My contract is due for renewal at the end of this month. I am currently with Vodafone and currently have an IPhone 3Gs.

I have already given written notice to Vodafone that I do not wish to renew my contract with them as for the past 18months I have not been happy with the quality of service from them.

I am now on the look out for a new contract. I have been with Vodafone for over 8 years so I have not really had experience of any other networks in recent times. They all of course claim to have great coverage etc but which, in real world day to day use, are good and which bad?

Can anyone give their opinions of the network they use and recommendations?

I am looking to upgrade to an IPhone 4s.

Thanks.

from my experiences o2 has the best coverage.
but orange now do free roaming with t mobile.
im with orange atmo on a cheap contract

was with orange from 1997 to 2007, left as was expensive, made a lot of errors towards the end, and their customer service dropped to lows unheared of back in 97.

I have been with o2 since 2007 and i have never had to phone them once about anything, and is cheap, however i have been out of contract 18 months and they are too expensive for the upgrade i want as means changing my monthly cost and paying out for a handset that t-mobile and three do cheaper. much cheaper.

It's all perspective. I'm with Orange and have been on & off for 10years. I've tried 3, T-mobile & O2 and ended up back at Orange.

3 - Customer service sucked, multiple problems with direct debits. Cancelled within 60 days.

T-mobile - Could not get a signal in my house.

O2 - Next best to orange In my opinion, however not as good coverage as orange.

Orange customer service is great. They are all local & don't use foreign call centre's, speak english (makes a nice change). I didn't get any phone warranty / insurance from the shop and I had a problem with my HTC Hero handset after 11 months and I had a brand new one next day.....

I often find I have better reception no matter where I am in the north east compared with a colleague on O2.

Reception is my main concern. I travel all over with work and regularly I am in the more remote parts of Scotland. I always found Vidafone good with regards to signal coverage. Just the quality of service in many other areas lacked severely.

I had looked at 3. Good tariffs and their all you can eat data seems good, particularly with my planned IPhone 4s the data would be good, however, being a smaller network the general availability and quality of service I wasn't sure of.

you will find 3's coverage abysmal if you need to use it anywhere other than major cities.
I was with O2 for years and found their customer service to be atrocious.
i tried T-mobile, my other half used Orange for a while, I'm now with Vodafone who for years I hated with a passion but decided to give them a try as the whole industry had changed in that period and since i've found them to be very good (except for the odd moments).

the only other company i would recommend is Tesco mobile as I've found them to be very good in the past and customer service was good also, they do iPhones and most android brands so worth a look

AndyRKett said:

the only other company i would recommend is Tesco mobile as I've found them to be very good in the past and customer service was good also, they do iPhones and most android brands so worth a look

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Tesco is O2! same coverage and call centers

Pointless asking about mobile reception on a forum imo, as it varies so much over the country. Best asking the people you work with, and your neighbours.

If you weren't after a new phone I would have suggested having a look at this monster thread over on HotUKDeals, the first post is constantly updated with the best SIM only offers.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sev...ving-mins-txts-data-various-suppliers-1110944

neeny09 said:

Tesco is O2! same coverage and call centers

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Tesco's 3G / HSDPA internet has lower priority QoS tags on it's traffic, meaning it's slower than O2's most of the time.

Check this out for 3uk. shows the coverage for the network;
http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage

when ive been up home in Scotland at Aberfeldy and Perth ive never had an issue. Whereas now im on Orange its a bit hit and miss.

Ive also found that 3's network backs onto O2's coverage where they dont have coverage.

ChrisUK said:

Orange customer service is great. They are all local & don't use foreign call centre's, speak english (makes a nice change). I didn't get any phone warranty / insurance from the shop and I had a problem with my HTC Hero handset after 11 months and I had a brand new one next day.....

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i left Orange because they went overseas, causing the problems i had with billing, which they told me this, and also they stopped the problems within 12 months thing, i had an N80 that would not stop crashing from the day i got it from them

O2 without a doubt! Being a long distance lorry driver I need good coverage all day. O2 is the best for that and customer service. Also some great offers and aps for iphone users.

BlueDan said:

Pointless asking about mobile reception on a forum imo, as it varies so much over the country. Best asking the people you work with, and your neighbours.

If you weren't after a new phone I would have suggested having a look at this monster thread over on HotUKDeals, the first post is constantly updated with the best SIM only offers.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sev...ving-mins-txts-data-various-suppliers-1110944

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Not really pointless if you read my initial question. I travel all over so asking what reception is like on various networks through out the country seems like a good idea to me. No?

BRAV-OH!! said:

Not really pointless if you read my initial question. I travel all over so asking what reception is like on various networks through out the country seems like a good idea to me. No?

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Doh, I was typing up my post and though "didn't he say he travels a lot?"
Checked the first post - nope, nothing there!
:doh:

Just avoid Orange and T-mobile if you go into Wales a lot! Think the sheep like climbing their masts cause reception is crap.

Why do you need a contract? I ditched my Vodafone contract and went onto PAYG giffgaff.

I pay £10 for a 'goodybag' and that gives 300minutes, 600 texts and unlimited data for a month. Also any giffgaff -> giffgaff calls/texts don't come out the allowance.

They're a virtual operator and run on the O2 infrastructure, so coverage is exactly the same as O2 - which in my experience isn't as good as Vodafone, but it's so much cheaper!

arc said:

Why do you need a contract? I ditched my Vodafone contract and went onto PAYG giffgaff.

I pay £10 for a 'goodybag' and that gives 300minutes, 600 texts and unlimited data for a month. Also any giffgaff -> giffgaff calls/texts don't come out the allowance.

They're a virtual operator and run on the O2 infrastructure, so coverage is exactly the same as O2 - which in my experience isn't as good as Vodafone, but it's so much cheaper!

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It not the contract/PAYG or cost that is a concern. I will work out what is best for me when I come to buy. That I need no help on as it's personnel to each person so there's no point asking for advice on that aspect as what suits you may not suit me and vice versa.

What I am looking for is real world experience and what people experience with regards to overall quality of service from all the networks from all over the UK. Having been with Vodafone and having no experience with the other networks I am asking those who have how good or bad that experience has been?

Dcthebear said:

Just avoid Orange and T-mobile if you go into Wales a lot! Think the sheep like climbing their masts cause reception is crap.

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Lmao!

From my experience, and from speaking to others(*), I've found Vodafone to be the best network for both coverage, data speeds and call quality.

imo, if you're looking for better then you're going to be disapointed.

(*) I'm a mobile software developer, and the company's products run on mobile phones and is used by people up and down the country. Consistently we're told that Vodafone offers the best coverage/quality by our end users.

arc said:

From my experience, and from speaking to others(*), I've found Vodafone to be the best network for both coverage, data speeds and call quality.

imo, if you're looking for better then you're going to be disapointed.

(*) I'm a mobile software developer, and the company's products run on mobile phones and is used by people up and down the country. Consistently we're told that Vodafone offers the best coverage/quality by our end users.

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From personal experience it is completely the opposite.

My 3G is extremely slow. Constantly drops out even in the centre of city's. Call quality is very poor no matter where i am in the country and i am forever recieveing texts and voicemails many days after they were sent and when you call up to complain or ask for help the customer service is appalling. I can't get away from Vodafone fast enough and would recommend them to no one. Maybe a bad experience but I am not running the risk of signing up to another 2 year contract and giving then my money with the chance that I get the same service from them.