for unlimited is decent. Just wanted to see what the other options were.
I'm on Three and they are true unlimited as I have ripped through 180GB over the past month on my home 5G no probs, but I know some providers have limits. I probably won't move away from Three as £17/month for unlimited is decent. Just wanted to see what the other options were.
Soldato
3 says there is no fair usage policy. EE has 600GB.
Soldato
what ever you do, avoid Lyca mobile. They completely stopped getting short code messages from say Hmrc or facebook for 2fa authentication which can leave you in trouble if you require access. I recently moved after struggling to log in to Hmrc portal to 1p mobile which still use EE but not through the crappy mid man transatel which constantly causes these issues.
I thought Lebara was Vodafone so voxi are as well
Yes they do run on Vodafone network. Not used Lebara.
I've been with EE for years recently decided to change over to Smarty to save money a lot actually, for 8 quid a month can't knock it not had any issues with signal as of yet & they supports both volte & WiFi calling.
It seems in Wigan especially the Town Centre I get a better signal on Smarty than I did with EE, surprising really considering the 3 Network doesn't have the best reputation for signal coverage.
It seems in Wigan especially the Town Centre I get a better signal on Smarty than I did with EE, surprising really considering the 3 Network doesn't have the best reputation for signal coverage.
Vodafone keep spamming me via text, email and letter even though I have marketing stuff disabled - which only seems to have stopped the 2-3 times a month, or 2-3 times a week sometimes, cold calling by their "value added" partners. Especially trying to sell me their broadband :s
I used to rate them for signal/coverage but those days are long gone sadly - in the past you'd always get something on Vodafone even if the speeds weren't always great but these days EE seems to have far better coverage and speeds, albeit something other networks are doing as well but ever since they turned off their 3G coverage seems to have decreased a lot as well.
EE don't necessarily apply their 600GB cap - usually a one off month won't trigger it, if you are exceeding 12 devices or 600GB regularly you may find they give you the choice of cancelling or moving to a business plan however and/or applying traffic management if their network is under heavy load. People's experiences have varied a bit.
Albeit easier said than done in some places but I think if people are regularly exceeding 600GB a month they should be on a more appropriate connection anyhow.
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Man of Honour
I've noticed that some contracts say 100Mbps speed rather than "max speed". In all honesty would you spot any difference? The price difference isn't massive. I'm due for renewal in a few months and I've noticed there are now speed limitations on some contracts. Why pay for 5G if you're not getting full speed?
Soldato
Because its a phone and 100Mbps should be more than enough for anything you need to actually do on a phone and I guess its to stop people using tethering on a normal phone sim as much, as some people were "abusing" phone sims with tethering when they should have had a mifi or equivalent sim and device really.
Man of Honour
That makes sense. Hadn't thought of that.
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Well statistically Vodafone has the largest geographical coverage excluding technology.
Soldato
I’ve been with all of the different providers at different points in the past 10 years.
Nobody comes close to EE for data coverage and speed.
Here are my thoughts on each:
Three - used to be my defacto, but they became quite expensive and when they went big on 4G, their 3G network suffered and speeds dropped quite a bit. I stopped being able to get reliable speeds in big cities.
Recently tried again through ID but frequently had issues saying I had full 4G but never loading. GF had same issues. Moved back to EE after 2 weeks or so.
O2 - tried both direct and Giffgaff. Coverage was good but never really saw above 5 Mb unless in a city. Most people don’t mind but I like flexibility of having quick data if I need.
Vodafone - probably the second best, but it’s a long way behind. I was on contract for 2 years and when I finished, I left immediately. Didn’t matter where I was, just couldn’t get reliable speeds for downloading content on the go.
The thing for me is that most are fine until they’re not. It’s when you need that download speed for some new stupid parking app, which for some reason is 200 MB, that it really gets to you. Or you’ve forgotten to download Netflix stuff before a flight.
EE is expensive, but is typically reliable enough for me that I can depend on it when I need it. Therefore, I’ve stayed.
Nobody comes close to EE for data coverage and speed.
Here are my thoughts on each:
Three - used to be my defacto, but they became quite expensive and when they went big on 4G, their 3G network suffered and speeds dropped quite a bit. I stopped being able to get reliable speeds in big cities.
Recently tried again through ID but frequently had issues saying I had full 4G but never loading. GF had same issues. Moved back to EE after 2 weeks or so.
O2 - tried both direct and Giffgaff. Coverage was good but never really saw above 5 Mb unless in a city. Most people don’t mind but I like flexibility of having quick data if I need.
Vodafone - probably the second best, but it’s a long way behind. I was on contract for 2 years and when I finished, I left immediately. Didn’t matter where I was, just couldn’t get reliable speeds for downloading content on the go.
The thing for me is that most are fine until they’re not. It’s when you need that download speed for some new stupid parking app, which for some reason is 200 MB, that it really gets to you. Or you’ve forgotten to download Netflix stuff before a flight.
EE is expensive, but is typically reliable enough for me that I can depend on it when I need it. Therefore, I’ve stayed.
Soldato
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Perfectly summed up on my experiences as well.
Associate
1p Mobile which uses the EE network without any speed caps. I pay £20 a month for 200GB data and unlimited everything else. You can tether within your allowance and EU roaming is included.
They've been absolutely superb so far, moved away from Three (and then Smarty) and will never look back.
They've been absolutely superb so far, moved away from Three (and then Smarty) and will never look back.
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EE has the largest 4G network but not the largest network altogether. So if it's data you value then EE would statistically be the best choice.
My personal experiences up and down the country are that EE is still to this day, pretty awful in doors because their chosen spectrum allocations are not low band by default but rather band 3 or band 7 which doesn't penetrate buildings well.
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That’s the total opposite to my experience in rural Hampshire, Surrey and Scotland but you are right that the statistics say EE has the largest 4G network. Although Vodafone has the largest network full stop.
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