Quote:
Originally Posted by tucker61
If 3uk are so small, then why do they provide the best 3g connection in the uk?
How soon will this merge go ahead, would it be worth keeping my virgn mbile account going hoping for a better signal One day. My account is due for renewel next month.
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T-Mobile and 3 recently merged there 3G infrastructure, I know it has been completed in the South of England, so Virgin/T-Mobile customers will have the same 3G network coverage as 3 customers.
Unfortunetly, T-Mobile 2G remains the same for now and won't be merged with Orange's 2G network for a while, in fact it will take 18 months after the merge is completed before they even trade as one big company, therefore you are looking at 2 to 3 years. In fact, it might not be worth merging the 2G networks since more and more people are upgrading to 3G phones, In japan,2G no longer exists!
I had trouble getting 3G coverage in one side of my home on 3 and T-Mobile, since it merged, I have at least 3 bars of 3G network coverage in the blackspot side of my home.
The Orange 3G infrastructure will probably be merged into MBNL(T-Mobile/3) 3G infrastructure.
MBNL is the 50/50 joint venture company owned by Hutchison 3G UK and T-Mobile UK which owns and maintains the 3G sites used by 3 and T-Mobile, as Virgin Mobile uses T-Mobile's network, Virgin Mobile customers recieve the same level of network coverage from it. T
The 2G sites owned by T-Mobile remain the same, 3 have no 2G infrastructure and use Orange 2G where 3G isn't available, this is part of a contracted lease. 3 formerly used the O2 network, but switched to Orange in 2006.
When the merger of 3 and T-Mobile 3G infrastructure is complete and there 3G coverage reaches 99%, I would expect 3 to run advertising campaigns and heavily invest in new phones and advertising to win over customers. That maybe the reason why 3 don't offer the iphone yet, they have learned that offering a service which isn't ready yet, does not satisfy customers, when 3 launched in the UK, the network coverage was very incomplete and offered poor service, now is the time to join 3 as the reception is much better.
Which has the largest 3G network, Orange or 3?
Well, the answer is 3, despite the recent advertising campaigns by Orange, 3 offers the widest 3G coverage in the UK,Why? Because they have more 3G masts then Orange and since the merger of 3 and T-Mobile 3G infrastructure hasn't been completed yet, its fair to say that 3 offers the widest 3G coverage. Orange claim they offer the widest 3G coverage for one reason, the fact that they cover the most towns and cities and villages, however, that does not mean you will get decent 3G coverage indoors or in certain buildings. By putting a 3G mast in every town,village and city, Orange is allowed to make that claim. Its kind of misleading.
When the the merge of 3 and T-Mobile's 3G infrastructure is complete, 3,T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile will offer the widest 3G coverage and when the merge of Orange and T-Mobile's business is completed, 3,T-Mobile,Virgin and Orange will leave O2,Tesco,Asda and Vodafone looking pretty outdated.
The solution for O2 and Vodafone is to merge its 3G infrastructure with each other to offer a similar level of service.