EE and Vodafone are best in London based on my experiences and friends'.
Best 4G network in London?
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When was O2 ever the best provider in London?!
I'm sure O2 has come on a lot in the last 12 months, but I'd still say it can't possibly have caught up with EE.
I'm sure O2 has come on a lot in the last 12 months, but I'd still say it can't possibly have caught up with EE.
Well I've just came back from a weekend away in London and I believe EE is still the clear winner! Plenty of LTE-A (LTE+) to go around now too! 
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”
“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”
It uses flawed testing method, they related the signal strength as a quality measure, but is full signal but no capacity better than a weaker signal with capacity?
In my own option (not my employer!) The Register are the Daily Mail of the IT Press.
Originally Posted by bookey_uk:
“It uses flawed testing method, they related the signal strength as a quality measure, but is full signal but no capacity better than a weaker signal with capacity?
In my own option (not my employer!) The Register are the Daily Mail of the IT Press.”
“It uses flawed testing method, they related the signal strength as a quality measure, but is full signal but no capacity better than a weaker signal with capacity?
In my own option (not my employer!) The Register are the Daily Mail of the IT Press.”
Signal strength is pretty meaningless. Plenty of 2G and even 3G signal in London was unusable for data, or even voice, if you tried to use it.
Still is on non upgrade sites. If you went on strength alone, you'd have totally useless data.
Originally Posted by bookey_uk:
“It uses flawed testing method, they related the signal strength as a quality measure, but is full signal but no capacity better than a weaker signal with capacity?
In my own option (not my employer!) The Register are the Daily Mail of the IT Press.”
“It uses flawed testing method, they related the signal strength as a quality measure, but is full signal but no capacity better than a weaker signal with capacity?
In my own option (not my employer!) The Register are the Daily Mail of the IT Press.”
They did have a range of parameters for quality though and I think signal strength was more a proxy for raw coverage rather than quality which doesn't seem that unreasonable for this type of test.
Anyway, it's quite old now and in any case, it probably should be read in the spirit that it was conducted i.e. a semi-serious piece which gives journalists an excuse to go down the pub and discuss the results at the end. In this context the number and type of tests they did were surprising. There are plenty of other tests in print which fall far more into the voodoo statistics territory.
EE have 4G+/2600 loads of places
Vodafone have it mainly Zone 1 and a bit zone 2
3 can't really do 4G+
O2 have some 1800/800 4G+ but with about 15Mahz spectrum total, can't imagine it'll be back breaking fast
Vodafone have it mainly Zone 1 and a bit zone 2
3 can't really do 4G+
O2 have some 1800/800 4G+ but with about 15Mahz spectrum total, can't imagine it'll be back breaking fast
Originally Posted by Pedro_C:
“O2 have some 1800/800 4G+ but with about 15Mahz spectrum total, can't imagine it'll be back breaking fast”
“O2 have some 1800/800 4G+ but with about 15Mahz spectrum total, can't imagine it'll be back breaking fast”
That may give them the ability to say "we have 4G+ too" which is probably quite important for PR reasons.
This may help:
http://www.rootmetrics.com/uk/rsr/london/2015/2H
In my experience (South, West and Central London), it's EE then Vodafone then Three with Three a bit off the pace. I use all three networks quite a bit and if you are in a train a lot then Vodafone seems to do better than EE and Three (for me anyway).
http://www.rootmetrics.com/uk/rsr/london/2015/2H
In my experience (South, West and Central London), it's EE then Vodafone then Three with Three a bit off the pace. I use all three networks quite a bit and if you are in a train a lot then Vodafone seems to do better than EE and Three (for me anyway).
Last time I was in central London (a few months ago) I had EE and Three sims with me. Three's 4G network was completely unusable a lot of the time, failing to transfer any data at all. I had to force the phone to 3G only in order to use any data, and then it was extremely slow.
EE on the other hand had working 4G the entire time and didn't fail me once, also the 4G speeds were good too.
EE on the other hand had working 4G the entire time and didn't fail me once, also the 4G speeds were good too.
Originally Posted by mupet0000:
“Last time I was in central London (a few months ago) I had EE and Three sims with me. Three's 4G network was completely unusable a lot of the time, failing to transfer any data at all. I had to force the phone to 3G only in order to use any data, and then it was extremely slow.
EE on the other hand had working 4G the entire time and didn't fail me once, also the 4G speeds were good too.”
“Last time I was in central London (a few months ago) I had EE and Three sims with me. Three's 4G network was completely unusable a lot of the time, failing to transfer any data at all. I had to force the phone to 3G only in order to use any data, and then it was extremely slow.
EE on the other hand had working 4G the entire time and didn't fail me once, also the 4G speeds were good too.”
