I will be getting an iPhone 4 for Christmas but can't make up my mind whether to get it PAYG on T-Mobile or stay with Orange.
I've had my 3GS for almost a year now on Orange and am very happy with the service I receive and honestly can't fault it, but the 250mb PAYG monthly allowance is starting to do me in sometimes.

T-Mobile are offering free Internet with a 500mb FUP. My 3G signal on Orange is excellent virtually all the time, so I am wondering how good the 3G coverage and speeds are for T-Mobile? Am I right in thinking they share 3G with 3?

So any T-Mobile iPhone 4 users here? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

And I won't ever go back to O2 so don't say them...or giffgaff!

That won't stop them, some Giffgaff spammer will be along in a minute to tempt you with free data or some other offer which probably won't last!

Haha, probably!

You have an iPhone on 3 right? How does it perform, because I would switch to 3 as another option if coverage is good enough.

Currently T-Mobile and 3 share their network in terms of masts and cell sites (I think they operate on different frequencies). T-Mobile and Orange have a 2G roaming agreement (for voice and texts only) if you lose signal of one you get signal of the other.

Sometime next year, they will fully integrate their network so the experience should be the same on Orange and T-Mobile (though the difference in frequencies might cause variation in speed and signal quality still).

Do note that on Android tariffs, T-Mobile give 3GB on their FUP with their unlimited internet. I would have thought the iPhone tariffs would be similar.

I would say stay with Orange if you can get more data otherwise switch to T-Mobile.

Thanks, i know about the Orange roaming, i'm signed upto use it currently. Think 3G will be commencing March next year

Coverage is great for me, I haven't changed my profile here yet I've now got an HTC Desire HD. I can see my local 3 mast from the window so I get great coverage at home, at work I get 1 bar (which is all you need to do most things). When travelling I find it to be very good.

Ahh thanks I have a 3 Mobile Broadband Dongle and find it very fast compared to my old crappy vodafone one. And for my dongle it almost always has a full HSPA signal. Does T-Mobile definitely have the usage of 3's 3G masts and vice versa? I would be willing to switch to 3 if they release the iPhone 4 PAYG by Christmas, if they don't then T-Mobile because of the higher Internet allowance.

I've seen people complaining about the 3G T-Mobile speed sometimes, is there any truth that it's actually slower?

The cell sites are shared so yes, they are completing the final cell sites now over the next 2/3 months, but the backhaul network on T-mobile is different to 3 (so I'm told) that means that there may be a difference in speed between the 2.

I think T-mobile still downscales images too so they look more grainy but save a bit of bandwidth for you and them. I think the general feeling is that 3 is faster, but there isn't much in it.

Also I cannot remember if T-mobile restrict HSDPA on PAYG, I've got a feeling they do. So if you are on PAYG you may only get plain on 3G, rather than the faster HSDPA . If that's the case then that does affect data speeds, you are likely to get an extra 1/2 - 1 Mbps on HSDPA. The iphone 3G doesn't support it, but my new phone does and the speed difference is really noticeable.

All 3 customers get HSDPA and the whole network is enabled for it.

Thanks, that's answered alot of my questions

I think if T-Mobile are restricting PAYG then I may have to stay with Orange or jump over to 3 Thanks!

no they share phone masts and gprs, 3g is next year

i had no problem with the 3 signal anywhere, its the CS that is bad.
with orange i had problems with both CS and signal.
BUT if you find Orange is ok for you DONT CHANGE

Whenever I've called 3 CS they have been no problem,

I called yesterday and as well as being helpful and friendly they gave me good dealings.

brilliant!

Hi all, sorry to ask but im a bit of a thicky when it comes to stuff like this.....Anways I have the iphone 4 and this morning I got a text from orange saying...'Great news from orange you can now call and text in even more places.To pick up signal from both orange and T-mobile reply yes'...so I did as the reception is hit and miss around the house on orange, but when I checked the T- mobile setting it says no service is available....is there anything i need to do...turn on roaming etc....sorry to be a pain but im confused...

Mark

When i was on t mobile the likes of for my samsung tacco f480 & the usb dongle

MSN, fring, ebuddy
P2P sharing like watching live tv or anything to do with streaming
making internet phone calls like skype

was blocked NEVER would go back to t mobile, I love the 3 network as they have nice reliable speeds and speeds are improving to 7.2mbps

so in your case orange but you can use t mobile signal by signing up to http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/share/ so this is a sign that t mobile or orange are taking over.

I was looking around the network shops today and i went into T-Mobile, 3, Orange, and vodafone but their iPhones were broken.

I thoroughly tested out the T-Mobile iPhone 4 with a full 3G signal(more than my Orange 3GS at the time) and the browsing was nice and fast, i did notice the pictures are downscaled but only noticeable if you zoom in close really so doesnt bother me. I was impressed with the T-Mobile iPhone overall. I tried 3 and it was OK, some websites took absolutely ages to load though. And i asked Orange if they would increase my 250mb data limit but they said i would have to pay monthly which i refuse to do when i can get it free from other networks.

The streaming/online TV doesnt bother me as its already blocked with Orange and i never use anything like that. Never use ebuddy or fring either. I doubt MSN or Skype are blocked if they have their own iPhone apps, T-Mobile would have to declare they are blocked before people buy it, anyway i managed to get onto the MSN/Hotmail website on their iPhone today