Nice to see Northern Ireland on that list.
Will make a lot of members on here very happy that there Is pretty much official confirmation about what's been posted before.
Good to see Three have a list of future 4G towns/cities as that was recommended by a number of customers. It amazing to see just how many there are! Can you say fastest 4G roll out ?
Very happy to see Bath on that list. Also very interesting to see some Welsh towns on there like Pontypridd.
Im glad Ebbw vale is on there as thats where I go to the gym. EE have not yet got 4G there but I bet its coming very soon if not at the same time as Three
The base contract price may not change, but the cost of new handsets is high.
I was looking at 3's 4G pricing, and there is quite a premium on handset price and even on contract, monthly cost of rental is quite high compared with 3G set.
If you already have a 4G-capable handset (which many people do as it has been available on high-end handsets for the past year or so at least) then the cost of a new handset is completely irrelevant, so yes - I would say that 3's 4G is really free.
The only premium as far as handsets are concerned is that newer high end models have more expensive line rentals, but that is simply because the handsets in question are more expensive in the first place; not because they are 4G, but because they are simply new and in demand - hence they require a bigger subsidy and so the line rental is higher. You would have seen the exact same thing say three years ago with the brand new (at the time) 3G phones attracting more expensive tariffs than older (but also 3G) models.
The best way to take the subsidised cost of the handset out of the equation is to assume the customer is buying it SIM free (which they can do from anywhere - so it has zero relation to what Three are charging), and then compare SIM-only contracts. When you do that you see that Three's SIM-only contracts include 4G for no extra cost whatsoever, which can't be said for any of the other networks (at least not currently).
This is the plan for 2014 coverage? They don't say when or how well they intend to cover each area but the list looks impressive perhaps because it includes a lot of towns that are close to major centres of population (i.e Glasgow, Greenock, East Kilbride, Gourock etc).
The hope must be that there will be depth of coverage in each area and not just a token site or two upgraded to make the list look long!
Shocked and delighted to see Stone on that list! We dont have EE 4g here yet so that's good going! Still hoping for some news on the 800mhz roll out that will really change speed and coverage in the area..
I think its quite obvious a lot of places on Three's list are places which also EE does not have 4G so I think its quite likely they will both get enabled at the same time in these locations, makes sense from an MBNL perspective.
I think its quite obvious a lot of places on Three's list are places which also EE does not have 4G so I think its quite likely they will both get enabled at the same time in these locations, makes sense from an MBNL perspective.
Maybe not as 3 have said their priority is capacity rather than geographic coverage. I expect to see some clear differences as both companies have different agendas not to mention different equipment suppliers.
Am I missing something? Using my mobile and currently abroad and all I see is a list. My town is on it, but there's no date besides 2014 which isn't that helpful!
Am I missing something? Using my mobile and currently abroad and all I see is a list. My town is on it, but there's no date besides 2014 which isn't that helpful!
I mentioned that in another thread...... December 2014 is a long way off compared with June and there is also the issue of depth of coverage. Hopefully if a city or town is listed it will have a decent percentage coverage for 4G and not just a few enabled sites to satisfy capacity requirements in congested 3G places.
Maybe not as 3 have said their priority is capacity rather than geographic coverage. I expect to see some clear differences as both companies have different agendas not to mention different equipment suppliers.
Very true, I can only hope that my nearest places on the list are soon then
Hmmm. That sounds good on the face of it, but I imagine there are loads of massive gaps in the coverage of those areas. There's absolutely no 4G in Bolton town centre, for example.
None at all in most of Edinburgh either. Less than 1/5 of the city has 4G signal of any kind let alone good coverage.
This is the plan for 2014 coverage? They don't say when or how well they intend to cover each area but the list looks impressive perhaps because it includes a lot of towns that are close to major centres of population (i.e Glasgow, Greenock, East Kilbride, Gourock etc).
The hope must be that there will be depth of coverage in each area and not just a token site or two upgraded to make the list look long!
Incidentally they've missed even the biggest towns around Edinburgh despite O2 & VF having 4G there for several months now.
P.S. Got my first sight of a H3G Samsung 4G cabinet today, will post pictures shortly.
I think its quite obvious a lot of places on Three's list are places which also EE does not have 4G so I think its quite likely they will both get enabled at the same time in these locations, makes sense from an MBNL perspective.
They will. The hardest part of the work is backhaul upgrades and since the backhaul is shared the upgrade should simultaneously allow a site to be "4G ready" for both operators at the same time. You might even see 3 going live first in a few places as the Huawei kit used by EE always comes in a separate cab, which needs to be physically placed (not sure about future NSN kit) but the Samsung kit used by 3 is just a few of 1U rackmounted units that only needs new cabs where the existing site has a small T-UK POW enclosure.
Hi, get 4g in birmingham city centre around 15-19mb dl and 22mb up, using sim free Note 3,
in my own area sometimes when in loft i can pick up 4g but its only 1 bar speed i do get is 10mb dl , but upload is like 0.20kb and cuts out back to 3g
That sounds like a badly calibrated/overpowered transmitter.
