Fone Forum

Mobile operator Three has been rated as the UK's best mobile broadband network for the second year in a row.

Three, who recently proclaimed itself to be the biggest network (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/14/3_biggest/), came out top in 8 out of 15 categories following the 2010 YouGov DongleTracker survey in which over 4,000 mobile broadband customers were questioned.

UK consumers said Three had the fastest connection speeds and were number one in reliability, ease of use and value for money.

Joe Parker, Three’s director of mobile broadband, said:

"We’re thrilled that our customers have rated us the number one mobile broadband provider in the UK for the second time running, but also that smartphone users, including iPhone customers, are seeing the value of our strong 3G network.  It’s a huge accolade and we can’t thank our customers enough".

In a separate survey, iPhone owners rated Three as the best network for speed and value, while Orange was voted worst for user satisfaction and came bottom in 10 of the 14 criteria.

15 per cent of iPhone users on Orange are unhappy with their service and according to YouGov,
60 per cent reckon they could get better network coverage elsewhere
58 per cent said they're disappointed with Orange’s network
39 per cent said they can get a more reliable service elsewhere and
29 per cent say Orange is expensive

T-Mobile, who recently merged with Orange into Everything Everywhere, (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/01/t_orange/) didn't fare much better in the survey either and finished bottom in two categories, one of which was the lowest recommendation rating.

However, although Three received the most accolades and was least likely to lose customers, the survey suggests that Vodafone is still the preferred destination for those with plans to switch.  Ring ring.

Source:-   reghardware (http://www.reghardware.com/2010/10/28/three_best_in_yougov_survey/).

Having tried all the networks for mobile data I'm not surprised by this announcement. Even with a 1-2 bar 3G signal I get better throughput from 3 than I do from a solid signal from T-Mobile (who I find to be the second best). The catch being that T-Mobile has better coverage than 3.

o2 and Vodafone was recently announced as the fastest mobile broadband though I don't remember who by. This just means that they have a few locations running 14/21Mbps and says nothing about their speed and coverage on average.

I believe that you are mistaken: 3 and T-Mobile actually have identical coverage - and have had for over a year, when they started sharing 3G coverage together.       ;)

I had previously assumed that to be true but that is definitely not the case, yet at least.

From my home I have a 3G signal from 3 but only a very weak 2G from T-Mobile, no sign of 3G at all.

Also I have noticed that on a journey to London I have 3G from T-Mobile almost the entire journey whereas 3G from 3 drops out quite regularly.

Was your T-Mobile SIM in a 3G mobile at the time ?        :-\

If you use a 2G mobile, the 3G coverage won't show up.       ;)

I was using a 3G phone. I've never once seen a 3G signal from T-Mobile in my area, using several 3G devices (2 phones, 2 HSDPA modems).

This is also confirmed by 3/T-Mobile coverage maps. Three says 3G at my postcode is good, t-mobile says very poor!

A little additional info:

My Samsung NC10 barely picks up a 3G signal from T-Mobile. Trying to connect (using a T-Mobile SIM and the modem locked to UMTS 2100) results in "Limited Service". A 3 SIM in the same scenario gives 2 bars of signal and a useable connection.

And attached is a snapshot of a network scan from my Sony Ericsson W715 which shows 3G only from Orange and Three, which is consistent with the coverage maps of all the networks.

Edit: Just checked t-mobile coverage maps again, seems that they have been updated since this time last week so maybe soon the coverage will be identical.

(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/7189/3010101723.jpg)

Thanks for informative discussion.
Can the title be changed to BEST UK NETWORK for Internet Access (or something like that), because overall, it happens with me that I can use Internet better on three than others, but Calls (which is the main objective of a mobile network) ridiculous most of the times.