Reply With QuoteIf VM stands for Virgin Mobile then my wife and kids are on that network and get better coverage than I do on EE (though we're in Scotland and not your neck of the woods)
All,
Currently with EE on a Sim Only deal and get 20GB data for about £15. I'm thinking of jumping ship, potentially to VM who are offering 25GB for £12 or 50GB for £16.
Has anyone got experience of VM for coverage. I'm locked down like most people but there is travel to Central London / Buckinghamshire and hopefully Devon when circumstances change.
I called EE (Retentions) could only offer 25GB for £18.
Any other suggestions will be gratefully received.
Best,
Ben
If VM stands for Virgin Mobile then my wife and kids are on that network and get better coverage than I do on EE (though we're in Scotland and not your neck of the woods)
Have you checked out vodafone and have you anyone that has access through work to the "vodafone advantage" scheme for a 15% discount on sim only plans?
Virgin mobile currently run on the EE network so you shouldn't see any coverage difference to what you have with EE. They are about to switch to use the Vodafone network, which in my experience around London has equally good coverage.
That must be down to the handsets because Virgin run off the EE network too.Originally Posted by Halitosis
I’m on Virgin and couldn’t beat them really price wise when I looked. They do offer WiFi calling too which is great if you have a compatible phone. Some other don’t.
I’ve been happy with mine.
I have an EE SIM card with 200Gb smart sim £25 with perks discount down to £20 a month. Compared to my work Vodafone contact this is mikes better for coverage.
Thanks all, some useful comments here.
I would have stayed with EE if they could have offered something in between. But understand its challenging at the moment.
We all used to be EE and I switched to Virgin three years ago to test it. We're in London so any provider is probably fine here, but I've been away to different places in the UK and never struggled for a signal.
All three of us now have a sim-only and I get a family deal as we have Virgin TV and broadband. It costs £27 for all three with 20GB on two sims and 5GB on the boy's. All minutes and texts included.
We don't actually use much data anymore as we're always in with the wi-fi, but it's so cheap we might as well have it just in case.
Have a look on Opensignal, it will tell you which signal is strongest etc
Thanks, will check that out.
Best,
Ben
Haha - every day's a school day! Thanks, and yes I do have the oldest phone in the house - perhaps as it should be given I pay.
Our neighbours are with EE and complain about their signal and they have the same iPhones as us.
Lebara can be extremely competitive. Uses Vodafone network and I've found it to be far, far better than Three in both London and Devon.
Will check out Lebara, thanks for that.
EE tarrifs are over priced unless you are a BT employee.
When reviewing your tarrifs I'd say look at
1) data allowance - do you use this much? Are you paying for more becuse they network wants to drive up arpu? Wifi is in most placed and covid means you won't be using it outdoors for a while
2) term, would it be better & cheaper moving onto a 30 day tarrifs until you either can benifits from 5g or roaming? Or next round of Simo sales.
I'm moving from 3 to becuse of not being able to use their go roam. Will move back once travel is open again.
3) what phone have you got? EE's network varies by phones
4) 5G if you don't have a 5g phone. 4g tarrifs are cheaper on those networks who are not unified in their pricing
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If you do, there's a referral scheme I think, for which the fundraiser can always benefit.
Kevin Bacon is always outside in the EE ad's that's because EE is better outside, they use a higher frequency that gives fast data speeds but only a weak signal that doesn't penetrate buildings very well. O2 & Vodafone have a mix of frequencies. Voda is a good general signal, O2 penetrates buildings very well.
I specialise in advising corporate clients on procurement of mobile phone fleet contracts.
As written to a client just last week (who is considering switching from Vodafone to O2) images deleted because it has my home postcode.
Network Checkers:
OFCOM https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/mobile-coverage
Which doesn’t state it’s source and doesn’t include 5G, but in theory is independent vs the networks that want to tell you everywhere is excellent.
As you can see OFCOM has small zones with slightly lower quality coverage on O2 versus the map below. But OFCOM is more nuanced with Indoor/Outdoor settings and Voice/Data settings.
O2’s checker: https://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker
O2 4G Indoor & Outdoor map last updated 4th December, gives good coverage across the entire area.
O2 5G map – no 5G for me yet, but that yellow zone is growing month on month:
Vodafone – like O2 it’s an all in one map.
https://maps.vodafone.co.uk/coverage...b/default.aspx
Rootmetrics
Finally you have Rootmetrics who use Apps installed on peoples phones to constantly test, and if you zoom out on the map you can see that means the major UK trunk routes and A roads are well tested but suburban areas have untested spots:
This is the O2 map for call (not data) performance where no colour means untested and blue is good.
https://webcoveragemap.rootmetrics.com/en-GB
Thanks all.
I have an IPhone XS so not 5G compatible.
I've been on EE formally Orange since the 90's, been on sim only for as long as I can remember. Presently pay £23 for unlimited data and calls etc and am able to gift data to my son, up to 100gb a month. I work length and breadth of the country and have always been pleased. I also have the usual calling of the retention team for a better deal and to give them credit they have always been very good, have had the odd one thats says they can't do anything, but I just call back at a later date, speak to another person and eventually get a deal that suits both
Three unlimited everything £13pm
https://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk...ort_by=monthly
Last edited by David_D; 18th January 2021 at 03:14.
Good Vodafone deal here, it's owned by carphone warehouse
https://www.mobiles.co.uk/sim-only-deals
60GB £11.50 / month with cash back
Thanks for that. Much better than the retention offer they gave me last week. Might pop my number onto pay as you go for a day and use that link to return.
That is what I'm about to do - my last vodafone contract was via Mobiles.co.uk - very easy to get the cash - going to port my number out and back in to get a good deal...
As they will move to voda you’ll have no issues down south
My offer (which I took) was £24.30pm for 160gb 5G unlimited calls/text and Spotify. I don't need or use 160gb but it was cheaper than 40gb somehow and only a pound or two more than 20gb. 24 month term.
I thought you were being a bit extreme porting out to port back in but based on those prices I'll definitely do that too.
Yep - last time around it came with nowTV which is £9.99 on it's own and has been great during lockdown - this time around as it's not offered I'll go for youtube premium because that's both ad-free Youtube, shows AND music.
I notice for anyone who does not need massive amounts of data - you can get 20gb for £16 a month - given youtube premium is £11.99 a month...
Last edited by Alansmithee; 18th January 2021 at 14:21.
YouTube Premium is a rip-off for UK users - use a VPN for far cheaper rates.
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