3 coverage

digitaldr

I'm on 02 at the moment am not eligible for an upgrade so was thinking of changing to 3 as they seem to have some pretty tasty phones. What's their coverage like compared to 02 (not too worried about 3G)? Also I was with Vodafone before 02 - if I changed back to them I presume I'd be eligible for a new phone?

Thanks

Urban Weigl

3 coverage will be the same as Vodafone, as they have a roaming agreement: whenever you're out of 3 coverage, your phone roams on Vodafone's GSM network.

All that being said, do a search for 3 around here. Lots of people aren't very happy with them at all. They also lock you into their walled garden (sic), so you don't get to access the internet.

1huge1

well 3 actually have the best coverage in the republic because they've more 3G areas than vodafone

im on there €25 price plan and im pleased but there are some things i dont like but the good still do outway the bad
the walled garden as Urban Weigl mentioned can be a pain 3 do offer a fair amount but if your looking to read your mail and arent with hotmail or yahoo you simply wont be able to

they have a fair enough selection of phones and are very cheap
roaming still has a long way to go but its getting there
overall there service is very good and customer care seem to try to help you any way they can

so basically if your interested in doing a lot of internet stuff on your phone and roam a lot then 3 might not be for you (though there getting more and more countries to roam with)

but if you want good value, brilliant coverage and good phones then 3 is just what your looking for

Blaster99

Urban Weigl wrote:

3 coverage will be the same as Vodafone, as they have a roaming agreement: whenever you're out of 3 coverage, your phone roams on Vodafone's GSM network.

You won't be on Voda's network until you have no 3 coverage, so in rural areas you may find yourself on a very weak 3 signal. If you're just interested in making phone calls and don't care about 3G coverage, both O2 and Vodafone will give you better coverage.

I'm happy with them. I would be even happier if they could get this walled garden crap out of their system.

digitaldr

1huge1 wrote:

w
so basically if your interested in doing a lot of internet stuff on your phone and roam a lot then 3 might not be for you (though there getting more and more countries to roam with)

The list of countries (150) seems quiet extensive although I see that if you're on 3Pay they only allow roaming to the UK and Northern Ireland.

Urban Weigl

Blaster99 wrote:

You won't be on Voda's network until you have no 3 coverage, so in rural areas you may find yourself on a very weak 3 signal. If you're just interested in making phone calls and don't care about 3G coverage, both O2 and Vodafone will give you better coverage.

I'm happy with them. I would be even happier if they could get this walled garden crap out of their system.

Well, isn't that the same as having a Vodafone 3G phone? It prefers to be on a 3G network by default, and won't fall back to GSM until it cannot lock onto the 3G signal anymore.

Granted, you can force a Vodafone 3G phone to only use GSM. I guess you cannot do that with 3.

dub_skav

Urban Weigl wrote:

Well, isn't that the same as having a Vodafone 3G phone? It prefers to be on a 3G network by default, and won't fall back to GSM until it cannot lock onto the 3G signal anymore.

Granted, you can force a Vodafone 3G phone to only use GSM. I guess you cannot do that with 3.

It's not quite the same. 3 have removed their roaming agreement in some areas - such as Dublin city - so if you have a poor 3 signal in one of these areas then you will not roam to VF and could have no signal.
This will only happen to a very small number of people but is still possible.

Blaster99

It's not a problem in Dublin City, at least not in my experience. In the city centre I've always had full signal with 3. They still have Voda roaming in most of Dublin, by the way.

The real problem is being at the outskirts of 3 coverage and in some semi-rural locations I've had really crappy 3 signal with broken up calls. But in some places 3's signal is much better than O2 2G that I had before, so it probably evens out.

frankymail

Belive me when i say.... STAY with O2, their are the best network in Ireland and by january they will have 70% of the population covered with 3G coverage. Wait until you are eligable for an upgrade or they might push your upgrade forward if it is coming within the next few months, they did this for me in the an o2 experience store last week and my upgrade was due in november. If your looking for a good phone get the Sony ericsson K800i its available on o2. I got it last week and its top class.
Dont move to another network it either going to be more expensive or less quality customer services and network and what ever you do stay away from three. My brother is on three and it is total crap, the coverage is always bad and customer services are worse. STAY WITH O2, if you move you will regret it.

digitaldr

I'll pop into o2 tomorrow and see if they'll be willing to upgrade me. frankymail there's no sign of the Sony ericsson K800i on O2's website - how much did you pay for it?

1huge1

frankymail wrote:

Belive me when i say.... STAY with O2, their are the best network in Ireland and by january they will have 70% of the population covered with 3G coverage. Wait until you are eligable for an upgrade or they might push your upgrade forward if it is coming within the next few months, they did this for me in the an o2 experience store last week and my upgrade was due in november. If your looking for a good phone get the Sony ericsson K800i its available on o2. I got it last week and its top class.
Dont move to another network it either going to be more expensive or less quality customer services and network and what ever you do stay away from three. My brother is on three and it is total crap, the coverage is always bad and customer services are worse. STAY WITH O2, if you move you will regret it.

do you work for O2 or something it seems like a lot of what you said was biased and how do you know O2 will have 3G by january they have been trying to get it up and going for 2 years now but all i see is more i-mode

Blaster99

It was probably not the most objective post in the history of Boards, let's put it that way. 70% 3G coverage is not much to brag about. 3 has over 80% now.

I incidently moved from O2 to 3 and have never been happier. My bills are about half of what they were.