Mobile coverage

[Johnwebley]

hi all,

   after several years of using Giffgaff (on the O2 network) ,I am thinking of swopping to Plusnet ,using the EE network,

 I know most networks work around bigger cities,and are hopeless out in the sticks,
the cost saving is only small,but I just want better !!!

 I tend to get out and about both on the bike and by car,so your info would help,does your area have good coverage ?

do you know any "black" holes ?

in august I was coming back from North Wales,and got a rear wheel puncture,amazingly I had full phone coverage,!!
thanks all.

[matthewmosse]

Not sure of whos network but my phone is on 3, pretty good coverage mostly. We used it as sat nav til that phone broke, new phone on same sim seems worse. I used to be on vodafone, a storm toom out the local mast, when dad phoned to ask if they would fix it they said,no not enough demand, and that lost them 4 customers I know of. I don't think its been fixed in 10 years so massive blackspot for Vodaphone up here. I seem to recall not great 3 coverage up at Lyonshall with 3 but picked up signal reasonably quickly when walking a few yards down the road. At my home, 3 is weak at times, walk a hundered yards down the hill, its faster online than our broadband. My wife tried Tesco mobile a few years back (same as 02? ) hopeless locally. I was on T mobile and they were ok around here, but very pricy on intertnet data. These days I expect to spend £10 a year on pay as you go through 3. 1p a megabite, 2p a text and 3pa min talking. It does seem very hit and miss with all companies but 3 have managed to give me the least number of areas that are mobile dead zones.

[Johnwebley]

Mathew,I know Newtown is poor for O2,

 my puncture was about 1 south of Mailwyn roundabout,so It was ok there !!!

[Bryanj]

Try googling ee coverage, worked for me when I needed to use a 3 dongle in norfolk

[Nurse Julie]

EE good around here, can't get O2 or Vodaphone at all

[totty]

You could go dual sim, not so common here but they do it in many other countries. You'd need to change phones, the elephone p9000 is a great value high spec phone that supports two sims.

[SteveD CB500K0]

30 years in the telecoms business, here's my considered opinion...

There are 4 mobile networks in the UK:

EE is the biggest mobile network operator in the UK. EE is owned by BT (formerley 50/50 Deutche Telekom/T-Mobile and Orange/France Telecom). They claim 99% population coverage.

3 is owned by Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong)

O2 is owned by Telefonica (Spain) but was originally called Cellnet and owned 50/50 by BT and Securicor (remember the 80s?)

Vodafone is Vodafone. Spun off from Racal and has never merged or been taken over by anyone.

They are all pretty good (whatever the Daily Mail says) and choice is really about where you live. Go to Ofcom and look at the coverage maps. If you live near a big town/city and/or a motorway (me) then you are good to go. If you live in the Welsh valleys or the Lincolnshire Outback, check carefully.

I'm with O2. It suits me and works well. I don't think I've ever used customer services, but their sales people can be bullied into giving you a good deal if you keep telling them that you are leaving

Steve

[SteveD CB500K0]

Don't go dual SIM unless you know what you are doing. It's a minefield.

[matthewmosse]

There are a few spots up the hill from us with no network coverage at all. Best bet is to ask delivery drivers, they often carry 3 phones around here to get best coverage everywhere though it was a few years back since I last had that chat. I think Orange and 3 came up most as local good coverage back then. On dual sim phones, not 100% on this but I think there  were 2 sim slots on my Wifes Alcatel smart phone but I was stuggling enough with the concept of mini sim cards to want to look into it. Thats a £60 phone in carphone warehouse. Just go with the pay as you go, tied to a network sim, you can bung your own sim in anyway.

[Rozabikes Tim]

Been with 02 for years but just moved to Tesco who use O2 network and considerably cheaper. Ultimately as has been said already, depends on your particular area reception who you choose.

[flatfour]

We were thinking of buying a dual sim phone for use both in the UK and when we are in Japan, keeping the second sim for a Japanese network. In Japan, the sim is supplied with a set amount of credit on it and when it expires it is replaced, there is no top - up service available, to the best of our knowledge (my wife is Japanese and we are there frequently). The UK network sim would also be "pay as you go" as I don't like anyone having access to the bank account via DD's or similar.

Is there any real problem with such a set - up, does anyone know?

[totty]

The risk of that setup is roaming charges if you don't configure the phone correctly, swapping sims could be easier.

[Trigger]

hi all,

   after several years of using Giffgaff (on the O2 network) ,I am thinking of swopping to Plusnet ,using the EE network,

 I know most networks work around bigger cities,and are hopeless out in the sticks,
the cost saving is only small,but I just want better !!!

 I tend to get out and about both on the bike and by car,so your info would help,does your area have good coverage ?

do you know any "black" holes ?

in august I was coming back from North Wales,and got a rear wheel puncture,amazingly I had full phone coverage,!!
thanks all.

If you go for EE, go through ASDA on pay as you go, as it is cheaper John 

[flatfour]

Many thanks for that info. As the phone will only have the credit left on the sim to use, if we lose that it won't be too serious.

The problem for us with changing the sim card is that on almost all of our visits to Japan, my wife goes out a few weeks before I do to see relatives and I am not sure that she would be able to do this, I certainly struggle with it all at times and she tends to leave all of these things to me.

Only this week I needed to take my Smart phone to the local agent's because a symbol appeared on the screen that I had never seen before and could not persuade to go away. Apparently, it was an "NFC" symbol for telephone payment of bills! I still have no idea what caused it to suddenly appear on the screen.

[Johnwebley]

hi all,

   after several years of using Giffgaff (on the O2 network) ,I am thinking of swopping to Plusnet ,using the EE network,

 I know most networks work around bigger cities,and are hopeless out in the sticks,
the cost saving is only small,but I just want better !!!

 I tend to get out and about both on the bike and by car,so your info would help,does your area have good coverage ?

do you know any "black" holes ?

in august I was coming back from North Wales,and got a rear wheel puncture,amazingly I had full phone coverage,!!
thanks all.

If you go for EE, go through ASDA on pay as you go, as it is cheaper John 

  thanks Trig,I am with Giffgaff on PAYG,but have a "goody bag" at £7.50 for unlimited texts,250 free minutes and 500mb data,the
Plusnet offer is 1GB,and the same calls and texts for £5,
 so basically its the overall coverage I need ,
thanks for your info