T-Mobile/Orange Roaming.

sean2003 · 07-07-2010, 17:10

Quote:

I've been following this thread and looking forward to the roaming too.

I've had 'No access' to the other network when trying on T-Mobile PAYG, Orange contract & Orange PAYG. Hope this is implemented sooner rather than later.

I have tried too on Orange PAYG to access T-Mobile, not working.

KenT · 03-08-2010, 13:52

I am on Orange and get an awful signal indoors at home. Very much interested in knowing when the T-Mobile signal could be available. Has anybody, particularly in the south of Birmingham area, seen any improvements or changes because of the joint operations.
Thanks

MediaGuru · 03-08-2010, 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenT

Has anybody, particularly in the south of Birmingham area, seen any improvements or changes because of the joint operations.

My wife's been having so many problems with reception (i.e dropped calls, poor reception, text messages not being delivered) for a couple of months.

We've asked for an early termination on the contract but they said by this Thursday things should improve, and if things don't then they will cancel the contract. Apparantley the Orange network will be even better than before when upgrades with T-Mobile is complete.

kev · 03-08-2010, 14:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by MediaGuru

My wife's been having so many problems with reception (i.e dropped calls, poor reception, text messages not being delivered) for a couple of months.

We've asked for an early termination on the contract but they said by this Thursday things should improve, and if things don't then they will cancel the contract. Apparantley the Orange network will be even better than before when upgrades with T-Mobile is complete.

Interestingly my phone was showing 5 bars on T-Mobile a few times in the last few days - first time I have seen that for a few years (normally maxes out at four) apart from a couple of places where you can see the transmitter.

Appleseed · 03-08-2010, 19:52

I usually get the signal bars maxed out at home (there are transmitters for all networks on a water tower about 300 meters from my house) but since a recent firmware update on the iPhone I now get 3 or 4 bars out of the 5 showing. It hasn't affected call quality etc, but it makes you wonder where you'd need to be to get a full strong signal eh!
That combined with some other post iPhone update quirks, I'm starting to wish I'd stuck with my trusty Nokia 6230!

DXRulz · 03-08-2010, 22:37

Well i'm in Southampton and just manually selected Orange from the network list and my N96 displayed "No Access"

MrSuper · 03-08-2010, 23:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenT

I am on Orange and get an awful signal indoors at home. Very much interested in knowing when the T-Mobile signal could be available. Has anybody, particularly in the south of Birmingham area, seen any improvements or changes because of the joint operations.
Thanks

I'm on T-Mobile, Pay Monthly contract and i get a rubbish signal indoors. I live in a flat and the most amount of bars i get is 3, that's it. No more and 2/3 is the average. I have poor reception, dropped calls, phone keeps cutting out, etc etc. It's rubbish.

However whenever i used Orange PAYG sim in my phone i get the maximum amount of bars and i can make and receive superb calls and have absolutely no problem with reception. So the sooner i can roam and change from status from T-Mobile to Orange the better!

Does anyone when this will be implemented for Pay Monthly T-Mobile customers?

Appleseed · 04-08-2010, 16:04

Back in June, T-Mobile CS told me that roaming would start on July 1st, but that appears to not be the case. God only knows when it actually goes 'live'.
I've given up asking any sort of general questions as it seems it's entirely random answers depending on who you speak to!

fatfrogger · 29-08-2010, 22:14

I keep reading about people mentioning 3 and roaming with Orange. In reality. 3 don't have their own masts. They used to use o2 for 2g and orange for 3G. Now o2 are being phased out.

Appleseed · 29-08-2010, 22:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatfrogger

I keep reading about people mentioning 3 and roaming with Orange. In reality. 3 don't have their own masts. They used to use o2 for 2g and orange for 3G. Now o2 are being phased out.

3 have always had their own 3G network, and used O2/Orange for 2G coverage where there wasn't 3G coverage on their own network. Using O2/Orange networks will eventually stop but not until 3's 3G network is considered extensive enough to allow that. The problem being that 3 never had, and won't have, a 2G network of their own to fall back on

Fred Smith · 29-08-2010, 22:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatfrogger

I keep reading about people mentioning 3 and roaming with Orange. In reality. 3 don't have their own masts. They used to use o2 for 2g and orange for 3G. Now o2 are being phased out.

