Three or T-Mobile?

[Peter Loew]

I'm looking to change networks, ideally to a SIM only 12 month contract, as I will supply the phone myself.

- International Roaming (mostly Europe) with Data is important
- 3G Coverage and quality is important throughout UK
- When going abroad, availability of partner networks are important

I've narrowed down to Three for their 3G network coverage (I have a MiFi dongle and coverage seems excellent compared to O2), and T-Mobile because of their Boosters and the fact they now share the same 3G coverage as Three via their infrastructure.

I'm a bit cautious as Three has no 2G coverage, so when if there is no 3G either abroad or in the UK, I'll get no signal at all, whereas T-Mobile will presumably switch to a 2G network when 3G is unavailable.

Does anyone have any experiences of with one or both of these networks?

P

[SofaKingdom]

No personal experience but fellow contractor on-site has been moaning for a week about how rubbish 3 are both in terms of speed/performance as well as their customer service.

[Peter Loew]

Thanks.

Just to add, T-Mobile have a fair usage policy on their data which seems to restrict Skype (Voip) and Instant messaging. I find this absurd, does anyone have any experiences of this; is it a physical restriction or just a guideline?

[pmeswani]

Thanks.

Just to add, T-Mobile have a fair usage policy on their data which seems to restrict Skype (Voip) and Instant messaging. I find this absurd, does anyone have any experiences of this; is it a physical restriction or just a guideline?

I don't know much about the Skype / VOIP issue, but if your phone supports WiFi, there shouldn't be a reason why you can't use Skype on a T-Mobile compatible Phone.

[Clippy]

No personal experience but fellow contractor on-site has been moaning for a week about how rubbish 3 are both in terms of speed/performance as well as their customer service.

I believe 3's customer service center is in India.

Nuff said.

[Fred Bloggs]

I believe 3's customer service center is in India.

Nuff said.

That's one of the reasons I use O2, at least when you call them, someone in the UK answers the phone. When I tried Vodafone (Inidian support) briefly, I soon went back to O2.