Which 3G Broadband to use - 3G, O2, Vodafone

TommyGun

Can some one help me - i am looking for the best 3G broadband.

Which is the best value with the best quality connection?

Or does it really matter as the technology is the same across the 3 suppliers?

Please help.

TommyGun

Sponge Bob

Tommy

You deserve to be a three customer . leave voda and o2 to those who want a service that works.

whitelightrider

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Tommy

You deserve to be a three customer . leave voda and o2 to those who want a service that works.

Sponge Bob, which one would be better in your opinion, O2 or Vodafone?

Sponge Bob

Don't read this Tommy!

I trend towards o2 in rural areas because they offer 150-200k EDGE as a fallback if the 3g signal is not there . Voda fall back to GPRS 50k if the 3g is not there.

3 simply fall over

In urban areas o2 are known to be a bit congested but I suspect this applies to all of them .

They ALL offer a trial , 7 days for o2 and 14 for Voda. Use the trial periods wisely and make sure you test every day, I know of rural cases where the 3g signal works during the week but not at the weekend when the cell gets more congested because the city slickers are home with mammy . This is a feature of the technology not the operator .

Get both and trial them both each side of and over the bank holiday weekend coming up is my best advice.

Voda have better 3g coverage than o2 overall but o2 have better fallback options overall .

smellslikeshoes

They are both pretty close in quality (I have both) but I would go for the 02 because of the better cap, saying that Vodafone isn't bad either. But remember that none of these products are comparable to a good fixed line connection so unless you need mobility or can't get any other broadband look elsewhere.

JuncoPartner

Cant comment on Vodafone or 3, but I do have O2 and its a very very decent service. For the first couple of weeks it was pretty patchy, would work one minute then just die the next. However its been working perfectly for me now for about 2 months. Ive also used it down in Kilmore in Wexford which isnt exactly Silicon Valley and its every bit as fast there as it is in Finglas.

whitelightrider

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Don't read this Tommy!

I trend towards o2 in rural areas because they offer 150-200k EDGE as a fallback if the 3g signal is not there . Voda fall back to GPRS 50k if the 3g is not there.

3 simply fall over

In urban areas o2 are known to be a bit congested but I suspect this applies to all of them .

They ALL offer a trial , 7 days for o2 and 14 for Voda. Use the trial periods wisely and make sure you test every day, I know of rural cases where the 3g signal works during the week but not at the weekend when the cell gets more congested because the city slickers are home with mammy . This is a feature of the technology not the operator .

Get both and trial them both each side of and over the bank holiday weekend coming up is my best advice.

Voda have better 3g coverage than o2 overall but o2 have better fallback options overall .

Hey Sponge Bob, thanks for that. Just got confirmation from O2 that they do not have 3G coverage in Athenry! So that rules out O2 and 3. On to Vodafone to see what they say. Looks like Vodafone have an 18 month contract as well!

Sponge Bob

Well depending on what side of Athenry you are on (its a big parish) I would urge you to look at this link below instead.

O2 are also building a mast ( c 4-5km) to the east shortly, it will have 3g as it will be close to the new N6 .

http://www.lightnet.ie/coverage.htmlin

whitelightrider

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Well depending on what side of Athenry you are on (its a big parish) I would urge you to look at this link below instead.

O2 are also building a mast ( c 4-5km) to the east shortly, it will have 3g as it will be close to the new N6 .

http://www.lightnet.ie/coverage.htmlin

Cheers Sponge bob. We're only renting the house while our own is being built so €200 for the pole and aerial is a little excessive. We could probably get Eircom in to connect the line for that.
Thanks for the advice though.

Sponge Bob

oh and see this vodafone coverage map, they will move that pole for ya when you want you know...

http://62.17.23.101:8080/liteview6.5/servlet/MapGuideLiteView?REQUEST=MAP&WIDTH=696&HEIGHT=696&FORMAT=PNG&LAYERS=VodafoneCoverCombo.mwf&BBOX=-50000,0,450000,500000

whitelightrider

Sponge Bob wrote: »

oh and see this vodafone coverage map, they will move that pole for ya when you want you know...

http://62.17.23.101:8080/liteview6.5/servlet/MapGuideLiteView?REQUEST=MAP&WIDTH=696&HEIGHT=696&FORMAT=PNG&LAYERS=VodafoneCoverCombo.mwf&BBOX=-50000,0,450000,500000

Bloody map wont open for me.

Sponge Bob

try this way and try it in Firefox