Orange customers invited to sign up to access T-Mobile network

bhavv said:
This is nice, I wonder if I will have stronger 3G signal on Orange :p

T Mobile already merged their masts with 3 some time ago, now I also get to use orange ones too, thats great news.
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Only just finished this month ;)

The savings are potentially huge for both parties, Orange and T-Mobile share probably thousands of masts, I believe the 'owner' of the mast being shared charges for the privelige, so the rationalisation of cell sites is extremely beneficial.
However, to handle the increase in the number of users using one big network, I guesss each site's capacity is going to have to be looked at, so maybe (for example) leaving a T-Mobile antennae on an Orange mast is the easiest solution?

Any cellular comms gurus in the house?
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I work for Orange so I can provide one side of the story. You're right about the sites - we will rationalise sites with extreme care making sure we keep coverage. The good news is often operators share sites (my nearest is on a block of flats where all 5 have a mast) so the impact should be fairly low. Common sense tells us we will reduce 2g over 3g sites and probably put some new ones up to fill the gaps we leave (3g sites are smaller in coverage).

On the other hand... Mashing the 2 networks together is extremely expensive due to the different protocols, signals etc.. And we need a route to migrate to LTE, and a path to ditch the 2g network in a 5 years etc...
 
Myshra said:
and a path to ditch the 2g network in a 5 years etc...
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Yay for ditching the 2G network.

My previous phones kept on losing 3G signal and automatically setting to GPRS, even though I were manually selecting 3G.

My new one allows me to set WCDMA mode only, so no more horrible 2G speeds.

I only get around 600 Kbps on it though, but its still fast enough for youtube and MMOs, just not for downloads. As I long as I can connect to an MMO and not lose 3G signal, I'm happy :)
 
I just saw this on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11199786

As a t-mobile customer who suffers ropey coverage out in the West of England countryside, I'm delighted to get access to the Orange network as well, will be great stuff. I quite often have a lack of signal, and I'm hoping it'll really improve.

When they eventually roll it out to 3G it'll be superb.


I'd like to think we were working to some common-sense nationwide network along these lines, but I strongly doubt it...
 
I'm on O2 but will see how my girlfriends' signal goes as she's on T-Mobile and has terrible signal at home (signed her up on that link). Might switch over myself if the deals are also favourable. I've always found Orange to be very good in more rural areas where O2 is very patchy (but good in more urban areas).
 
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