[andyukguy]

Hi,

I'll be shortly needing to recommend a provider for someone who lives, works and generally never leaves London! In theory all operators should be fantastic in London but my own personal experience with EE has lead me to believe claims of solid indoor 4G according to their coverage map aren't all they're cracked up to be. I have also experienced 3 in London and I see the same sort of issues (in a basement? Good luck.).

This means I'm basically down to Vodafone and o2. Obviously both claim blanket, solid 4G available everywhere. However (excluding price concerns) is there a smart choice here? Vodafone have the better mix of spectrum but my experience of what they did with 3G in London leaves me feeling pretty unimpressed (full bars, no throughput) but then are o2 going to run into bandwidth issues with their limited spectrum?

If you were to be London based only and had to choose one of these two and you were going to be with them for 2 years who would you trust...?

Thanks!

[jabbamk1]

O2 is better in London in my experience compared to Vodafone.

But i'd say try a SIM out first. And yeh. As you say, networks in London are all good. But they're also all hit and miss.

[steffangl]

O2.

Not necessarily the fastest but consistent and reliable. Solid 3G900 in London and solid 2G.

[Mark in Essex]

Like somebody else said give a SIM a go.

I can recommend Three, they give you a free signal booster if you have bad reception at home or a app that you can make/receive calls over wireless.

Their data speed even on 3G can be comparable to other networks 4G speed at times.

I always use to swear by O2 and Vodafone but I think they are now well behind in terms of data speed and fast data coverage (especially Vodafone).

[japaul]

Hard to give a Vodafone 4G sim a go though unless you sign up to a 12 month contract and cancel in the cooling off period. They don't do 4G on payg.

[exterra]

My work phone is Vodafone - around London there's a very long list of places it doesn't even get 3G let alone 4G. I can't actually think of a single place I've worked / visited in the capital where my personal phone on EE hasn't had a signal but my work phone has - almost to the point I mostly use my own phone rather than the work one because getting a connection is so hit and miss. In many areas whilst the voda network shows 3G, the data just times out and it's completely unreliable - this is pretty consistent with what the rootmetrics maps show for the same places.

[Grayburn]

I've been on Three for that last 2 years and now back on O2 and it's so good to be back with them. I've been quite surprised how well their 4G is after using Three's effort which was very frustrating for me what with congestion in The City

My vote is O2, reliable, hardly any congestion unlike Three and great signal penetration...unlike Three.

Saying that, it does all depend on where you'll frequent most so like others have suggested try some PAYG sims.

[The Lord Lucan]

O2 then EE. Close though. O2 has slightly better indoor coverage, but EE has faster speeds. Voda is still poor for everything other than 2G in London. Three well i wouldn't buy it for it's 4G just now.

[xreyuk123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by exterra

My work phone is Vodafone - around London there's a very long list of places it doesn't even get 3G let alone 4G. I can't actually think of a single place I've worked / visited in the capital where my personal phone on EE hasn't had a signal but my work phone has - almost to the point I mostly use my own phone rather than the work one because getting a connection is so hit and miss. In many areas whilst the voda network shows 3G, the data just times out and it's completely unreliable - this is pretty consistent with what the rootmetrics maps show for the same places.

Vodafone 4G is mostly on 800Mhz at the moment, so signal penetration is better. You would probably find 4G in places you could only previously get 3G.

Their 3G network is behind the competition though, their 4G service is much better where it's been rolled out.

[Gigabit]

In Central London, they're all equally good.

I got the best performance from EE by quite a long way (I got 85Mb/s in Victoria).

O2 had solid indoor coverage, not a lot better than EE but a bit.

[iTech]

I have O2 and Three at the moment and for West, Central and South London O2 blows Three away. Very fast speeds and the indoor penetration is way better (in my experience). When I tried EE for a few days I found O2 better for indoor penetration as well. When you move outside of London though it's a different story, hence why I will be sticking with Three (and the AYCE data).

[rjb101]

I had a work Vodafone which was woefully in the city, I have a phone from 3 now which is much much better which surprised me to be honest.

I suspect EE is about as good as it gets though, unless 02 have pulled their finger out recently, but with all you can eat data on 3 the bang per buck is what made me choose them. I too rarely leave London and three works at home and at 3 of my main customers where Vodafone didn't so I'm happy enough.

As other people have said get some sim cards, just don't bother with vodaphone

[KieranDS]

I've only used EE but I receive consistently good 4G around central, south and west London.

[M1kos]

Voda and O2 has almost exactly the same 4G coverage in Central London

[daclick]

I've never paticulary had a problem with Vodafone in the parts of London I've been too

[Gigabit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1kos

Voda and O2 has almost exactly the same 4G coverage in Central London

All the networks do.

