Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“Three's 3G coverage is still second to none, in terms of data speeds. While there are some congested areas, generally speaking you can rely on perfectly good speeds in most places when you have a signal.
EE is now catching up rapidly as old sites are upgraded, but if you haven't got a 4G enabled EE site then you may well find the site isn't DC-HSDPA enabled and so you simply won't get the speeds you'll get on the vast majority (90% or more?) of Three sites.
I do think that some people are suddenly discounting 3G as a viable way of providing data, and forgetting that you can still get speeds of almost 30Mbps - which often beats some 4G speeds.
Latency is the main issue, and a slower uplink, but fast uplink speeds are really only useful for a small percentage of people in comparison.”
I don't think its a case of someone discounting 3G, I believe its just recognition of "Three" being in a bit of a jam. Three arguably does have the widest 3G coverage but then again my own experience runs counter. Where I live and even travelling round Manchester city centre offers a different perspective, 3G speeds are around 1-3 which admittedly is very usable but this will vary where I am located. Down the Oxford Road corridor where the Universities are its even more stark, getting above 1meg is considered an achievement. Interestingly 4G seems to have become congested rather quickly round there as well (EE, Vodafone and O2 above 10meg), speeds around 4meg are the norm. I know its all relative but the strategy being persued is clearly not working, Three is suffering somewhat, Manchester and latterly Sunderland seems be having problems.
Originally Posted by jchamier:
“Unless a serious portion of the network is congested I beg to differ. Three speeds of 1.2mbps on 3G are the norm in the various parts of the UK I was last week. EE manages 8mbps in same places. 4G on Three around 22mbps max, with 40+ on EE 4G.”
Your experience mirrors mine personally, EE fabulous in comparison (I hate saying that as 12 months ago I was slagging them off ha). Vodafone and O2 do good as well, Three is just well stuck.