best network for 3g coverage in London?

[tanv28]

hey all.

new to the forums.

i gotta say this forum has made very interesting reading over the last day or 2.

my contract with vodafone is going to expire in a week and im looking for which network to go with.

so far the orange web exclusive deal looks the best to me.
u get 300 xnet mins and 100txts and 100mins video calls for £25/month
my plan is to flash the phone with latest normal software to get rid of crappy orange homescreen if i go with orange.

i think im gonna go with that but i wanted to know wat their 3g coverage was like in London. particularly east london where i live.

back in may 05 when i signed up to vod 3g with nokia 6630 reception was ok and i mite consider staying with them as they offered 275xnet mins with 50 txts and 50mins video calls for £22.50 /month.

decisions decisions!

can anyone advise on this?

please dont suggest 3 network as i dont like the idea of restricted access internet. its bad enuff we dont have free will so i dont need any freedom ive got left taken away! :p

cheers all!

[pav]

You mention oranges deals are good, there is some discusion about the new T-mobile Flext talk plans as if you get them direct from T-mobile on line or an official shop you get 25 % discount of their talk plans for life.

For network coverage go to each networks web site and search the coverage maps, please see link below to sticky with links to coverage maps.

Please note these maps can be out of date by several months and other factors can affect coverage.

Also it is worth asking around what networks people are on and what coverage / black spots they have found.


Link to forum with links to coverage maps

http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=19558


Welcome to the forum.


Edit removed links and put link to sticky with coverage map links.

[scoobystu2]

Flext does not include video calls so if you are making your 100 mins worth that will be hard to beat. Best coverage will likely be 3 as they have a 88% population coverage. Followed by Vodafone at about 70% and Orange a bit less I think. T Mobile and O2 are the lagards, were about 50%. As mentioned check websites postcode coverage and try the phone, hand it back if coverage is not good.
BTW do not think any network can seemlesly handover 3g/2g their are issues. None of them even provide statistics for handover success rates.
Good luck.

[pav]

tanv28 do you anticipate to use video calling much or use the internet a lot, as scoobystu2 says that talk plan on orange is going to be very hard to beat.

As you mentioned the internet access I was thinking about a talk plan that allowed unlimited data. (subject to conditions). Video bundles on T-mobile are 10 mins for £2-50.

You need to think of coverage in all areas were you want to use the phone as like in my area some networks have patchy coverage. Then type of usage ie video / text / voice / data.

The other thing to watch is how long is the grace period so that if you are not happy you can return the phone and cancel the contract, otherwise you could be stuck with for up to 18 months.

[scoobystu2]

The other thing to watch is how long is the grace period so that if you are not happy you can return the phone and cancel the contract, otherwise you could be stuck with for up to 18 months.
Very good point. How many times have posters regretted not checking out the coverage straight away so they can return their handsets in time (7/14 days depending on whether it was through the post or in a shop) if there are problems.

[tanv28]

hey all thanks 4 the replies!

i chked and the orange website states a 14 day grace period. so im thinkin that the future may well be bright with orange!

i chkd the coverage maps and they look good but i wonder how reliable they really are!

im wondering wat peoples experiences of orange 3g coverage for video calls indoor is.

can anyone tell me their experiences?

very slowly more and more of my friends are starting to have video calling capability and i guess most importantly my significant other! hehe. so i think i will b using it more often.

[Guinness2702]

so far the orange web exclusive deal looks the best to me.

can anyone advise on this?


If you're buying a smartphone from Orange, I suggest you search this forum, and the internet at large for "Orange HomeScreen", and read all of the complaints - I'd be surprised if anyone, having done so would consider buying a handset from Orange, ever again.

I'm just coming to the end of my contract with Orange, and I'll be dumping Orange, mostly because if this issue.

If you really must have the Orange for coverage &/or tariffs, then i suggest you consider buying an unbranded / SIM free handset, and just buy a SIM card from Orange - although of course, if you did that, you'd be paying the same tariff as if you had a subsidised handset.

[chaslam]

If you're buying a smartphone from Orange, I suggest you search this forum, and the internet at large for "Orange HomeScreen", and read all of the complaints - I'd be surprised if anyone, having done so would consider buying a handset from Orange, ever again.

I'm just coming to the end of my contract with Orange, and I'll be dumping Orange, mostly because if this issue.