That's what I call capacity management.
A year or so ago Three, and even EE, was performing really poorly in central London - most notably around Piccadilly Circus and Green Park.
I was there again on Saturday for the light festival and was surprised to see Three giving me speeds of in excess of 30Mbps. I didn't try EE.
Vodafone was also in the high 20s. Very good, especially considering the higher than normal crowds.
Three's extra spectrum seems to be making a huge difference where it's implemented and I was surprised that London was being left quite late to be done. Perhaps there was backhaul upgrade work done too?
I was there again on Saturday for the light festival and was surprised to see Three giving me speeds of in excess of 30Mbps. I didn't try EE.
Vodafone was also in the high 20s. Very good, especially considering the higher than normal crowds.
Three's extra spectrum seems to be making a huge difference where it's implemented and I was surprised that London was being left quite late to be done. Perhaps there was backhaul upgrade work done too?
Thanks for the replies! When I asked this in 2014 I was getting told o2 were the choice (I had excluded EE due to signal issues in one key area). Seems like it's EE or Vodafone now and for me that means Vodafone.
I haven't been on Vodafone for a while, does it now actively select 4G/3G over 2G? I have memories of needing to toggle airplane mode to get it to find the 3G signal over sitting on 2G.
I haven't been on Vodafone for a while, does it now actively select 4G/3G over 2G? I have memories of needing to toggle airplane mode to get it to find the 3G signal over sitting on 2G.
I don't know if they've tweaked the priorities, or if it's just improvements in the network, but I have to say that I very rarely get shunted down to 2G these days.
But, that said, Vodafone isn't my main account and I don't take it everywhere - so I am usually in places where you'd expect 3G on all networks at the very least. Even O2!
But, that said, Vodafone isn't my main account and I don't take it everywhere - so I am usually in places where you'd expect 3G on all networks at the very least. Even O2!
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“I don't know if they've tweaked the priorities, or if it's just improvements in the network, but I have to say that I very rarely get shunted down to 2G these days.
But, that said, Vodafone isn't my main account and I don't take it everywhere - so I am usually in places where you'd expect 3G on all networks at the very least. Even O2!”
“I don't know if they've tweaked the priorities, or if it's just improvements in the network, but I have to say that I very rarely get shunted down to 2G these days.
But, that said, Vodafone isn't my main account and I don't take it everywhere - so I am usually in places where you'd expect 3G on all networks at the very least. Even O2!”
Thanks Jon, same here to be honest so I suspect I won't suffer from any of Vodafone's rural data woes but I will hopefully enjoy some indoor coverage in the cities.
I'm in London and shifted over from Three to Vodafone recently because I wanted better indoor coverage - specifically for voice calls, however indoor 4G coverage (which doesn't support voice yet) around the metropolis seems pretty good too. A side benefit for me is Voda's very extensive 2G coverage (for voice & text) out in the sticks, in places that I'd have no coverage with Three.
Must admit I'm missing the AYCE data with Three a bit, as I've now only got 2GB data. Just need to remember to download things like radio programmes on wifi before leaving home now - the Beeb's iPlayer Radio app is excellent for this now (though it's a shame it doesn't offer an option to save them to SD card instead of internal memory... maybe that will come in a future release).
Must admit I'm missing the AYCE data with Three a bit, as I've now only got 2GB data. Just need to remember to download things like radio programmes on wifi before leaving home now - the Beeb's iPlayer Radio app is excellent for this now (though it's a shame it doesn't offer an option to save them to SD card instead of internal memory... maybe that will come in a future release).
I couldn't survive on 2GB of data a month! That's what, 70MB a day? A web page is about 1MB - 2MB now isn't it?
Apps can be 20-40MB, download a couple of offline maps or a podcast or TV show and you've seriously eaten into a chunk of data. I much prefer just not having to worry and using as much as I want over the occasional place where there's no data.
You'd have thought Vodafone and O2 would be increasing the common packages to allow more data in 2016, 4G can support it, I can't see why they can't increase the older 2GB package to 5GB for the same price.
Apps can be 20-40MB, download a couple of offline maps or a podcast or TV show and you've seriously eaten into a chunk of data. I much prefer just not having to worry and using as much as I want over the occasional place where there's no data.
You'd have thought Vodafone and O2 would be increasing the common packages to allow more data in 2016, 4G can support it, I can't see why they can't increase the older 2GB package to 5GB for the same price.
The only thing to be wary with Vodafone is in some areas of London their 4G network is crazy congested. To be fair they seem to be slowly adding 2600Mhz to those areas, but round my office for example you often get 0.2Mbps down on Voda 4G.
