Mobile network du jour?

[NiceCupOfTea]

I appreciate this is rather an open ended question and very much up to personal needs and experience, but my mobile contract is up and I'm wondering whether to up sticks?

Currently with 3, after being with Orange/EE for 20 years. However, coverage seems to be getting very patchy - almost impossible to maintain a call when on the move, and loads of places seem to have patchy data coverage. Given that I spend most of my time within 10-15 miles of central London I find this pretty odd.

Currently I have 12GB of data on a SIM only deal (unlimited minutes/texts). Roaming is good to have, data speed is impossible, but I guess I'm looking for better coverage. 12M contract preferred initially in case it doesn't work out.

Are the small names worth considering? I've only considered the big 4 before.

uSwitch recommends O2 as having the best coverage, 15GB deal for £8 pcm which sounds good...

Any thoughts/recommendations?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Just found a Plusnet one (based on EE) - £8 for 17GB (as a PN broadband customer). It says 30 day rolling contract but I am slightly suspicious that the small print mentions a 12mo contract)

[Radec]

I was going to say Giff Gaff which uses the same O2 network however they are 15gb for £10 and 30gb for £15 and you say O2 are £8 for 15gb so sounds decent already.
I've used them for many years and never had any issues tbh however guess it comes down to your locale and reception.

It's rolling monthly but you can cancel whenever.

[anonymous-user]

The best coverage is marketed by whoever is paying for the survey and what parameters are being discussed.

I plot cell coverage in RF surveys and create maps based on the signal strength of networks for court, sometimes certain technologies aren't covered in certain areas. The best thing I can recommend is checking the coverage maps the 4 networks provide and remember to select the area and technology you're likely to be in.

There is no catch all such as "O2 have the best network" or suchlike. For example generally EE have a good network coverage which has won awards, but no network covers the whole of the UK for each technology so it's no use going with EE because someone else says they're good hen they don't offer good 4G where you work.

Have a look at the below maps for the area you live and need coverage. Remember to check each technology (3G,4G,5G etc.) separately for the one you'll need.

https://coverage.ee.co.uk/coverage/ee

https://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/network/status-checker

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Network/Coverage

MVNOs tend to be cheaper and work on one of the network operators listed above but some do throttle to prioritise speed for the network operator's own customers.

[anonymous-user]

Also to add, coverage is very rarely removed. If you're experiencing loss of coverage regularly, particularly when travelling I'd check the settings on your phone first. It may be something as simple of a network settings update being switched off preventing your phone from handing off from one cell to the next as you move. It has more chance of being this and might save you a few quid.

[bazza white]

I was with three for years, voice calls were bad but Internet was okay but it's gone utter crap especially since 5g. My new house seems to be a dead spot to in the end I bought payg sims and tried each one. Not great but a good guarantee before I signed a new contract.

Went with EE as they were the only ones with decent signal. Most expensive online but phoned them up to upgrade my payg sim and ended up paying £14/month 160gb and unlimited mins and texts.

[tangerine_sedge]

The coverage maps are generated on predicted coverage, and can tell different stories depending upn the signal thresholds used, and how good the coverage prediction software and mapping data are.

My suggestion is always to decide which locations are important to you, and ask people you know what service they receive in those locations. The coverage maps and OFCOM coverage reports are useful to give you confidence that you should get decent coverage, but nothing like actually seeing that coverage on the ground.

[grumbas]

I run a dual sim phone, my main sim is on Vodafone and is the number I actually use. My secondary sim is with ID (so 3 network), which I got mainly as Vodafone coverage on the Portsmouth-London line is patchy at times, whereas 3 is much better (I plumped for 3 after consulting the network maps as suggested earlier).

Anecdotally, in built up areas, particularly London, I find Vodafone to be far superior, signal strength for both is good, but throughput on 3 is poor (not sure if that's network saturation or MVNO throttling). Whereas in remote areas I'll often see signal on the 3 sim when Voda is showing no service.

If data coverage is important to you I'd definitely recommend an Android phone with dual sim, and a cheap second sim. I think I'd find it hard to go back now.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

I've just gone PlusNet too - seemed good pricing & includes roaming. Uses the EE network.

So far so good.

[rustyuk]

bazza white said:

I was with three for years, voice calls were bad but Internet was okay but it's gone utter crap especially since 5g. My new house seems to be a dead spot to in the end I bought payg sims and tried each one. Not great but a good guarantee before I signed a new contract.