[M1kos]

No im mean exactly because they are sharing the same masts and Antennas

[Kenny Maclean]

Vodafone's 3g was (is) dreadfull in central London, but since switching to their 4g last August, I have not had a single problem, the slowest speeds seems to be 7-8meg, but most times it's over 40meg.

Edit: Regardless of how good or bad they are, i'd keep away from EE!

[japaul]

Some London testing here. I'd assumed it was another of those silly non scientific tests when I saw it was based on a Monopoly board but after reading, it's surprisingly comprehensive. This one has Vodafone in front as it was best for voice and second for both 3G and 4G data (EE was best for 4G, O2 for 3G).

Data report http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08...tor_in_london/
Voice report http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08..._voice/?page=1
Interactive results map http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/...erage/all.html

[RAN Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by japaul

Some London testing here. I'd assumed it was another of those silly non scientific tests when I saw it was based on a Monopoly board but after reading, it's surprisingly comprehensive. This one has Vodafone in front as it was best for voice and second for both 3G and 4G data (EE was best for 4G, O2 for 3G).

Data report http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08...tor_in_london/
Voice report http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08..._voice/?page=1
Interactive results map http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/...erage/all.html

So for the OP, the best 4G in London is EE from this and every other comprehensive (ish) test? And between Voda/O2 it would be Voda for 4G.

[japaul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAN Man

So for the OP, the best 4G in London is EE from this and every other comprehensive (ish) test? And between Voda/O2 it would be Voda for 4G.

Yes, EE for 4G from the tests. The only flaw there is that the OP asked for someone other than EE. And it seems they came off worst for 3G. Interesting comment there which says they are clearly sacrificing 3G for 4G. Wasn't sure what to make of that.

I don't know what other recent tests there are of 4G in London with some publicly available results other than Rootmetrics (I don't include the silly ones on websites where someone does a few non controlled speed tests). I completely dismissed this one the other day when I first saw it as another of this type but apart from the gimmicky choice of locations it looks like a properly conducted and controlled test for mostly Central London. Some methodology here http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08..._crawl/?page=2
Interesting stats like % DC/HSPA+/HSPA. Would be nice if these were available for the locations.

Hope there are no wires sticking out of those backpacks - might take some explaining in central London.

[andyukguy]

This is very interesting, thanks! EE does have to be off the table for this particular person as where she works and lives EE struggles with 1 bar of 4g, that drops to 1 bar of 3G quite frequently. So it is really down to o2 or Vodafone. She isn't interested in headline speed just wants to be able to have data everywhere (in London!) and a stronger signal so her battery stands a chance to get her through the day. Vodafone and o2 operating 4G on 800Mhz and also offering 3G on 900Mhz is for her ideal. In-building penetration should mean better signal strength and I know she won't give a monkeys whether she's getting 1Mbps down or 60Mbps as long as it works.

The general consensus here is that o2 have the more reliable data network in London, but I can't really get my head away from the fact Vodafone should have the best offering?! They have less 4G subscribers and a vastly better mix of spectrum than o2.

[kev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

This is very interesting, thanks! EE does have to be off the table for this particular person as where she works and lives EE struggles with 1 bar of 4g, that drops to 1 bar of 3G quite frequently

Where I live my phones (Xperia Z1 Compact) is nearly always sat on 0 bars of 4G but still works well - speeds comparable to WiFi on my fibre connection (but obviously not as good as ethernet) so don't discount it because of that.

Out and about across the East Midlands (plus Central London and Docklands) the signals up and down but no matter how low it is as long as you can see 4G (even with zero bars) it works wonderfully (and 4G seems to have better coverage than 2G/3G ever did). Now we need VoLTE/VoWIFI so I can actually make a blooming call at home without walking to the bottom of the garden

[jchamier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

The general consensus here is that o2 have the more reliable data network in London, but I can't really get my head away from the fact Vodafone should have the best offering?! They have less 4G subscribers and a vastly better mix of spectrum than o2.

Its bizarre, because once you leave London, the situation is reversed, if you want any data, then you avoid Vodafone and go with any of the others. My work Voda spends so much time on 2G/GPRS and that doesn't work for WhatsApp or iPhone iMessage which are very short packets of data. :-/

[andyukguy]

Me again! I'll be living and travelling a lot in London in the next few months and my EE contract is up for renewal. I have mostly all the same questions I had before in the first post. I'm wondering if anyone's opinions have changed now we're in 2016 or are o2 still the best provider in London?