News - Ofcom publishes UK 3G and 4G broadband speed research

[HEXUS]

An assessment of user experiences since the 4G auction in 2013.

Read more.

[Stickwolf]

Good to see that it is not just me thinking Vodafone have terrible coverage, that looks like 87% coverage in cities! Out in the wild it is much worse!

[Flash477]

Interesting that 3 may not have the highest speeds, but seems to have the best page loading times

[Jowsey]

That's some pretty interesting information.

I was in a business meeting earlier and we needed some printing done upstairs and brought down. Since we're having new phone hardware put in he reached for his mobile but it had died so he borrowed mine to do the required calling. I'm on 3, purely because it was the cheapest for unlimited data. We started talking about my phone (he has an iPhone 5S, mine is One m7) and then eventually network. He is on EE and like I said I'm on 3. He started banging on about how I should switch over for the speed "it's double-fast 4g" and the like. When I said I pay roughly half of what he does for more allowance he just reiterated the whole double fast 4g thing. Also, EE just couldn't fulfil my requirements with a reasonable bill ( at the time, I hear it's a lot different now). I can go through more than 30gb a month (through youtube, crunchyroll and google music) and at the time there largest bundle was 10gb I believe.

What was interesting though was that I was defending my network and he his, but if you ever hear people talking about being on Vodafone or o2 it's always the other way around.

Opinions people?

[davesom555]

I'm on Three, because it's 20 quid a month for uncapped 4G (Plus 4GB of tethering). Much better value than all the other networks.

I just hope the government manages to push through the national roaming. I'm not too confident in this happening though, they'll probably be blackmailed into submission via party donations (or cuts in donations) by people with interests in the telecoms sector.

[explicitlyrics]

Very true Jowsey, I would never defend Vodafone's terrible coverage or speed, just like I would never defend their completely incompetent Indian call centre (no disrespect to the people but its not their first language and they definitely struggle to understand a lot of the questions they get asked)

[tomthum]

I wish we could have wireless broadband and do away with the crap rental charge that BT rips us users of with there £17.50 line charge,
maybe some day what do others think !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom G

[directhex]

I need to use my phone in the USA. Three is £600,000 cheaper a year than EE for data roaming users.

[bhusisho]

Good to see that it is not just me thinking Vodafone have terrible coverage, that looks like 87% coverage in cities! Out in the wild it is much worse!

Vodafone and terrible coverage? Ahem ahem, I have nothing more to say.

[Odeas]

I wish we could have wireless broadband and do away with the crap rental charge that BT rips us users of with there £17.50 line charge,
maybe some day what do others think !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom G

If you're in a Virgin area you can get broadband only with no line rental charges.

[tomthum]

If you're in a Virgin area you can get broadband only with no line rental charges.

I WISH I hate B.T.

[Flibb]

If you're in a Virgin area you can get broadband only with no line rental charges.

They just roll the line rental into the cost of the broadband, its £26.50 a month plus you have to pay connection. Over 24 months you end up paying a grand total of £9 for the phone.

[Defiant]

I call bull on Three's Edinburgh speeds on 3 or 4g, cant stream video for love nor money at 720p or 1080p consistent. The service has no end of issues even in the core parts of Edinburgh where there is prefect reception.

[bobhope2005]

Vodafone is terrible in Leeds - really spotty coverage even in the city centre. 4g is a massive waste of money at the moment. I'm not convinced the carriers will ever make the money back they spent on the licenses.

[Jowsey]

I call bull on Three's Edinburgh speeds on 3 or 4g, cant stream video for love nor money at 720p or 1080p consistent. The service has no end of issues even in the core parts of Edinburgh where there is prefect reception.

That's interesting. I'm in a smaller city ( Newcastle ) and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Is it a good thing as less people will try and use it due to a lower population or is it a bad thing as because of the prior reason companies won't deploy a lot of assets to the area.

I don't think I've ever tried to stream 1080p to my phone (how do you do that? My youtube only goes to 720p) but 720p is a breeze. Couple seconds buffer time then away it goes.

I couldn't tell you how good my signal is. I've got an old ROM on my phone and when 3 rolled out there 4g it didn't quite like it. It says LTE but all my bars are empty!

[cppmonkey]

I get better 3G speeds on Three in a little village near Kendal than people in Manchester get on 4G?

23Mbps down and 2.89Mbps up, not only that I have UNLIMITED (No longer available to new customers) data for £15 a month. Last month I created a local GIT mirror of the the AOSP... Only weights in at 72.2GB. Would have taken days on my 3.4Mbps DSL line and was completed in one night on my phone.