Thought today's date was 29th August not 1st April!

kev · 29-08-2010, 22:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Appleseed

3 have always had their own 3G network

Although the infrastructure is now shared with T-Mobile on the 3G side - it meant T-Mobile could extend there 3G network with less investment and planning permission requirements, and Three could extend there's by using T-Mobile GSM masts negating the need for planning permission too

Appleseed · 29-08-2010, 22:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by kev

Although the infrastructure is now shared with T-Mobile on the 3G side - it meant T-Mobile could extend there 3G network with less investment and planning permission requirements, and Three could extend there's by using T-Mobile GSM masts negating the need for planning permission too

I'm pretty sure I read that 3 aren't using T-Mobile's 2G (GSM) network at all. It would have made sense to do that but i'm sure it wasn't part of the deal.

kev · 29-08-2010, 22:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Appleseed

I'm pretty sure I read that 3 aren't using T-Mobile's 2G (GSM) network at all. It would have made sense to do that but i'm sure it wasn't part of the deal.

Correct, AFAIK, it's just that some of the masts used for the GSM network on T-Mobile were enabled for 3G once Three were onboard (i.e. in areas with rubbish 3G coverage it was the sharing of costs with Three that made it viable to add 3G to an existing mast)

huwdw · 30-08-2010, 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by kev

Correct, AFAIK, it's just that some of the masts used for the GSM network on T-Mobile were enabled for 3G once Three were onboard (i.e. in areas with rubbish 3G coverage it was the sharing of costs with Three that made it viable to add 3G to an existing mast)

Correct- some of the out of the way t-mobile masts along the west wales coast have now been 3G enabled! Never thought I would see it!

Interestngly enough - when orange had problems the other day I manged to put my tmobile sim in my phone and roam on to the orange 3g network after manually selecting it. Only let me do it for 20 or so seconds before booting me off tho.

toots66 · 30-08-2010, 20:12

Earlier today, I unlocked my T-Mobile phone (HTC Desire) and it gave Orange as the network operator. Very soon afterwards, it changed to T-Mobile. I've tried to manually connect to Orange since then and it says my SIM card does not allow a connection to this network. Interestingly, at one point during my testing it showed T-Mobile fourth in the list of operators rather than first; that's the first time I've ever seen that happen. (FWIW, It never shows 3 as an available network but I expect that.)

skimminstones · 30-08-2010, 20:54

supposedly rolling out in october now.

Mystic Eddy · 30-08-2010, 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by skimminstones

supposedly rolling out in october now.

Source for your information?

bradisace · 30-08-2010, 21:25

Hi I don't know about the timescales for when this will be rolled out however I believe that customers of T-mobile will need to opt-in to receive the roaming service with Orange. I am not sure why but I think T-mobile will only be able to offer the roaming to customers who have a phone that is sold by T-mobile i.e. not a phone that is exclusive to another network.

Thine Wonk · 30-08-2010, 22:26

So many people guessing and posting mis-truths about how 3's network works.

3 doesn't have it's own network - wrong
3 uses o2 - wrong it hasn't done for years
3 uses T-mobiles 2G network - wrong.

As for T-mobile and Orange there was only speculation from unofficial sources that any share would be completed in July, which I think some staff repeated. The official line was that there was no date, but it was likely 'later in the year'.

It could be a month or 2 before it actually happens.

plymouthbloke1974 · 30-08-2010, 23:09

Training is being rolled out very very soon for staff regarding this. (We're talking days, not weeks)

Aye Up · 31-08-2010, 00:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

The official line was that there was no date, but it was likely 'later in the year'.

WRONG! The Official line was network sharing/integration/roaming would begin in September pending capabilities and infrastructure tests. Everything Everywhere have never publicly committed to even arranging the network share this year. Yet internal information says otherwise for us who work within the company.

As with anything the position can constantly change owing to unforseen circumstances etc. There is a lot of lower level testing going on at the moment with both networks on 2G level so this maybe why people are noticing the ability to roam on the sister network briefly. The 2G is apparently the most challenging given how the technology works in comparison to 3G. That said it is suspected 3G will take longer due to the arrangements of the 3 operators that will be using the combined 3G network.

and how do I know this??? When you have a Q&A with a Director within the company it helps alot.

Even she admits it is taking longer than envisaged and nothing is certain. Even when it happens you won't even notice....everything on your handset should in theory look and stay the same.

plymouthbloke1974 · 31-08-2010, 09:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aye Up

WRONG! The Official line was network sharing/integration/roaming would begin in September pending capabilities and infrastructure tests. Everything Everywhere have never publicly committed to even arranging the network share this year. Yet internal information says otherwise for us who work within the company.

