[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chenks

the cost between operators is totally irrelevant when it comes to the end-user, which we all are.

But it is totally relevant when it comes to discussing whether a network operator is losing money on free roaming, which was the point of the last few posts

[Gigabit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

But it is totally relevant when it comes to discussing whether a network operator is losing money on free roaming, which was the point of the last few posts

They won't be loosing money though, as the roaming probably doesn't cost them anything (or a tiny amount). That was the point (I think) that user was making.

[jonmorris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chenks

the cost between operators is totally irrelevant when it comes to the end-user, which we all are.

It is, but when we ask about how Three can or can't afford to do something (like Feel at Home) then it becomes very relevant.

[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

They won't be loosing money though, as the roaming probably doesn't cost them anything (or a tiny amount). That was the point (I think) that user was making.

You don't know that for sure though. Intra-EU roaming is likely to be much cheaper for the operators (especially the Vodafones and EEs who own networks in many other countries), but 3 has no interest in any US network and doesn't have legislation on their side to bring costs down.

So they have to pay whatever AT&T/T-Mobile want them to pay - and either they have very good negotiators or they're losing money. Probably closer to the former than the latter, but who knows

[voodoofish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

You don't know that for sure though. Intra-EU roaming is likely to be much cheaper for the operators (especially the Vodafones and EEs who own networks in many other countries), but 3 has no interest in any US network and doesn't have legislation on their side to bring costs down.

So they have to pay whatever AT&T/T-Mobile want them to pay - and either they have very good negotiators or they're losing money. Probably closer to the former than the latter, but who knows

Vodafone let you use your pay monthly UK tariff in the US for £5/day so I would guess they have negotiated a reduction too (they used to own half of Verizon Wireless, but don't own it anymore and also I'm not sure GSM phones will even roam onto Verizon, so it's unlikely they're getting the discount that way).

[juzzy25]

I was in the exact same position last August, I was with O2 and been a very happy customer up until I visited the Edinburgh Fringe festival and I couldn't use my O2 signal for anything, thankfully there was an abundance of WiFi hotspots in the city I could use. (I understand an international comedy festival is an extreme example)

I made the decision to move to Three, yes the coverage (from my experience and for my needs - it's so important I say that as my usage pattern is completely different from every other poster on this board including the person who asked the question) doesn't seem so good from my experience.

I was very impressed, billing is straightforward, My3 always works, I found indoors I struggled in some places but so did other friends on other networks. The one place I couldn't get signal was my ex-girlfriends house in Barking but I was lucky and got sent a signal box - that's when things got sticky and they demanded it back, with some underhand trickery, but a few e-mails to the Executive Office and that's been in my possession since.

Since then I've used Feel at Home in America and Europe hassle free, I have 4G access but leave it turned off as 3G is good enough for me, yes it gets slow in London, but it's not the end of the world if I can't access Facebook, YouTube or Spotify until I get home on the WiFi or I get to a less congested area.

It's an matter of you pay for what you get, I'm never going to get an O2 level of customer service for the price I pay, I also accept that I may not get the stability of signal (I'm no engineer or mobile network nut but accept there's always pros and cons to being on Three/MBNL) but for most of the time, I've used it, made loads of phone calls, sent texts, and used 2GB/3GB of data a month, occasionally the network has a fit and I simply "Airplane Mode" it or reset the phone, both minor frustrations and for MY needs, the network, my phone have performed fine......if it's an experiment go SIM Only Monthly, if it doesn't work then port away, that's what I did but I stuck around.

Good luck with your decision, I'm more of a day to day user, not to into frequencies, networks, rollout etc, I have an interest but it's more a back of your mind thing, I'm interested how my phone serves me as a person, I'll leave the heavy thinking to the network.