Following the Ipad thread

[claymore]

I have an Iphone on an Orange (EE) contract - sim only
If I do the same with the Ipad - I'm thinking I'd go with Vodaphone as the coverage seems better than others.
This should mean that when my personal hotspot is not hot with Orange, hopefully the Vodaphone sim should give me a second shot.
What thinkst?

I floated this past Para but he started rabbiting on aboot chips and seagulls in Lyme Regis. Wondering whether all this isn't getting too much for the daft auld codger

[mm5aho]

Recent forays to the west for me with having both a BT phone (Vodaphone) and son's EE contection shows that...
When he gets any connection he gets high speed, othewise there's some sharing arrangement but that don't give an effective data.
We hardly ever got the same access levels, suggesting not much mast sharing going on between these two networks.

My Vodaphone connection is highly variable, ranging from 3G in some parts near Oban, and much of the Clyde north of Arran, to barely manage a text speeds elsewhere. That includes areas covering Loch Linnhe, Jura, all round Mull, MoK, Aisla Craig.

Any system that gives access to more than one network will surely be better.

[DaveS]

Is it only me that thinks that the competitive service model for mobile phones just doesn't work in sparsely populated areas? IMHO enabling free roaming in such areas, with the company that provided the mast actually used getting the fee would be a far better system and would encourage providers to find the largest coverage "holes" and plug them. It would introduce a degree of complexity in inter-company billing, but nothing like as complicated as what goes on to make the electricity market "work".

[claymore]

You are wasted here wee Davey - there must be a spot in Holyrood for ye?

[mm5aho]

If the railways can figure out the intercompany allocation of ticket income, then surely the techy savvy mobile phones companies should be able to?

[Storyline]

Seem to recall that the government announced a plan to force the networks to share masts - would be a popular move so maybe it will be rushed through before the election.

Met backpacker in Castle bay a couple of years back and he seemed to be across all things phone and he reckoned the best sim for the islands was Virgin as they use many different networks - not sure if any truth in this.

[inboard]

I find Orange/ EE better for coverage of the W coast better than Vodafone (although for the Highlands, Voda is better...). I have EE on the iPad and Voda on the phone, and as mm5aho said, I quite like the redundancy/ resilience of having two networks. EE, again echoing earlier comments, tends to have faster data than coda, too.

Not sure I believe the notion that Virgin surf across all networks, though I'd like to!

It's certainly the case that foreign visitors probably do better than the residents, as they do get access to all networks, whereas we're confined to whoever our contract is with. On the other hand, at least our bills are probably smaller...

[ParaHandy]

I floated this past Para but he started rabbiting on aboot chips and seagulls in Lyme Regis. Wondering whether all this isn't getting too much for the daft auld codger

When you rang our agony aunt, Dame Labia OBE, and frothed aboot being hot and hotspots, she immediately responded according to Best Practice Guidelines with disturbed caller 1.2 which involves soothing messages with sounds of the sea eg seagulls eating chips recorded at Lyme Regis.

Ye can huv yer fekking money back. These nuisance callers ....

[ParaHandy]

Reading this thread with the iPad balanced on the back of one or more hedgehogs whilst swimming up and down the pool, I question whether anyone wishing to phone you will remember that you have 2 phones (that has to be so as would the phone cpys allow you to share a single number eg incoming call - you take it Mr EE; keep it Mr Vodabolx, it's dear heart and that won't be a long call). On the other hand, are there enough people wanting to remain in touch with you such that the trifling guarantee from having 2 phone cpys to transmit said call would be ... Erm .. Worthwhile? I also agree with whoever said the fekkers share the same infrastructure up there. So if yer fekked with one, yer fekked with the other. Lady Labia OBE is, however, always available.

[mm5aho]

This last weekend I noted lack of bandwidth on Vodaphone in Loch Fyne anywhere north of Loch Ranza.
From about Cubraes north in the Clyde was medium to good, until off Greenock was quite good.
Didn't find a 3G area anywhere, H or E was as good as it got.