Choosing a New Mobile Network

After another few months of trying out giffgaff as my main mobile number, I's giving up on this quirky but badly run mobile network.

Countless giffgaff customers complain about slow or unusable data speeds, and I can agree with them. However, my biggest issue is now the total lack of reliability from this network.

Giffgaff is the worst network that I've experienced from a connectivity point of view. The data speeds have been - in the main -  too slow to use for even downloading emails containing images. This week has seen an increase in 4G speeds in my home village, but at work the speeds are slow, and I'm lucky to even get any data connection.
But, this is not the worse of giffgaff's connectivity problems.
I've used giffgaff as a network for about a year and a half, and throughout that time I've experienced dropped calls on a daily basis. Text messages fail to send and must be re-sent multiple times. Sometimes you never know if a text message has been sent or not, so I've resorted to phoning people rather than sending them a text - Hardly what you would expect from a mobile network.

My full giffgaff review is available here http://mobile-networks-uk.weebly.com/mobile-network-reviews.html

So now I'm stuck with the usual dilemma of finding an alternative mobile network!
My PAYG mobile bundles website (http://mobile-networks-uk.weebly.com/) should be my first port of call, after all there is a lot of useful information there about the best value mobile networks in the UK.
However, after fully testing and reviewing numerous mobile networks, I can safely say that the most reliable mobile network for me is Vodafone.

The other UK Mobile Network Operators just aren't up to Vodafone's standard:
Three just doesn't have good enough voice and text coverage. O2 could do better (sorry but giffgaff have tainted my view of O2 somewhat). EE just don't have any coverage anywhere that I've lived.
Normally, I'd just go for a Vodafone contract, but I enjoy saving money, so this isn't as cost effective as I'd like it to be.
The best value mobile networks are the MVNOs (Mobile Virtual network Operators), as they usually offer much greater allocations for less money, which leaves me with a problem: The only really great value MVNO operating on the Vodafone network is Mobile by Sainsbury's, but this operator is closing down in January 2016.
No other PAYG MVNO provides good value (or reliability) on the Vodafone network - so my best option is to transfer my main number back onto a contract.
Talkmobile have the best value plan for me on the Vodafone network, but it's a 12 month contract which isn't great, but it does include 1000 minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB of data for £7.50 a month, which is very good value.

Returning to a contract completely goes against the grain for me, but this 12 month contract provides exactly what I need for a great price. Maybe the networks are realising that PAYG 30 day bundles shouldn't be cheaper than SIM only contracts.

Looks like the mobile industry is changing yet again.

Giffgaff: You Failed. My giffgaff Review will be Updated!

giffgaff, the "Mobile network run by you" certainly isn't how I would run a mobile network.

They have spent a huge amount of cash this year rebranding their website and logo (and made a right hash of it in the process).
In addition, giffgaff have upped their spending on TV advertising recently, which I am sure that most giffgaff customers would prefer to have been spent on buying additional data allocations from parent network, O2.

I've given giffgaff a good try. They were pretty useless last year: I ported my main phone number in to them but left after three months due to a total lack of data signal. I've also experienced awful call quality on giffgaff: I can hear the other person well enough, but they have been unable to hear me.

However, I've been making extensive use of their free giffgaff to giffgaff calls and texts, which has saved me a great deal of money and negated the need to buy a monthly bundle from them, or anyone else.
This free service is great, as all you need to do is top up £10 every three months to keep this free service going (most networks require a £10 monthly top up to get free same network calls).
If you are interested in getting these free calls and texts for yourself and some friends/family members, you can order a free giffgaff SIM here, which will also come with £5 of free credit upon activation.

I can put up with a few issues on this network as I'm saving money, but my main mobile number can't stay with giffgaff any longer.

I've recently started to experience (again!) texts that fail to send. Sometimes, my phone will tell me that the text failed to send, so I'll try again. In most cases I've needed to re-send the message about four times on average, which is not acceptable.
There is also the risk that your phone won't tell you if a text failed to send, so you'll never know if the recipient received the text or not.
Giffgaff charge for all of these texts, whether they get sent or not, which is unacceptable.

