Maybe not the whole south west then
, my experience is mostly with rural farmland in Devon and Cornwall.Best network at the moment to use.
- Thread starter David1956
- Start date
, my experience is mostly with rural farmland in Devon and Cornwall.
Soldato
If the O2-Virgin and Three-Vodafone mergers go ahead, will the new companies have the combined coverage of their older companies?
I can't remember if EE had the combined coverage of Orange and T-Mobile put together, so thought I'd ask.
Thankfully, all phones come as unlocked nowadays, so there will be no issue with switching from O2 to Virgin etc. In 2013, I sold my Orange SII to a T-Mobile user after the merger happened but my phone wouldn't accept my buyer's T-Mobile sim. So I got the phone back and refunded, so that's why the SII is still in my signature
I can't remember if EE had the combined coverage of Orange and T-Mobile put together, so thought I'd ask.
Thankfully, all phones come as unlocked nowadays, so there will be no issue with switching from O2 to Virgin etc. In 2013, I sold my Orange SII to a T-Mobile user after the merger happened but my phone wouldn't accept my buyer's T-Mobile sim. So I got the phone back and refunded, so that's why the SII is still in my signature
Soldato
The O2-Virgin merger already happened, but since Virgin never had their own mobile hardware (they were previously just an MVNO), coverage is still the same as O2.If the O2-Virgin and Three-Vodafone mergers go ahead, will the new companies have the combined coverage of their older companies?
I can't remember if EE had the combined coverage of Orange and T-Mobile put together, so thought I'd ask.
Thankfully, all phones come as unlocked nowadays, so there will be no issue with switching from O2 to Virgin etc. In 2013, I sold my Orange SII to a T-Mobile user after the merger happened but my phone wouldn't accept my buyer's T-Mobile sim. So I got the phone back and refunded, so that's why the SII is still in my signature
EE was initially both Orange and T-Mobile's coverage combined, but then they removed some masts in overlapping areas. Which I found did made some areas worse. but over time it seems to have improved.
VM has already migrated their mobile customers to O2 FYI, have a couple of family members that was with VM, and was contacted a few months ago about the migration. Was quick and seamless, all they had to do was create login details on the O2 app.
Three has been the best for me the past 12 months. I was previously with O2 and despite showing full 4G signal and sometimes 5G signal, not even a simple webpage would load.
Much better indoor coverage on Three as well for me. Can't complain. Also got Three+ rewards for my weekly £1 Nero coffee
Man of Honour
Three (Smarty) because I live in Stoke and I get the best coverage with them.
In fact I go all over the UK and never have a problem.
I found O2 and Vodafone to be the worst.
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- 9 Apr 2012
- Posts
- 13,072
It depends where you live. Certainly on average they have the lowest albeit. But here in rural Hampshire, EE is 0.1Mb, Three 0.2Mb and Vodafone/O2 are 20
Associate
My vote is on Smarty, no credit check, decent deals and the 3 network has come on leaps and bounds (again) in the last 12-18 months. Had 1500Mb down just outside of Leeds which was mad. Coverage at home is 4G unless I'm in the (cold) loft but that's what Wifi and VoWifi are for. Travelling round the UK as part of my job, I generally get reasonable coverage and speeds for tethering when hotel wifi is poor.
One thing which is really putting me off Vodafone and about to have me move despite being a customer for something like 20 years - the last few years more often than not it seems like the account system is either down for maintenance or just not working or some kind of "unexpected error", etc.
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Soldato
I am on BT Mobile paying £8/month (well it was, just gone up to £8.60 thanks to CPI increase). I get 4GB of data, but I usually only use 1-2GB per month. Having at least 3-4GB of data is useful though just in case I need more.
What are peoples thoughts on the cheap MVNO providers?
Ideally I'd like to pay £5/month or less, looking on MSE these stand out as reasonably priced, they're all 1 month contracts with unlimited mins/texts. Roaming isn't something I require.
