Who has the best network?

Demon said:
I can't believe you actually typed that, so will assume you mean the opposite,
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No, I mean exactly what I said. 'You get what you pay for' is a common phrase which means 'If you pay bottom rate, you'll get bottom rate service'.

The fact that O2 bill customers even more for the same crap service is of no interest to me ;)
 
Wicksta said:
Fox your Paddington experience is the most confusing one, I do that journey frequently (a lot more frequently than you) and never have any problems with O2 signal. As you say this is on the main line from London to O2's HQ so I'm sure O2's many commuting staff would notice any blackspots along the way and report it. Are you sure your phone is ok? Where abouts were you in Paddington?
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I was about 10 minutes outside of Paddington on an FGW HST. I've no idea specifically where I was, I just know I needed to make an urgent phone call after sending 7 text messages to my gf and getting no reply - well, receiving no reply, 5 minutes later 7 text messages finally arrived that were sent as replies previously, gotta love O2 :D

Shame really, I have O2 fixed line broadband and it is absolutely sensational - almot 100% reliable, no problems at all.
 
What phone do you have, Fox?

I used to think that O2 were terrible but then I realised that my terrible reception was down to my choice of phone (iPhone 3GS). Stuck my SIM card into a Nokia and suddenly had full reception where my iPhone had none.
 
Demon said:
Thanks, this is exactly how I understood it. :)

I like the idea of UMA, although it's not clear from their blurb if it's just a bit of application software encompassing standard technologies such as VOIP, or if it's actually done right down at the 'radio' level, which are software flashable these days, so you'd think it just needs licencing to the various radio chipset manufacturers?
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It's more a package that requires a chip able to do it too (although most radio chips are "all in one"s these days that do everything). RIM in a very smart move put it in nearly every phone they flog as it adds very little to the cost but is a feature that can be used by everyone in the BBs native home - the office. The only real problem is call handover between wifi and GSM is er... shaky. The chip needs to support the ability to move the session between interfaces and this handover is tough on a technical level tbh.

BTW Orange's London office is in paddington and UK hub is in Bristol so we too should have decent first western signal considering how many VPs travel this every day ;) High speed trains are a bit of a fiddle as they are both faraday cages and travelling at high speed (rapid switching between cell towers, signal quality degraded) which is why some have repeaters on like Virgin.
 
I moved to 3 about 2 weeks ago on my iphone, quite impressed with the network and coverage both of which are superior to o2 which I moved from. Only down points so far is the bad english at the indian call center and content filtering being turned on by default =/
 
Got to be worth bunging 15 quid on a 3 sim & trying in your area. 3 for me & my Desire has been perfect over the years & I've only found one black hole so far. :cool: not years with the desire obviously just the network.
 
[TW]Fox;19227722 said:
I was about 10 minutes outside of Paddington on an FGW HST. I've no idea specifically where I was, I just know I needed to make an urgent phone call after sending 7 text messages to my gf and getting no reply - well, receiving no reply, 5 minutes later 7 text messages finally arrived that were sent as replies previously, gotta love O2 :D
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I do this route more than a few times a month at least, I pretty much spend the whole journey on my Desire browsing internet pages, Facebook, Twitter etc. and I've never had a signal issue.

Time for you to root your phone and put a decent radio on it? Something is not right.
 
I've been with T-Mobile for the past 11 years or so and they've always been good. Recently however, mobile broadband has been a bit poor at times so for the first time I am considering moving my main phone to Vodafone.

T-Mobile give me a good deal though so I'm not sure. I get 1200mins, unlimited txts, net and the Euro Talk & Txt booster for £30 a month.

I tried O2 some years ago and they were dire and I also had a phone on 3 around 4 years ago and managed to get out of the contract early as they were shocking.
 
Robbo said:
Maybe it makes a difference if you are on Giffgaff and not O2 directly? It wouldn't surprise me.
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It's feasible, the SMS call centre number is different in the SIM settings..

However, google, "Orange SMS Delay", "Vodafone SMS Delay", "O2 SMS Delay" etc, you'll see that the reality is, some people seem to suffer with it no matter what the network..

Giffgaff isn't the be-all and end-all , there are other reasonable PAYG offers from the other providers, he needs to do the sensible thing, try a few sims, or try his SIM in another phone and work out what combo works best for him..

Or just use it as an excuse to go back on contract, a nice SGS2 or HTC Sensation on T-Mob/Voda etc.. :)
 
im on 3 now and i find it much better than the other networks, also its less expensive. Considering i have been on 02 and Orange in the past.
 
I have a business contract for 19 phones and we cover over 60k miles per month around the NorthWest, Midlands, Yorkshire and the South west.

We were on Orange for 2 yrs but signal strength was found to be lacking(I had been with Orange for over 15 yrs on private contract)

We have since moved over to O2 and have found that we get better coverage BUT call quality can be poor (Sometimes sound like a robot so hang up and redial). Mobile Internet seems slow (can't compare didnt have it with Orange) Especially compared to my mates 3 network. I can surf through his wifi hotspot via his phone quicker than I can direct from my phone.

However O2 is nearly £200 per month cheaper than Orange.
 
I'm of to Vectone next. The whole GiffGaff community thing isn't for me. Everytime I get a replacement sim it doesn't work and it takes forever to sort **** out. I'm don't have a smart phone so 100 mins for £5 will do me.
 
I have been with Vodafone for about 8/9 years now and they have been completely faultless with their network coverage.

My work phone is on T-Mobile, which is a bit hit and miss in places.
 
Over the past 6 months I used various simcards in my cheap LG gt540 phone. I've used giffgaff, T-mobile iphone microsim, Orange, Three payg and at present a T-mobile blackberry payg sim with 6 months Internet access free (but I'm using it in an Android phone ;) ). Based on just my own personal experiences Giffgaff(O2) and 3 have the quickest and reliablest networks. This based on my usuage around the Hull area were I live and work, average speeds in the centre of Hull during 9-5 were 1400kbps down / 600kbps upstream using Giffgaff, slightly lower on Three. T-mobile speeds are about 30% slower. The T-mobile Blackberry sim is resticted to 3G speeds 360 kbps down, 200kbps up, but it is free for 6 months though (unless T-mobile complain that I am using it in a non-blackberry phone :( )
 
About a year ago, I'd have been happy to recommend Orange, but I, along with a few other people I know in the Beds/Bucks regions have found overall service lacking, seemingly since they started the whole T-Mobile merger.

Signal just doesnt seem anywhere near as good as it used to be, and fluctuates like hell (anywhere from 0-4 bars in the same place across multiple phones) and we're slightly suspicious they've switched off some Orange sites now they can fall back to T-Mobile, which has caused the reduction in reliable coverage.

Once 3G mergers are complete and T-Mobile/Orange networks are seen as one and the same by the phones (rather than Orange and Orange T-Mobile as most Orange phones probably see them right now), then perhaps they'll pick up again as they'll be able to share networks wholesale; but Orange don't improve in the next 12 months, my next contract definately won't be with them.

I only live 2 miles outside of MK, a fairly large town/city and signal certainly isn't much cop, I can't even always make a reliable, clear voice call, and it's not even that good in the middle of town.

As I say, its a real shame, I've been with them for a good 4/5+ years, and previously they'd always been good, but I've been rather dissapointed recently.
 
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