Orange 3G-peasy dream seems shattered

[m419]

I called Orange the other day to see if they have any Video calling bundles on Pay Monthly, and they simply said no! So I asked why and they said, it was simply because Video calling and 3G phones are not catching on.

So that means video calling someone on Orange will cost 30p per minute, Video calling someone on another network costs 50p per minute.

I also asked if the 3G reception would be expanded as its not very good in my area, they said no!

And they also told me that no more new content will be added to Mobile TV for now.

So is this the begining of the end of Orange 3G?

Its disappointing as i'm on a really good service plan for calling and texting,as it will mean transfering to Hutchison 3G, no other 3G network works as well,in fact Hutchison 3G's reception seems better than Orange's in my house.

Whats everyone elses thoughts on this???

[AndyCambs]

I think the phone companies were foolish to spend all that money on 3G licences quite frankly.

[Kymmy]

Video calling never did take off in this country..but will more web intergrated handsets coming out (like i-phone, G1..etc) 3G will have a place in the UK...

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Video calling never did take off in this country..but will more web intergrated handsets coming out (like i-phone, G1..etc) 3G will have a place in the UK...

But I don't think there will ever be a sufficient return on investment for all the money spent on the licences.

[m419]

I thought the UK and European goverments made it compulsary for them to get 3G licences as I thought thats why Hutchison sold off Orange and then used that money to buy 3G licences and build an actual network.

I think 3G activity such as Video calling ect... is much more popular on the 3 network than any of the others, 3's network coverage is better than the others (3G wise).

I think thats why Cable and Wireless and United Artists(US West) sold off One2One back in 1999. One2One was a national and not an international network, the network coverage needed a lot of investment and a 3G licence needed to be purchased plus roll out of 3G masts. And both companies were under financial pressure with rolling out digital Cable TV and paying the debt off which they accumalated in building Cable TV networks.

[AntiSilence]

I'm on Orange pay monthly with a 3G Nokia video phone but I don't use video calling. It's never really interested me to be honest.

[m419]

Thats why I dont see the point in getting phones with all these features if your not gonna use them!

[AntiSilence]

I do use the 3G for browsing etc, and Google Maps is too slow on a 2G connection.

[Pushkar]

I'm on the o2 Simplicity deal, I get 600mins/1000texts but o2 allow you to exchange your minutes for video calling - good thing is, 1 mobile minute = 1 video calling minute which is brilliant.

Edit: By exchange, you can use unlimited (upto 600 in my case) of mixture, e.g. 245 video mins, and 355 normal mins.

[m419]

Originally Posted by TaiLZ

I'm on the o2 Simplicity deal, I get 600mins/1000texts but o2 allow you to exchange your minutes for video calling - good thing is, 1 mobile minute = 1 video calling minute which is brilliant.

Edit: By exchange, you can use unlimited (upto 600 in my case) of mixture, e.g. 245 video mins, and 355 normal mins.

Only problem is O2's 3G coverage is small it only covers just over 50% of the UK population.

Heres the current 3G coverage of all networks:

O2: 55%
Vodafone: 60%
T-Mobile: 70%
Orange: 80%
Hutchison 3G(3): 92%

Heres the current 2G coverage:

O2: 99%
Vodafone: 99%
T-Mobile: 97%
Orange: 98%
Hutchison 3G: 0% (3 use the Orange 2G network for 2G coverage)

So the best 3G networks for coverage are Hutchison 3G and Orange. And the best 2G networks for coverage are O2,Vodafone and Orange.

And the best paging coverage which covers 99% of the UK population is Page One Communications, Page One was formerly Mercury Paging and was a part of Cable and Wireless. Page One and Vodafone are the only paging services remaining.

[DRZ400]

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

I think the phone companies were foolish to spend all that money on 3G licences quite frankly.

I work for a mobile phone company and we all said it's going to one great big white elephant but we went ahead regardless. Nobody uses it, but the were frightened of being left out.

I think if one of the 'big four' kept to GSM only, but drastically undercut the other operators call costs, they would have the lions share of the UK market now and the other operators would be in serious trouble if not bust.

In 4 years, I've made maybe 5 or 6 3G calls!

[Tezcatlipoca]

I don't know anyone who uses 3G for video calling, but I know plenty who use it for internet access... It *does* have a use, just not the one it was originally hyped for.

[G UK]

Originally Posted by Matt D

I don't know anyone who uses 3G for video calling, but I know plenty who use it for internet access... It *does* have a use, just not the one it was originally hyped for.

Precisely, my primary use for my mobile is internet access but both my home and work are borderline for 3g. I just wish t-mobile would expand there coverage or 3 would allow me to use my own handset on there network.

[jellybaby]

Originally Posted by G UK

Precisely, my primary use for my mobile is internet access but both my home and work are borderline for 3g. I just wish t-mobile would expand there coverage or 3 would allow me to use my own handset on there network.

Agreed
I'd be lost without my internet on my phone, and so many apps use internet access too

[cookie_365]

Originally Posted by m419

Only problem is O2's 3G coverage is small it only covers just over 50% of the UK population.

Heres the current 3G coverage of all networks:

O2: 55%
Vodafone: 60%
T-Mobile: 70%
Orange: 80%
Hutchison 3G(3): 92%

<snip>

Those might be the official figures but I seem to get 3G coverage on O2 pretty much anywhere I go. Maybe they were smart enough to give it to the 55% of people I'd want to visit