Which operator in London?

inferno · 26 Oct 2021 at 09:09

I signed up for Three since its cheap but I realised the signal is really bad, does anyone know if it will get better with 5G once I get my pro 13? I have a few weeks to cancel the contract.

What operator do you recommend? I need unlimited or high data sim only.

uvarvu · 26 Oct 2021 at 10:19

EE without a doubt especially for iPhone owners.

Wireless network provider support and features for iPhone in Europe – Apple Support (UK)

Orcvader · 26 Oct 2021 at 10:57

As above, I found EE to be best for London, especially in Central, with other networks it was either no spots or bad congestion issues. There's a couple of areas where it still struggles, but it's better out of the 4.

ttaskmaster · 26 Oct 2021 at 11:12

Wife has 5G on her Three phone and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Her signal is still ****, even using WiFi Calling options.

My Vodafone 5G is pretty decent and signals are usually 75% just about anywhere inside the M25. We even get reasonable signal working trackside out on the Underground, which is why work went with Vodafone for our business phones.
EE are generally reckoned to be the best, but when I last looked about 2 months ago they were also the most expensive.

Orcvader · 26 Oct 2021 at 12:00

ttaskmaster said:
EE are generally reckoned to be the best, but when I last looked about 2 months ago they were also the most expensive.

Luckily you're not limited to EE itself, MVNOs that uses their network also benefits from them. I'm with BT broadband at home so it knocks down £5 a month off on my mobile contract. I believe Virgin offers something similar too although I would imagine they'll migrate over to O2 in the future, and I found O2 had really bad congestion issues.

dl8860 · 26 Oct 2021 at 13:03

I was with virgin and they claimed to use EE signal but even they map coverage checker wasn't the same. And I definitely had coverage more akin to the virgin one than the EE one, so it wasn't like they just didn't update the map since switching to EE.

inferno · 26 Oct 2021 at 14:40

ttaskmaster said:
Wife has 5G on her Three phone and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Her signal is still ****, even using WiFi Calling options.

My Vodafone 5G is pretty decent and signals are usually 75% just about anywhere inside the M25. We even get reasonable signal working trackside out on the Underground, which is why work went with Vodafone for our business phones.
EE are generally reckoned to be the best, but when I last looked about 2 months ago they were also the most expensive.

I just called 3 and asked to cancel, they said I bhave to pay £250, I contacted complaints and mentioned about the signal and they let me cancel for free. I'll go with EE.

ttaskmaster · 26 Oct 2021 at 14:51

inferno said:
I just called 3 and asked to cancel, they said I bhave to pay £250, I contacted complaints and mentioned about the signal and they let me cancel for free. I'll go with EE.

Run, run, you're free!!!!!!!!!!

mrgubby · 27 Oct 2021 at 21:41

I travel all over London & in my experience Vodafone has more dead spots compared to EE

But as EE were complete ***** to deal with I'll be sticking with Vodafone

Rroff · 28 Oct 2021 at 01:59

dl8860 said:
I was with virgin and they claimed to use EE signal but even they map coverage checker wasn't the same. And I definitely had coverage more akin to the virgin one than the EE one, so it wasn't like they just didn't update the map since switching to EE.

A lot of Virgin customers (not just 5G) have been moved over to the Vodafone network now.

EDIT: Additionally some will be moving to O2 though not sure if that is happening yet.

dl8860 · 28 Oct 2021 at 08:33

Rroff said:
A lot of Virgin customers (not just 5G) have been moved over to the Vodafone network now.

EDIT: Additionally some will be moving to O2 though not sure if that is happening yet.

It definitely wasn't vodafone either because vodafone is who I moved to and the signal with them is fantastic. Nor O2, as my wife is on that and she's had no issues. My new house was almost a blackspot with virgin.

Rroff · 28 Oct 2021 at 08:35

dl8860 said:
It definitely wasn't vodafone either because vodafone is who I moved to and the signal with them is fantastic. Nor O2, as my wife is on that and she's had no issues. My new house was almost a blackspot with virgin.

Probably different frequencies/tech then - IIRC they don't precisely use the same setup as EE.

dl8860 · 28 Oct 2021 at 08:39

Rroff said:
Probably different frequencies/tech then - IIRC they don't precisely use the same setup as EE.

It's interesting if they do that. When they say they use the same network, you assume you'll be getting the same level of coverage.

reflux · 29 Oct 2021 at 11:40

IMO it really depends where you're living and working. But my experience of living in Elephant and Castle and then Enfield, and working in Old Street, here are my observations:

EE - decent pretty much everywhere
Virgin (EE) - see above
Three - no signal at all when I was in Elephant and Castle, and dropped calls here in Enfield
O2 - no issues at all, and also lets me set a preference for Wifi or network calling which is great when I'm in an area with flaky signal but decent WiFI (not all networks let you do this).