The whole 4G shenanigans is a bit of a debacle, really. I mean, who do I go with to make sure I can get it?!?

Mark

To be honest, I have 3G reception problems - sometimes in the middle of the city, but mostly at times when I'm in the Essex wilderness. I doubt that 4G will be anything to cause me concern for a few years yet.

3G coverage is pretty good in Belfast for me.
I'd still really like to know if I can get 4G on O2 so I don't have to switch network.
I guess I'll not be upgrading until I have the answer to that question.

Mark

I get reasonable 3G at my house in the middle of nowhere, but it's only been in the last year or so. 4g will be a long way off.

Not for some time. O2 doesn't already have a 4G network in place like EE does, and won't implement one until after the regulators have conducted their auction/sale of 4G frequency bands ( it will get one it just won't know which one until after the auction and it can't install kit until it knows what band it'll be using).

Given the auction hasn't really even started yet, don't expect any of the other networks to have any significant 4G coverage at all for at least 2 years. Needless to say they are a bit miffed EE have been allowed to queue jump the way they have, but there's not much they can do about it. EE took the risk of ploughing ahead while the government dithered and its paid off for them big style.

So I should check the availibity of EE in Belfast and base my upgrade decision on that?

Mark

I knew my decision to stick with one2one would pay off at some point!

That would seem to be the only option if you're in anything like a hurry.

Add far as my phone is concerned:
H = very fast
3G = fast
G = usable, just. .
E = unusable.

G is depressingly common when away from town centres.

Interesting. E - 'Edge' should actually be faster and more stable than 'G' - GSM. However it was only implemented because the iPhone 1 didn't have 3G but did have Edge. I wonder if they've decided not to bother maintaining it now the vast majority of devices are 3G or better..

On O2, I get
3G - fast
o - which is much slower
E - pretty much dead

Normally, I get 3G, but when I'm in the island - which is only a 15 minutes drive from Colchester - I'm lucky to get the o strength signal. In fact, my 3 MiFi widget ares better, but still drops out of 3G and into GPRS territory there.

The thing is that outside of metropolitan areas, 3G coverage is patchy at best, and really that needs to be addressed properly before the next big thing comes along and the current networks a just left as they are with no further investment.

Also bare in mind that the iPhone 5 (as sold in Europe and Asia - I'm not sure about some of the US versions) only supports certain LTE (4G) frequency bands. The only overlap between the bands it supports, and the frequencies that will be used for LTE comms in the UK is the band bought by EE, so they will be the only provider able to support the current iPhone hardware on 4G.

Does anybody know what Three's price-plans are going to look like?

Also, as a (soon-to-be-rectified) non-smartphone-user, I have no clue if 3G is 'good enough' (ie. should I see what Three offer?) or whether I should go for one of the EE offerings (T-mobile seem to offer unlimited data and texts, with a ludicrously high limit on calls, which'd suit me fine). Decisions, decisions...

I think the 'international' iPhone 5 supports all the LTE frequency bands that are currently in use. This is equally true of pretty every other LTE phone that Samsung etc. are making. If one of the UK carriers decided to use a band that's not in use elsewhere for some reason (and bear in mind there are only two major carriers left and four available 'in use elsewhere' frequency bands for them to pick from) they wouldn't have any handsets from any manufacturer to offer, or they'd have to get somebody to make one specifically for them, which then couldn't be used in any country other than the UK. You can never say the carriers won't make a dumb decision, but I think it would be exceptionally dumb even for them.

(the 'international' iPhone 5 supports five frequency bands, the US version only two, but those are the only two US carriers are allowed to use. The iPad 3 also only uses those two, which is why it doesn't work in the UK, since EE isn't using one of those two)

Jon

What will be interesting to see is if the phone providers bump up their 4G phone package's data allowance in line with the new 4G speed capabilities. After all, it's pointless being able to download stuff much, much faster if you still have the same stingy allowances per month.

Surely, they've got to start thinking of providing truly unlimited data (with a realistic fair-use clause, if any), or at least a decent amount so that you can download a few movies or streaming TV every week. Otherwise, I can't see the point of 4G to be honest - it's all just theory if you can't actually use it to its full potential without getting a hefty data bill at the end of each month for going over your tiny allowance.