Well at least you're about to get 4G in UK

[kennyc]

Britain’s first 4G mobile network hopes for iPhone exclusivity
British consumers will be able to use fast mobile 4G connections this year, phone company Everything Everywhere will announce tomorrow.
MWC delegates try out mobile phones.
Britain's first 4G mobile phones will be announced tomorrow Photo: Bloomberg
Matt Warman

The firm will launch a new premium brand dedicated to selling 4G mobile phones and dongles, raising the prospect of Apple’s new iPhone being offered on a faster network which is unavailable from other companies.

Nokia’s new, well-received Lumia handsets have already been suggested as likely to be among the four or five devices that the company will offer at launch. Although early suggestions were that Everything Everywhere’s network would initially be available in just a small area of the country, sources close to the company’s engineers said that the service was likely to roll-out much more widely and quickly than previously expected. A service is likely to be available in densely populated areas of the UK by the end of the year, and more widely within 12 months.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...clusivity.html

[Graham]

It would be nice if they got full 3G coverage first. It's ridiculous how often your phone stops working in the very places you really need it. Like while travelling by train or road, or in the streets of my rural market town.

Yes, it's lovely down in London where I'm never more than a short hop from wifi.

Graham

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by Graham

It would be nice if they got full 3G coverage first. It's ridiculous how often your phone stops working in the very places you really need it. Like while travelling by train or road, or in the streets of my rural market town.

Yes, it's lovely down in London where I'm never more than a short hop from wifi.

Graham

Very true

Need better coverage of other services first before thinking of 4G

**sitting here at home with my 1 bar of GPRS**

[HarryT]

3G coverage is pretty good in urban areas but, as you say, if you get out into the countryside you generally only have Edge or GPRS. I believe all the major network claim 90%+ 3G coverage in terms of population, but of course that doesn't equate to anything like 90% coverage area-wise.

Even GPRS, though, is fine for e-mail, web browsing, downloading books, etc. You don't need high speeds for that.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe all the major network claim 90%+ 3G coverage in terms of population, but of course that doesn't equate to anything like 90% coverage area-wise.

yes, urban areas are less than 9% of the area of the UK.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...age_for_the_UK

80% of the people living in 9% of the space, but even those 80% need to move around from time to time.

That does include a lot of rugged and empty bits of Scotland, but even so.

Graham

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Even GPRS, though, is fine for e-mail, web browsing, downloading books, etc. You don't need high speeds for that.

GPRS is fine but very frustrating to use

I just tried opening google.co.uk with it, after 2 mins of loading I gave up, wouldn't like to open a page with much more info on it

it's worse than dial up speed

[b0ned0me]

Originally Posted by Graham

It would be nice if they got full 3G coverage first. It's ridiculous how often your phone stops working in the very places you really need it. Like while travelling by train or road, or in the streets of my rural market town.

Yes, it's lovely down in London where I'm never more than a short hop from wifi.

Graham

Huh. There are a couple of dead spots on my train line from London Victoria down towards Norbury, which interrupt my browsing. And I'm not aware of Lambeth being particularly rural. Come to think of it, even Victoria station is a non-data zone as far as O2 is concerned.

I'm not particularly in favour of holding back the whole country until every little gap is plugged, but I am in favour of telling everyone that the UK mobile networks are a festering bag of s**te, regardless of which G.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

GPRS is fine but very frustrating to use

I just tried opening google.co.uk with it, after 2 mins of loading I gave up, wouldn't like to open a page with much more info on it

it's worse than dial up speed

Yes, it is. GPRS speed goes from 8k to 20k, so at its best it's about the speed of an old 19.6k modem.

In most rural areas, though, if there's a phone signal at all I get an EDGE data connection on my iPhone, which is a lot better than GPRS. Of course, there are lots of areas of countryside (especially in mountainous areas) where there's no signal at all.

One of the problems in the UK is that most of our mountainous areas are national parks, where there are severe restrictions on building phone masts. I was in Norway last year, and there I got a good phone signal even in the most remote areas, because the Norwegians put phone masts on the tops of mountains.

Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with the state of the Vodafone network in the UK. I rely on my iPhone for internet access most of the time that I'm away from home, and it's rare not to be able to use it.

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One of the problems in the UK is that most of our mountainous areas are national parks, where there are severe restrictions on building phone masts. I was in Norway last year, and there I got a good phone signal even in the most remote areas, because the Norwegians put phone masts on the tops of mountains.

In Canada (and I believe the US), cell towers in national parks and other protected areas are starting to be "disguised". While the giant "pine" cell tower may look a little out of place at first glance, they've actually done a pretty good job.

[Conor]

In view of the cost of mobile data, I can't see the point of faster speeds. I have a contract that gives me 15GB for about £17.00pm, of which I use about. half (email and browsing). I hate to think what streaming video would cost, and what else would need 4g speeds?