I like the way they're progressing, especially DC-HSDPA
DC-HSDPA really should be just about everywhere by now. DC-HSDPA itself just needs a software reconfiguration though sometimes backhaul upgrades are what is delaying things. I can't think of any excuse for lack of DC-HSDPA on sites that already have upgraded MBNL 4G backhaul though.
That sounds like a badly calibrated/overpowered transmitter.
so you think its coming from the same mast as i get the 3g from ? its weird if i stand right next to it and search networks its not there, thats what makes me thing its connecting to a different mast to get 4g but its too far away
So... Looks like I'm the only one left without the 4g update then?
Nope, my Note 3 (bought from a Three store and on the original rom) is still only on 3g despite me living in a well covered area of West London. Don't know what they're playing at
Nice to see Northern Ireland on that list.
Will make a lot of members on here very happy that there Is pretty much official confirmation about what's been posted before.
Good to see Three have a list of future 4G towns/cities as that was recommended by a number of customers. It amazing to see just how many there are! Can you say fastest 4G roll out ?
Hi
Im happy to see Antrim on that list. Didn't think we'd get 4G until 31.12.2015 lol.
Nope, my Note 3 (bought from a Three store and on the original rom) is still only on 3g despite me living in a well covered area of West London. Don't know what they're playing at
My HTC one from Amazon is still 3G only, I feel your pain!!
Just outside the 4G area where I am which is a bit frustrating.. though not as frustrating as not getting a 3G signal at home.
That's a major drawback of 3, that sadly 4G (sans VoLTE) isn't going to fix. Most people already have a fixed broadband connection at home so don't really need 3G data, only a reliable voice/text service which all other networks provide.
Comments
Nice to see Northern Ireland on that list.
Will make a lot of members on here very happy that there Is pretty much official confirmation about what's been posted before.
Good to see Three have a list of future 4G towns/cities as that was recommended by a number of customers. It amazing to see just how many there are! Can you say fastest 4G roll out ?
Im glad Ebbw vale is on there as thats where I go to the gym.
The only premium as far as handsets are concerned is that newer high end models have more expensive line rentals, but that is simply because the handsets in question are more expensive in the first place; not because they are 4G, but because they are simply new and in demand - hence they require a bigger subsidy and so the line rental is higher. You would have seen the exact same thing say three years ago with the brand new (at the time) 3G phones attracting more expensive tariffs than older (but also 3G) models.
The best way to take the subsidised cost of the handset out of the equation is to assume the customer is buying it SIM free (which they can do from anywhere - so it has zero relation to what Three are charging), and then compare SIM-only contracts. When you do that you see that Three's SIM-only contracts include 4G for no extra cost whatsoever, which can't be said for any of the other networks (at least not currently).
I was getting speeds of 28mb on 3G in N-U-L!
Couldn't believe it.
The hope must be that there will be depth of coverage in each area and not just a token site or two upgraded to make the list look long!
EE are rolling out Q3. So.......
Maybe not as 3 have said their priority is capacity rather than geographic coverage. I expect to see some clear differences as both companies have different agendas not to mention different equipment suppliers.
Am I missing something? Using my mobile and currently abroad and all I see is a list. My town is on it, but there's no date besides 2014 which isn't that helpful!
I mentioned that in another thread...... December 2014 is a long way off compared with June and there is also the issue of depth of coverage. Hopefully if a city or town is listed it will have a decent percentage coverage for 4G and not just a few enabled sites to satisfy capacity requirements in congested 3G places.
Very true, I can only hope that my nearest places on the list are soon then
None at all in most of Edinburgh either. Less than 1/5 of the city has 4G signal of any kind let alone good coverage.
P.S. Got my first sight of a H3G Samsung 4G cabinet today, will post pictures shortly.
They will. The hardest part of the work is backhaul upgrades and since the backhaul is shared the upgrade should simultaneously allow a site to be "4G ready" for both operators at the same time. You might even see 3 going live first in a few places as the Huawei kit used by EE always comes in a separate cab, which needs to be physically placed (not sure about future NSN kit) but the Samsung kit used by 3 is just a few of 1U rackmounted units that only needs new cabs where the existing site has a small T-UK POW enclosure.
Well the list is by December 31st 2014. So you can't really say anything until that date.
DC-HSDPA really should be just about everywhere by now. DC-HSDPA itself just needs a software reconfiguration though sometimes backhaul upgrades are what is delaying things. I can't think of any excuse for lack of DC-HSDPA on sites that already have upgraded MBNL 4G backhaul though.
Nope, my Note 3 (bought from a Three store and on the original rom) is still only on 3g despite me living in a well covered area of West London. Don't know what they're playing at
Hi
Im happy to see Antrim on that list. Didn't think we'd get 4G until 31.12.2015 lol.
Baz
My HTC one from Amazon is still 3G only, I feel your pain!!
That's a major drawback of 3, that sadly 4G (sans VoLTE) isn't going to fix. Most people already have a fixed broadband connection at home so don't really need 3G data, only a reliable voice/text service which all other networks provide.