If you really must have the Orange for coverage &/or tariffs, then i suggest you consider buying an unbranded / SIM free handset, and just buy a SIM card from Orange - although of course, if you did that, you'd be paying the same tariff as if you had a subsidised handset.

I think he mentioned this in the first post. You do have to be careful of the orange home screen and de-branding handsets. If you decide to de-brand it, then this is a risk and it has been known to cripple handsets for good.
However, for every wrong firmware upgrade, there are 15 sucessful ones so dont let this put you off.

If your not going to be travelling around the country much, then any network is good for you. They all ensure they have a stong coverage throughout London.

Also, something to start looking at is the handset. Which handset are you thinking of buying?

If your interested in what I would do, here it is. I would choose what handset it is I wanted and then choose the networks. You cant really fail any of the networks in the UK at the moment. I would probably wait a month or so for the K800 (3.2MP cybershot phone from sony ericsson) or the N80 from nokia. In my eyes, we are sort of in a grey area of phones at the moment. Nothing really outstanding is out. Its sort of moving from one generation to the next, with upgrade of phones from bluetooth to bluetooth 2.0, 2MP cameras to 3MP cameras, built in Wifi, and all of the rest. If you wait a little longer and get one of the "next gen" handsets what I like to call them, you wont regret it.

[tanv28]

my plan was to get the phone flashed at a nokia service centre. they said they wld do it 4 free.

so hopefully i wldnt b plagued by the dreaded homescreen!

i was thinking of waiting for the nokia n80 which looks to be an outstanding phone but... it has symbian os S60 3rd edition which means that all the software out there for symbian S60 1st and 2nd edition (ie nokia 7610/6630/6680/n70 etc) are not compatible with it. ive got tomtom on my current 7610 and its just superb having that on phone so thats why i probably wil just go for the n70.

when is the n80 coming out?

[scoobystu2]

when is the n80 coming out?
Good question. Another thread suggests 24th April on Voda. Since 6280 has yet to come out on Orange, do not expect to see the N80 before May/June.

[mykiemm]

my plan was to get the phone flashed at a nokia service centre. they said they wld do it 4 free.

All they can do is flash it with the operator specific firmware, they wont flash it back to the original Nokia version - ifit was that simple everyone would be doing it!!

The N80 is May according to orange, but this will no doubt change. Hopefully orange wont brand the phone (as they have started to do less), they are releasing a lot more generic phones. Funny, you cant remove the sidebar on the N70....but you can on the SPV c550/600!

[chaslam]

All they can do is flash it with the operator specific firmware, they wont flash it back to the original Nokia version - ifit was that simple everyone would be doing it!!

The N80 is May according to orange, but this will no doubt change. Hopefully orange wont brand the phone (as they have started to do less), they are releasing a lot more generic phones. Funny, you cant remove the sidebar on the N70....but you can on the SPV c550/600!

Its is that simple, and everyone is doing it haha! Cyberkid has recently had his T-mobile N70 flashed with the generic firmware at his local Nokia service centre.

[mykiemm]

They will? I stand corrected. Last time i spoke to Nokia they said they wouldnt/couldnt...maybe its just the 3 firmware they wont.

Do you know if they will do it at CPW? Having no end of problems from customers with orange N70's....and orange are jsut refusing to take any responsability at all!

[Guinness2702]

I think he mentioned this in the first post.

D'oh! - Pay attention 007.

Its is that simple, and everyone is doing it haha! Cyberkid has recently had his T-mobile N70 flashed with the generic firmware at his local Nokia service centre.

Some will do it, some won't, including my local one :(

tanv28, I suggest you find one that will agree to do this for you, before you sign a 12/18 month contract. There are also alternatives - some places will do this for a fee, via post.

[tanv28]

cheers! i bn snoopin around and found one in eltham (SE London) that will do it 4 free.

im thinkin i mite just upgrade with vodafone 3g. i called them and they offered 275mins xnet anytime with 50mins video calls for £22.50 so i just cant decide!

all depends on wat orange 3g reception is like in east london.

i know i get vod 3g reception where i live cos ive used it bfor but please can anyone tell me how good their experience of orange 3g is in east london?

please??? im gettin desperate now!

[Guinness2702]

Can't speak about it myself as I'm not from east london, but Orange do a lot of 'Try it out' for a while offers. I'd imagine it wouldn't be difficult to get a loan phone of them for a few days or even as much as a month - if you're that interested, give 'em a call and see what they can offer you along those lines.