UK Three - Who needs EE LTE?

[monty77]

Originally Posted by ct2k7

In my area, it doesn't fall back to GRPS/2G - Orange doesn't provide that here.

O2: UTMS-2100Mhz + GSM-800Mhz
Vodafone: GSM-900Mhz + UTMS-1800Mhz + GSM-2100Mhz
3: UTMS-1800Mhz
Orange: GSM-1800Mhz

..none of the fallbacks provide data, GRPS/Edge etc.. voice only. Happy to be proven wrong, would be nice to have sometimes!

[Pennine]

Originally Posted by monty77

Get a PAYG SIM and try it .. only way I'm afraid, you cannot believe any coverage maps. According to them my village has very patchy coverage but I get great signal and speeds.

M

Yeah good idea or a monthly Sim only contract

[monty77]

Originally Posted by bollyboy

I'm with Orange who are much slower at around 6Mbps down and 2Mbps up, I am now wondering if i will need 4G though as I find the above more than enough for browsing, Facebook and the usual Twitter stuff.

If more or less the same price I would go with 4G once EE switch on, but if much more expensive I would just leave it I think as EE from what I gather require you to start the contract again.

I dont really know what people in the UK need with LTE, unless you're ditching your home connection. One of my customers rolled out LTE in a rural part of Oregon recently purely because it's not cost effective to get physical plant out to customers in sparsely populated areas - that is the best use of LTE IMO - most of us have perfectly good wired options - compared to the US anyway.

[Sheza]

I got the 12.90 AYCE contract 1 month yesterday. Three coverage in my town is a bit sketchy, outside only. But very good at my college which is where I'll be for most of 2 years anyway.

If there's one thing I can congratulate O2 on it's that they have noticeable improved their 3G coverage. I went from 1 bar & constantly switching to 2G to 3 bars solid in my house lol.

[OzyOly]

Originally Posted by monty77

This is what I see when I switch off 3G .. look, it fell back to a 2G network that they do not have ;-)

Looking at that you don't have GPRS or Edge though.

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Originally Posted by ct2k7

Three have purchased, not leased, the spectrum from EE, which was a condition of the merger.

Three isn't an MVNO per se.

Ah, I stand corrected.

[monty77]

Originally Posted by OzyOly

Looking at that you don't have GPRS or Edge though.

Exactly .. voice only while roaming. It's a limitation and I wouldn't use Three if it were like this most of the time but good to be able to make a call if needed.

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Originally Posted by Sheza

I got the 12.90 AYCE contract 1 month yesterday. Three coverage in my town is a bit sketchy, outside only. But very good at my college which is where I'll be for most of 2 years anyway.

If there's one thing I can congratulate O2 on it's that they have noticeable improved their 3G coverage. I went from 1 bar & constantly switching to 2G to 3 bars solid in my house lol.

As I found out in London having full 3G signal doesn't mean there's any internet to use at the other end of it ;-)

[miscend]

The speeds you're getting with Three are higher than what I get with BT Broadband.

However I average about 6 Mbps download with Orange 3G. And 1.5 upload.

[monty77]

Originally Posted by miscend

The speeds you're getting with Three are higher than what I get with BT Broadband.

However I average about 6 Mbps download with Orange 3G. And 1.5 upload.

They're better than I get with Sky too, although being in village I'm some way from the local switch.

This was my best test to date, according to the GPS coords I was up on the south downs in the middle of nowhere .. quiet network I guess :-)

[OzyOly]

On EE 3G I get less than 1Mbps on my iPhone 4.

[RossMak]

Wow you guys are extremely lucky!

I live in the highlands of Scotland and until recently 3 are the only people who offer decent 3G coverage it is at just under 1 meg but when thats all we have we are delighted with that!

[bollyboy]

Originally Posted by monty77

I dont really know what people in the UK need with LTE, unless you're ditching your home connection. One of my customers rolled out LTE in a rural part of Oregon recently purely because it's not cost effective to get physical plant out to customers in sparsely populated areas - that is the best use of LTE IMO - most of us have perfectly good wired options - compared to the US anyway.

Quite true really, I think rather than need I think we "want".

Uk connections are very good really, we're with Virgin on home connection @ 100Mbps, I can't justify paying for 4G just for wanting it.

I guess we'll have to see pricing structure once available. It's unlikely they will offer me 4G for what I currently pay on 3G. If so , great

[Pennine]

Originally Posted by monty77

..none of the fallbacks provide data, GRPS/Edge etc.. voice only. Happy to be proven wrong, would be nice to have sometimes!

Do you have an iPhone ? If so which one?
Did you turn off 3G or mobile Internet?

[theotherphil]

After having went from 3G to LTE, I can never go back. I feel you guys will feel the same when you experience it. Here's mine during a busy afternoon...

[monty77]

Originally Posted by Pennine

Do you have an iPhone ? If so which one?
Did you turn off 3G or mobile Internet?

iPhone5 but it was exactly the same on my 4S.

Go to Settings>General>Cellular and turn off Cellular Data. Also turn off WiFi.

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Originally Posted by theotherphil

After having went from 3G to LTE, I can never go back. I feel you guys will feel the same when you experience it. Here's mine during a busy afternoon...