As with anything the position can constantly change owing to unforseen circumstances etc. There is a lot of lower level testing going on at the moment with both networks on 2G level so this maybe why people are noticing the ability to roam on the sister network briefly. The 2G is apparently the most challenging given how the technology works in comparison to 3G. That said it is suspected 3G will take longer due to the arrangements of the 3 operators that will be using the combined 3G network.

and how do I know this??? When you have a Q&A with a Director within the company it helps alot.

Even she admits it is taking longer than envisaged and nothing is certain. Even when it happens you won't even notice....everything on your handset should in theory look and stay the same.

The first stage (T-M 2G roaming) will show "T-Mobile UK" on Orange handsets when there is no Orange signal at all.

The full integration next year (H1) will not be a roaming agreement as such, it will be a total network share that will allow the handset just to pick the strongest signal, regardless of the legacy equipment, either in 2G or 3G, and the original operators name will appear throughout (either O or T-M, whoever you subscribe to).

I suspect everything has been delayed due to Oranges Line 2 being incompatible with T-Mobiles infrastructure. This is being closed in the next 7 days, which ties in rather conveniently.

Thine Wonk · 31-08-2010, 09:57

Do your bosses like you posting all this internal information publicly? I take it you work in the public relation department? otherwise you are usually facing the sack if you get caught.

MrSuper · 31-08-2010, 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Do your bosses like you posting all this internal information publicly? I take it you work in the public relation department? otherwise you are usually facing the sack if you get caught.

Don't be a spoilsport! Let the guy say what he wants to say. Better for the rest of us cos we get all the inside info!

07-07-2010, 17:10	#51
sean2003 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Reading Posts: 2,618	Quote: Originally Posted by steffangl I've been following this thread and looking forward to the roaming too. I've had 'No access' to the other network when trying on T-Mobile PAYG, Orange contract & Orange PAYG. Hope this is implemented sooner rather than later. I have tried too on Orange PAYG to access T-Mobile, not working.

03-08-2010, 13:52	#52
KenT Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 10	Is there an update on this....? I am on Orange and get an awful signal indoors at home. Very much interested in knowing when the T-Mobile signal could be available. Has anybody, particularly in the south of Birmingham area, seen any improvements or changes because of the joint operations. Thanks

03-08-2010, 14:00	#53
MediaGuru Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 179	Quote: Originally Posted by KenT Has anybody, particularly in the south of Birmingham area, seen any improvements or changes because of the joint operations. My wife's been having so many problems with reception (i.e dropped calls, poor reception, text messages not being delivered) for a couple of months. We've asked for an early termination on the contract but they said by this Thursday things should improve, and if things don't then they will cancel the contract. Apparantley the Orange network will be even better than before when upgrades with T-Mobile is complete.

03-08-2010, 14:48	#54
kev Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: South Notts (Waltham TV TX) Posts: 20,200	Quote: Originally Posted by MediaGuru My wife's been having so many problems with reception (i.e dropped calls, poor reception, text messages not being delivered) for a couple of months. We've asked for an early termination on the contract but they said by this Thursday things should improve, and if things don't then they will cancel the contract. Apparantley the Orange network will be even better than before when upgrades with T-Mobile is complete. Interestingly my phone was showing 5 bars on T-Mobile a few times in the last few days - first time I have seen that for a few years (normally maxes out at four) apart from a couple of places where you can see the transmitter.

03-08-2010, 19:52	#55
Appleseed Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3,673	I usually get the signal bars maxed out at home (there are transmitters for all networks on a water tower about 300 meters from my house) but since a recent firmware update on the iPhone I now get 3 or 4 bars out of the 5 showing. It hasn't affected call quality etc, but it makes you wonder where you'd need to be to get a full strong signal eh! That combined with some other post iPhone update quirks, I'm starting to wish I'd stuck with my trusty Nokia 6230!