Originally Posted by voodoofish:
“The only thing to be wary with Vodafone is in some areas of London their 4G network is crazy congested. To be fair they seem to be slowly adding 2600Mhz to those areas, but round my office for example you often get 0.2Mbps down on Voda 4G.”
“The only thing to be wary with Vodafone is in some areas of London their 4G network is crazy congested. To be fair they seem to be slowly adding 2600Mhz to those areas, but round my office for example you often get 0.2Mbps down on Voda 4G.”
We won't know but I wonder if that's congestion at the radio level (800mhz) or at the backhaul connection. I would hazard a guess the 2x10mhz at 800 is quite easy to flood given the spacing of the cell sites. They need more cell sites.
2600 is good, but really has range limitations.
Originally Posted by jchamier:
“We won't know but I wonder if that's congestion at the radio level (800mhz) or at the backhaul connection. I would hazard a guess the 2x10mhz at 800 is quite easy to flood given the spacing of the cell sites. They need more cell sites.
”
“We won't know but I wonder if that's congestion at the radio level (800mhz) or at the backhaul connection. I would hazard a guess the 2x10mhz at 800 is quite easy to flood given the spacing of the cell sites. They need more cell sites.
”
Vod/O2 do have some 6 sector shared 4G sites in London now which is perhaps another way of addressing the congestion issue at some price in interference between the sectors. You can tell these as the cells ids on Vod 800 also include 40,50,60 in addition to 10,20,30. O2's ids are 110,120...160 and they also seem to have 1800 on them (114,124,134 etc).
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“I couldn't survive on 2GB of data a month! That's what, 70MB a day?”
“I couldn't survive on 2GB of data a month! That's what, 70MB a day?”
Interesting, I have a 10GB a month limit and thought I'd been using my phone heavily last month, and over Christmas, and found I'd used 5.5 GB. WiFi at home, but not at work, and I stream radio to my car via bluetooth, but I don't stream video or use YouTube etc on the phone.
I know people on 500mb a month, but a lot of people are on 2GB a month and have not yet run out.
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“I couldn't survive on 2GB of data a month! That's what, 70MB a day? A web page is about 1MB - 2MB now isn't it?
Apps can be 20-40MB, download a couple of offline maps or a podcast or TV show and you've seriously eaten into a chunk of data. I much prefer just not having to worry and using as much as I want over the occasional place where there's no data.
You'd have thought Vodafone and O2 would be increasing the common packages to allow more data in 2016, 4G can support it, I can't see why they can't increase the older 2GB package to 5GB for the same price.”
“I couldn't survive on 2GB of data a month! That's what, 70MB a day? A web page is about 1MB - 2MB now isn't it?
Apps can be 20-40MB, download a couple of offline maps or a podcast or TV show and you've seriously eaten into a chunk of data. I much prefer just not having to worry and using as much as I want over the occasional place where there's no data.
You'd have thought Vodafone and O2 would be increasing the common packages to allow more data in 2016, 4G can support it, I can't see why they can't increase the older 2GB package to 5GB for the same price.”
Well, ultimately I prefer not having to worry about missing phone calls! Where I live has a dead spot (and patchy spots) for all the networks except Vodafone - it depends on which room you're in, and whether the RF gods are smiling on you or not.
I did get a Three home signal box, but it didn't seem to be reliable enough - incoming calls didn't always come through, possibly at least some of the time it was when my phone might have been on the edge of the home signal box's coverage. Plus the home signal box doesn't hand off calls to the network, so if I walked out to the garden or out the front door whilst on a call it would drop. I did try repositioning the home signal box but it didn't seem to make much difference. I could have experimented more with other locations, other routers which offered QoS prioritisation, or all sorts of other things, but after a some annoyances I didn't have the patience - I just wanted a mobile that would work reliably at home!
I don't watch TV on my mobile. Apps I can download and update on wifi. With a bit of forethought I can get podcasts while on wifi. Streaming radio and audio I do like, so undoubtedly I'm changing my habits a bit. And public wifi networks are often a hassle that I can't really be arsed with, so yes - AYCE data was great, what with zero worries about data limits. And Feel At Home was v useful too.
Unfortunately it seems the only network that works for me is also the most expensive network, with the stingiest data allowances, which is kinda annoying! If and when Three manage to get VoLTE working for a decent range of handsets including ones not sold/supplied by them (I've been a SIM-only convert for years now) then that might be a way forward for me. Ditto the other networks.
(P.S. Plenty of folk out there quite happily survive on 500MB of data - I know a few!)
It's odd, I get by just fine on a 1.25GB plan which I am always amazed about.
I think about it though and I barely ever do anything data-intensive when I'm not on WiFi.
I think about it though and I barely ever do anything data-intensive when I'm not on WiFi.
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