Image

Nice! But seriously, what do you do with it? If I could get that here, and tether with unlimited data for cost < my current cellular and dsl costs I'd be all over it.

[dchao]

Originally Posted by markrideout

These kind of speeds are amazing...

Image

Why would you need LTE from EE. With 3 you have truly unlimited data!

This is an acceptable speed. But with 4G, you will get 40 down and 20 up easily. (Tested on my Verizon 4G LTE iPad)

I don't have a landline broadband here in London, so I am tethering on my iPad 24/7 using Three's HSPA+ network. And every evening, I get quite a few disconnections. LTE is far more efficient at using the operator's network spectrum. That means more available simultaneous data connections per cell. So d/c could be a thing of the past.

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Originally Posted by theotherphil

After having went from 3G to LTE, I can never go back. I feel you guys will feel the same when you experience it. Here's mine during a busy afternoon...

Image

Depending on where you live. In the US, 3G networks are awful, so 4G makes a huge jump in speed. In Europe, HSPA networks are already very good, so you only see a more modest jump. The 20 mbps down you get on HSPA+ is sufficient for most users.

[cdownton]

Originally Posted by dchao

This is acceptable speed. But with 4G, you will get 40 down and 20 up easily. (Tested on my Verizon 4G LTE iPad)

Also, LTE is far more efficient at using the operator's network spectrum. That means more available simultaneous data connections per cell. So disconnecting could be a thing of the past.

Yes and I thought that on 3G you get good speeds in burst mode but that generally doesn't help web browsing, it's only really useful for downloading. I used my iPad on AT&T's LTE network in New York City and found web browsing to work so instantaneously it was amazing.

Incidentally, I'm with three and have been really pleased. The network coverage is generally comparable across the UK. One benefit is that it's all 3G, whereas when I was on Vodafone, it used to switch often between 3G and 2G - very annoying since voda's 2G network was so maxed out that you couldn't do much more than send a text.

[daneoni]

Originally Posted by monty77

This is what I see when I switch off 3G .. look, it fell back to a 2G network that they do not have ;-)

No it didn't. That screenshot proves you have NO data connection whatsoever. Only voice. If you did you'd see O indicating GPRS or E indicating EDGE. Like in the screenshot below.

[abcdefghijklmno]

Bah, my 3 "3G" speed is <1Mbps d/l, 2.7Mbps u/l. iPhone 5. Full 5 bars signal!!

[monty77]

Originally Posted by daneoni

No it didn't. That screenshot proves you have NO data connection whatsoever. Only voice. If you did you'd see O indicating GPRS or E indicating EDGE.

Where did I say I had data? I've specifically said in multiple posts that the roaming is voice only. It's a limitation granted but it means I can make/receive calls just fine.

In fact in my very first post I specifically said:

"Tripe. Three has a national roaming agreement when there's no 3G coverage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchis...United_Kingdom

..you cannot use data in roaming mode however, calls only."

[Pennine]

Originally Posted by monty77

Where did I say I had data? I've specifically said in multiple posts that the roaming is voice only. It's a limitation granted but it means I can make/receive calls just fine.

Do you have a 3G toggle on your iPhone 5?

[TopToffee]

Just moved over to Three from O2, and have to say my speeds are no higher.

Bit disappointed, I live in a city (Liverpool) and was hoping for some of these high HSPA+ speeds we've seen on here.

[monty77]

Originally Posted by Pennine

Do you have a 3G toggle on your iPhone 5?

Menus are identical to iPhone4 AFAIK ... Settings>General>Cellular and turn off 'Cellular data' .. for non-3 customers I suspect it reverts to the vendor's 2G network but in Three's case it roams.

[daneoni]

Originally Posted by monty77

Where did I say I had data? I've specifically said in multiple posts that the roaming is voice only. It's a limitation granted but it means I can make/receive calls just fine.

In fact in my very first post I specifically said:

"Tripe. Three has a national roaming agreement when there's no 3G coverage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchis...United_Kingdom

..you cannot use data in roaming mode however, calls only."

Originally Posted by monty77

This is what I see when I switch off 3G .. look, it fell back to a 2G network that they do not have ;-)

Maybe i'm just confusing terminology but 2G, last i checked, was a type of data connection. But i see your point now.

[Pennine]

Originally Posted by monty77

Menus are identical to iPhone4 AFAIK ... Settings>General>Cellular and turn off 'Cellular data' .. for non-3 customers I suspect it reverts to the vendor's 2G network but in Three's case it roams.

That's because you can't turn off 3G on there's network! On an iPhone.
Turning off cellular network does just that but your still on the 3G network. With Cellular Data turned off, you can't send or receive any data via a carrier's cellular network. This includes notifications.

[monty77]

Originally Posted by daneoni

Maybe i'm just confusing terminology but 2G, last i check, was a type of data connection. But i see your point now.

That's a fair point .. by 2G I'm generically referring to 2nd Gen network with data capability, but with data specifically excluded.

Back in the early 3 days the 3G side was so poor for calls everyone disabled data to use the roaming side for calls but they go so cheesed off they started blocking people who did that as every roamed call costs them money. How times have changed!