03-08-2010, 22:37	#56
DXRulz Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Oswestry, Shropshire Posts: 4,196	Well i'm in Southampton and just manually selected Orange from the network list and my N96 displayed "No Access"

03-08-2010, 23:24	#57
MrSuper Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Glasgow Posts: 9,323	Quote: Originally Posted by KenT I am on Orange and get an awful signal indoors at home. Very much interested in knowing when the T-Mobile signal could be available. Has anybody, particularly in the south of Birmingham area, seen any improvements or changes because of the joint operations. Thanks I'm on T-Mobile, Pay Monthly contract and i get a rubbish signal indoors. I live in a flat and the most amount of bars i get is 3, that's it. No more and 2/3 is the average. I have poor reception, dropped calls, phone keeps cutting out, etc etc. It's rubbish. However whenever i used Orange PAYG sim in my phone i get the maximum amount of bars and i can make and receive superb calls and have absolutely no problem with reception. So the sooner i can roam and change from status from T-Mobile to Orange the better! Does anyone when this will be implemented for Pay Monthly T-Mobile customers?

04-08-2010, 16:04	#58
Appleseed Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3,673	Back in June, T-Mobile CS told me that roaming would start on July 1st, but that appears to not be the case. God only knows when it actually goes 'live'. I've given up asking any sort of general questions as it seems it's entirely random answers depending on who you speak to!

29-08-2010, 22:14	#59
fatfrogger Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 6	I keep reading about people mentioning 3 and roaming with Orange. In reality. 3 don't have their own masts. They used to use o2 for 2g and orange for 3G. Now o2 are being phased out.

29-08-2010, 22:26	#60
Appleseed Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3,673	Quote: Originally Posted by fatfrogger I keep reading about people mentioning 3 and roaming with Orange. In reality. 3 don't have their own masts. They used to use o2 for 2g and orange for 3G. Now o2 are being phased out. 3 have always had their own 3G network, and used O2/Orange for 2G coverage where there wasn't 3G coverage on their own network. Using O2/Orange networks will eventually stop but not until 3's 3G network is considered extensive enough to allow that. The problem being that 3 never had, and won't have, a 2G network of their own to fall back on

29-08-2010, 22:26	#61
Fred Smith Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Reading Posts: 2,758	Quote: Originally Posted by fatfrogger I keep reading about people mentioning 3 and roaming with Orange. In reality. 3 don't have their own masts. They used to use o2 for 2g and orange for 3G. Now o2 are being phased out. Thought today's date was 29th August not 1st April!

29-08-2010, 22:34	#62
kev Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: South Notts (Waltham TV TX) Posts: 20,200	Quote: Originally Posted by Appleseed 3 have always had their own 3G network Although the infrastructure is now shared with T-Mobile on the 3G side - it meant T-Mobile could extend there 3G network with less investment and planning permission requirements, and Three could extend there's by using T-Mobile GSM masts negating the need for planning permission too

29-08-2010, 22:37	#63
Appleseed Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3,673	Quote: Originally Posted by kev Although the infrastructure is now shared with T-Mobile on the 3G side - it meant T-Mobile could extend there 3G network with less investment and planning permission requirements, and Three could extend there's by using T-Mobile GSM masts negating the need for planning permission too I'm pretty sure I read that 3 aren't using T-Mobile's 2G (GSM) network at all. It would have made sense to do that but i'm sure it wasn't part of the deal.

29-08-2010, 22:59	#64
kev Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: South Notts (Waltham TV TX) Posts: 20,200	Quote: Originally Posted by Appleseed I'm pretty sure I read that 3 aren't using T-Mobile's 2G (GSM) network at all. It would have made sense to do that but i'm sure it wasn't part of the deal. Correct, AFAIK, it's just that some of the masts used for the GSM network on T-Mobile were enabled for 3G once Three were onboard (i.e. in areas with rubbish 3G coverage it was the sharing of costs with Three that made it viable to add 3G to an existing mast)

30-08-2010, 14:28	#65
huwdw Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: St Albans Posts: 638	Quote: Originally Posted by kev Correct, AFAIK, it's just that some of the masts used for the GSM network on T-Mobile were enabled for 3G once Three were onboard (i.e. in areas with rubbish 3G coverage it was the sharing of costs with Three that made it viable to add 3G to an existing mast) Correct- some of the out of the way t-mobile masts along the west wales coast have now been 3G enabled! Never thought I would see it! Interestngly enough - when orange had problems the other day I manged to put my tmobile sim in my phone and roam on to the orange 3g network after manually selecting it. Only let me do it for 20 or so seconds before booting me off tho.

30-08-2010, 20:12	#66
toots66 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Stockport, UK Posts: 139	Earlier today, I unlocked my T-Mobile phone (HTC Desire) and it gave Orange as the network operator. Very soon afterwards, it changed to T-Mobile. I've tried to manually connect to Orange since then and it says my SIM card does not allow a connection to this network. Interestingly, at one point during my testing it showed T-Mobile fourth in the list of operators rather than first; that's the first time I've ever seen that happen. (FWIW, It never shows 3 as an available network but I expect that.)

