Other Which mobile provider has good coverage and service?

Hi,

I was wondering which mobile provider has good coverage and service in UK?

Thanks

 

O2 are pretty decent for me (though I spend most of my time in the city). Certainly better than Orange & Vodafone were.

I think some providers will let you check coverage on their websites if you're worried about any particular area.

 

They have. But I stay in Dundee, and my current T-mobile says full coverage. Full but very weak coverage indeed. So thinking of changing from PAYG to pay monthly while retaining my number. Is it cheaper than getting new number?

 

Transferring your number to a new provider is usually free.

 

Cool! I never thought I needed pay monthly, but since moving house, and calling all the utilities... I spend more than £50 on top-ups for calls I think less than 30mins...

 

Keep in mind that if they use 0800 numbers or similar they probably won't be covered under the inclusive minutes of a monthly contract, so you'll still pay by the minute. Use a website like saynoto0870 to find local rate numbers - should save you a fair bit of money.

 

NOT three.

 

Really does depend on your area. Out where I live, O2 and T-Mo are useless, but Voda and Orange are very good. All providers have coverage maps, check out the areas you will most use the phone. Specifically look for 3G/HSDPA coverage as well.

 

I#ve seen coverage for orange, O2, vodafone, virgin, t-mobile and 3. They all have coverage in my area. Not sure about talk mobile. Never heard of them.

Why not 3? I thought 3 has this unlimited YM feature as part of handphone?

So its O2, vodafone, orange, virgin?

 

Virgin use T-mobile's network so there's no point changing to them. We honestly can't tell you which network will work in your area - ask your friends/flatmates/whatever how good their signal is at your house, and what network they're on.

 

They are more interested in getting the latest and newest mobiles rather than the call quality of the area.

 

Dear god aint that the truth!! I should have figured something was amiss when they gave me an awesome deal on contract, yeah brand new phone free, yeah 6000 txts a month, 3000 mins to any 3G phone and yeah 500 to anyother network for £20 a month. Try getting a signal? F**k no!

 

This.

It's a very local thing.

personal experience here in Crawley (sussex) all providers generally have perfect voice coverage, but 3G coverage can be quite patchy.

We use Vodaphone at work the moment and it regularly drops to GPRS mode on the 3G cards in approx 1/3 of the town, while i've yet to see my t-mobile phone drop out of 3G mode here.
could depend a lot on the handset reception too though, so not really safe to read too much into it.

 

well where i live the only coverage we get a good signal on is 3 and orange, and to be honest i am a bit supprise people are so of 3 as i was with them for years in manchester and derbyshire and never once did i find a spot where my friends could get a signal and i couldnt

i now live in the south east and my wife is on 3 and she gets a signal everywhere i get one and i am on orange

it really is down to where you live as to how good a signal you will get on any of hte networks

 

Orange probably gives the best coverage where we are.

 

3 are the worst absolute worst of the lot. Your phone will spend more time in "emergency calls only" than getting actual service.

I've been with t-mobile since 2001 personally but business phones I've had over the last three/four years have ALL been o2 and they have the best signal in the UK that I can see.

T-mobile has good signal where I need it so that's all that matters to me personally. My girlfriend is on Orange and her signal is OK, but not as good as o2 in the same areas.

 

Most network providers offer free pay as you go sim cards so it would be worth road testing each network for a while. Its a small amount of effort, I'd suggest having a secondary phone with the trial network alongside your current phone so that you are still available to be contacted. Try to use the trial network as much as possible and encourage others to call/text you on this phone for the time being. This way you'll see for yourself which network provides the best coverage as you go about doing your daily tasks. I did this around a year ago and my friends totally didn't mind as in all honesty, they just had to change my number stored on their phone.

 

Orange gives the best coverage nearly everywhere i've been in the UK. Even in the middle of Wales in a deep valley I still get good reception. Despite this I wouldn't personnally recommend them, I will be leaving them as soon as my contracts runs out.

 

Avoid T-Mo, they're not gonna be around come next year.

I get mostly decent strength on O2, but I've always had good reception on voda (which is kept around for emergencies as it's always just been rock solid)

 

What do you mean by that? T-mobile closing shop? What happens to their customers then