Orange future 3g Coverage

[uno]

I had an interesting talk yesterday with a member of Orange's base station management team.
Basically i contacted them through the website offereing them some some sites that belong to my business in 5 different areas 3 of which are 3g blackspots, they came back to me to say that they were interested in using my sites but at present all new sites have been planned until May/June. There is then a network freeze on with no new work been done until Jan due to money reasons just emergency maintainence and repairs, the guy i spoke to was really annoyed saying never heard of this before and how could they expand without spending more money he said just france telecom trying to sqeeze more money out of Orange . He asked me not to sell my space to any other provider and will get back to me in Sept to see if can start some plans then, i advised couldnt promise as if get good offers would have to look at them.
So if you have no 3g coverage at present it is likely you wont see any before 2007 now.

[stickystickman]

Which is one of the reasons I left Orange 3g and moved to Voda 3g. Orange 3g was the best 2g/3g network about a year ago but then they seemed to suddenly loose interest in 3g. They stopped the adverts on tv and I notice that the coverage map stopped having much in the 'future coverage' section and then the coverage map disappeared from the website (unless you look very hard).

Missed opportunity for them. Voda 3g coverage is catching up fast and is now probably the widest 2g/3g integrated network out there and the 3g cover isn't that far behind 3.

Maybe you'd want to give voda 3g a ring and see if they want to offer a good price to put sites up on your property?

[uno]

It is really in my interest if i give Orange 1st option as all my business mobiles and 5 data cards are on the network but they have had a chance and declined it we didnt even end up getting as far as money due to restriction put on them from France. We will be looking at Vodafone when the annual contract is due for renewal in August I believe.
I have in fact been put in touch with a company in Birmingham who work for all networks getting sites I would put one of my sites down as a prime location right next to Midland Mainline,on a major A road and no 3g coverage around.

[umtsman2004]

Don't know who you talked to but they were talking b******s. Orange will be rolling out new 3G sites for the rest of the year.

[NAZA]

Missed opportunity for them. Voda 3g coverage is catching up fast and is now probably the widest 2g/3g integrated network out there and the 3g cover isn't that far behind 3.

Not far behind 3, Im afraid i have to disagree, I was on Vodafone and I travel the entire the country in the course of my job and i was astounded at how often the phone was in 2G mode, the idea of having a 3G phone became pointless. I found it especially a pain when i got to a hotel in a known 3G area. Looked at my phone in the car park and great can make a video call to my wife and speak to my son. Only to find when i got into the hotel room that the phone switched to 2G and im stuck on GPRS data.

Now back on 3 thanks to there data bundles and dont get this problem and unless im in a really out of the way place i seem to be always on 3G.

[hecatae]

Orange should concentrate on EDGE

[solo12002]

"Orange should concentrate on EDGE"

One step at a time, me thinks. Good price plans would be a start!

[PeteMc]

Orange should concentrate on EDGE

They should convert all the rural cells to EDGE and pack cities/towns with 3G cells, hi-speed data everywhere.

[DaveC]

They should convert all the rural cells to EDGE and pack cities/towns with 3G cells, hi-speed data everywhere.

In time that is most likely as all the networks have admitted getting 3g into rural areas is going to be too expensive

[Daddycool]

I can confim Vodafone did EDGE trials this time last year with a view to doing just that. Nothing has been done or confirmed though since the project ended so can't say whether they will go down that route.

[cj isleworth]

From what I hear 3G coverage rollout is to slow down dramatically as the operators have covered the main areas where heavy data users operate.

It makes excellent business sense to reduce expenditure and make more use of their existing infrastructure in more rural areas via EDGE.

In future they can monitor EDGE usage, and only roll out 3G where there is a proven demand.

[Marwood]

"OLD LAMPS FOR NEW......"
Interesting discussion, which boils down to networks evolving in a way to maxamise profit. It is indeed about the generation of new buisiness and complacently relying on our existing 'custom and practise.' Until upgrade time. Like salmon spawning! :)
If you were them, would you do the same?
M

[snotty]

I was with Orange right from launch but they seem to have really gone down hill recently. Where I live in Bournemouth there is little or no coverage with dropped calls and late arriving messages, so I have had to stop using Orange for my business and have switched to 3. Despite all the adverse criticism I find 3 to be very good with better coverage than Orange in this area.

I also find that it takes forever to get through to Orange customer services whilst 3 is instantly available even if it is in India! The quality of 3's staff has improved and I no longer find their accents difficult to understand. One final moan about Orange, their coverage website never, ever, works, it's always got a problem. Bring back Hans Snook because when he ran the business it all worked!

[AirzN70]

Orange told me in store they are the only network to offer full 3G coverage.

[DaveC]

Orange told me in store they are the only network to offer full 3G coverage.

That's because the refuse to admit that 3 exists :rolleyes: