02 and Vodafone are now in the process of combining their transmission networks throughout all European markets where they operate, including the UK. This means 02 and Vodafone's 3G coverage should be broadly similar in due course just as 3 and T-Mobile's will be.

As for customer satisfaction a good place to check is the independent Review Centre site with contributions from customers on all the networks and ratings that summarise the individual points awarded by each contributer.

3 UK's Reviews are here: http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews12640.html

Voda/O2 are combining cell site locations, not their respective transmission networks. Pedantic i know.

And that is by far the worst place i think you could point someone for reviews. 3 have what c5m customers, but only a few hundred reviewers on that site.

Can i put this poster on ignore at all

A few hundered reviewers is a decent sample. There are other similar sites that host much the same range of comments which I assume won't be happy reading if you are a 3 supporter.

I have been quite surprised at the volume of negative comments about 3's mobile broadband on consumer sites lately. After the failure to get the mobile phone product right I had thought they might have had more success with Mobile BB, but it appears not.

Great idea I'll join you, I've just worked out how to do it.

If you go to quick links, then edit options and it's at the bottom of the menu on the left.

Thanks for the information so far, it does seem that people on that review are generally unhappy with all the major networks.

doesn't tell you anything, all networks score about 1.5

i'm far from a 3 supporter, but if you think a few hundred reviews is a decent sample of c5,000,000 customers then your stupid as well as annoying

I'm getting the disconnect to local internet problem again. It seems to go in cycles, as if 3 are off loading their problems to different areas. A friend of mine in another area had the problem a couple of weeks ago and now it seems to be my area. It normally last a couple of days then goes away for a few weeks.

It can't be too many people using the mast as it is happening late at night too.

I don't understand why 3 haven't found out the cause yet.

Mmmm, most national opinion polls (e.g. policitial party support) are carried out on around 1000-1500 people. That's based on a population of getting on for 70million. Accordingly, I reckon a few hundred reviews for that number of customers is pretty reasonable.

Both myself and my wife have been with Three for around four years and I have just renewed my contract for another 18 months and will be renewing my wifes soon as well.

Yes I've had my differences with Three but always ended up with what I want. The reception quality has certainly improved over the years and the 3g connection is brilliant.

My only disappointment with Three is their overseas call centres but then again that's life. Very difficult to avoid it.

Three gets my vote and will say don't knock it until you've tried it.

I have found 3 generally quite good.

They have been the best network i've used so far to be honest, at first a few years ago, the network coverage so bad that I quit just after a week when they launched pay as you go, I came back to them last year and the network coverage has improved vastly.

Here's my experience of the other networks and why I wouldn't go with them again:

O2: Poor 3G coverage and expensive tariffs

Vodafone: Bad speed for surfing the net on your phone,expensive tariffs as well.

T-Mobile: Poor 2G and 3G reception, dropped calls all the time,bad customer relations,bad complaints procedure and big bunch of liers! Selling me a service when they knew I was in there 3G blackspot.

Orange: Once had a sim only deal with them, they gave me someone elses number which was in use 3 months before they gave it to me according to Orange and also had problems with incomming calls from people calling me from the T-Mobile, when people tried to call me they just heard that they dialled an incorrect number, and there network coverage is not as good as they claim. Unreliable!

Virgin: Actually a very good service especially when it came to customer service but unfortunetly they use T-Mobile's network and only got 3 bars of reception.

Now with 3 I haven't experienced any of that apart from the odd time the reception went low and then used the 2G reception for a short while, but when it comes to reliability and accurate billing and value for money on calls, 3 works out best for me and they offer services such as Skype and Windows Live Messenger and free calls to other 3 mobiles which I find very useful.

Ok they may use an indian call centre,but most companies do, they speak English,they deal with my enquiry they are human beings, thats it, what more do you want from a call centre,what difference is a call centre over here, i've experienced poor customer service a lot from UK call centres.

I do not care how shit hot there network will be, unless they bring the call center to the UK it will have shit support still.

After having to cancel my aunt's 3 contract over the phone i would never EVER join that network, it was enough to put me off.

