O2 versus Vodafone Coverage

dmayne

Currently with O2, experiencing 3 or 4 places while travelling across the Country where signal seems to drop.

Considering a switch to Vodafone, but wondering how people find Vodafone coverage?

Are O2 and Vodafone fairly equal in terms of coverage? Any thoughts?

Sonics2k

dmayne wrote: »

Currently with O2, experiencing 3 or 4 places while travelling across the Country where signal seems to drop.

Considering a switch to Vodafone, but wondering how people find Vodafone coverage?

Are O2 and Vodafone fairly equal in terms of coverage? Any thoughts?

Fairly even in terms of coverage overall, a few spots where o2 has coverage and Vodafone don't and vice versa.

ondublinbus

There is a difference in coverage and quality. My experience is that Vodafone may have slightly better coverage in the west, like Kerry and Mayo but that O2 has the edge in overall quality. I have noticed fewer dropped calls on O2 and overall a better voice call sound quality.

krudler

That's going to happen with any network in fairness, no network has 100% coverage everywhere if you're moving around. a spare sim with another network is handy to have in case there's issues with one or you're in an area with no signal with a particular provider.

Dudda

I think it totally depends on the area. There are maps available on the O2 and vodafone website showing the coverage and weak spots. Neither is perfect with 100% coverage.
http://www.o2online.ie/o2/coverage-checker/
http://www.vodafone.ie/coverage/

Another useful map is this http://irelandoffline.org/map/
If you click on the Show Mobile checkbox it will show the location of the mobile transmitters.

Woodville56

Living in a hilly area in the north midlands here and have been round both O2 and Vodafone over the years and can't see much difference between them in terms of coverage in my area.
From looking at the coverage map for both providers, it would appear that I should have good coverage but in real terms it's not the case . I'm currently with Vodafone and regularly have a "No Service" display on the phone, calls dropping regularly etc . I have been on to Vodafone so often and I keep being told that there is a problem with their signal in this area and that their technical staff are trying to resolve the matter - that's the response for the past 12 months or more now ! I don't think O2 are much better from past experience.
I have mobile broadband with 3 and while their coverage was poor initially, at least I was able to get a signal booster unit which improved things a fair bit. I was hoping Vodafone could supply something similar to improve the coverage for me but seems not !
Any opinions/ advice ? It seems pointless entering a contract with these companies if they're unable to provide decent coverage , but there's little choice otherwise - I got rid of the eircom landline ages ago !

Kensington

I've found Vodafone to have more "bars" of coverage but O2 has better quality - fewer dropped calls (from personal experience, anyway), less "garbling" noises than Vodafone, O2 don't use that horrible alien sounding "HD Voice".

The big killer (for me anyway) is Vodafone are still using GPRS as a fallback for 3G mobile data (with EDGE popping up very occasionally), which is as good as useless for mobile data in this day and age. No 3G on Vodafone effectively means no data connection. If you don't have a 3G signal on O2, while the data connection is slow, it at least works.

Also - Vodafone's customer care is absolutely attrocious.

dmayne

Thanks everyone