Which phone network for west of Scotland?

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Mark Taylor

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After 2 years of dire service and connectivity from 3, I am now within days of ending my contract. So, any recommendations or guidance would be appreciated for someone generally based in South West of Scotland and sailing on Clyde, Loch Fyne, through Crinan and as far as Tobermory.

Seems many people suggest Vodafone so they are on the short list.....any views on BT Mobile?

Thanks
 
Mark Taylor said:
After 2 years of dire service and connectivity from 3, I am now within days of ending my contract. So, any recommendations or guidance would be appreciated for someone generally based in South West of Scotland and sailing on Clyde, Loch Fyne, through Crinan and as far as Tobermory.
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I live in the SW of Scotland and regularly sail through the Clyde, Loch Fyne, through Crinan and as far as Tobermory. I have both 3 and O2 in a dual SIM phone. There is not a lot to choose between them; 3 is perhaps a bit better on the Clyde and O2 when you get out west.
 
I've sailed up & down the W coast of Scotland, from Kirkcudbright to Kinlochbervie, all summer for the past 3 years, have tried a variety of networks, and come to the conclusion that the all-round best is EE, or a virtual network that uses their infrastructure, like Asda.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
I've sailed up & down the W coast of Scotland, from Kirkcudbright to Kinlochbervie, all summer for the past 3 years, have tried a variety of networks, and come to the conclusion that the all-round best is EE, or a virtual network that uses their infrastructure, like Asda.
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+1 for EE. North of Adnurmurchan it seems to pop up more often than the others. Vodafone used to have the edge, but not so sure now.
 
Have a look on the offcom website, they have a map showing (theoretical) coverage of all the networks, allowing comparison. Although it may not reflect reality perfectly it's a useful tool for decision making about a new contract.

FWIW, I agree with those who find EE best these days. But I have a Vodafone sim in my tablet giving further options.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
That used to be the case, then it was discontinued.
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Not quite. It used to be that you could roam to 2G (initially O2, later Orange) everywhere, but from about 2010 they have restricted it to areas where they think their 3G coverage isn't enough. That's a pain for me, because they think that the weak signal in my local town, from a mast five miles away, is enough to justify stopping roaming there and it isn't.

Three and T-Mobile had a 3G mast sharing agreement. I don't know if that persisted into EE and, if so, whether there are still "Orange" and "T-Mobile" 3G masts.

Odd fact: I get really, really fast mobile data with Three in Caladh Harbour.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Not quite. It used to be that you could roam to 2G (initially O2, later Orange) everywhere, but from about 2010 they have restricted it to areas where they think their 3G coverage isn't enough. That's a pain for me, because they think that the weak signal in my local town, from a mast five miles away, is enough to justify stopping roaming there and it isn't.

Three and T-Mobile had a 3G mast sharing agreement. I don't know if that persisted into EE and, if so, whether there are still "Orange" and "T-Mobile" 3G masts.
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Last year there were plenty of places where I could get coverage on EE but diddly squat on my 3 dongle, so I gave up on it. It wouldn't register on any EE signal it could see. Maybe that was a feature of the data only plan I used to have.

Anyway, EE does the job for me now. I'm down to carrying only a single SIM now as their network coverage out west has improved considerably over the last 2 years. I can watch YouTube kitten videos in full HD out of sight of land in the middle of the Minch now.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Last year there were plenty of places where I could get coverage on EE but diddly squat on my 3 dongle, so I gave up on it. It wouldn't register on any EE signal it could see. Maybe that was a feature of the data only plan I used to have.

Anyway, EE does the job for me now. I'm down to carrying only a single SIM now as their network coverage out west has improved considerably over the last 2 years. I can watch YouTube kitten videos in full HD out of sight of land in the middle of the Minch now.
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Thanks. I carried an EE data SIM this summer in case Three ever let me down, but didn't have to use it in the end. I have an external antenna (a few quid on eBay) for my Mifi, and it works wonders, typically adding 6dB and several bars to signal strength. In several places it boosted GPRS to good 3G.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Thanks. I carried an EE data SIM this summer in case Three ever let me down, but didn't have to use it in the end. I have an external antenna (a few quid on eBay) for my Mifi, and it works wonders, typically adding 6dB and several bars to signal strength. In several places it boosted GPRS to good 3G.
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Can you point to a suitable device on eBay for me please as I might look at getting one. Do they run on 12V & take minimal power?
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Can you point to a suitable device on eBay for me please as I might look at getting one. Do they run on 12V & take minimal power?
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Sure. Mine is an original O2 Pocket Hotspot, which is actually a ZTE60, unlocked and running generic firmware from ZTE.

s-l500.jpg


Currently a miserable £11.99 delivered from Argos on eBay, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/O2-ZTE-MF...onal-WiFi-Up-to-5-Devices-Black-/351789344587, though that is locked to O2. Unlocked ones are available, but for a bit more, and there are unlocking instructions at http://davidjb.com/blog/2013/07/unlocking-your-telstra-elite-zte-mf60-mobile-wi-fi-device-for-free/. I bought mine unlocked, so cannot promise that these instructions (still) work.

It has an internal battery which is good for about eight hours or so and charges through a standard micro USB lead. I leave mine plugged into a specially installed 12V->USB socket all the time, and haven't notice any significant drain on my battery.

The external antenna I bought was this one

s-l500.jpg


which is at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-New-...G-TS-9-13db-External-Antenna-1M-/150859848270. I'm afraid I misremembered the price: I paid $20 and it's now $30, but for what it does I think it's well worth it. You have to tell them that it's a TS-9 connector when you order.
 
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