They just would not have no for answer, they started harrasing her with phone calls after terminating wanting to know why she was leaving and they can now match better.

I think that's the secret in dealing with overseas call centres, remember they are Human Beings and deserve to be treated with respect. I have worked in call centres myself and it is a thankless task and out of experience the customers who got the best service were those who were polite. It's not difficult and it's free.

Just moved back to 3 after 4-5 years away (have tried Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 in the meantime), and can honestly say I'm thoroughly impressed with the service and coverage I have received.

The call centre maybe in India but they are always polite, apologetic if there are problems and really quite competent in dealing with my requests.

In terms of coverage its great in my area, and vastly better than T-Mobile, Orange and O2 where I got hardly any 3G bars (I'm in London).

How long were you on the phone for? Last time I heard of someone trying to cancel a 3 contract it took them 25 minutes. It's ridiculous that it takes that long to cancel a service.

Cancelled a Sim Zero on the phone yesterday. Will be cancelled in 30 days.

Just made it clear it was unusable due to almost no signal on 3G or 2G and proved it by showing I'd only made one call in September 2009 (a call which dropped due to poor signal, incidentally).

Still tried to get me to move to PAYG or a PAYM plan. Just said "No thanks" to each, and then cancellaton was confirmed. Won't get any annoying calls from them either as the sim is now in half in the bin.

3UK have the worst 3G signal in my area (Plymouth).

Ironically O2 are pretty good here (Full 3G signal). Vodafone fairly good, and Orange/T-Mobile 3G is very poor unless you are in the city centre.

I'd rather they'd keep the offshore call centre to be honest, keeps the cost of using 3 services down, I don't really wanna be paying someone elses National insurance and income tax plus wages now. The cost of employing people over here is expensive and that cost is passed on to customers. And judging from the experience i've had from UK call centres for various different companies, don't see much difference in service.

If they had British accents but you had no idea they were in india, I bet people wouldn't complain then???

I'm sure 3 retentions is based in Hong Kong as well, I tried to pull a fast one to get a good deal and the accent sounded like it was.

I know 3 118333 directory services and 3 sales is in the UK, they haven't always been, so looks like they are slowly moving into the UK.

Ooo, ta for that. I've been waiting 5 years to block said twaddle.

In the meantime here's a link listing olde 3-bashing threads STARTED by him. I haven't been bothered to search over the last few years or so but I'm sure it's pretty much the same...

The information has been very useful on the networks, thanks to all who posted.

I'll say again I don't care where the call centre is based as long as I can get satisfactory answers to what I'm calling about. With Three I found if it wasn't on the script on the screen, the CSR couldn't help me.

This is a simple query I had: why was my bill higher than the amount I was supposed to have signed up for?

I hadn't gone outwith my minutes and I had kept within my mms package. I was left without an answer and tried phoning again, on the premise a different CSR might know. The answer wasn't on the screen.

I ended up writing to them for an answer. I got a call back explaining that it was a VAT issue. Those naughty people at P4U had quoted me the ex-vat cost to make the sale. I did ask about the VAT on my two previous calls they didn't have an answer.

I had no comeback on P4U, they denied all knowledge of misselling. The other thing 3 didn't tell me at the time, upgrading early added the remaining time to my renewed contract.

3 coverage always met my requirements but not their customer care.

That story sounds dreadful TBH

Vodaphone and Orange have been talking about network sharing for years also and have a section on the Orange site about it, albeit tucked away:

http://www.business.orange.co.uk/ser...=1044133941153

It makes business sense to share some infrastructure, there's nothing more ridiculous than seeing five separate 15m tall masts standing next to each other at a site!

been with 3 for about 3 and half years about . never had no problem with the signal always get 5 bars and have no problem calling my mate in omagh .the internet is easy to get on . they seem to have the best tariffs for what i pay . as for call centers never ever needed them i can change my phone in july but i have notice they put the contracts to 24 months which im not happy about

There's still some 18 month contracts on the website. Is it dependent on the phone you want?

ya . i have the nokia 71 right now but would like the htc hero its 25.00 a month £5 more a month im paying now and over 2 years thats putting me off