T-Mobile / Orange switching

[kwikbreaks]

I can see a VM customer SIM only deal that would suit me but the coverage map for T-Mobile which appears to be the default Virgin network is very patchy near my home which is where it would mostly be used. Orange looks to be better although I never trust any of the mobile coverage maps as I've found all of them to be optimistic.

My question is will the phone (plain old 2G one my wife mainly uses for texting) be likely to seamlessly switch over to Orange if the signal is poor rather than non-existent or would I do better digging deeper into my pocket and getting something O2/Vodafone based which both do work well here.

[grim reaper]

yep ... if there is no t-mobile signal available the phone should automatically switch to orange ..... you can see the difference on your phones screen as when on t-mobile signal it will show Virgin (capital V) whilst if on an orange signal it will show virgin (lowercase v)

[kwikbreaks]

It was the "non-existent" bit in the blurb that bothered me - there probably would be a T-Mobile signal but at Norman Collier quality level. For those too young or too cultured to know what I mean by that - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYpQyJ_bTiw

[BenMcr]

I think it's cleverer than that now i.e. it'll use the best quality signal available

[Peter_]

It seamlessly switches between the 2 networks without a hiccup the only way you can tell if it has switched is by looking at the screen.

I never know which network my phone is on unless I look.

[Matth]

I can manually select Orange, while using a Virgin Sim, tieing it to Orange though, with no chance to select Virgin (the T-mobile side).
In auto, it will prefer Virgin (T-mob) when available, but how poor it has to be before it will step over to Orange, I'm not sure, so YMMV - if you force Orange as a manual network selection, then you will ONLY get Orange coverage, so it will not hunt back to Virgin

[carmad]

I can received both orange and T Mobile and it seamlessly switches to the strongest signal at the time.

[kwikbreaks]

Thank folks - I'll give it a spin - as it's only a 30 day contract the loss is negligible if it proves to be poor.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

Thank folks - I'll give it a spin - as it's only a 30 day contract the loss is negligible if it proves to be poor.

My wife is on that contract and it is good value.

[Jinxey]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I think it's cleverer than that now i.e. it'll use the best quality signal available

I find this. I'm on Orange and there is a Orange 3G signal by me, although the T-Mobile 3G signal is stronger. I find around 99% of time I am using the T-Mobile signal.

[kwikbreaks]

Well it seems to be working just fine - I'm sure I'll be the first to hear if there are any hiccups...

[chrispy2000]

I can received both orange and T Mobile and it seamlessly switches to the strongest signal at the time.

I wish mine switched seamlessly.
I use a iPhone 4 and when it's on Orange I can't send any text. A real pain.

[Stephen]

I now spend more time on the Orange(virgin) network as the signal seems to be stronger where I am. Even when I go in and manually select the T-Mobile(Virgin) network, it still switches over to virgin from Virgin.

[Gadgie]

I am presently with T Mobile on a 24 month contract, that is far too expensive, is it possible for me to change over as well as keep my existing number?


02 Mobile, have a present deal which works out at Half the Price I am paying T Mobile!

I've read my contract, and it says I can opt out of the contract, but I want to know if anyone has managed that in the past.

[alferret]

Originally Posted by Gadgie

I've read my contract, and it says I can opt out of the contract, but I want to know if anyone has managed that in the past.

My wife opted out of her contract a few years ago & it cost half of the contract that was left which was £60'ish IIRC but the savings on the new contract outweighed the buyout by another £20. This was with Voda in 07.