Posted by julias
I know that currently only EE (Everything Everywhere) have 4G services in the U.K but when are the other operators starting their 4G services i.e 02 -Three - Vodafone?
Posted by Bonovox
As far as I know it'll be this summer or there about. The bidding for the 4G auctions have started just the other week from the other networks.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21160814
The winners of the 4G auction will be expected to launch their services by summer this year.
_________________
Material things don't matter,but Rock n Roll does!!!!
Sony Xperia T
AKA,Bonovox
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-01-31 15:45 ]
Posted by julias
Ok thanks!
I'm looking for a new 4G contract and right now my choices are rather narrow so that's why i wanted to know but i may just go with EE because i cant hang out till the summer and EE have just dropped their 4G tariffs aswell.
Posted by Bonovox
I hope Three come up with an unlimited 4G tariff. I mean,4G has much larger capacity anyway. But shouldn't Three change it's name to Four
Posted by julias
I was thinking the same the other day that will Three still be Three after they have launched 4G?
Posted by goldenface
They're promising not to raise prices when there 4G is rolled out.
"As we add the next wave of technology to our Ultrafast network, we’ve listened to our customers and thought long and hard about the right way to do it. We don’t want to limit Ultrafast services to a select few based on a premium price and we’ve decided our customers will get this service as standard."
The Verge.
Posted by Miss UK
This 4g will be interesting to watch out for when the other
Networks pick it up later this year, will they go cheaper then
EE that's what we all wanna know
I'm due a new phone this Christmas so I will be in hawk mode
On this 4g saga lol
Posted by goldenface
I think EE really shot themselves in the foot by expecting people to pay more for miniscule amounts of data. it won't be hard for the others to undercut them.
Posted by Bonovox
Yes,I hope Three knock em all dead with thier deals
Posted by Del
I'm due an upgrade in September so I'm well looking forward to the 4G battle that will ensue
I hope that 3 does knock em all dead with their tariffs.
Posted by Bonovox
See this
http://www.wpcentral.com/enjo[....]three-uk-adding-lte-plans-free
Posted by julias
Three to offer latest technology as standard with no price premium.
http://www.threemediacentre.c[....]with-no-price-premium-2f0.aspx
Posted by Bonovox
I just posted that above
Posted by julias
The one i posted is the Official3 Press Release.
Posted by etaab
Thats brilliant news. Well done Three.
Thats how you should treat customers and not try to milk them. Huh EE ?
Posted by Del
Oh let the 4G wars begin
excellent move by Three.
Posted by Bonovox
I have found over past two years now I don't wanna be with any other network except Three. Love them
Posted by julias
I would rather be three than EE
Posted by Miss UK
Thats rather Plush of "Freebie" "3" that info (I Likey)
Posted by Bonovox
Been praising Three for ages now but the past week nothing but problems. All of a sudden it's become very slow like download speeds of 450kbps at ALL times of day. The signal often drops out and You Tube is unusable. I downloaded a 1mb app and it took 4 minutes
I have been onto Three many times and they insist nothing is wrong in my area. But i said there must be cos when i leave my area my internet is fine again. So i send an email complaint. The next day my signal has dropped to one bar and they tell me now there IS something wrong in my area and work is going on. Now tonight its back to full signal and slow as a snail internet again 
Am now at the end of my patience. After months of rarely any issues it's now a complete joke and with Three it's like talking to robots on the phone. Gonna leave if nothing improves by next week
Posted by etaab
Ive had that kind of issue before but on all networks. I think it happens when there is either maintenance work going on, or there is an issue that isnt classed as a problem from the cell tower but with the nodes that pass on the data through the network. Which is why if you move area it improves. Its all about being patient and waiting for the issue to rectify itself.
Posted by Bonovox
Yeah i was thinking about that same thing about the nodes. I have heard sometimes they can burn out or just break. Am sure others in the area will report it.
Posted by etaab
The way traffic is routed could be over hundreds of miles through the network. It only needs one slow link in that chain to bring down speeds if the cell tower in your area is main slave server to the customer.
