I always thought Vodafone had the most subscribers in the UK, though I have just read an article saying it's Orange?

I thought it went: Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile then o2?

Does anyone know where I can get recent figures from, I need them for an assignment I'm doing.
THANKS

I can't find numbers but according to this site: http://www.mobileshop.org/buyguide/networks.htm. Vodafone has the most, followed by 02. I assume then its Orange and T-Mobile (I've always heard T-Mobile is the smallest UK network).

I have no idea where 3 is on the list although I suspect it is the 5th largest (real, rather than virtual network). Likewise not sure about Virgin. Sorry I couldn't be more specific, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong .

I have no idea which has the most numbers but you forgot the Best, Cheapest network, and fastest growing network, Virgin Mobile!

As of end Jan 2004 Orange had c.13.7m subscribers, O2 had 13.2m, Vodafone had 12.7m, T-Mobile had 10.1m, Virgin had 3.7m and 3 had about .25m

The Virgin number may be slightly misleading because (I think) a Virgin subscriber only becomes inactive after 12 months of inactivity whilst the other operators take the view that subscribers become inactive after three or six months of inactivity. Therefore, the number of subscribers who actually still use Virgin Mobile is likely to be smaller than the stated number.

Sean 2003: out of interest how do you define best network? I only ask because Virgin use the T-Mobile network and T-Mobile didn’t come top of the recent Oftel network quality survey.

My understanding of it is that Vodafone and Orange are 1/2 swapping nearly every month, ditto for Cellnet and T-Mobile in 3 and 4

What are Fresh, Singlepoint etc classed as?

fresh and singlepoimnt aren't diffedrent networks are they? ik not sure what they are though. i mean im on o2 with singlepoint. if you get me.

Nice to see Orange up first. I would rate them as the Number 1 Network provider with O2 coming second like these figures suggest.

Ive heared T-Moblie is awful for coverage!
Thanh

Ahh, i though Singlepoint rebadged Vodafone handsets - obviously not.

Fresh is the Carphone Warehouses effort and id's on the phone as FRESH

Singlepoint is a reseller that sells phones on each network.

Vodafone purchased Singlepoint last year as 1.5 million of Singlepoint's 1.9 million customers are on the Vodafone network.

T-mobile coverage is quite good nowadays,on the other hand.Orange coverage in my part of south London is cr@p!! ..London of all places?

There are only five "Networks" in the UK.

Vodafone
Orange
T-Mobile
O2
3 (who also use 02 to fill in the gaps between their coverage)

All the others are using one of existing 5 and usually referred to as Virtual Operators.

Singlepoint is Vodafone, with a few older customers on 02
Fresh and Virgin are T-Mobile
Tesco is 02
Orange are the only ones who haven't sold capacity on their network - they tend to dual badge - they did a deal with NTL a little while back IIRC.

The reason that you see another name come up as the network name is due to SIM programming. The SIM can be programmed with another name for a network which overrides whatever is in the phone's memory for that network. This allows the virtual operators such as Virgin to make their name appear and people to think they have their own network.

Most of the original 4 networks coverage is pretty similar these days. Orange and T-Mobile seem to be very strong within the M25, but I think is down to the slightly different technology they are using making it more suitable for heavy urban areas.
Similarly 02 and Vodafone are stronger in rural areas as their technology is more suited to large open spaces.
From memory this is down to Government targets set when the licenses were awarded. They had to reach a certain coverage level by a certain date as a condition.

Therefore variations in coverage are down to where you are at that particular time.
For example where I am right now (at home) all networks are dire. If I go outside less than 3 metres from the building I get full coverage on all networks. This is because the transmitters are behind me covering a nearby motorway.
As the masts aren't all in the same place, coverage in the same place can vary between the networks. One person's excellent coverage might be another's very poor - just because of how the network has covered that particular area.

What I have found is that when you get a signal from Orange or T-Mobile it is usually very strong. With the other two the signal can vary from strong to quite weak. There are technical reasons for this which I won't go in to now.

Simon.

How can O2 have that many customers and still remain absoloubtly shite. I don't want to compain too much because they have good tarrifs. But GPRS hardly ever works. It takes about 3 attempts to send a media message whne GPRS does work and half the people who have camera phones with O2 don't understand why they can't send a Media Message or Recieve one. I suppose you get what you pay for.

T-Mobile used to be awful for coverage, they're catching up fast. I cetainly have np problems wherever I go with my Virgin phone.

I'm sure that all networks have black spots even Orange! Yes, the UK's best network (or so they say) is almost unusable from my house. One or two bars and the received audio is muffled or distorted. No it's not the phone, works perfectly with another networks SIM in it.

I'm sure they are as the advertsing watch dogs have not said anything yet!
Thanh