back to article UK's EE scores network reliability clean sweep, rival dwarves fume

EE has edged ahead of CK Hutchison’s Three as the most reliable UK mobile network, according to RootMetrics' biannual survey. With its scale and tasty spectrum, EE still tops the board in overall performance, and all six individual measures including network speed, data, call and text performance. The previous survey, …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Gimp

    "one giant toying with three dwarves"

    You've seen that vid clip as well?

    Can we have an icon for "Aarrghh! I can't unsee that!"

  2. djstardust

    One thing is for sure

    It ain't Vodafone. Outside my city within a 50 mile radius all I get is GPRS or Edge with no data throughput.

    They make massive profits but only invest in the highly populated areas.

    Now EE belongs to BT those figures will drop like a stone. Mark my words.

    1. ChrisHS

      Re: One thing is for sure

      North Portsmouth 4G EE 100KB/s Voda 1.1 MB/s similar speed differences elsewhere. Faster with EE my arse !

      1. alpine

        Re: One thing is for sure

        Here, with EE, I have to go upstairs to get even a 2G signal. Standard 1920s detached house, nothing odd. Their coverage is appalling.

        1. Soruk
          WTF?

          Re: One thing is for sure

          Where I live (not exactly the middle of nowhere), O2 is the only network that is usable in the house. Orange used to work, but when EE decided to switch off the 234-33 network they're left with the much poorer T-Mobile (234-30) signal. Vodafone is hopeless (and just my luck, my work mobile was moved from Vodafone to EE - though EE is better than VF). My MiFi which uses the Three signal does work, but it's a weak signal.

          I made the right choice of using giffgaff (O2 signal) for my and my wife's own mobiles.

      2. Fibbles

        Re: One thing is for sure

        I suspect EE throttles their traffic heavily at peak times. In central Birmingham 4G EE gives about 100 KBytes/s whereas Three gives around 4 MBytes/s.

        1. avfc2013

          Re: One thing is for sure

          They don't throttle it. There's only a certain amount of bandwidth available so at times speeds will drop. Throttling is only done generally by networks that offer unlimited tariffs to stop greedy data hogs. What would EE possibly have to gain by throttling speeds? At 100kbps, they'd have endless complaints anyway. The maximum effective range of cell towers contracts when the network is extra busy also. It's called cell breathing. I'd imagine EE have plenty of 4G masts in central Birmingham and I'd be very surprised if even at peak times someone even around at few hundred feet from such masts could only get 100kbps.

  3. Graham Triggs

    Now, what could have given Three the size of network to compete with EE, and O2 the investment to move it out from the worst performing network?

  4. Hubert Thrunge Jr.

    Nothing Squared

    Living in rural Cambridgeceistershire, I can honestly say that :

    Three have a LOT of not spots. I have to go to one precise part of my property to get a signal from them. If I'm lucky.

    Vodafone - just no.

    EE - well.. it sort of works, but if I move, oh, and it's gone.

    Nothing Squared - I have a lovely fat EDGE signal. If I perform a network scan, I see LTE, if I register on the network (manually), I have LTE for about 15 seconds (about 3 bars on the display), then BANG, gone, and back to EDGE. Same for a 3G signal on o2.

    If I go into the village - and indoors - it's pretty much zero signal of any usable sort on any of the networks. Except Vodafone, which gives a GPRS signal that goes nowhere.

    So much for "expanding their networks".

    1. alpine

      Re: Nothing Squared

      Here, a leafy suburb with standard 1920s detached houses, I have to go upstairs or out of doors to make even a 2G call. EE is abysmal.

      1. Andy_Lee

        Re: Nothing Squared

        Here in sunny Shropshire between Wolverhampton and Telford I get 90 mb down 30 Mbl up on EE used as my main broadband as BT can't be arsed to stretch Vdsl from my cabinet 1500m from my village so provide 1.5mb speeds over ancient copper. Thank god for EE that's all I will say

    2. jonmorris

      Re: Nothing Squared

      Well, Three does have a handful of 800MHz sites around the UK that covers huge areas.

      As long as you have the right phone, bought from Three, or another phone that supports 4G Calling via the inTouch app (not many, and certainly no dual SIM phones for some reason), and you aren't in an area where the network decides you're better off on 3G even with not enough signal to send or receive any data, then you'll maybe find that Three will surprise you.

      I'm amazed that after a big fuss over 'Super Voice', Three has in fact done so little to get it working properly. At some point it must be set above 3G, and I believe this MIGHT be happening - at least on test in some areas.

      I've forced my phone to 4G only, which pretty much kills voice most of the time, and found 800 pretty good.

      The problem for Three is that EE has even more 800MHz sites coming on soon, so any chance it has to get back into the game will be short lived.

