I'm currently on O2 and thinking if moving to 3 because the iphone tariffs ar so much cheaper.

Question is though, is the network coverge as good as then claim?

3G and 2G?

I'm in south oxfordshire and travel a fair bit around.

Thanks in advance.

Well 3 themselves dont own a 2G network but you can roam onto orange 2G in some places. Ive found their network to have good coverage in built up areas, the advantage o2 have is the are using the 900mhz frequency for 2G and soon 3G which travels further and can pentrate through buildings better. 3 win on data speeds though ive had upto 5.8Mbits at one point, ive heard nothing but bad news about o2's 3G network.

3 have been rated the No. 1 network for iPhone though. I chose 3 because of their generous data allowances and cheap tarrifs, cant fault them apart from having patchy signal in some places, but no mobile network is 100% perfect

Be aware that while the network itself is quite good, the customer service side of the business has the morals of an alley cat - utterly unscrupulous, and won't think twice about 'upgrading' you to a new 18/24 month contract without your consent.

Ive had no problems with three at all, the network has significantly improved, and it continues too do so, although like all networks it does have its no signal areas, ive found no signal areas in parts of the peak district, lake district, Scottish highlands, and some of the Welsh mountains, hills and valleys. Although that experience is common to all networks.

As for the customer support, i have only contacted them on the odd ocaision and its in India, which would be fine if I was in India as well, but im neither Indian, or in India, the overall experience is painful. in a male voice with a thick Indian acent..."Hello welcome to tree my name is wendy how can i help"

Thank you chaps, your feedback is much appreciated.

really good network for data and cheap deals but the worst ever for customer service they so rude unhelpful and love to lie

I live in Cornwall, and have noticed that the 3G coverage here has improved greatly over the past year.

It has got to the stage where I can leave my laptop (integrated mobile broadband) in 3G only mode, and rarely do I lose signal. IMO the only network (along with T-Mobile but they're expensive) worth looking at if data is important.

IF you have good coverage in your area then they are great. Where I am right now 3 coverage is decent but much patchier than O2's. O2 only has one deadspot on my daily commute, 3 has many.

BUT because O2 data speeds are so terrible and 3's are so much better, I've been willing to put up with slightly worse coverage (I pass through bad areas quickly, coverage exists in all the important places) in return for speeds that actually make a smartphone usable.

The people I have knew on three, their complaints have been shit customer service.

The service is great but I'm dreading what they'll do when my contract is up as the customer service dept sound like a bunch of crooks.

I got 3 the other day and my 'phone wouldn't ring. I had to 'phone India to get it sorted out. Nice Indian chappy gave me a new number.

i was with Vodafone for 4years my contract was coming to the end i asked for upgrade of phone and beter deal then what they was doing on my sim only deal the guy in upgrades was rude to me so i moved to three got iphone 4 i brought mine in store and have had no problem with signal and i drive around the uk daily hope this helps

I now have my iPhone 4 on Three, and I am very happy with the service I receive. Signal is excellent and speeds are great, and the twice I have phoned customer services in the past, they have been helpful and answered my enquiries.

Three are fine, the network is pretty solid (better than O2/Voda in my experience), but they're switching off the Orange 2G backup where they think the 3G network is good enough.

Customer Services is poor compared to O2/Voda, but no worse than EE. The Indian customer services is generally fine if you're polite and talk to them as people, not faceless call centre robots. Oh, and try not to ask for anything not in their script, because they'll struggle to help. General questions are best asked in their blog or twitter feed, the people running these are very helpful.

If you're happy with O2, you might want to think about Tesco Mobile or giffgaff as they will be cheaper and still use the O2 network.

i was happy with my iphone 4 on 3 until they turned off the 2g share in my area, leaving me with no signal at work. They let me out of my contract and im back with vodafone. Poor 3g bu fantastic 2g so i can use my PHONE everywhere i want. I'll put up with slower internet for better overall coverage.

Customer service is the only major gripe I've heard people have on 3. Coverage has vastly improved but can be a touch hit and miss in some areas (true of most networks though).

As has already been suggested grab yourself a pay as you go sim and give them a try. I'm also seriously considering them when the next iPhone comes out especially if their pricing remains the same as the 4 and still wipes the floor with everyone else. I also have my iPad's mobile broadband micro sim with 3 and have been happy with it - though winning my iPad in a competition with 3 obviously made me rather happy with them

My wife has just found out (due to high bills) that Three is the only network that charges international prices for calling and texting to the Isle of Man. Luckily they refunded the cost but she's now set up Skype to call her friends there.

I had to threaten to take them to court to get out of a contract that they'd auto-renewed a few years back, mobile reception was pretty crap too, missed and dropped a lot of calls, not recommended.

A few years back the network was ropey (using o2 as back up didn't help) However now in 2011 the network has vastly improved and having Orange as a 2G back up where it's needed fills most gaps.

You will tend to find the areas where 3 has no coverage are the same as where most other networks also have no coverage, due to landscape or buildings.

They also have the most 3G coverage of all the networks.

Personally, I would argue that they would be better off using O2 for 2g backup, simply because of the lower frequency.

The 900Mhz band that O2 uses for 2g is quite a bit better at distance / building penetration than the 1800Mhz Orange uses for it, and the 2100Mhz 3 uses for 3G. For many, it can mean the difference between decent reception and no reception at all (certainly the case with me at home).

If you live in a basement flat or a building with thick walls yes, however it also means that O2 can space out masts more, meaning you are just as likely to have issues as they spread them out more.

Suppose it depends where you live.
For us in the valleys, mobile networks are pretty crappy in general. But because of the lower frequencies used, you can get a half decent O2 2g signal despite the mast being in exactly the same place as the Orange mast (on Orange you are lucky to get 1 bar!).

I was with Vodafone for over 10 years, but moved to 3 in Jan '11.

Before l moved l popped into my local 3 Store and they gave me a free sim which has a limited amount of minutes, txts and internet data. I then tried using my phone (HTC Desire) at all the usual places l tend to visit on a regular basis, home, work, pub, etc.

I found no problems with signal in my areas and quality of voice calls is the same as Vodafone, but internet speeds appear significantly better compared to Vodafone. Although l have not run any speed tests to confirm this.

The only thing that caught me out once l move to them was the walled garden they put round the internet. I have to pay an extra £5/month on my One Plan 12 month contract (25/month) to get completely unfiltered internet access. Was a bit annoyed with this initially, but as the One Plan is truly unlimited data, l have given up my Vodafone mobile broadband dongle and just tether between phone and laptop.

Seeing as my Vodafone mobile broadband dongle was 3gb/month at £7.50 and l quite regularly download 10-20Gb per month of data now, it made perfect sense.

So my advice, pop into a 3 Store get yourself a sim and test and make your own mind up.

I think they are in the process of removing the block on certain sites for contract customers anyway. May be worth checking as you may be able to remove the £5 bolt on

I've been with Three for a few years now and up to 12 months or so had no problem.
My problem is the 3g signal where I work, (Wrexham industrial estate ) has gone crap, not a bar to be seen. Can't seem to get a 2g signal at all. I know Three roam to Orange for 2g but I can't seem to roam. HTC Wildfire BTW...