30-08-2010, 20:54	#67
skimminstones Inactive Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 8,186	supposedly rolling out in october now.

30-08-2010, 21:09	#68
Mystic Eddy Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 3,885	Quote: Originally Posted by skimminstones supposedly rolling out in october now. Source for your information?

30-08-2010, 21:25	#69
bradisace Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 518	Hi I don't know about the timescales for when this will be rolled out however I believe that customers of T-mobile will need to opt-in to receive the roaming service with Orange. I am not sure why but I think T-mobile will only be able to offer the roaming to customers who have a phone that is sold by T-mobile i.e. not a phone that is exclusive to another network.

30-08-2010, 22:26	#70
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	So many people guessing and posting mis-truths about how 3's network works. 3 doesn't have it's own network - wrong 3 uses o2 - wrong it hasn't done for years 3 uses T-mobiles 2G network - wrong. As for T-mobile and Orange there was only speculation from unofficial sources that any share would be completed in July, which I think some staff repeated. The official line was that there was no date, but it was likely 'later in the year'. It could be a month or 2 before it actually happens.

30-08-2010, 23:09	#71
plymouthbloke1974 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Destination: Hard Brexit Posts: 6,368	Training is being rolled out very very soon for staff regarding this. (We're talking days, not weeks)

31-08-2010, 00:22	#72
Aye Up Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West Posts: 4,885	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk The official line was that there was no date, but it was likely 'later in the year'. WRONG! The Official line was network sharing/integration/roaming would begin in September pending capabilities and infrastructure tests. Everything Everywhere have never publicly committed to even arranging the network share this year. Yet internal information says otherwise for us who work within the company. As with anything the position can constantly change owing to unforseen circumstances etc. There is a lot of lower level testing going on at the moment with both networks on 2G level so this maybe why people are noticing the ability to roam on the sister network briefly. The 2G is apparently the most challenging given how the technology works in comparison to 3G. That said it is suspected 3G will take longer due to the arrangements of the 3 operators that will be using the combined 3G network. and how do I know this??? When you have a Q&A with a Director within the company it helps alot. Even she admits it is taking longer than envisaged and nothing is certain. Even when it happens you won't even notice....everything on your handset should in theory look and stay the same.

DS Forums

T-Mobile/Orange Roaming.

31-08-2010, 09:06	#73
plymouthbloke1974 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Destination: Hard Brexit Posts: 6,368	Quote: Originally Posted by Aye Up WRONG! The Official line was network sharing/integration/roaming would begin in September pending capabilities and infrastructure tests. Everything Everywhere have never publicly committed to even arranging the network share this year. Yet internal information says otherwise for us who work within the company. As with anything the position can constantly change owing to unforseen circumstances etc. There is a lot of lower level testing going on at the moment with both networks on 2G level so this maybe why people are noticing the ability to roam on the sister network briefly. The 2G is apparently the most challenging given how the technology works in comparison to 3G. That said it is suspected 3G will take longer due to the arrangements of the 3 operators that will be using the combined 3G network. and how do I know this??? When you have a Q&A with a Director within the company it helps alot. Even she admits it is taking longer than envisaged and nothing is certain. Even when it happens you won't even notice....everything on your handset should in theory look and stay the same. The first stage (T-M 2G roaming) will show "T-Mobile UK" on Orange handsets when there is no Orange signal at all. The full integration next year (H1) will not be a roaming agreement as such, it will be a total network share that will allow the handset just to pick the strongest signal, regardless of the legacy equipment, either in 2G or 3G, and the original operators name will appear throughout (either O or T-M, whoever you subscribe to). I suspect everything has been delayed due to Oranges Line 2 being incompatible with T-Mobiles infrastructure. This is being closed in the next 7 days, which ties in rather conveniently.

31-08-2010, 09:57	#74
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Do your bosses like you posting all this internal information publicly? I take it you work in the public relation department? otherwise you are usually facing the sack if you get caught.

31-08-2010, 11:40	#75
MrSuper Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Glasgow Posts: 9,323	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk Do your bosses like you posting all this internal information publicly? I take it you work in the public relation department? otherwise you are usually facing the sack if you get caught. Don't be a spoilsport! Let the guy say what he wants to say. Better for the rest of us cos we get all the inside info!