UKC

I'm getting tired of the speed of the mobile internet on my current phone, and am thinking of paying a bit more and getting a new phone and contract. On my current phone I'm finding I click on a link and am wasting a considerable amount of life waiting for it to load up.

Most of the reviews seem to say EE has the fastest network, but they are quite expensive compared to some others. Some of their practices seem a little hardline compared to others - eg they have a clause which says they can increase the bill each year (albeit at an inflation-related rate). Their customer service line has an option to pay 50p to go to the front of the queue. Guess that might indicate you have to wait a long time normally! I guess as they are rated the best coverage they can do what they like in relation to Ts and Cs.

Three seem to come second generally for mobile internet, but don't seem to be as good as the other networks for call reception.

Overall I'm swinging towards EE as the prospect of quick mobile internet is a big selling point, and they seem to have good call coverage. The cost of the top-end phones is quite expensive, so I'm thinking about going for one of the middle of the range ones - possibly the HTC One Mini 2, as it seems quite solid. The top of the range HTC One M8, which looks really good, has a 2.3Ghz Processor, whereas the HTC One Mini has a 1.2Ghz processor.

Would having a smaller processor affect how fast the mobile internet is noticeably? I'm not really bothered about using applications on the phone - I just want to be able to browse the internet quickly and have good call coverage. I am guessing it is more important to pick a supplier with good internet and call coverage rather than picking a cheaper supplier but buying a more top-end phone with a faster processor.

I guess the other option is to pick up a refurbished or second hand top-end phone, although I'm thinking it would be good to have a new phone rather than one I don't know the history of.

Any thoughts on this?

Cheers,

Chris

In reply to Chris Sansum:

the browser you will be using have a lot to say about how fast things load.
Also be carefull about EE and the claim to have best cover they might cover biggest area but i find they have a lot of gaps in their coverage.
Have not tried their 4G due to the silly cost and found their 3G to get worse and worse, i will be ditching them as soon as my contract runs out in Feb.

The HTC One phones are nice, im on the old One M7

In reply to Mikkel:
I looked at various review websites and most seemed to say that EE's coverage was best. I would probably go for one of the double speed 4g contracts, so hopefully it would be a bit better than your experience.

Is anyone on here on a double speed 4g contract? Any thoughts?

In reply to Chris Sansum:

I've been with 3 mobile for several years as I found them the cheapest for an all-in contract, including 4G for free and unlimited data (+tethering). A massive selling point is that if you are on 3 and go to France, Italy, Austria, the US, Australia etc... then you don't pay any extra at all, you just use the mobile according to your current call/text/data limits (except with a 25GB limit on data or something crazy!)

In reply to 67hours:
The Three free roaming offering does sound tempting (having been stung by Tesco Mobile for roaming charges in the past!)! Hadn't heard about that...

Have you experienced any problems with call reception? Any problems using it in rural areas?

In reply to Chris Sansum:

I have a Note 2 on Vodafone. Internet is quick in towns and cities when you get the H+ symbol but none existant everywhere else. I would suggest that most networks are like this as they give coverage stats like 95% polulation which probably equates to 10% of land coverage.

So if you live in the sticks, prepare to be disappointed.

In reply to ByEek:

+1

EE is fast in built up areas, slow anywhere else. Huge gaps in even 3G coverage in many places.

In reply to Ridge:

Agreed. I imagine they are much of a muchness in that regard.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

Nexus 5 or 6, depending on budget, and a GiffGaff sim (uses O2 network).

Contracts are a restrictive luxury

In reply to Chris Sansum:

It's hard to know without knowing whether your speed is currently restricted by the phone or the network. Do you have WiFi at home? If so, how does the phone work on that? If it loads okay, your processor is okay. Some older low-end smartphones are really underspecced to cope with normal smartphone tasks, but most modern ones should be okay. I suspect the HTC One Mini would be fine. I'd also suggest you look at The Motorola Moto G 4G (low-end price, mid range performance) and the Google Nexus 5 (mid range price, high end performance)

Where do you live? What network coverage do you have (2G,3G, 4G)? If you have 4G coverage, or are somewhere likely to get it soon, then make sure you get a phone and tariff that allows 4G as it is massively faster and has not yet developed the congestion that besets 3G in some areas/networks.

3/EE and Voda/O2 share networks to some extent, but not completely. All are currently investing in 4G as well as other improvements so things should get better, whichever you choose, but try to get some first hand experience from locals.

Taking a contract isn't for everyone and with the rise of direct sales from the likes of Apple and Google it's not always cheaper to get the handset on contract either. There are some great deals around right now on Pay as You Go, so don't leap straight into a contract.

Virtually all the operators do inflationary price rises. It drives customers nuts, but with inflation as it is there's a strong financial incentive.

In reply to Chris Sansum:
If you are thinking about EE, you could try them out first?

I am about to start a trial of their network coverage as I may consider moving networks. Got their latest trial offer - a no commitment, no contract 4G sim which gives 100Gb data free for a 30 day period (for max of two 30 day periods so 200Gb to play with), and if you put £10 on it you get 250 mins and unlimited texts for up to 30 days, and can repeat this also. The data is free except they will spam you with texts and emails, all part of the service apparently . They will notify you at the end of the two month trial which of their packages is best for you based on usage.

If you need a 4G phone they will sell you one for £49.99 plus £10 top up if you Sign up for the trail sim.

In reply to All:

Thanks all for the advice. I have gone for the Three option. It just seemed like the whole contract was a little less ruthless and more honest - no annual inflation, no roaming charges in quite a few countries, no additional charges to call customer services etc.

Plus I managed to get the phone I've been wanting for a while (HTC One M8) at a reasonable price.

A friend who works in the engineering side of mobile telecomms advised me about 6 months ago that EE had the best network at the time, but Three would be catching up in about 6 months time, so hopefully their network will get better as time goes on.

I called Three looking for a refurbished phone as the one I wanted was out of stock online - and the chap gave me a good deal on a new phone as he couldn't supply the refurbished one. I managed to get a better deal because one of my housemates is on Three already.

In reply to imkevinmc, I thought about GiffGaff, but it uses the same network (O2) as my current provider, so I figured I would get the same slow mobile internet problem.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

I guess it depends where you are but I pay £12/month and burn through about 10 to 12GB of 4G data a month at no extra cost. Am currently in Paris and can use my inclusive 200 minutes of call allowance here at no extra cost the same goes for data (not sure if there a limit)

I'd 100% go for a 4G phone even if it costs more as going back to 3G seems painfully slow now.

Have to admit that calls sometime get dropped and the network sometimes seems to be dead but not enough for me to want to go else where.