EE vs o2 on voice coverage

londonTiger

Hi

I'm looking for feedback on the coverage difference between o2 and ee. Simple question is EE better than o2 in terms of voice network coverage.

I'm really not interested in virtual networks or whether vodaphone/three might be better.

The reason I ask is I am currently on giffgaff(o2) and I need to get a long term contract with EE in order to facilitate getting ad hoc 30 day contracts for data for my business. When I am completely off contract with EE it's a PITA to start a new contract. Ususally 1 hr in store and 30 mins drive to and forth the EE store.

diamonds

GG is on o2^

For voice I would defo say 2G coverage on o2, plus their TuGo is available on Apple, Android, Windows (phone and PC) http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/tu-go

EE bake wifi calling into their own supplied handsets on the OS, which is not handy as the TuGO app.

3/4G can be slower and worse coverage with o2 but then who needs upto 80MB on a mobile, mainly large corporate business who can afford it.

pappa_golf

ok you say you do not want to try virtual networks , then buy a ee PAYG sim card and try it , £10 toppup and about 35p a call




however , you "could" get a monthly (cancellable) contract with life mobile who use EE , and offer 500 mins etc etc for £5 a month


did I say you could cancel it after a month?

londonTiger

diamonds wrote: »

GG is on o2^

sorry typo. I was thinking about ee while typing about giffgaff.

I'm just looking for quick suggestions really. I asked family anf friends about ee coverage and they basically said that ee seems to get disconnected a lot and goes to voicemail. I have noticed that about EE to be fair.

Is it possible to get a sim free phone to work with EEs wifi calling or will I need to fish for a EE second hand phone on ebay?

Yeah I much prefer slow mobile broadband for a voice sim to be honest. That keeps data use down. When you have a fast connection you might forget you're on mobile data (assume you're on wifi) and nuke your data allowance.

spud17

All I can say is that for work we cover an area of Mid Devon.
O2 and EE are the only realistic options, the coverage maps are more or less identical.
Calls on O2 seems to get through almost everywhere, EE has some blank spots, but EE beats O2 hands down for data coverage and speed.

I think I read somewhere that O2 use a lower frequency than the others for calls?

diamonds

londonTiger wrote: »

sorry typo. I was thinking about ee while typing about giffgaff.

I'm just looking for quick suggestions really. I asked family anf friends about ee coverage and they basically said that ee seems to get disconnected a lot and goes to voicemail. I have noticed that about EE to be fair.

Is it possible to get a sim free phone to work with EEs wifi calling or will I need to fish for a EE second hand phone on ebay?

EE 2G is poorer than ever, they used some of their 2G frequency on 4G build out.

o2 was built by BT when it and Voda were the only market players so coverage on 2G for voice and callingis defo more robust.

I carry a second backup phone on o2 payg as I'm with Virgin (EE reseller) and calls divert to o2 when out of EE signal, even at home my EE signal is poor, it will jump from full coverage to none and everything inbetween in the same spot on the windows of my flat.

Guys_Dad

I would agree. EE was very patchy in my experience - both Orange and T-Mobile then EE when they merged. Not found problems with O2 and Vodafone. But it all depends on area.

londonTiger

I will stay with giffgaff then. Trouble is I need to have a longterm data plan with EE to allow me to easily add another 30 day rolling plan as and when required. I dont want to get one just for the sake of keeping a line and have it unused. I remeber delivering some equipment to a client in silverstone (a major exhibition centre in the midlands). OK it's built in the middle of nowhere but still it's a major location nevertheles. Client had EE and I had giffgaff. I could not reach the client - went straight to voicemail. WOrse I may have redialed 10+ times in the hopes that he'd get a live connection - EE may have sent him 10 text messages saying I called. How embarrassing.

diamonds

If you get a EE phone from store or online it will have wifi calling to use with broadband, I can use my mifi for EE (orange) using the old wifi calling UMA with it, I use this with a giffgaff or 3 sim in my mifi when I am in a remote location where EE fails.


Recently upgraded to this 4G mifi with a months contract, use it with the old 3 payg sim plan with 2GB data for £5, or a goodybag if 3 signal fails.

http://www.idmobile.co.uk/shop/pay-monthly/Huawei-4G-MiFi?tid=IDWDI004#contract-length=1&plan-type=&mins=&texts=&data=

Sometimes ID mobile website or CPW will give you the 4G mifi free on a 1 month £20 plan.

Either way I connect to Orange via that when no wifi available.


This might not suit your needs but food for thought.,

System

Vodafone / O2 both have 900 MHz 2G/3G which travels further and through walls better than EE/3s networks.

All the networks have 800MHz (4G) but this isn't setup for voice at the moment.

diamonds

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Vodafone / O2 both have 900 MHz 2G/3G which travels further and through walls better than EE/3s networks.

All the networks have 800MHz (4G) but this isn't setup for voice at the moment.

EE has VOLTE on certain customers iphones on test, should not be long...but then its EE :rotfl: