Do 'carrier networks' use all the network's masts

JSUK_2

I've heard it suggested that the 'carrier' networks only have access to around 1/3 of a company's masts, meaning that Giffgaff have an inferior signal to O2 and BT Mobile an inferior signal to EE. I've never heard of this before, is it true?

joeluken

I don't know about that but there can be differences between the MNO and MVNO service.

For example Giffgaff customers appears to have a different local mast priority compared to O2 direct customers when there is congestion. This may result in the giffgaff customer getting either a lower performance data connection i.e. 2G rather than 3G or 4G or using a more distant mast that is less congested but having a weaker signal.

In addition giffgaff only have access to a limited amount of national data bandwidth above the mobile masts. Once they reach a certain national MB/s rate O2 bounce the data packets (according to giffgaff). Hence an O2 user may have a decent data connection whilst a Giffgaff customers doesn't in the same place both with full signal. When combined with the lower congestion priority the data experince on giffgaf can very poor to unsuable during the daytime.

d123

JSUK wrote: »

I've heard it suggested that the 'carrier' networks only have access to around 1/3 of a company's masts, meaning that Giffgaff have an inferior signal to O2 and BT Mobile an inferior signal to EE. I've never heard of this before, is it true?

No, it's not.

A Mobile Virtual Network Operator or MVNO (not a 'carrier network') has exactly the same network coverage, it might have a lower priority on the network though (o2 - Tesco - LycaMobile - Giffgaff are known for this) but there is no difference in actual signal.

[Deleted User]

As d123 says if you are with an mvno supplier like Tesco you get the same mast coverage and the same priority for calls and texts as an O2 direct customer.
According to O2 data sheets the only disadvantage of being with an mvno is that data is prioritised as follows - 1st - O2 business contract customers, 2nd O2 personal contract customers, 3rd mvno customers.

JSUK_2

So they get the same signal at peak times, but a slightly weaker signal if there's congestion or the signal's bad? Okay, a half-truth from Vodafone's customer service team. By their standards that's praiseworthy.

joeluken

Using the giffgaff example national data bandwidth limitations are not only related to "signal". You could have a situation with the strongest signal possibe and little mast congestion yet your data may be slow or unusable.

d123

JSUK wrote: »

So they get the same signal at peak times, but a slightly weaker signal if there's congestion or the signal's bad? Okay, a half-truth from Vodafone's customer service team. By their standards that's praiseworthy.

No, again, there is NO difference to signal or coverage. None, nada, zero difference.

They can flag the MVNO customer as a lower priority that is usually seen in slower data speeds if busy.

The only network known to do this is o2, and the priority order is 1- o2 contract 2- o2 PAYG and Tesco Mobile 3- Lyca Mobile 4- Giffgaff.

Theoretically it could also apply to calls and texts (think of new years eve) but I haven't been any reports to say it has happened.

joeluken

Here's the official reply from Giffgaff regarding how its data service differs from an MNO. Three is the MNO mentioned but same applies to any MNO so O2, Vodafone and EE as well.

"The key difference here is that Three is a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) but giffgaff is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). In this scenario the key difference is that Three can shove as much data through at a mast level, congestion in London won't affect Inverness. MVNO's have a different situation though, we rent a chunk of bandwidth from the MNOs at the top level, above masts. We cannot exceed a certain amount of data per second, if we try to then we start losing packets of data because O2 won't send it through. This means that if our Londoner friend is using up such a big chunk of that data that it brings us to our data per second cap that our Inverness member will have a poor experience because the network is full. "

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Myths-a-few-data-munchers-are-what-is-slowing-us-down-really/td-p/14759071