EE best mobile network

EE coverage around my eldest's high school has gone from non-existent to full bars over the last month or so, so I'm very happy as I've just ordered him an Asda Mobile SIM for his newly-unlocked Samsong Galaxy Ace. Asda is now on EE.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Stephen

I did read the other day that they have the worst customer service and also are the most complained about.

Pretty much. Since 3 managed to haul their asses up from last place EE (and their contingent brands of Orange and T-Mobile) have held the the bottom three places every consecutive year to date. Worst rated by customers for customer service, worst rated by OFCOM for complaints, worst rated by resellers for being a horrible company to deal with. On the other hand they do have a technically very good network, no doubt in part to their diversity in backhaul, using upgraded VM Gig-E and above in a lot of places. Funny enough areas that still rely on BT backhaul seem to be quite a bit behind, despite BT also having a nationwide Gig-E footprint. They just suck utter bollocks for customer service though. ---------- Post added at 13:14 ---------- Previous post was at 13:08 ----------

Originally Posted by Kushan

I've heard some proper horror stories about EE's customer service, but then I've heard the same about Three.

Well as above, EE and 3 have been jostling for the last place in Ofcom's rankings every year since records began. ---------- Post added at 13:15 ---------- Previous post was at 13:14 ----------

Originally Posted by 2old4this

i heard that RootMetrics is funded my EE?

Not funded by, but EE do pay them a lot of money. It's like saying the government is 'funded by' corporate donors. Actually, now that you mention it... ---------- Post added at 13:18 ---------- Previous post was at 13:15 ----------

Originally Posted by Stuart

Unfortunately, if my experience of EE's network is anything to go by, providing the backhaul for it is not a major selling point for VM..

Mobile networks are complex things. You can have amazing backhaul and still get an utterly rubbish service owing to poor RAN management and/or dodgy radio hardware, buggy software, or just a loose connector on the antenna. That said, one of the biggest speed limiting factors for the 'first-gen' networks has been backhaul so at least it's one problem off their plate...

Funnily enough, my friends on EE 4G have no problem, on calls or data, and my problems have only started getting worse since EE started 4G..

While lots of people have blamed 4G for their 3G and officials have rebuked such comments as 'nonsense' there *are* a few technical reasons for that, not so much the conspiracy theorists heaven of crippling it deliberately to make you upgrade, but rather optimizing your network for one thing often means de-optimizing it for another. You can't optimize for everything at the same time.

[Andy C]

Originally Posted by Kushan

This particular friend used to visit the Isle of Mann quite a bit and shortly after doing so, he got a bit of a bill shock. According to EE's CS rep, the Isle of Mann apparently counted as "roaming" so he was billed at some silly amount for data.

Friend stated that his old Orange contract never had such rubbish in it and of course the Isle was part of the same region. Eventually they relented and let him out of the contract, but it took quite a bit of fighting.

All my family live on the Isle of Man so I call them a lot from my mobile and vice versa. I was on O2 and last November they have also decided the IOM is international and charge roaming fees. A 12 minute call to my parents cost £9. It also costs them to call me and being in their 70's they cannot afford it.

I was contacted by Virgin in January and I asked about the IOM being included in my unlimited minutes and was told it was. It turns out I was lied to and get charged roaming fees on Virgin also. So until my contract with O2 runs out I'm paying for two contracts. I feel I was mis-sold my Virgin contract as I only took it out thinking calls to and from the IOM would have been free, they aren't willing to do anything about it tho. It's crazy when you think BT and o2 built the network on the Island and it was o2's 3G testbed.

It's funny that the Post Office say the IOM is part of the UK!


A.

[Kushan]

Andy, I would get straight onto Virgin's CEO about that and get yourself out of that contract. You were definitely missold.

[Ignitionnet]

Yeah they screwed up, Andy, though the Post Office have too if that's what they said - the Isle of Man has never been a part of the UK any more than the Falklands are.

[Andy C]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Yeah they screwed up, Andy, though the Post Office have too if that's what they said - the Isle of Man has never been a part of the UK any more than the Falklands are.

Well yes, its actually a weird one. The IOM is part of Great Britain but not part of the UK (or vice versa). It doesn't cost any more to send a first class or special delivery letter there just as it doesn't cost any more to make a land line call than it does to call next door.

I think o2 were the first to drop inclusive calls to the IOM and the rest soon followed. At the time there was uproar in the papers on the Island, especially as BT/o2 built the network even tho it trades under Manx Telecom. Was o2 sold last year? I seem to remember the change after something like that...


A.

---------- Post added at 23:49 ---------- Previous post was at 23:48 ----------

Originally Posted by Kushan

Andy, I would get straight onto Virgin's CEO about that and get yourself out of that contract. You were definitely missold.

The problem is I no longer have the handset that came with the contract, a Samsung S4 Mini.


A.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Andy C

All my family live on the Isle of Man so I call them a lot from my mobile and vice versa. I was on O2 and last November they have also decided the IOM is international and charge roaming fees. A 12 minute call to my parents cost £9.

I'm not sure what roaming fees and calling your parents while not roaming have to do with each other...

It also costs them to call me and being in their 70's they cannot afford it. I was contacted by Virgin in January and I asked about the IOM being included in my unlimited minutes and was told it was. It turns out I was lied to and get charged roaming fees on Virgin also.

