Is anyone else on Orange?

When you have 3G coverage do you get decent speeds out of it?

Sometimes mine is painfully slow even when it manages to get a 3G connection it may or may not even load what I am trying to see.

Does anyone else have a problem?

I've also contacted Orange about this and where I work there is a 3G mast down that's been down since May and they have no ETA for fixing it. They have a 2G mast that has been down since last Wednesday but they are going to sort that before October 11th?!? WTF!?

I can't wait to see what happens after tomorrow as that's when the T-mobile/Orange network sharing is rolled out.

I'll be on the site bright and early to sign up for that. It's only 2G at the moment though although the lady on the phone said it will be 3G sharing next year!

Standing outside the Heaton Park branch of Sainsburys I get an excellent signal from Orange. One step inside and the signal goes... completely.

All of the other networks are fine...

It's geography dependent. Down here Orange is THE thing. In fact, on the Roseland, anything else is a waste of time and even then it's patchy. Generally though, I find their 3G to be very quick. But I only use it in short bursts.

This is why I stuck with Vodafone during teh late 90's / early 2000's. They always had a signal where others didn't.
I expect the others have caught up by now though.

Orange are actually very close to being in breach of contract with my current situation.

Part of the terms and conditions says that if a service is not deliverable due to a mast outage (i.e. 3G service for me) then they have to be able to give an ETA of when that service will be back up and running.

This mast has been down since May and there is still no ETA on fixing it.

If this T-mobile thing doesn't drastically improve the situation I will be complaining.

My friend has managed to come out of his contract due to Orange's breach of contract and came away with no fee and kept the phone.

RE the geography thing, on the coverage map for the postcode I work at there is full 3G signal for indoors and outdoors.

Orange and T-Mobile are only merging 2G coverage (as of tomorrow, and I believe you have to sign up for it), not 3G. They will probably merge 3G eventually, but there's no ETA yet.

As for coverage in Cornwall, I find it varies wildly from village to village.

In the bay, I rarely get a 3G signal. And I'm on 3, ffs...

Yup, you are right. (see my first post )

I'll be signing up straight away for it!

Well IMHO 3 is gay.

Don't even try to get a signal down here with that thing. Days of outtage in towns are not uncommon.

There are two spots in the township I live in that provide phone or mobile internet coverage. Both are outdoors and next to the same mosquito pit.

Quit your whinging!

Well, I signed up for the Everything-Everywhere thing yesterday which allows me to use T-mobile masts.

It only switches if the phone has no signal and is searching for a mast and if the T-Mobile one is the strongest.

i.e. If you have a weak Orange signal and you are in an area of excellent T-Mobile coverage it won't switch.

So far at work mine has been constantly on T-Mobile.

And the signal is a lot stronger and the internet (albeit 2G) is a lot faster than it was on Orange.

Also, it doesn't cost any extra to use it! All my bundles are still included!

In this day and age of high tech you'd think all mobiles would use the strongest signal no matter what network it is... or is that expecting too much?

That's exactly what happens when you go abroad. Unfortunately I doubt it will ever happen in the UK, as coverage is one of the areas networks compete on.