Eir or Vodafone - best 4G

Spon Farmer

I’m with Three at the moment and I’m thinking of getting an iPhone today,

I was wondering whether to stay with Three or go to Vodafone for 4G coverage.

I can’t get the Commreg 4G map to load on this device.

Which network would you guys recommend?

ED E

Eir have about 50% the number of 4G sites as the other two. It works but cannot handle any kind of peak load.


Buy your phone sim free, move network at a whim.

Lissavane

Spon Farmer wrote: »

I’m with Three at the moment and I’m thinking of getting an iPhone today,

I was wondering whether to stay with Three or go to Vodafone for 4G coverage.

I can’t get the Commreg 4G map to load on this device.

Which network would you guys recommend?

You say you're getting a phone today so this may be too late for you. I heard recently that Revenue and Customs were moving their mobile phones from Vodafone to Three. That would indicate they consider the Three network at least as good as Vodafone's. Both data and voice are important in their line of work.

TheDriver

Govt procurement goes with price and its difficult for a govt dept to say three isn't good enough when in theory it is on paper. Read nothing into it.

GIMP

Vodafone by a longway have better 4/3g coverage, I have streamed music in my car the length and breadth of the country, down bog roads and country lanes, never lost signal.

Eir while with them i had regular drop outs to 2g or no signal.

That is my experience.

Spon Farmer

ED E wrote: »

Eir have about 50% the number of 4G sites as the other two. It works but cannot handle any kind of peak load.


Buy your phone sim free, move network at a whim.

This is very strange. I had no interest in asking about Eir mobile as I know coverage is best with Three and Vodafone and I have no recollection of typing Eir into the subject line for the thread. I meant Three vs Vodafone.

I would be getting the phone SIM free anyway but need a SIM to activate it just figured I’d ask the question once and for all.

slegs

Spon Farmer wrote: »

This is very strange. I had no interest in asking about Eir mobile as I know coverage is best with Three and Vodafone and I have no recollection of typing Eir into the subject line for the thread. I meant Three vs Vodafone.

I would be getting the phone SIM free anyway but need a SIM to activate it just figured I’d ask the question once and for all.

Coverage experience is always relative to where you live, work and move around.

You can work out countrywide who has better coverage and quality but for your expereince they may still not be the best option. Vodafone have plenty of areas where they arent strong.

For example West Cork / Cork county is traditionally an area where O2/Three have done better as Digifone/O2 invested hugely in coverage in Cork when they started out (lots of their management had Cork connections). This can also be seen in the Digifone / O2 sponsorship of Cork GAA for years.

KildareP

Spon Farmer wrote: »

This is very strange. I had no interest in asking about Eir mobile as I know coverage is best with Three and Vodafone and I have no recollection of typing Eir into the subject line for the thread. I meant Three vs Vodafone.

I would be getting the phone SIM free anyway but need a SIM to activate it just figured I’d ask the question once and for all.

Vodafone's speeds are more consistent which is primarily because they are the most restrictive of all the operators when it comes to data allowances.

Three's speeds are significantly higher in off-peak or urban residential areas (200Mb+) but can be equally significantly lower at peak times around the City Centre or rural areas which have poor access to broadband (<1Mb). Trial and error and be prepared for sudden and dramatic change even if you get lucky.

The Three network has definitely come a long way in the last 12 months or so though and I'd reckon is coming very close to Vodafone. Vodafone is by no means coast-to-coast coverage - their coverage around North Kildare is very hit and miss and is well below that of the other two networks.