Your inclusive minutes would never work abroad on VM anyway so why would you expect to not pay roaming fees?

So until my contract with O2 runs out I'm paying for two contracts. I feel I was mis-sold my Virgin contract as I only took it out thinking calls to and from the IOM would have been free, they aren't willing to do anything about it tho.

EE are the only network that offer unlimited free minutes from IoM while roaming.

It's crazy when you think BT and o2 built the network on the Island and it was o2's 3G testbed. It's funny that the Post Office say the IOM is part of the UK! A.

Well Germany was O2's 4G testbed, should that be free as well?

(Soon enough the whole EU will have free roaming on all networks though, so it doesn't matter much)

---------- Post added at 23:53 ---------- Previous post was at 23:49 ----------

Originally Posted by Andy C

BT/o2 built the network even tho it trades under Manx Telecom. Was o2 sold last year? I seem to remember the change after something like that...

O2 was sold thirteen years ago. Manx telecom was sold four years ago.

---------- Post added at 23:54 ---------- Previous post was at 23:53 ----------

Originally Posted by Andy C

The problem is I no longer have the handset that came with the contract, a Samsung S4 Mini. A.

That hardly matters. The contract is for airtime. The handset is a free 'gift' that technically and legally has nothing to do with the contract.

---------- Post added 19-09-2014 at 00:03 ---------- Previous post was 18-09-2014 at 23:54 ----------

Originally Posted by Andy C

Well yes, its actually a weird one. The IOM is part of Great Britain but not part of the UK (or vice versa).

The Isle of Man is not part of Great Britain or the UK. Great Britain refers to the physical landmass of mainland... well... Great Britain. Great Britain is an island. One island. Islands next to it are not the same island.

You may be getting confused with the 'British Isles' which does include the IoM. That's not a political or sovereign entity either.

It doesn't cost any more to send a first class or special delivery letter there just as it doesn't cost any more to make a land line call than it does to call next door.

Well just because some companies offer cheap/free services to one location doesn't mean all others will... Some companies offer free calls from the USA, that doesn't make them part of the UK any more than well, the USA.

[Andy C]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

I'm not sure what roaming fees and calling your parents while not roaming have to do with each other...

I don't live on the Isle of Man, my parents do. If I call them from my mobile or they call my mobile it's now classed as international hence the high cost.

The IOM was included in inclusive airtime right up until last November when it was removed.

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Your inclusive minutes would never work abroad on VM anyway so why would you expect to not pay roaming fees?

Because when o2 dropped the IOM, I approached Virgin and the sales rep told me the Isle of Man was included in the inclusive minutes.

Due to the fuss and press coverage of o2 charging for calls to and from the IOM to UK mobiles I assumed other networks did not.

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Well just because some companies offer cheap/free services to one location doesn't mean all others will... Some companies offer free calls from the USA, that doesn't make them part of the UK any more than well, the USA.

As far as I'm aware the majority of GB businesses do not charge any more for services to the IOM, the main exception being mobile networks.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Andy C

I don't live on the Isle of Man, my parents do. If I call them from my mobile or they call my mobile it's now classed as international hence the high cost.

The IOM was included in inclusive airtime right up until last November when it was removed.

That's still nothing to do with roaming charges...

Because when o2 dropped the IOM, I approached Virgin and the sales rep told me the Isle of Man was included in the inclusive minutes.

Due to the fuss and press coverage of o2 charging for calls to and from the IOM to UK mobiles I assumed other networks did not.

As far as I'm aware other networks never included it in the first place, there was nothing to drop.

As far as I'm aware the majority of GB businesses do not charge any more for services to the IOM, the main exception being mobile networks.

Most GB companies don't provide services in the IoM so there's nothing to charge extra for.

But most companies that deliver to the Isle of Man charge extra for it, with Royal Mail being the exception.

I can't think of anyone except delivery and telecoms companies that provide services to the IoM anyway that have charges that aren't inherent part of their business (ferry companies and flights for example).

Ironically, because the IoM is not part of the EU either, it is also exempt from EU roaming price limits so mobile companies can charge whatever they want.

[dajone]

I am with vodaphone since nov 13 there network is **** all i get is H.Rarely i get 3G.Spoke to them about this and got big long story about nothing.If upgrading to 4G makes thier 3G network worse whats the point

[qasdfdsaq]

Err, H is enhanced 3G... Why would you want 3G when you already get 3.75G?

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by dajone

I am with vodaphone since nov 13 there network is **** all i get is H.Rarely i get 3G.Spoke to them about this and got big long story about nothing.If upgrading to 4G makes thier 3G network worse whats the point

As qas pointed out, H is better than 3G.

2G (aka GPRS or "G")
3G
HSDPA (aka "H")
DC-HSDPA (aka "H+")
4G (aka LTE).

In a well maintained and uncongested network, H+ is comparable to lower-tier 4G though the reality is that 4G does have much better capacity.

[qasdfdsaq]

Plus, as is the case with most networks, upgrading to 4G also results in huge upgrades to 2G & 3G, because it's running on the same equipment. In some cases kit that's ten years old or more is being replaced by brand new state of the art combined 2G/3G/4G kit.

[dajone]

Well thx guys you learn something new every day Maybe should use google more often

[alanbjames]

i get H+ on my phone in Swansea. I was on a bus around 2pm yesterday and did a speedtest using the speedtest.net app and i was getting just under 14mb down and around 100k up.