Went with EE as they were the only ones with decent signal. Most expensive online but phoned them up to upgrade my payg sim and ended up paying £14/month 160gb and unlimited mins and texts.

I'm the same been with Three for years but coverage seems to be getting worse.

[PF62]

grumbas said:

If data coverage is important to you I'd definitely recommend an Android phone with dual sim, and a cheap second sim. I think I'd find it hard to go back now.

iPhones are now dual sim, although one of the sims is an esim.

As for coverage and service from the mobile networks, there is a difference between the two.

Up to earlier this year I was with Three. Cheap but the coverage was not great and even where there was coverage there often didn't appear to be any data service - and this was in central London.

Changed to O2 as they showed good coverage for my home town, which they did. The trouble was that the data service was shockingly bad - we are talking dial up speeds. Spoke to their network services team who were very helpful, but admitted that the local cells were hopelessly overloaded and there was no date for them to be upgraded.

Vodafone - far too expensive to consider, but the work phone I had did get good service wherever I was.

So that left EE. As for their coverage maps, well if you were being nice you might say that the maps were 'generous' with their predictions of coverage, or if you being blunt then you might say they were lying gits. However unlike O2 their network isn't overloaded in my local area so does seem to work OK.

However out into the countryside EE seems to be just as bad as Three was for lack of coverage.

[anonymous-user]

tangerine_sedge said:

The coverage maps are generated on predicted coverage, and can tell different stories depending upon the signal thresholds used, and how good the coverage prediction software and mapping data are.

A side note but they'd all use CSAS surely?

[anxious_ant]

I'm with O2 and I find their coverage (and general 4G availability) pretty decent around cities and acceptable on motorways and A roads. Previouslly with 3 and it's not great.

I pay £10 for 5GB data/unlimited voice+text sim only and I thought that was a bargain. However, my free upgrades are all more expensive.
I cannot find option for 15GB @ £8 so I am guessing that's only for new customers. Suppose loyal customers doesn't mean anything these days.

[captain_cynic]

Another vote for Plusnet.

I've been with them for 3 years after having to switch mobile networks every 6-8 months for various reasons (mostly billing... you'd think that taking money from me wouldn't be that hard, apparently is is for Voda and EE).

Haven't had a single issue with Plusnet, I've had to call them exactly once and that was because I lost my SIM card, 3 GB for £6 (not a Plusnet BB customer).

They use the EE network which is great for me. However what network is best is very much a location dependent question.

[Dodsy]

3 are well known for being poor in city centres . My gf is on 3 and i usually set my phone (on EE) up as a hotspot for her when we are in london or birmingham as shes gets virtually no throughput even with 5 signal bars.

I checked this by taking my 4g router on 3 to birmingham and in the hotel had 5 bars of service but under 1meg data throughput. For context , i use this router as my home broadband living in the middle of nowhere 2 bars signal gets me 20-30 meg .

[tangerine_sedge]

sebdangerfield said:

tangerine_sedge said:

The coverage maps are generated on predicted coverage, and can tell different stories depending upon the signal thresholds used, and how good the coverage prediction software and mapping data are.

A side note but they'd all use CSAS surely?

I've been out of the industry for too long, but at the time only engineers would use 'real' coverage data (from 'drive surveys') when investigating specific coverage problems. It's too expensive to do lots of drive surveys and they wouldn't cover all the UK anyway. I doubt any of the networks use data collected from customer handsets as this would rely on GPS being switched on, and also it being disclosed in the Ts & Cs (although it's easily do-able).

[NiceCupOfTea]

Many thanks for the replies chaps, sorry for not checking back.

SebDangerfield - those coverage maps were very interesting, both the EE and Three ones mirror my experiences, down to the streets where it cuts out. On balance I think I will probably end up going with Plusnet, the EE coverage seems pretty good in areas where I tend to spend time, but so hard to predict...

[CAPP0]

The coverage maps are clearly completely unreliable, at least I the case of o2. My o2 service at home is so bad that I can only make cals via wifi, and if I go into the garden and away from the wifi signal (I'm working on that) I can't make calls or use data. Similarly, if I get in the car and forget to check Google traffic before I leave, I'll get no updates until I'm nearly a mile away. And yet the o2 coverage map shows full 4G cover for several miles around my house.

I should check the point above about network settings updates, but I've never altered that at all in the past.