Lebara 5GB £4.90/month (Vodafone network)
Spusu 5GB £5/month (EE network)
Smarty 5GB £5/month (Three network)
There are some similarish deals with places like ID Mobile and Lycamobile as well, but Lyca aren't on MSE at least. Spusu sounds good on paper but not sure about them on the whole? mixed bag online.
Maybe Lebara out of those options? I think I was on Vodafone in the distant past and didn't really have any issues at the time with signal. I can always order and test the signal on the new sim before using a PAC code to swap over fully.
What are peoples thoughts on the cheap MVNO providers?
Ideally I'd like to pay £5/month or less, looking on MSE these stand out as reasonably priced, they're all 1 month contracts with unlimited mins/texts. Roaming isn't something I require.
Lebara 5GB £4.90/month (Vodafone network)
Spusu 5GB £5/month (EE network)
Smarty 5GB £5/month (Three network)
There are some similarish deals with places like ID Mobile and Lycamobile as well, but Lyca aren't on MSE at least. Spusu sounds good on paper but not sure about them on the whole? mixed bag online.
Maybe Lebara out of those options? I think I was on Vodafone in the distant past and didn't really have any issues at the time with signal. I can always order and test the signal on the new sim before using a PAC code to swap over fully.
Associate
EE for me. I travel all over the UK and nothing can compete. Yes, there may be cheaper but nothing can match the consistency of EE in my experience.
Lebara gets my vote out of those three but in fairness I've never tried spusu or smarty to have a valid opinion on them.
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 2,699
Not heard of this one before but looks Interesting.
Associate
Honestly can't fault them. And I'm very fussy.
Soldato
Are Lebara a decent option for most people. About to lose my work phone soon and will need an alternative. Prices are attractive in comparison to the tried and tested EE etc.
I tried signing up for this tonight. What. A. Nightmare.
I'd added this plan and a Galaxy s24+ to the basket. At checkout, created an account, entered my details to pay for the sim plan, had to create a PayPal account to be able to pay for the phone. Of course, paypal wouldn't work because being a brand new account it's counted as "suspicuous activity". Which I get, and it's not Voxi's fault, but still a pain and it should really be clear it doesn't work with new paypal accounts. So I had to cancel that. And then couldn't log in to the Voxi account using any of my username+password, pin, memorable word, OTP through the "forgot my password" etc. Help bot was of course no use and customer service is closed. So I have no idea if an account's actually been created, whether or not I've signed up to a sim, whether or not I can transfer my number if I have, and have no phone on order....
Sigh.
Soldato
Sorry I find that hard to believe. Your join date here is Jan 2005, which probably makes you 35 years old now if you were GCSE age in 2005 when you joined OcUK. At the very least.
currently on the £2 a month for next 6 months 5gb data goes to £4.90 after and being 1 month rolling I'll probably jump to another if see good deal, I havent had any issues with using them uses vodafone and coverage for my use has been good , I used lyca before who did 1p a month for 6 months
didnt have any issuesBest Sim Only Deals - Compare Cheap Contracts - MSE
Compare the best SIM only deals which includes minutes, texts and mobile data for a monthly fee without a phone. SIM only deals are normally cheaper than a traditional mobile phone contract.
www.moneysavingexpert.com
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Soldato
I finally managed to speak with someone at BT who could renew my deal at a more reasonable £6/month SIMO for 12 months, 4GB of data.
It's on EE so nothing changes for me, Lebara was where I was going to go if BT were unable to offer anything. They looked better than stuff like Lyca which had some poor feedback/reviews.
It's on EE so nothing changes for me, Lebara was where I was going to go if BT were unable to offer anything. They looked better than stuff like Lyca which had some poor feedback/reviews.
Sorry what? What has my join date on OcUK got to do with me ordering a phone from Voxi and having to set up a PayPal account?
Not that it's any of your business but I've never had a PayPal account because I've never needed one before. On the very rare occasion I've needed to buy something from a site that only uses PayPal I've used my wife's account. But I'm not about to sign up for a credit agreement using her name. And for the record I'm 49.