  5. chipxtreme

    I regularly get 80mbps on EE on my 1980s built house. Seen as high as 110mbps when I see 4G+ on screen. Much faster than I used to get on 3

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Moaning

    Why instead of moaning about EE, Vodafone or the rest do people not just do as I do. Buy a phone unlocked online. Plenty of sites do this. Get a sim from three, Vodafone and EE. Then switch them in different areas or just use that of the best network. Someone posted on here about how Vodafone beat EE for speed in a specific area. There's probably well over a thousand areas in the UK where this is the case. Different networks are stronger in different areas. The survey says that EE are the best overall. This is the job of the likes of root metrics. They're independent. If EE are rated as the most reliable, they are but if you're unhappy with it don't moan about it after you've tied yourself into a 24 month contract. It's just stupid and won't work. They're not going to write off the contract.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Moaning

      How do people call you?

      They can't possibly know in advance what the "network du jour" is?

  7. AndrueC Silver badge
    Boffin

    Three wants no operator to “own more than 30 per cent of the airwaves”.

    I think that what I want is an independent company controlling the transmitters. Maybe not like Openreach do with landlines but more akin to Arqiva since they seem to do a pretty good job for Freeview.

  8. Stephen T

    I cannot quite see the logic of the Three case about uneven spectrum. If BT/EE have the most current customers it follows they need the most spectrum to support them and conversely if Three has the least customers they need the least spectrum. Where Three are the creators of their own misfortune is that they never bothered to turn up to the last spectrum auction for 2.6 GHz spectrum and BT did. It would be a very strange auction indeed if Ofcom stopped the buyers at the last auction from turning up at the next one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      This ensures that the status quo remains - it makes it very difficult for other operators to expand and ensures EE / BT take the biggest piece of the pie (just like landlines).

      hmmmm.... pie........

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This can only be down to spectrum allocation

    This is down to Ofcom's dumb decisions causing an uneven playing field.

    Any fule no that Voda and O2 have the same transmitters (google Cornerstone / Beacon) so the only difference between O2 and Voda will be down to the spectrum allocation allotted to the carriers. So a cornerstone transmitter that may carry 2/3/4G for Vodafone might only be able to carry 2G or 3G for O2 due to spectrum restrictions.

    EE will always win because they, along with BT, have more spectrum than any of the other carriers, and more than most carriers combined.

    BT bought some 4G spectrum (50Mhz) under their holding company 'Niche Spectrum Ventures', so them buying EE who own 225Mhz already means that they have consolidated that to owning 275Mhz of spectrum which is an enormous slice, vs 155Mhz for Voda, 90Mhz for O2 and 75Mhz for Three.

    So, even if O2 had merged with Three, they'd still have only 165Mhz of total spectrum, still way less than the EE/BT monolith.

    The only way O2, Voda or Three are going to be able to compete with EE fairly is for Ofcom to do the right thing and force the BT monopoly to have to dispose of some spectrum.

    Or the carriers can refarm 2G to 4G spectrum. However with refarming you then run the risk of pissing off those people who love their old dumbphones that can't support 4G as their coverage will disappear. (Many carriers are looking at making new dumbphones that use VoLTE alongside supporting 3G and 2G voice).

  10. PMJ

    EE has not worked for me. It's OK outdoors in a good coverage area but otherwise is not good. We're on our second Signal Box femto-cell which has developed a fault. I've just come back from France and suffered (once again) roaming problems where the automatic data roaming package suddenly stops working. With BT at the helm things are going to get worse. We're out.

  11. IanCa
    Holmes

    Cross network roaming - PLEASE

    this is not new news...Everyone has an example of where their provider has good coverage, and where it has bad/none.

    Time there was another push for allowing roaming between networks within home country, some kind of "universal coverage" obligation - perhaps at lower speeds that will support voice and basic data (2.5G would do).

    Why is that if I go abroad I know I am guaranteed coverage if I can see any mobile network, but at home, I am shafted if I am on the wrong network in the wrong area?

    In my case, I happen to be on EE sim only, but they have no coverage in some rural areas I go to, and I know voda do, so I carry a vodafone PAYG as a backup. I don't really want to carry 2 or 3 sims. This is not about speed this is simply about being able to get ANY signal at all.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cross network roaming - PLEASE

      EE are gunning for 95% 4G geographical coverage by end of 2017 (I think Ofcom regs require roughly 65% population coverage).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cross network roaming - PLEASE

      National roaming has been muted but for obvious commercial reasons the networks won't even entertain the idea. Get your phone unlocked and get a payg sim from the other networks and try them out. On simo, it shouldn't be a long term contract you're stuck in so you can explore your options. Another good idea is to buy a really cheap phone. An older phone just as a second phone. They work mainly on 2G frequency. This frequency is the least used frequency going as Internet or gprs doesn't work really on it. I have poor signal in certain parts of the house but I can switch my older xperia J down to 2G only and it's great signal. All I do is take the sim out of my S5 and pop it in.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cross network roaming - PLEASE

      There is a small company in Lancashire who have launched a national roaming sim. Only a startup but interesting.

      http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33091991

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