In my area ive had networks drop speed or signal and rivals stay fine even though they're mounted on the same tower. I use OFcoms site checker to find local cell towers.
Posted by goldenface
I had the same issue and it took them ten days to sort it out. They tried to get me to reset my phone and I said No FKN Way.
I had two Three phones with the same issue and I told them when I went out of the area it was fine.
So I asked him to check the mast and he came back and told me it was a maintenance issue, to which I asked them wouldn't it be easier to check for a maintenance issue first before getting people to reset their handsets and download all their apps again which can take hours!!!
Silly idiots, the worst customer service EVER!!!!
Anyway, I asked them for the number of the mast and what the estimated fix time was and they said L400 and the fix time was about 14 days, but it was back to normal before then. This is fine, as long as they sort things out and not try and fob people off. All networks have outages and problems, that's only to be expected..
I just wish they'd tell the truth and check the easiest things first.
OT: I see Three have won part of the 800Mhz spectrum for their 4G. Won't this mean be penetration in tall buildings for the lower frequencies? This should be good.
@etaab download and app called OPENSIGNAL. This gives you detailed mast info and locations and let's you refresh your mast connection and boosts your signal.
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2013-02-20 22:37 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Reset your phone OMG well that's stupid. The one female agent said to me if your connection is slow try checking how many apps you have running in the background. I thought,huh?? What RAM my phone is using is nothing to do with your network speed. They always do the same rigmarole of like reading from a script. Turn your phone off and back on again
Anyway looking forward to 4G and more capacity too.
Posted by etaab
99% of these staff members in shops or even on tech support phone lines dont know anything. They have no interest in the products they sell or support.
You're better off going online and asking people in forums.
I bought a laptop last year and was puzzled for ages about how slow wifi was on it. Pc world said it was my router. My laptop was too powerful for it. Yeah right.
Turns out they had installed the wrong drivers at the factory. I had to manually install a third party driver and edit my own windows registry. Works now.
Posted by Bonovox
PC World oh dear don't get me started with them. Their in store so called tech experts had not got a clue what was wrong with my brothers laptop. His DVD drive would not read blank discs and they just said we don't know cannot do anything even under warranty
the local second hand PC shop knew more 
I had a message pop up tonight on my mobile broadband from Three saying they are aware of the loacal issue and are working hard on fixing it 
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-02-21 20:41 ]
Posted by etaab
Well there you go then. It sounds like your problems will soon be sorted.
Posted by Bonovox
Still very slow at times but is slightly better. They said I would get a text when work is complete. i give Three their due whenever they tell me they will call me back they alway do. They do try to help alot I think it's just sometimes the way they speak is like robots
Posted by etaab
You're lucky. When i moved house two years ago into the cottage i live in now, the village in which we live has poor to none existent mobile signal especially indoors on all and any networks.
We rely heavily on our wifi for internet use at home which thankfully is cable and very fast. To make calls on Three, i have to stand in our conservatory. Any further into the house and signal drops out.
So having 4G with Three will be great when im at work or out and about, but at home i'll still be using wifi.
Posted by Bonovox
Be good if Three would do those signal boxes that Vodafone uses at home to improve signal. It connects to your home broadband but it allows you to make calls too. Will 4G be better signal indoors then?? Where i live i have solid signal on all networks which is nice. Recently i went away to the coast down in Sussex. I found travelling around the Three signal was shit. I often had to resort to flight mode to save battery. But sometimes it can also be the handset used not being very good signal. I often find out of experience HTC handsets have the best antennas
Posted by etaab
Three dont have a great network where coverage is concerned imo. My girlfriend who is on EE (was T-mobile) seems to get coverage everywhere she goes - rather annoyingly for me.
Posted by Bonovox
Well,unfortunately looks like I shall be leaving the one network I loved for so long. Three very so kindly called me back today & told me the network is now fixed and all will be working again. They told me to remove my sim and and battery and rebooting the phone. Did that and everything is still as slow as hell. Had enough now,even my mobile 'broadband'(why they even have the cheek to call it broadband)is slow too. Have never known it to be so bad. For unlimited internet I shall goto Virgin again maybe
I guess Orange/T Mobile/EE would have good coverage being as it is now one massive network.
