O2 vs T-Mobile/Orange partership for 3G

ssdlucas · 18 May 2011 at 19:55

I am getting the Samsung Galaxy S ii and really want to be able to make the most of using it to browse the internet, watch YouTube etc. when out. Which network do you think is better I am mostly in South West London.

Looked at the coverage charts and they just said good or very good for both which didn't really help. Was wondering what are typical download speeds for each network.

O2 seemed to have a bad rep, but are they improving now that Ofcom has given them the go-ahead to use 2G spectrum to offer 3G services.

But with T-Mobile and Orange sharing their networks now, would that make them better. :confused:

Psypher5 · 18 May 2011 at 19:57

orange and tmob only share phone side of things, not data.

Nymins · 18 May 2011 at 20:02

Psypher5 said:
orange and tmob only share phone side of things, not data.

Although I think they are going to share data connections soon.

ssdlucas · 18 May 2011 at 20:04

Yes I think there are already sharing data.

See http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=USING_ORANGE_SIGNAL

Jimbeam3678 · 19 May 2011 at 09:51

But only slow data IIRC GPRS I believe

krooton · 19 May 2011 at 09:55

Ran speedtest with my orange connection at home, 2MB down, 512kb up.

Myshra · 19 May 2011 at 09:58

Disclaimer: I work for them, these are my words blah blah.

Hutch and T-M share their 3G network already (it's maintained by our erikkson friends). Orange's network will be merged with this under the company MBNL. For now the merge is a 2G only which includes GPRS (GPRS is just voice channels smashed together so sharing that isn't so bad).

Nymins said:
Although I think they are going to share data connections soon.

Assuming you mean 3G and all that entails, the internal trial is already under way. The good news is... it's pretty good. Hope they don't delay it.

On a purely factual level o2 had the worst 3G coverage for years and I mean really far behind the curve. They kept up the advertising to make up for it though

.

Morfik · 19 May 2011 at 19:51

Yeah if you read the small print on any of the Orange / T-Mobile network sharing posters it says "2G Only"

ssdlucas · 19 May 2011 at 20:17

Thanks for the replies. So 3G coming later.

Now interested in Three or Vodaphone. Starting a new thread.

Wicksta · 19 May 2011 at 21:24

Myshra said:
On a purely factual level o2 had the worst 3G coverage for years and I mean really far behind the curve. They kept up the advertising to make up for it though .

On a purely factual level, based on the industry recognised JD Power surveys, O2 seems to always come top when it comes to customer satisfaction for mobile internet.

TheCenturion · 19 May 2011 at 22:01

My orange/tmobile signal is crap (I'm on orange). In my current location, I don't get 3g. Yet less than a mile away, there's a phone mast with a big fat orange logo on it :confused:

Yet my mate who is on 3 gets 3g signal

Jacob (: · 19 May 2011 at 22:40

From my experiance and a lot of people i know on orange you can expect for a lot of your calls to not come through even if you have signal -_-

Liquidfox · 20 May 2011 at 09:38

Jacob (: said:
From my experiance and a lot of people i know on orange you can expect for a lot of your calls to not come through even if you have signal -_-

This is true, if your phone is using data, it won't receive a call. Next time you're making a call, watch your data icon, it'll turn off before it starts ringing out

TB1968 · 12 Jun 2011 at 03:51

Myshra said:
Disclaimer: I work for them, these are my words blah blah.

Hutch and T-M share their 3G network already (it's maintained by our erikkson friends). Orange's network will be merged with this under the company MBNL. For now the merge is a 2G only which includes GPRS (GPRS is just voice channels smashed together so sharing that isn't so bad).

Assuming you mean 3G and all that entails, the internal trial is already under way. The good news is... it's pretty good. Hope they don't delay it.

On a purely factual level o2 had the worst 3G coverage for years and I mean really far behind the curve. They kept up the advertising to make up for it though .

Love that

Orange/T-mobile have signed a deal with Hauwai to replace their network (T mobile being Ericsson supplied core and nokia RAN and Orange being everything else

), that may leave 3 out with nothing due to the fact 3G will become obsolete with the introduction of LTE (3G isnt a good system for voice as 2G far surpasses it), which has been the big issue for 3 for a long time.
Vodafone on the other hand are quite hand in hand with Ericsson, they test out a lot of their kit first (they did a fair bit on the 3G front), but as for all the networks, 3G didnt really take off until a few years back (probably properly in 2007/8 which saw a fast rise for mobile data) at which time O2 as you said were lagging (yet still note when they were apart of BT they had the first ever 3g network up and running, and the first live trial in the UK of LTE), and they have improved, if anything its the other networks that have to catch up now.
T-Mob/Orange or everything everywhere, are already doing that, 3.... still stuck in limbo, only 5 million customer base which is very small really, Voda, they wont be hanging around either, mass investment on LTE is the way forward, just as long as the government dont rip these companies off on the bandwidth sale again (thats what screwed the telecoms industry last time

)