Best mobile provides(Survey) (best reception in East Dulwich)

[flipbrit]

Hi everyone just wanted to know in our East Dulwich, what is the most popular Network, all networks tend to get 1-2 bars along the Horniman Museum area, I'm also trying to see from a customer service view who/which network has the best customer retention. I tried getting a new line on Virgin, thought they were always good, got ogre mannered sales people, Orange are generally good, I'll see from the replies which networks stand out,

Thanks for looking!

[Sue]

I use Orange, reception is good where I live (North Cross Road area) and I got an excellent deal from them, but I think that's because I don't have high useage.

[indiepanda]

I have both Orange and Vodafone mobiles (one work and one personal in case it sounds odd to have two) and reception seems fine on both, I live about half way down Crystal Palace Road.

[Sue]

Oh yeh forgot, I have Vodafone for my work mobile too and reception is fine.

Hate the mobile though, horrid Nokia :))

[jim_the_chin]

t-mobile is a bit shoddy, there's space in the corner of my kitchen and by the window in the dining room where I can get reception, but it seems to be carried on the wind as it disappeares without me moving. just got a new c905 and not that impressed with that either.

[ruffers]

Wood Vale side of Horniman no T-Mobile, 02 Blackberry OK though

[Applespider]

Wood Vale side of Horniman here too and my O2 is sitting at 5 bars on 3G. My Orange signal that I had until a couple of years ago was rubbish. O2 have always been OK too in terms of customer service

[andyjg]

I'm around the top end of Upland Road area (not too far from Hornimans) and my O2 phone has full signal 99% of the time.

[danrees]

O2 is good

[Growlybear]

I live in Wood Vale, and the only mobile network anyone has ever been able to use from inside my house is Orange. You can sometimes pick up O2 if you stand in the driveway.

[snorky]

dont bother captian - even with the best receptionm in London, your mobile will only serve as a means to discuss lo level chit chat for all to hear on public transport.

"..yeah.."

"..eh.."

"..um.."

"..on the 7.36..its a bit busy.."

"..a Pret Sandwich..its was Ok.. "

"..So I said to him...."

ad nauseum

[matthew123]

I've had Vodafone, Orange and O2 whilst in East Dulwich - and Vodafone has been the best reception by a country mile, O2 being the weakest.

[flipbrit]

Awesome responses, many thanks!

It seems I have had loads of Woodvale people responding, hiya neighbors!

So far the score is,

6 people on 02

4 on Vodafone

4 on Orange

2 on T-mobile

A lot of satisfied people on the customer service side with 02 and Vodafone, who seem to have the strongest receptions by far, Orange is ok and running a close third in the race, T-mobile at last place.

I have the Sony C905 and love it, reception wise on my current Orange does play about a bit in Woodvale, Nokias are

so far the most user friendly (personal experience)and good texting phones, Sonys have great battery life, Blackberries

do have the most useful functions for mobile on the go people.

Ha ha Snorky, you have a point, whilst in Chicago I first saw signs on public transport saying "please be considerate

to others while using your cell phones, please avoid annoying others." That was quite considerate and me and the wife were impressed, it is slowly being seen in London public transport and quite refreshing.

I do not mind people using their mobiles discreetely but yeah there are those really inconsiderate people out there who seem to enjoy sadistically the misery of having people loudly listen to their life stories! I sometimes wonder how they were brought up to have such inconsideration.........

[matthew123]

I once heard a story of a guy shouting down his mobile on a train for the entire journey. A woman fell ill and the few passengers aboard asked the loud mouth if they could use his mobile phone to call the emergency services. He refused. Eventually, one of the other passengers grabbed the phone from him to make the 999 call... and then found it was actually a fake phone...

[lozzyloz]

I'm using Orange and Vodafone and they're both a bit patchy in parts of ED, though Orange possibly has the edge.

[Only me!]