Posted by Bonovox
Gonna hold out bit longer as I called again today and Three said no the work has not finished yet
_________________
Material things don't matter,but Rock n Roll does!!!!
Nokia Lumia 620
AKA,Bonovox
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-03-03 00:12 ]
Posted by Del
@Sean, your not having much luck there at the moment with 3
let's hope they get it sorted soon.
Posted by Bonovox
Yeah
,& never had many issues before lets hope it's new upgrades they been shouting about lately
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Built_for_internetting
DC-HSDPA before LTE
Posted by Del
Now that does sound interesting, let's hope so
mind you the funny thing is my daughter is on 3 and whenever I've checked her download speeds it's never been above 1 mbs
Posted by Bonovox
That's the thing,I have had 13mbps download speeds on Three's modems it's just the past week or two it's gone like dial up days. It said work going on since 21st till tomorrow. Not holding my breath
Oddly enough one of the fastest download speeds I have seen was on O2 Vodafone is pretty good but their 3G coverage is poor in Birmingham. Problem is I see with the networks that they paint an exciting & pretty picture of the new fast network yet the reality is the opposite. Look at EE(stupid name) nothing but problems like a half baked 4G network.[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-02-25 22:48 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Well,now Vodafone has been said to be the most unreliable network in some places.
http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.u[....]ajor-cities-research-suggests/
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-02-27 00:02 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Finally,after 2 weeks of painfully slow internet Three have resolved the issue. After one customer service rep pushed things forward yesterday it suddenly went really fast again and has been all night and day so far. The HSDPA+ sign is on my screen now before it was not
Posted by etaab
Well like i said, you're lucky.
You need to stop jumping ship so much lol.
Posted by Bonovox
Well,i did a speed test and i got 17mbps on the Nokia Lumia 620. That's good enough for me. When Three works it is brilliant. Happy now anyway
I always kept calm on the phone to Three. As well as Three i also reported the mast issue to Sitefinder website and they got back to me via email. Days later it's fixed so maybe a push from them also helped.
Posted by Del
Glad it's all sorted for you now Sean, I might have to pick up one 3's SIM only deals later this year and I liked the way they are going to let everyone use 4G without paying extra, unlike EE, and I was beginning to get a little worried there.
Posted by Bonovox
Yes and the pay as you go deal is brilliant and for a very long time i have got away with using Wi Fi sharing through my pc. They allow it on contract but not pay as you go. Thing is i only do browsing not take the piss streaming/downloading. Think they would only notice if i was abusing the network. And the pay as you go deal is great value. Coverage in towns and cities is great but rural areas and some coastal smaller towns it can be patchy. But i still get coverage in most places. Although recently i was in a town in Sussex with my brother and he had coverage on Vodafone and my phone showed nothing. But it was a really small village.
_________________
Material things don't matter,but Rock n Roll does!!!!
Nokia Lumia 620
AKA,Bonovox
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-03-03 10:15 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Three is ten years old today here is a video showing all the phones they had
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NDAxzjTfag8
Posted by etaab
Heh, that video brought back a few memories.
Posted by Bonovox
Yes I had a few of them but some were massive phones
Posted by goldenface
Not just saying this but Sony Ericsson had some sick designs.
Posted by Bonovox
Yes they did the good ole days they were. Did you noticed the very last phone in there?? The Xperia Z
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-03-03 20:13 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Looks like everyone will goto ThreeUk as they will do unlimited 4G plans. The others are not. On 3G tariffs only Three,T Mobile & Virgin now do unlimited. When they say that performance will be comprimised,well, when ThreeUK is working it works bloody good even at peak times on 3G. So why can't the others offer unlimited on 4G?? I thought 4G offered more capacity. I don't think 1.4gb is an average per month
http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.u[....]ng-unlimited-data-plans-on-4g/
[ This Message was edited by: Sean72 on 2013-03-11 22:04 ]