Best Mobile Internet Connection

[Tim Barlow]

Forget price. Which network offers the best coverage for dongles/usb sticks and/or smartphones? What I am looking for is the network that is going to give me an internet connection in the most number of places I visit. (Edinburgh, Borders, Cumbria and occasional train trips south or west).

The carphone warehouse man says 3 is the best but does anyone agree?

 

[Tim Barlow]

A month and a bit down the line

I originally tried T-mobile on a G1 Google phone - it didn't work at home, the office or anywhere I happened to be over Christmas/New Year (Borders & North Cumbria). I sent it back

I went with 3 on a dongle. It didn't work in the office, it didn't work at home. I took it on the train to Grantham and the connection kept dropping, significantly interrupting my work flow. I sent it back

Got a dongle on Vodafone. It works in the office, it works at home. In fact it works everywhere I have been in the last month or so with one exception (a house in the sticks near Hawick which doesn't seem to have any mobile reception at all).

I haven't done the train test yet but in general Vodafone is the clear winner and I would happily recommend it.

 

[shredder]

I have used vodafone for 3 years now including many train trips on the west coast and east coast main lines. Generally great apart from (1) the quite coaches on the newer virgin trains - i think they block mobile phone signals and (2) some areas of south west scotland where there is no 3G signal.

 

[Tim Barlow]

the quite coaches on the newer virgin trains - i think they block mobile phone signals

That's a great tip - thanks. I'll have to do some testing.

 

[stugster]

I'd like to just voice my concerns about Orange and their signal. I'm not sure if it's the phone-operator combination or just Orange in general. In the Craigleith/Stockbridge/Blackhall/Morningside/Bruntsfield/Muirhouse/Pilton/Granton/Boswall/Cannonmills areas of Edinburgh, I'm lucky to get more than 2 bars outside in the open, and lucky to even receive 1 bar inside any kind of building.

I'm pretty convinced it's not the phone, as when I was in Spain and New York recently, the signal was full. My friend who is on Vodafone also brought his N95 round for me to play and I received full signal all over the house.

 

[Tim Barlow]

In the Craigleith/Stockbridge/Blackhall/Morningside/Bruntsfield/Muirhouse/Pilton/Granton/Boswall/Cannonmills areas of Edinburgh, I'm lucky to get more than 2 bars outside in the open, and lucky to even receive 1 bar inside any kind of building.

(I assume you are talking phone rather than mobile broadband)

I'm on orange and spend most of my time in a good number of the areas you have and don't generally have issues. Might be worth calling customer services.

 

[stugster]

Yeah, I mean phone.

Have had a long drawn out saga with their customer "services" and their technical department. Both as useful as chocolate fire guards. I told them that the phone and contract were no good to me as I needed to use it all over the city. Their response is that they couldn't be bothered as they don't have a guarantee as to service availability.

Just means that when I go to get my new contract in April, I'll be avoiding them like the plague.

 

[dotsno]

I use a Three dongle - I can confirm reports of it being a pain in the butt on a train from Edinburgh to London; so much so that I often switch to the train's free, though less secure, WiFi network. It is also pants anywhere in Dumfries & Galloway it seems.

That said, I went with Three because they're apparently the only network that doesn't censor the internet or change content by compressing it in weird ways to save their bandwidth. For a lot of what I do on the move I need to see internet traffic and content precisely as it should be, not having been edited and manipulated by the service provider. But in general, if you don't need that, and you travel on trains a lot or live in D&G, then I'd say avoid Three and go Vodafone.

 

[Tim Barlow]

apparently the only network that doesn't censor the internet or change content by compressing it in weird ways to save their bandwidth

Whilst I haven't been looking for it, I can't say I have ever noticed this.

 

[Canary Dwarf]

I have been in a long dispute with Three, over their provision of service. Three WIL NOT connect in a GPRS area, whereas all the others will. This means, that unless you are in a 3G area, that's a large chunk of Scotland, especially outside of cities and large towns, you will not get connected. A slow connection is better than no connection.

I now have a Vodafone 'pebble' and can highly recommend it. It has consistently been voted the best service by magazine reviews and I certainly have no complaints. It has arguably the best coverage in Scotland. I used it in a remote glen in the Isle of Lewis! It works on my Windows PC, my Mac, and my Linux netbook.

You can get it on a 12- or 18-month contract or pay-as-you-go.