Hi everyone,

I've just written a story which you can see in the news section on Ofcom maps that claim O2 has the least comprehensive 3G coverage of any UK network. What are your experiences with their phones? Have you found other networks fare any better? 

At Glastonbury, it was nigh on impossible to receive texts or emails on time and voicemails were arriving hours late. 

Cheers, 

Mic 

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"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." - Brian Clough

Tried to post this in the news section, but the site is misbehaving again...

But...

3g not great on the iphone to be honest. Often I have a strong signal and then-without moving one inch I loose it and can't get it back. Have to reset the 3g on the iphone itself. Is there something going on to limit the amount of data we can actually use? It is SO frustrating when I am trying to stream radio over the 3g network. I smell foul play by O2...

At home and around town I get very good 3G coverage on O2 with my iPhone. I have even measured downlink speeds of up to 2 Mbps (iPhone 3G is hardware limited to 3.6 Mbps). In fact, I get a consistent 3G signal everywhere I go with my iPhone. My other mobile, which is on 3's network, struggles to stay on 3G (HSDPA) for 30 seconds at home and while I'm out and about, I don't get anywhere near the downlink speed of my iPhone! 

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www.msonline.me.uk

Never had any problems with mine.

To be honest, this is not really a surprise. If you buy a phone with the expectation of using the 3G feature extensively, you've probably done a little bit of research into whether or not you'll get a good reception in the places where you spend your time.

Living in Northern Ireland, I had no expectation of any (let alone a good) 3G connection - regardless of which operator I went with - anywhere except the centre of Belfast. Seems that Orange go a little further than that, but I usually just keep 3G turned off. This might mean I miss out on some of the better features of my iPhone (although it does increase battery life a little!), but to be honest I'm in range of a WiFi connection more often than I am of a 3G connection. For the other times, EDGE suffices.

As I put on the news comments:

 

Have to agree. O2 3G service is shocking. I travel a lot of the South East of England every day and only have 3G reception for about 5-10% of the day, and worse still when I come to use it, it normally then drops back to Edge.

My g/f has my old iphone unlocked on Orange and gets 3G reception 90% of the time.

O2 really need to improve their network if they want to keep selling the best smartphones exclusively.

 

Alex 

To right. I live in the north east and i have only had usable 3g signal once or twice. It is PATHETIC. How can o2 continue to flount 3g phones when there is no way you can use them. If they do not sort this soon then I don't know what to do. There is no wonder why o2 shows off the wifi service so much. It is the only way that you can get on the internet consistently.

Reece

I get full 3G at very high speeds in Stratford and get free Wifi at Mcdonalds. So no my phone does not struggle for signal, when i am in Spain i get perfect signal throughout Andalusia.

 

Though i get good coverage i would hope that the strength of the signal was greater with some areas been very patchy and having me reconnect to downloads half way though. 

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PSN: kinglouis123
Live: kinglouis123

I only get good high speed 3G in the middle of big towns and cities. I rarely get it where i live and sometimes get it if i am lucky in a village but mostly in cities towns or villages near cities. It is not the best coverage of 3G though!!!

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PSN: oscarforest1
twitter: oscarforest1

I'm not trying to be awkward, but the iPhone isn't the only device on 02's crippled network. Unfortunately, it looks as though they're spending all money to monopolise the smartphone market (since they've now bagged the exclusive for the Palm Pre) rather than actually investing in providing a good data network.

It's retarded that companies like Palm are seemingly just selling their exclusivity rights to the highest bidder rather than considering what's best for their customers, in terms of providing a service with a good carrier. They're also neglecting the thought that competition would be good for them too as they're limiting their market to people who are on 02 and don't want an iPhone, rather than marketing toward people who want to stay with their current carrier.

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