Will I be able to connect to THREE ?

MouldyOldDough

I am with TalkMobile and the OH is with Lebara - both use Vodafone

Now that Vodafone has joined with THREE and I was wondering whether we would be able to connect to THREE as well - or is this only for genuine Vodafone customers ?

How can I tell which service I am connected to  ??

flaneurs_lobster

Don't know for sure but the only people trumpeting this near-monopolistic-behemoth  new era of cooperation in their marketing bumph are the two MNOs.

Would have thought that if the MVNOs had this new connectivity then they would be using it in their marketing, which at the moment is pretty much "Look how cheap we are" and not much else. 

Might mean, of course, that they would be advertising the competition if they were to flag up the extra connectivity, MVNOs are generally pretty reluctant to mention their parent network (or anyone else's) in their bumf.

It's early days in this merger, the actual connectivity arrangements will be down to the contractual arrangements between the different operators (and don't forget there are MVNOs like VOXI and SMARTY which are owned by Voda/3 to complicate matters) and the MNOs.

flaneurs_lobster

MouldyOldDough said:

How can I tell which service I am connected to  ??

There are apps (natch) that can tell you which cell tower* you are connected to (someone will know what they're called, maybe Cellmapper is one?) and whose tower it is, often with a map.

Can get complicated because in some less-populous areas there is already some sharing of hardware/network resources.

* in built-up areas the 'towers' are often aerials atop tall buildings.

MouldyOldDough

flaneurs_lobster said:

Don't know for sure but the only people trumpeting this near-monopolistic-behemoth  new era of cooperation in their marketing bumph are the two MNOs.

Would have thought that if the MVNOs had this new connectivity then they would be using it in their marketing, which at the moment is pretty much "Look how cheap we are" and not much else. 

Might mean, of course, that they would be advertising the competition if they were to flag up the extra connectivity, MVNOs are generally pretty reluctant to mention their parent network (or anyone else's) in their bumf.

It's early days in this merger, the actual connectivity arrangements will be down to the contractual arrangements between the different operators (and don't forget there are MVNOs like VOXI and SMARTY which are owned by Voda/3 to complicate matters) and the MNOs.

I was not aware that Vodafone actually owned VOXI and SMARTY

jamescl

MouldyOldDough said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Don't know for sure but the only people trumpeting this near-monopolistic-behemoth  new era of cooperation in their marketing bumph are the two MNOs.

Would have thought that if the MVNOs had this new connectivity then they would be using it in their marketing, which at the moment is pretty much "Look how cheap we are" and not much else. 

Might mean, of course, that they would be advertising the competition if they were to flag up the extra connectivity, MVNOs are generally pretty reluctant to mention their parent network (or anyone else's) in their bumf.

It's early days in this merger, the actual connectivity arrangements will be down to the contractual arrangements between the different operators (and don't forget there are MVNOs like VOXI and SMARTY which are owned by Voda/3 to complicate matters) and the MNOs.

I was not aware that Vodafone actually owned VOXI and SMARTY

Three owned SMARTY as their MVNO, Voda owned Voxi, Giffgaff is owned by the O2 parent company Telefonica. 

d123

flaneurs_lobster said:

Don't know for sure but the only people trumpeting this near-monopolistic-behemoth  new era of cooperation in their marketing bumph are the two MNOs.

Would have thought that if the MVNOs had this new connectivity then they would be using it in their marketing, which at the moment is pretty much "Look how cheap we are" and not much else. 

You may have missed this

brewerdave

I'm with iD mobile who are on 3's network but lately (using Cellmapper and Network Cell Info apps) I've found that I'm connecting to new cell towers designated as Vodafone ,so the join up is obviously rolling out quite quickly.

flaneurs_lobster

d123 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Don't know for sure but the only people trumpeting this near-monopolistic-behemoth  new era of cooperation in their marketing bumph are the two MNOs.

Would have thought that if the MVNOs had this new connectivity then they would be using it in their marketing, which at the moment is pretty much "Look how cheap we are" and not much else. 

You may have missed this

Indeed I had (although not looking very hard).

Good because it addresses the OPs query (and another MVNO owned by Vodafone).

PHK

brewerdave said:

I'm with iD mobile who are on 3's network but lately (using Cellmapper and Network Cell Info apps) I've found that I'm connecting to new cell towers designated as Vodafone ,so the join up is obviously rolling out quite quickly.

Between them they have about 36,000 sites. They aim to have 10,000 joined up by March 2026

Of the remaining, 15,000 need significant onsite hardware upgrades. 

They estimate 95% complete in six years and fully complete in eight years (2033).

MouldyOldDough

But how many towers will they get rid of ?

They won't want the expense of running two towers close to one another when they  repeat the coverage area ... even though it may leave more of us in a coverage shadow.

Frozen_up_north

MouldyOldDough said:

But how many towers will they get rid of ?

They won't want the expense of running two towers close to one another when they  repeat the coverage area ... even though it may leave more of us in a coverage shadow.

Mobile networks occasionally remove masts, it can be for reasons of access, excessive rental charges, etc. Your best bet is to avoid any SIM deal beyond 30 days rolling, you can then move elsewhere in a couple of working days. However, there are now only 3 networks... Voda/Three, O2 and EE, so there is less choice.

In my locality, EE have far greater 5G coverage that the rest put together, however the "5G" is in name only as it is radio kit connected to 4G backhaul equipment and as such is only marginally better than 4G.