I use Vodafone & all good down near Goose Green, but find that the nearer you get to Crystal Palace, top end LL. Harvester, Barracks, Sydenham Hill area the worse reception gets.

With several dead spots or patchy areas. I'm guessing the relay aerials are somewhere near the Towers, so can it be that you can get too close to get a good signal?

[Penguin68]

Mobile works best on line-of-sight from the microwave transmitters - one of the problems in East Dulwich/ Forest Hill/ Crystal Palace is hills and being under the brow of them (if the microwave tower is on the other side) - hence people losing signal (I certainly do) coming down Dog Kennel Hill. There may also be a problem where there is a high level of contention for a particular cell (each cell carries only a limited number of conversations at a time - in inner cities we have micro-cells (very small radius) to allow for more calls to be carried - but where someone is actually mobile the call has to be handed over from one cell to the next).

I know (because I have had a problem) that Vodafone admits to congestion in Dulwich at times (particularly mid-day) when you may not be able to grab a circuit on a cell (outwith any issues of actual microwave reception). You can also 'lose' out if a car which is making a call comes through your local cell, when a call being made has priority over the regular 'are you still out there' handshake the cell makes with your phone (the 'ditting' interference you can get if your mobile is too close to an radio).

Out of interest you need to know, in choosing a mobile carrier, that Virtual Mobile Network Operators (like Virgin and BT) use one of the four major underlying carriers (O2, Vod, T-Mobile, Orange) - I don't think 3 offers wholesale services but I may be mistaken.

Hope this helps

[Applespider]

It is surprising how many of us are on Wood Vale. I wonder how many of you I've seen at the bus stop in the mornings unknowingly!

I've had an N73, N95 and an iPhone on O2 without problems. Think it was an SEk750i that I had on Oraneg that was a bit pants in terms of coverage. Will agree to disagree on the Nokias - since they went to Symbian 60 on some of their phones, I find them more or less unusable particularly once all the networks load on their shortcuts etc on all the buttons so you can end up whooshing off to another screen while writing texts etc. Much happier with my iPhone these days!

[zephyr]

matthew123 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I once heard a story of a guy shouting down his

> mobile on a train for the entire journey. A woman

> fell ill and the few passengers aboard asked the

> loud mouth if they could use his mobile phone to

> call the emergency services. He refused.

> Eventually, one of the other passengers grabbed

> the phone from him to make the 999 call... and

> then found it was actually a fake phone...

Real story??

I would be surprised if no other passengers had a mobile phone in this day and age.... unless it was a long time ago when bricks were fashonable.

[KalamityKel]

Depends which side of the Lane you're on. I find going from Dulwich plough to just past the the petrol station at Hornimans both Vodafone and Orange network signals disappear (although notedly Vodafone has improved somewhat over the last two weeks).

Coming back that way and you can continue your phone call from forest hill all the way down with no problems... In my experience... although I have just upgraded my Orange phone which seems to get a stronger reception where I work... I shall report back at some point. :p

[Stephen]

I've had Orange and Vodafone in SE22 over the years - no major problems on either of them.

S

[hislordship]

I believe there is a very good reason why Vodafone (and 02 incidentally) generally have better coverage - they both use a lower frequency (GSM 900) to T-Mobile, Virgin and Orange (GSM 1800). The lower frequency carries through walls and barriers better.

I further understand that the 'cost' of using a lower frequency is slightly increased battery use, but that could be total bollox. Also, higher frequencies can carry more data, but I don't suppose that matters really.

[-=Mike=-]

Orange bad reception - good customer service

Vodaphone excellent reception - dire customer service

[Jah Lush]

Melford Road me. I've a Sony Ericsson and I'm on Vodafone but the reception is crap where I am.

[matthew123]

>> zephyr

>> Real story??

>> I would be surprised if no other passengers had a mobile phone in this day and age.... unless it was a long time ago when bricks were fashonable.

Well, it was told to me as a real story a few years back - think it took place on an Inter City train (perhaps during the daytime when numbers are down).