Which business mobile network?

[foliedouce]

Been on Vodafone for years but getting frustrated with the increasing number of dropped calls, lack of data coverage and a Suresignal that rarely works.

As our contract is up later this year, can anyone recommend another network that has decent network coverage / quality? I would ideally like a Suresignal type service (one that works) at home as well as I live in a black spot from all providers, not sure if any of the other providers do this.

Cheers

[megaphone]

Unfortunately it's like asking "what's the best car"? All the main companies, Vodafone, O2, EE are much of a muchness and everyone has their favourite.

DO NOT go with '3' if you want consistent voice calls, had 6 disastrous months with them and threw in the towel.

We're now with EE/Orange, they have a dedicated business helpline which is reasonably efficient. They're as good as anyone else, coverage for voice is okay. Not sure about their 'Suresignal' thing, never needed one. You do need a decent home internet connection for any of them to work well.

I was with 02, for a while, it's a bit clunky, things like voicemail and lack of an engaged/busy beep when you call a colleague who is on the phone. Orange is better in those respects.

[Mr Overheads]

According to the latest OFGEM research EE comes out on top
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/mobile-phone-c...

But there is very little between all 4 networks and the millions they are spending at the moment on upgrading all teh masts to 4G to release more 3G spectrum for voice means in another year the picture will be different again.

It is therefore very location and user specific, so best to get a trial sim before commiting to a contract.

[Dr Interceptor]

We moved 18 months ago from Vodafone to EE - small 5 phone contract, two iPhones, three basic Nokias.

Data coverage on EE is great... my best mate has an iPhone 5 on Vodafone and will regularly lose data down to GPRS or 'E', but I'll have at least a good 3G signal, usually 4G in most built up areas.

[simonrockman]

O2 and EE do have femtocells like the SureSignal

http://ee.co.uk/business/large/your-office/boostin...

http://static.o2.co.uk/www/docs/business/boostbox_...

But they both make them very difficult to buy. They only really want to sell them via corporate sales to very large customers (and if I was one of those I'd go for the Ericsson Spot). Bear in mind that Femtocells are only 3G. Only one company does a 2G femtocell (and another does a 2G picocell, but they are expensive). 4G femtos are coming but still hens teeth.

I recently ran a project to test signals in London: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/23/the_regist...

EE had the best 4G signal when you take speed and reliability into account but when you look across voice, 3G data and 4G data Vodafone wins. It was particularly notable that EE seems to be crippling 3G to promote 4G.


You might want to look at the new BT OnePhone: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/24/bt_onephon... which uses the aforementioned 2G femtocell. Again it's a corporate purchase.


Me? I blame site sharing, it takes the competitive edge out of the networks and I think Ofcom was very, very wrong to only attach a coverage to one parcel of spectrum, one of the networks bought for 4G.

Simon
Simon

[foliedouce]

Many thanks for this information - very useful. It seems either stick with Voda or try EE. Out of pure bloody mindedness (due to frustration with Voda) I'm tempted to go straight to EE, however I will get an EE handset from the provider and trial it alongside my Voda to see what fits best with me

Thanks again - really insightful

[BGARK]

Interesting, for me its all about the data connectivity. I am with vodafone but had a falling out over 4G.

My colleage recently showed me her new EE phone, using speedtest.net she is getting up to 20 meg in the two locations where I get nothing!

Having a business contract with vodafone for several years and receiving no help whatsoever they have really lost the plot on this point.

[RJD223]

Whatever you do stay away from O2 - we have 15 business phones with them and *every* phone drops calls repeatedly - doesn't matter if it's an iPhone or a Nokia brick.

I called business services only to be told that the network is "overcrowded by GifGaff and Tesco mobile customers" and there's nothing they can do. Just redial and call them back.

I paid an early redemption charge to get my number off O2 and have moved to EE on a 30 day rolling contract to see how they performed.

The difference is night and day. Internet much better, call drops are almost non existent unless I'm calling one of our O2 numbers!

Only problem I have is the signal at home - which is between 1 and 2 bars (O2 was 3 bars). Been looking into one of the booster things but EE tell me they don't sell them anymore.

[simonrockman]

RJD223 said:

Been looking into one of the booster things but EE tell me they don't sell them anymore.

They do, just not to the likes of you. The problem with Femto (small) cells is that the mobile phone networks tried to buy them in the same way as they do handsets, which is to drive down the vendors to a margin at which it might not be worth doing business.

So they stifled the market. Which is a problem that will come home to roost as 5G will be heavily femto based.

Simon

[Mr E]

foliedouce said:

I would ideally like a Suresignal type service (one that works) at home as well as I live in a black spot from all providers, not sure if any of the other providers do this.

EE and 3 both offer a Cisco femto that I may know a bit about. As Mr Rockman points out, it appears to be hard to actually buy one...

O2 have a femto offering as well, but I know nothing about it I'm afraid.