Who's left Orange for T-Mobile?

[Guest mo_sjo]

Folks...

I'm about to jump ship with Orange. I've been with them for 8 years and I can't bear the crappy reception anymore. I bought a Motorola F3 and a PAYG SIM on each network to do some tests at home, at my workshop, at the office, and routes inbetween. O2 is the clear hands-down winner for reception for me and my popular routes.

Unfortunately O2 have real crappy tarriffs for me. I'm not a child, I don't do 500 texts a day. I don't want "1050 texts" when I average around 50 a month. Their business tarriff looks okay - 700 mins, 'unlimited data', 100 sms and 'unlimited' to 10 nominated landlines. This appears to be the best (O2) tarriff for me at the moment.

My requirement is ~1200 minutes (50/50 split between cross-net and landline), a chunk of data (100MB would be nice if 3G), minimal texts and preferably unlimited landline calls.

Do you guys think it's worth taking a hit on reception and go with t-mobile? I do live out in the sticks and everyone tells me t-mobile is crap in the sticks, and my own testing has proved they're not ideal.

Decisions, decisions. B)

[Guest pd.ryder]

Guys - just don't plan on upgrading on T-Mobile in the very near future. They have changed their policy re upgrades in a huge way meaning you'll have to pay through the nose (or other more sensitive part of your anatomy) for even the most miniscule change of phone.

I was advised to wait until after January 2009.

In my humble opinion, there is still no better deal available than T-Mobile's packages coupled with Web n Walk - if you can stomach the dire inconsistencies of their reception. They would really be best served by sorting their issues out in this respect, but I'm as sure as I can be that its linked to the frequencies they're saddled with - i.e. they have less 'building penetrating' qualities than those a little further down the frequency table. Just to qualify that - on Orange, I could have 4-5 bars outside and exactly the same indoors, whereas with T I tend to lose 3 or 4 of the 4-5 bars when going inside. Which is quite a pain. Really. It is.

So there we are. Don't upgrade just yet...

B)

[Guest RobertCeuppens]

I upgraded on TM back in July and the main nasty surprise was the new minimum charge of over 20p for each call, even if it only lasts one second - it's like going back to the bad old days of analogue! Whatever happened to per second billing? I don't know if any other networks are doing this but I would have thought twice if I realised about this.

Cheers,

Rob.

[Guest Confucious]

How do you know what their minimum call charge is?

I got a discount on my plan just over a year ago and didn't realise my discount only lasted a year and I'd signed up for 18 Months - so i emailed them and they've given me my discount for the rest of the term.

I have no probs with T's reception - but I live and travel mainly in S/E England.

For me T are great and their CS is fantastic. O2 are prob second followed by Voda with O a poor fourth. 3 are way behind on CS but have great price plans - when they work!

Just my 2d's worth.

[Guest Kaaeed]

My business moved from T to Orange earlier this year .... a big regret in terms of Customer Service and quality of reception.

We will be moving back to T I think at the end of the contract.

Kaaeed

[Guest RobertCeuppens]

How do you know what their minimum call charge is?

Just from the bill for the calls outside of the allowance. One call on there to a mobile for 4 secs is 0.255p.

Rob.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

re: building penetration, T-Mo and O are both 1800MHz, Voda and O2 are 900MHz, so T-Mo and O should have the same in building penetration...?

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

With O2, if you don't want lots of texts, lose the texts bolton and have unlimited data instead?

P

[Guest mo_sjo]

re: building penetration, T-Mo and O are both 1800MHz, Voda and O2 are 900MHz, so T-Mo and O should have the same in building penetration...?

That'd be true if they were sharing the same cell tower and had identical power.

[Guest mo_sjo]

With O2, if you don't want lots of texts, lose the texts bolton and have unlimited data instead?

You can't lose the 1000 texts - that's the standard package, bolt-ons are extra (on personal tarriffs). Then i'd be stuck as I need both unlimited landline and good data volumes, but only a choice of one bolt-on B)

[Guest Confucious]

That surprises me as I thought O had abandoned personal users in favour of business users who usually say that O's CS is still very good and O's coverage is generally reckoned to be better than T's (especially in the west country) although T is catching up.

[Guest Monolithix]

Paul is correct over the frequencies (assuming equal basestation placement and transmitting power), there is also further granularisation when you take 3G into account too. Personally, coming from 3 I've found T-Mobiles coverage horribly patchy, and also suffer from 3-4 bars HSDPA to 1 bar/no signal GSM only at the windows once inside (seriously I swear my flat has lead lined walls, even going into the next room to the router, sitting on the other side of the wall, is enough to drain 1/2-1/3 of the signal power)!

I've tried SIMs from all the top 4 carriers inside and confirmed the penetration levels too. O and TMob are next to useless, O2 give me a few bars consistently (with EDGE!), ditto Voda. I'll be going to O2 later in the month. T-Mobile not providing HSDPA on WnW standard is inexcusable imho...

[Guest pd.ryder]

Mono - I'm on W&W standard and definately get HSDPA speeds. Mind you, I get IM connection and laptop bluetooth modem too so I'm not complaining.

Another reason I'm in no rush to 'renew' my contract B)

[Guest Confucious]

It depends when you got it, but My

for my iPhone to get it working again in that....

[Guest Monolithix]

Mono - I'm on W&W standard and definately get HSDPA speeds. Mind you, I get IM connection and laptop bluetooth modem too so I'm not complaining.

Another reason I'm in no rush to 'renew' my contract B)

It's only early WnW standard customers who have HSDPA available. My contract started nearly a year ago and I definitely did not have that lovely little H on the top of my screen (as per the Ts n Cs), upgraded to WnW Pro and that sorted it!