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does a contract sim on three have to be used with a 3g phone, or will a 2g phone work with the sim? bearing in mind it would only be for phone calls and texts
question for those on three
- Thread starter quickshot89
- Start date
Are you sure about that? Surely there are 2G capabilities for more rural areas?
Apparently the sim card will stop working because they only have 3g networks it means they have to pay roaming charges for you so they cut it off. (Read it in the T&C a while ago)
When using a 3g phone if you have a signal its always 3g they don't operate on 2g.
Yes, somewhat unsurprisingly it's Orange!
It was frustrating when they disabled 2G as I used it to improve my smartphone battery life by 50-80% depending on usage! The 3G signal is better here now than it used to be though, and I would say that Three UK are the best for mobile internet by a good margin based on my experience.
It was frustrating when they disabled 2G as I used it to improve my smartphone battery life by 50-80% depending on usage! The 3G signal is better here now than it used to be though, and I would say that Three UK are the best for mobile internet by a good margin based on my experience.
To clarify because there's some wrong stuff in this thread:
The country-wide roaming agreement with Orange stopped with 3 but they kept up some regional agreements where coverage was weak from their other agreement - their share with T-Mobile, which was more about HSDPA cells and the speed rollout because the two networks are built off the same kit.
In the future all 3 networks (as in, Ora/T-M/Three) will have big ol' coverage provided by a MBNL, a company that basically owns a lot of network assets (1 support contract split 3 ways is cheaper, a lot) that each network gave them.
As hilarious as it was to read:
The one caveat; Older phones only support what are essentially "dumb SIMs", phones typically before 2002. After this date networks started using uSIMs, think the next generation of SIM with the power to decode 3G encryption. Phones needed to be able to do this too, not just the SIMs so if you put a uSIM into a phone that doesn't support them, they sometimes don't work.
The country-wide roaming agreement with Orange stopped with 3 but they kept up some regional agreements where coverage was weak from their other agreement - their share with T-Mobile, which was more about HSDPA cells and the speed rollout because the two networks are built off the same kit.
In the future all 3 networks (as in, Ora/T-M/Three) will have big ol' coverage provided by a MBNL, a company that basically owns a lot of network assets (1 support contract split 3 ways is cheaper, a lot) that each network gave them.
As hilarious as it was to read:
Is false, no network operates on 3G only because it would be extremely bad for signaling purposes and basically force three to become a city only network. A 3G phone also has radios in for 2G, you can't even buy 3G only radio chipsets.
Again, false. Three propped up their coverage with roaming agreements, the SIM will work fine.
The one caveat; Older phones only support what are essentially "dumb SIMs", phones typically before 2002. After this date networks started using uSIMs, think the next generation of SIM with the power to decode 3G encryption. Phones needed to be able to do this too, not just the SIMs so if you put a uSIM into a phone that doesn't support them, they sometimes don't work.