Best network for IPhone?

borderline

is there such a thing as a best network for the Iphone?
i'm talking about 3g coverage and internet speed...

i want to buy an iphone 4 from the apple store, i don't want to be on a contract so if I spend £500 on a handset I want to make sure that the network I chose will give me good signal and such...
any recommendations?

i've been with t-mobile all my life and i've never been happy with the signal:(

lozzaman

A little bit out of date and not very high resolution - but the Ofcom report gives some indication of 3G coverage.
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/mobile-wireless-broadband/cellular/coverage_maps.pdf

borderline

thank you lozzaman.

Beside the coverage... does the internet works as fast on all the networks ?
sorry if it is a dumb question... I've never had a smart phone

JJ_Egan

Beside the coverage... does the internet works as fast on all the networks ?

In theory yes .

Signal vary s with your location coverage is not nationwide for all networks some have blackspots .

Cheapest sim is probably Virgin Mobile PAYG with 25mb data at 30 p per day . One point with PAYG if you bought £10 with network xxx and did not like them then you can swap to a different network next time .

providing the phone is unlocked .

If you are looking at value you may ask why the iphone is £500 compared to the HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy s £319 PAYG at O2 . Reviews of those top three smartphones vary in the order of best phones , IPhone no longer clear winner in any test .

jje

nickmack

borderline wrote: »

is there such a thing as a best network for the Iphone?
i'm talking about 3g coverage and internet speed...

i want to buy an iphone 4 from the apple store, i don't want to be on a contract so if I spend £500 on a handset I want to make sure that the network I chose will give me good signal and such...
any recommendations?

i've been with t-mobile all my life and i've never been happy with the signal:(

Remember that from next month current Orange and T-Mobile will allow you to opt into roaming, so you should get to use both networks masts and switch automatically. So if you're in an area where either T-Mobile or Orange is good, you should be covered.

Theoretically, this means they should have the 'best' coverage. It remains to be seen whether this will be the case.

drbesty

Just because you have a good 3g signal, it doesnt mean the internet will be fast, the two are very different things, the speed will depend more on network capacity. Think of a motorway, when its empty you can drive as fast as you like, when it's busy you'll be reduced to a slow crawl

philswannie

nickmack wrote: »

Remember that from next month current Orange and T-Mobile will allow you to opt into roaming, so you should get to use both networks masts and switch automatically. So if you're in an area where either T-Mobile or Orange is good, you should be covered.

Theoretically, this means they should have the 'best' coverage. It remains to be seen whether this will be the case.

I believe that I read the initial roaming with orange and tmobile was in respect of voice and texts, not sure it extends to 3G connection. I'm with tesco and my iPhone uses o2 and is great, my wife is with orange and hers seems to work just as well.

nickmack

philswannie wrote: »

I believe that I read the initial roaming with orange and tmobile was in respect of voice and texts, not sure it extends to 3G connection.

Correct, initially it is 2G only

drbesty

It'll be full 3g from January, the handset will pick up the strongest signal, Orange also have plans to build an LTE network in 2011, the spectrum they own is perfect for it

Oscar_The_Grouch

drbesty wrote: »

It'll be full 3g from January, the handset will pick up the strongest signal, Orange also have plans to build an LTE network in 2011, the spectrum they own is perfect for it

Am I correct in saying that Three are involved in the LTE network build too? I thought I read somewhere that they were sharing the expense and the technology.

bertha

Am I correct in thinking that iphones need a mini-sim card? Are these available from all network providers?