Best 3G Network ?

ro_bilco

Hi All,

My O2 contract expires next month.

I'm seriously unhappy with the quality of the 3G Network.
(My iPhone 3G is far too slow connecting to check mails / facebook / net / etc...)

I want to get the HTC Desire and its available on both Vodafone and O2.

Can anyone comment on the 3G network quality on the various networks ?

Main areas of use would be: Dublin 15 & Swords.

Thanks,
Ro

Hogzy

Im on Meteor and i have no problems. I am in Cork though so it might be different. I hear Vodafone is the best in ireland (overall) though. Your gonna be getting varying responses id say!

Oafley Jones

It used to be that meteor had the fastest - where available - 3g network, not sure if the others have upgraded but I find the speeds on meteor excellent.

ro_bilco

Oafley Jones wrote: »

It used to be that meteor had the fastest - where available - 3g network, not sure if the others have upgraded but I find the speeds on meteor excellent.

But don't Meteor just rent space/capacity from O2 & Vodafone ?
I thought they only had their own masts in certain areas of dense population

Hogzy

ro_bilco wrote: »

I thought they only had their own masts in certain areas of dense population

And these are the masts that carry the better 3G speeds.

Its only if your in the back arse of nowhere that you need to grab vodafone or O2 coverage. How bad though. At least Meteor are utilising 2 of the largest networks masts.

Solair

Meteor's 3G network is entirely their own. They use national roaming on O2 in some remote parts of the West of Ireland where they've no coverage, but this is only for 2G service.

Their 3G network is far and away the best in Ireland at the moment. I have a 3G Broadband 2 Go modem from them for when I'm out and about and it's steadily connecting at >5mbit/s in Cork City and between 3 and 5mbit/s in Dublin.

They also have a HSPA+ rollout underway and are offering up to 14mbit/s in some of their newer cells, mostly in the West of Ireland.

Meteor seem to have invested in a lot of fibre-to-mast technology which has really improved the speed and bandwidth of their radio network, certainly in urban areas anyway.

If you're using 3G broadband in any of the major urban centres, Meteor are the way to go.

Their 3G coverage outside urban areas is improving, but it's still not as widespread as Vodafone and O2 just yet.

That being said, Meteor's EDGE (2.75G) network will provide reasonable coverage in most areas if you need to just check your mail or whatever while you're on the train / road / bus etc.

It gives speeds similar to a 2 channel ISDN line, so you can browse the web and do most things other than watch video within reasonable speed.

Vodafone and 3 don't offer this at all, so you're dumped back to ancient GPRS which is just painfully slow.

Only O2 and Meteor have EDGE.

I've got an iPhone on Vodafone and I had overlooked this fact before I bought it. Frankly, it's wrecking my head. The iPhone is hugely hampered without EDGE as once you're out of 3G coverage e.g. in a building etc, it just can't do anything other than maybe check twitter (very slowly).

I had an iPhone on O2 and that was never an issue, you just had slightly slower service in poor 3G coverage.

Same with my HTC on Meteor, you had browsable websites and email at all times!

Davy

I always try take advantage of the EGDE, think its a great asset too meteor and o2.

Vodafone also use a lot of the fibre, along with meteor on lines. I think 3 do still in spots

digiman

In D15 Vodafone have done a pretty decent 3G upgrade in the last couple of months so speeds should be a lot faster than before.

There are very very few VF sites that have direct access to fibre, basically only hub sites, so 95% of sites will have radio backhaul but the capacity on these is being greatly increased which will ultimately mean more capacity to the base stations

Not all of Meteor's cells are EDGE enabled; I know that any I tested in Kerry were just GPRS. Not sure about O2 though.

angel01

I think O2 are the best 3g Network, haven't let me down very often and it is rare in the cases that they have!

snaps

Vodafone hands down for me. I moved from meteor and haven't looked back. Ive been roaming in Europe the last 3 months and it was a breeze to data roam with vodafone prepaid and i never spent more than 39c a day data roaming as i had signed up to vodafone 360!

Matt Bauer

snaps wrote: »

Vodafone hands down for me. I moved from meteor and haven't looked back. Ive been roaming in Europe the last 3 months and it was a breeze to data roam with vodafone prepaid and i never spent more than 39c a day data roaming as i had signed up to vodafone 360!

That's a significant feature to take into consideration. You can choose to pay o2 €20 a day to roam in Europe, or Vodafone €0.39 a day to roam almost anywhere in the world (not just Europe).

snaps

Matt Bauer wrote: »

That's a significant feature to take into consideration. You can choose to pay o2 €20 a day to roam in Europe, or Vodafone €0.39 a day to roam almost anywhere in the world (not just Europe).

If your not signed up to 360 then its 99c a day for 50mb, or 39c a day for 100mb when signed up to 360.

I found that more than enough for checking mail/facebook/google maps & even listening to 48kbs radio!

AnimalRights

angel01 wrote: »

I think O2 are the best 3g Network, haven't let me down very often and it is rare in the cases that they have!

I am with 02 since they weren't even called o2, esat or something?
But like the original poster said the 3g is poor,I have an i-phone and my gf has iphone vodaphone and it is ALWAYS faster when we do our speed tests no matter where we are.
I am seriously thinking of switching but I am unemployed so would like a package of what I'm on now, with perhaps Meteor?
anyone have recommendations?

Walkman

I would think 3 have by far the widest 3G coverage at the moment. Even in rural parts I find I am more in 3G coverage than not and rarely in below 1.5mbps on speed tests.

Uncle Mclovin

Bumping this thread a bit.


I'm looking at getting an iphone 4 in the coming weeks. Just wondering which operator has the best 3g coverage at the moment. Kerry area.

Three are offering the best deals with all you can eat data for €40 a month but from looking over on the three forum a lot of people are of the opinion that their 3g coverage is awful and often drops off altogether.

cookie1977

Get a free prepay sim from a three store or online and test out the signal where you live work and play. You want to see good 3G signal if you're using a smartphone. I wouldn't trust everyone's experience. Test it yourself.

Solair

I always found O2's 3G a bit slow compared to the others.

Vodafone, Meteor/Emobile and Three are pretty decent.

angel01

Omg at my post in this thread :eek:

I find 3 are the best now, I have great coverage but you really need to test it for yourself.

amdaley28

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Bumping this thread a bit.


I'm looking at getting an iphone 4 in the coming weeks. Just wondering which operator has the best 3g coverage at the moment. Kerry area.

Three are offering the best deals with all you can eat data for €40 a month but from looking over on the three forum a lot of people are of the opinion that their 3g coverage is awful and often drops off altogether.

There's a big thread on this forum about Three, the Iphone & Three's customer service.Read it first before you decide.

pigeon999

Meteor have far better internet than vodafone I would go with Meteor.

jay93

three have the best 3G I think 02 have the worst service for both 2G 3G .but thats just my opinion your experiance would be alot differant depending on where you live and work etc.