Mobile network satisfaction survey

stefano

Much talk goes on about good deals on contract and phones, haggling etc..., but in my experience, not all networks have great reception all over the country. I, for example started with O2 (great coverage), haggled and got nothing, then went to Virgin (appauling coverage) and am now with Vodafone (again great coverage). I wanted to have as many opinions as possible, to try and paint a profile of the various networks, and the level of satisfaction with their coverage.

daindian

Were is t mobile?

lozzaman

Is this about coverage? Virgin coverage is the same as T-Mobile.

For the record, I used to be an o2 customer. Coverage and service was OK, but their data wasn't doing it for me. Their 3G coverage was non-existant. It's got a bit better round here but it still isn't great. T-Mobile coverage is around the same in terms of overall coverage where I want it to work, 3G is definitely better, data plan is a lot better - and it's cheaper. Am I 100% satisfied? No, there's still a few places it doesn't work.

stefano

daindian wrote: »

Were is t mobile?

I am afraid the thread only allowed 10 poll options, and I included Virgin, as I had been their customer, but as lozzaman pointed out, Virgin uses T-Mobile network. Sorry if I cannot display as many options as I would have liked.
And yes, this survey is about network coverage.

swanny1

3 are absolute pants, does not matter how many times I give them instructions only to talk to me direct(i have 3 phones with them)they still talk to my family direct and let them upgrade etc

9217niall

I'm with 3, have been for about 30 months on PAYG, contract and SIM Only. Not a bad word to say about them in terms of coverage, customer service, deals etc. Fab!

bubblesmoney

well you could always see the 2010 yougov survey in which three network won 10 out of the 12 categories in their customer survey. see three blog for details. http://blog.three.co.uk/2010/07/19/our-mobile-broadband-tops-latest-independent-yougov-survey/

coverage again, three network had the best 3g coverage as per 2009 ofcom report which i have posted in the '3g coverage maps' thread.

also the OFCOM maps are not on the OFCOM website but are in the public domain because of freedom of information requests by some people earlier. seeing the network coverage maps for the UK for 3G i am surprised O2 were even allowed to keep their 3G license seeing their lousy 3G coverage maps as released by OFCOM.

see more on this post https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2581437 and for network data speed times three network is good too. i am surprised three isnt actually crowing about this. see forum posts about this issue elsewhere https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2603191 and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/35311869#Comment_35311869

ofcom 3g maps for 2009 can be found here http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:lXTOfU71-xoJ:www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/broadband/cellular/3g/maps/3gmaps/coverage_maps.pdf+ofcom+3g+coverage+map&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiDWQKBcpVwG2GI4N0v7Q81pATqEioXigXv8SRu3JDEdmFVdQ8aiGFb3p95iKjE-iz4SKuwsUsBgFE5Bw-invmuAfie6DhT3kxQWh6i_eunfhk61_Xvi2VUMUik3IMFQTXJGmMF&sig=AHIEtbQWmHNxuMxb5yGPUsOBzEAgm4aGwA. anyone who wants it please download and keep it before even the cached page disappears from the net. ofcom removed it after some other networks complained apparently! looking at some networks useless coverage maps in comparison to three it is no wonder why the other networks complained and got ofcom to remove the report. by the way cached google pages are exempt from copyright laws as per uk copy right laws.

if anyone wants to see their signal strength then some phones like the htc desire show the raw signal strength in dbm and asu. this is accurate unlike the signal bars shown on the phones. to see this .. select from home page – menu – settings – about phone – network. this will show the signal strength in dbm and asu. the lesser the dbm the better, the nearer it gets to 113dbm the poorer the signal. the asu is just a derivative of the dbm and higher the asu the better. see the htc desire battery issues thread on this blog for a more detailed explanation of this or elsewhere on the net.

anyone wanting to see where the masts are located then see these links
Signal strength apps

■Wifi Analyzer: walk around and see a dynamic graph of wifi signal strength. Great for picking the right place to sit in an airport or cafe to get the best wifi signal http://sites.google.com/site/farproc/wifi-analyzer
■Antennas: shows a Google map with nearby antennas on it. Good for monitoring your phone’s signal strength http://www.panix.com/~mpoly/android/antennas/r1.0/ I am using this app presently and it gives you the location of the mast on googlemaps
■RF Signal Tracker (two versions, Donut and Eclair): another app to measure cell phone tower signal strength http://sites.google.com/site/androiddevelopmentproject/home/rf-signal-tracker

these are android apps, there might be similar ones for other systems too. i found the above on matcuts (from google) blog a while ago.

you can also get a lot of similar data if you use some dialer codes for getting into your phones ‘test’ or ‘info’ settings. this is available for most phones except the iphone4 (because apple removed this menu present in most phones since decades for obvious reasons!). google and you will find a way to check various information on this setting.

or use handhelp signal meters available on the net to check the signal strength if needed.

if you use the RF signals tracker app. i am trying that out too, that gives the location, lat longitude, cell site id etc.

i am also trying out the “4g, cdma, gsm & wifi map viewer app” from sensorly which is similar as well.

all the apps i mentioned are free and everyone can use them, but make sure you change the settings data uploads to wifi only” so that you dont use data on 3g for uploads. the more the people that use such apps the better will the report you get back from the app for your area.

you can choose to map any network and not just three network! so that you can make informed decisions about coverage in your areas where you use the phones.

i have put this up on other websites as well so that consumers can make informed choices.

lozzaman

Round here I find the networks pretty similar. Most of them seem to share a lot of locations. T-Mobile used to be quite poor (ten years ago, back in one2one days) but round here they have put a lot of fill in 'lampost' type cell sites which have solved the issues - these cell sites also tend to be 3G

I find 2G has limited use on smartphones as it is a bit too slow for browsing really and also tends to block calls coming in (even when the phone is just pulling in an email) Of course for texts and calls it's OK.
Here I can pick up all networks, with 3G on T-Mobile, 3, Vodafone and Orange but not o2. The 3G on all these networks is a bit weak though down at around -98dBm

stefano

Surely there must be more people that may want to share their experiences, whether positive or negative!

Berori

I'm with Vodafone and regularly go hill walking in remote parts of the country like the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia, Peak District, Lake District and the Highlands of Scotland. My friends on Three, Orange, Virgin and T-Mobile can go the whole weekend without any signal, whereas I will pick up signal frequently. Even when signal strength isn't enough to phone someone, I can usually send them a text message. I also have strong signal in central London in the basement of buildings. Can't fault Vodafone on that front.