Advice on UK mobile?

[murph]

With the imminent release of the iphone5 and my O2 contract coning to a close, I wanted to get some feedback on my best options!
Looking for best business tariff and good full coverage! Any advice must appreciated

 

[Edwin]

All I can say is "don't choose Three". I left them after getting fed up with the poor coverage in various parts of Cambridge and London, and around other parts of the country. Been with O2 a few weeks now and so far they look much better.

 

[murph]

Yep O2 have been pretty decent. I travel Cornwall alot and that really tests any network. 3 isn't really an option for that reason! Just wondering if T mobile better choice?

 

[anthony]

With the imminent release of the iphone5 and my O2 contract coning to a close, I wanted to get some feedback on my best options!
Looking for best business tariff and good full coverage! Any advice must appreciated

If you can hold out for 3-5 months, then 4G will be well underway, and the related phone packages will start to settle down. They won't be cheap, but you wont end up feeling as if you regretted renewing too early. Having said that, Cornwall isn't going to have much FTTA upgrade work as far as I know, so unless you're usually in a highly populated area, you'd be wasting your money.

 

[newguy]

I've been looking at phones too. The HTC One X and Samsung S3 have lots of good reviews, but they have huge screens. Some will appreciate that, but I'm sure others will have reservations. Therefore, I'm thinking of going with either the HTX One S or Samsung S2. Some pretty good deals here:
http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobile-phones/Samsung/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II-White/30,81186,All,tt1,ct1

http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobile-phones/HTC/HTC-One-S/85,99198,All,tt1,ct1

Buying through quidco might save you a bit more too.

edit: there are some even better deals with the S2 on mobiles.co.uk, but part of the money has to be clawed back through their redemption process (you have to email them your bills etc) and I doubt that's the most straightforward process.

 

[inbound]

I have a Galaxy SIII and really like it, it's fast and has a great screen for browsing on the move.

Having used iphones before I'd say, from my perspective, that the ease of use on an iphone is an advantage to some users. Managing/using a music collection is easier/slicker/better on itunes (but I'd suggest buying the physical CD and importing rather than buying from itunes - you still get genius features but are not tied to a single platform).

Flexibility is a clear advantage with Android phones, I can connect all sorts of (generic, cheap) USB OTG (on the go) devices to the SIII - this is a boon for some users. Also the microSD slot means it's cheaper to have a high capacity music/movie player.

The larger screen on the iPhone 5 might make it OK for browsing and therefor make it a good, but expensive, choice for many people. O2 have the best pricing on unlimited minutes and the best network coverage.

4G is a bit of a red herring at the moment - there are different bands and some are still waiting for release due to carrying other signals. EE (Everything Everywhere) have 4G now, but only in 16 cities.

Of course, you should consider what you really need from a phone. It could be that a laptop or ultrabook tethered to a cheaper/simpler data-capable phone could be the answer if you need to work on the move (or even a dongle and just a voice phone!).

 

[Stas]

surprised about negative comments about Three. always have good signal in London, Bristol and Devon, been with them about 4 years.. + don't they just lease someone else's network anyway?

 

[mally]

I moved to three from vodafone, worked well for me

 

[murph]

surprised about negative comments about Three. always have good signal in London, Bristol and Devon, been with them about 4 years.. + don't they just lease someone else's network anyway?

I have to say, in terms of pricing I'd wouldn't mind 3... seems like the best value.

Trouble is, as I'm sure everyone else on 'ere would appreciate, I heavily rely on my mobile for keeping tabs on work. If a site goes down I need to know immediately! So good signal is paramount.

I think as Anthony said, I'll wait for the dust to settle with the 5 and see what happens with 4g.