What's the best network?

Marakith

Marakith

Marakith

Associate
Joined
22 Nov 2004
Posts
412
Location
London
Hi there,

I'm thinking of getting a Desire. Currently I have an old Samsung D900 and want to go to a smartphone.

I'm also considering waiting to see what Apple releases next week. I presume whatever they release will appear on o2 first.

I'm currently on T-Mobile. I'm thinking of going to a different network because there seems to be a lot of blackspots with T-Mobile. Happy to be talked out of this. I was thinking of going with o2, but it seems that there's a lot of talk about their Data network being pants.

What's currently the network with the best voice and data please?
 
O2 and T-Mobile are the best in my opinion.

They have the best data usage policies too, obviously this all depends on where you are.
 
O2 have a 20GB FUP, T-Mobile 3GB FUP, Voda 1GB FUP?, Orange 750MB FUP and 500MB Hard Cap dependant on which tariff you take out.

Orange and T-Mobile are merging soon so they will have the best coverage in the UK.

It's all dependant on whether or not you can get a good signal where you live or spend most of your time on your phone really.
 
Jamesbcd said:
O2 have a 20GB FUP, T-Mobile 3GB FUP, Voda 1GB FUP?, Orange 750MB FUP and 500MB Hard Cap dependant on which tariff you take out.

Orange and T-Mobile are merging soon so they will have the best coverage in the UK.

It's all dependant on whether or not you can get a good signal where you live or spend most of your time on your phone really.
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Voda is 500mb hard cap now.


So either T Mob or O2 depending on coverage
 
For me it doesn't matter.. I have no 3g anywhere near me so I just went for the cheaper
 
Robboftw said:
Thanks for backing up your post with some great facts and figures there. :rolleyes:

You must have forgotten to add "in my opinion" to the end. :(
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It is my opinion and it is also a fact.

No other network has a bigger 3g network than three..

We have the UK’s biggest 3G network and we’re continuing to build an even better network for our customers. Our aim is to increase cover of the UK population from 92.5 % (in 2009) to over 98% by the end of this year. This means better coverage for using the internet on your phone; and a faster service for our Mobile Broadband customers. And we’ll continue to provide 99% coverage for calls and texts.
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http://www.three.co.uk/Help_Support/Coverage

Official sources:

-ofcom: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/broadband/cellular/3g/maps/3gmaps/

I dont understand the roll eyes smiley, was my post offensive or a lie?
I do not think so.
 
lol.

They also have far from the best deals and the fact T-Mobile and Orange are merging will mean they have the most coverage.

It also depends entirely on where you live and work, thus why stating what was technically the best didn't really help matters.

What is the fair usage policy for data on a normal contract deal then?
 
I would bet that by the time t-mobile & orange have merged three's network improvements will have been completed.

Fair usage on a normal contract deal is 1GB/pm.
They won't charge you more or stop your access unless you have broken the 'limit' on multiple times.

It does matter who is technically best since phones are mobile - you move them around the country and expect them to work. Three has 99% phone coverage and is the ONLY network that works in the lake district properly (I have a house there & people with t-mobile, orange, o2 etc fail to get any signal while three always has bars).

There's nothing in it for me arguing about this so I'm leaving it here since you have some kind of unexplained hatred towards me, I just generally think that three is the best network for smartphones and the statistics are out there if you care enough to look.
 
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I don't have any hatred towards you, I just don't think Three are anywhere close to being the best network. There are a lot of conflicting statistics, many of them often wrong.

Suit yourself though :) Oh, and don't T-Mobile and 3 have the same masts?
 
rickh said:
I would bet that by the time t-mobile & orange have merged three's network improvements will have been completed.

Fair usage on a normal contract deal is 1GB/pm.
They won't charge you more or stop your access unless you have broken the 'limit' on multiple times.

It does matter who is technically best since phones are mobile - you move them around the country and expect them to work. Three has 99% phone coverage and is the ONLY network that works in the lake district properly (I have a house there & people with t-mobile, orange, o2 etc fail to get any signal while three always has bars).

There's nothing in it for me arguing about this so I'm leaving it here since you have some kind of unexplained hatred towards me, I just generally think that three is the best network for smartphones and the statistics are out there if you care enough to look.
Click to expand...

might want to check your facts there, that is true for people who took out their contracts before they changed it to a 500mb 'hard cap' in the last couple of months(I can't be bothered to go check on their website for the charges if you go over), people taking out new contracts are stuck with the new 500mb limit. from what I remember from other threads on here, you can pay £5/month to get an extra 2gb/month(making it 2.5gb/month).

I'm not on 3 and have never been on 3(tho did come close to getting the £15/month for life contract they did back in 2007, but ended up going on orange due to the magic number), but I have read countless number of people saying that trying to get a pac code/end contract at end of the contract term(18/24months) is akin to bleeding a stone.
 
the three network seems pretty good now. the horror stories aren't really relevant anymore as far as coverage is concerned. they share 3g masts with T-Mobile and roam to orange gprs when necessary. they're also adding lots more masts this year.

also there really is no excuse for not loading up the coverage maps if you spend time in a suburban area tat might not have good coverage.

data speeds are pretty good too IME.

their phone support is crap. three network is the one you go for price or features. it is the only reason to put up with their customer no-service.

look at their iPad data plan. it is the best value but you have to talk to idiots (due to lack of training and language skills) to get it activated.
 
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No-one has mentioned the best...

Tesco. They are basically o2 with amazing customer support.

I am on pay and go, top up £20 and get £20 + £40 credit that has to be used in one month. I use this credit in a month on calls and texts then have the £20 left over to carry. If I go on holiday or need to ring any 0870 type numbers then I dont get any nasty suprises on my bill like I used to. I used to be on £25 a month contracts but would get a bill and it would be usually £35.

I can now see where my money is going and can topup easily

I have been on Vodafone, Orange and O2 in the past. All have been ok except when I rang up about my bill it took ages to get through, they were also slow at sending out replacement sims and vodafone and orange charged me £10 for another sim card!

I have lost my sim card twice whilst ive been with Tesco. Both times I lost it saturday night and rang up sunday around 7pm to tell them. Straight through, cancelled my simcard, sent out another one which arrived tuesday morning with my same number, all my call credit and free month remainding credit still on.

So, Tesco it is for me
 
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