which mobile network has best coverage

[Slogger]

using t-mobile

have to bin them as they are not looking after me a long standing customer

i have £ 30 a month budget need a good mobile company for coverage and at least 200 mins a month can anyone recommend one

need new phone to as my nokia 6600 is looking a sight tatty now

 

[ninebob]

Best coverage has always been Vodafone or o2, not sure if either are slightly in front at the moment.

I have just got myself a good deal from Vodafone:

£25 per month reduced half price to £12.50 for the first 6 months.
200 minutes to any network, any time
250 texts per month
If you use up your minutes, off peak calls are still a good deal - talk for up to an hour and pay only for 3 minutes.

Choice of pretty cool free phones, I went for the Nokia 6230i with free bluetooth headset.

Only slight niggle i can think of as I mentioned in another topic, I had a nice number on o2 but Vodafone wouldn't let me port it with me.

All in all, a high recommendation from me!

 

[user56565]

go for orange. i used to work for orange, honestly say they were pretty good.

check out their online deals - 200 mins & 500txts, or 300mins & 0 txts for £30. you can then go into your local official orange shop and get it all from there, including other in-store offers like buybacks etc..

at the end of the 12month contract, call em, haggle, and you'll be able to get the 3 tariffs. i done this for a friend 2months ago. got him a free nokia 6800, 500mins, 120 txts for £25/month. you won't get those sort of deals as a new customer.

 

[jasy]

o2 mate. just renewed with them and as an existing customer i get 600 cross network and 100 texts for £40. I think as a new one u get 400 for £40 and 50 texts

 

[olly_k]

Been with Orange for about 8 years - last year got a bit cheased cos I didn't feel valued (although had no major complaints about network as whole) anyway I complained and ended up with 500 all inc minutes every month for £25/month and a phone that to be quite frank blows every nokia I have seen out the window (style not as refined tho). I pay about £30 every month and have a phone that can play full 2 hr movies and hold albums only limited by the size of memory card in the thing!
Every time I am with people who are on other networks I could almost bet they will lose coverage before me - and I get a better service generally as well I know caus I have been with most other networks thru work - Orange - can't fault 'em
PS I don't actually work for O if that's what you are thinking!

 

[Richardp]

Its a shame that these phone companies don't work together and share their repeater stations so that they all get the widest coverage possible cos some work better in different parts of the country, orange only works here if your standing on a ladder half way in the Attic.

 

[breezer]

Its a shame that these phone companies don't work together and share their repeater stations

think you will find they are on differnt frequencys so they cant

besides competition is good for us the consumer

 

[jtaunton]

No reason you can't antenna share (http://www.quintel.co.uk/) - they work at different frequencies, but within the same band.

Only thing is, if they all had the same coverage, then the only thing they could compete on is price, and they don't like the sound of that.

Re: the network - Unless you live in a city centre, or within t'M25, don't go for a 3G phone. The theory is that if it flicks back to the 2G network whenever it can't get a 3G signal, which is all well and good. But it will insist on keeping you on the weakest of 3G signals if it can get a sniff of one.

 

[kendor]

which network has the best coverage is a bit subjective and dependant on proximity of transmitter when wanting to use the phone.
For example i used to be with vodaphone but couldn't get a decent signal when at work and found O2 now gives perfect reception anywhere at work.
This is to do with an O2 transmitter up on the roof.

 

[user56565]

just from experience, my nokia 6630 which is on orange, hasn't had this problem that you mentioned jtaunton. it switches very seamlessly between 3g and 2g, and ive never had any probs with it. however i believe phones on the 3 network do suffer from this - they'd rather you use their weak signal, than pass you onto the o2 network which costs them.

i must say i also use o2, and reception only slightly varies between them. on an extremely localised basis , i will sometimes see a difference (ie o2 won't work in tescos, orange will, etc...)

check the network's websites for local coverage, and choose the best. there shouldn't be much of a difference between them. on orange, if you make a call and get cutoff, you get an extra minute of airtime on your next bill, that's how 'confident' they are.

id recommend orange 1st overall, however o2 online (you can only get your bills online) comes in 2nd. i haggled when my contract finished, and now have 500mins, 400 txts for £25/month! (compare that to orange's 500mins, 120txt for £25 which i mentioned earlier). IMO, t-mobile have a crap network, but improving cust serv, vodafone are just too expensive, and 3 seem to have a bad network and very bad cust service.

 

[Thermo]

user
is your nokia easy to use? Im currently with 3, who are ok for coverage, although a bit of a pain in the arse with spam texts. Im looking at upgrading. Ive currently got the lg8120 which is **** and far too complicated for me. i had a nokia before which was very easy to use, even though i didint use it to anywhere near its capability. Im just hoping that its followed the same nokia easy to use masterplan!

 

[Slogger]

ok thanks for the replys seeing as orange is being talked about here and by my m8s i will give them a go hope my number can be ported

 

[user56565]

hey thermo

with nokias now, there are 2 ways they lay the menu out. series 40 (example 6230i), and series 60 (example 6630).
series 40 is very easy to use, and if you've used an earlier nokia, you'll find this quite similar. its the 'easy to use masterplan'.
series 60 is very different, and uses icons instead of the list menu. but IMO still easy to use. its used on the more 'equipped' phones (3g), like the 6630 and 6680, and the now discontinued 6600 and 7610.

i find the 6630 very easy to use, lovely big screen brilliant if you put videos onto it eventually, or if you go on wap/internet. if you're going for one of these phones, id advise you have a play with one first, and make sure you'll get on with it. (then again itll be a massive improvement on that lg).

what problems are you getting exactly with spam texts???

orange will accept incoming ports, regardless of where you buy it from.

 

[securespark]

Depends where you lay your headgear.

My sis in Darkest Hants finds Orange best coverage. I find Virgin sometimes hopeless indoors in Manchester/Stockport, but brill in the Smoke.

I was with one2one from 98, but quit because their coverage was poor. I could be looking at the signal strength display (reading good), then get a voicemail alert, to find it was sent at a time when the singal strength indicator read good.......

Went to Orange....very good service. Left because I argued with them about swapping from PM to PAYG. I rang up to swap, and spoke to an over-zealous lady who asked why I wanted to leave. When I explained that with due respect it was none of her business, she told me that she would not authorise a swap until she had a "valid" reason. So I told her to stick it, and wrote a snotty letter to Orange CS, telling them they were greedy for information they had no right to gather.. Then went promptly to Virgin. Since had a letter from Orange apologising, so I bought a sim intending to swap back. When I registered it, they wanted to know the IMEI number of the handset. I told them I have three handsets, so couldn't give one specific IMEI as the sim may be in a different handset from one day to the next, and didn't feel it necessary to tell them anyway. All the other mobile providers I have sims for don't ask for an IMEI and if it is stolen, I can just give them the number for the handset in question.

This was no use to Orange, and they refused to connect my sim without an IMEI so again on principle, I refused and got a refund.

Call me a*al, but I feel very strongly about organisations asking for information that is unneccesary.

Rather like the police on a NIP asking for your dob- s*d off!! But that's another story....

 

[user56565]

an over-zealous lady who asked why I wanted to leave.

she must've been a dud. she should've just disconnected you. i would've redialled and spoken to someone else. (you do have to sometimes do this)

When I registered it, they wanted to know the IMEI number of the handset.

'pay as you gos' have to be registered on orange, more security or something. the people there can't connect it without an IMEI. i would have just given them any IMEI, it doesn't really matter really.