Another reason I've decided to pack in wiht giffgaff is the ongoing issue with dropped calls.
So many calls connect, but then drop after less than a minute, which is incredibly annoying.
For the free giffgaff to giffgaff calls, this is just about bearable, but for other calls it is pretty poor.
There have been occasions where I've been called, but have been unable to hear the other person and I/they have hung up.

The final straw came last night -  I got a 4G mobile purely to use data in my home village (there's 2G, 4G but no 3G - Thanks O2!), but giffgaff's data speeds on 4G have been abysmal: 0.53mbps download speed pretty much everywhere in North Hampshire during the day, if the data connection works at all.
Last night I did a speed test on giffgaff's 4G. It was about 01:00am and I got around 7.6mbps down and upload speeds - I should be able to get these speeds all day, not just in the middle of the night!
This "traffic shaping" is due to giffgaff being at the bottom of the pile for O2's network services: Giffgaff buy a quantity of data from O2 during the year, and to ensure that the service for O2 customers isn't degraded by giffgaff, they deploy traffic shaping to stifle the connection of giffgaff customers.
This is bad enough for data, but the call and text issues are also caused by "mast congestion", where O2 and Tesco Mobile customers get priority over giffgaff customers.

For these reasons, I cannot continue to use giffgaff for my main phone number.


I have tried, tested and used many mobile networks. For my mobile network reviews, please refer to my PAYG mobile bundles website, mobile-networks-uk.weebly.com/mobile-network-reviews.html

Talkmobile 4G Service (and a decent deal)

I've been a Talkmobile customer on and off for years.
In general, I've found them to be pretty good and useful as far as I'm concerned because they run on the Vodafone network (which is - amazingly - the most reliable network anywhere that I have spent a significant amount of time).

One thing that Talkmobile has lacked (and is becoming increasingly important) is 4G.

Earlier this year I enquired about their PAYG and SIM only plans, and one thing that stood out as an absolute con was the number of "4G ready" mobile phones that they were selling - and advertising.
I emailed Talkmobile and was informed that they do not, and did not offer a 4G service, and that these handsets were merely "future proof" - Even though you would not be able to use 4G on the Talkmobile network.

I have just been in contact with a Talkmobile customer service representative regarding their excellent value 12 month SIM only plan, which includes 1000 minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB of data for the reduced price of £7.50 a month. (This package is available here.)
During this conversation I asked if there were any plans of offer 4G, and the representative informed me that Talkmobile hopes to be offering 4G services from the end of this year, which is great news.

4G is now being regarded as being a requirement, not a premium product by customers any more, so it's about time that all networks offered 4G at no extra cost.
Admittedly, most networks have either increased their prices or reduced their allocations to pay for increases in 4G infrastructure, but we shouldn't have to keep on paying a premium to be able to use our mobiles.

Mobile By Sainsbury's TO EXIT MARKET

Cut price (but pretty good) MVNO Mobile by Sainsburys is to swiftly exit the market on 15th of January 2016.

I shall update my best value PAYG deals website http://mobile-networks-uk.weebly.com/ later today to warn customers of this announcement.

Yet another Vodafone MVNO bites the dust - Vodafone really doesn't like having MVNOs operating on its network, leaving people who rely on this network pretty screwed, unless they join Vodafone.

BlackBerry PRIV: You Are Our Only Hope

BlackBerry CEO John Chen has announced in a not-too-surprising statement that he is willing to axe BlackBerry's hardware division, if things don't start looking up for the company's profits.

According to a statement that he made at Code/Mobile, and relayed originally by Engadget, he announced that he will "Never say never" to shutting down BlackBerry's hardware business.
This might not happen, but Mr Chen did say that he might be willing to axe the hardware side of the business as early as 2016.

For some die-hard BlackBerry fans, this will be a massive blow. The BlackBerry Passport is a year old, but was well-received by users, and the BlackBerry PRIV is not only hotly anticipated, but could even drive the ailing platform into a positive new era.
These two devices are still, unfortunately, not enough to make the world ditch Apple and Android.

Mr Chen had said that alongside the BlackBerry PRIV, there could be two additional BB10 devices forthcoming from the company, though these are still totally unconfirmed.


My thoughts remain the same as they did late last month: The BlackBerry PRIV is likely to be a very expensive device. Whilst Joe Public regard the PRIV to be a primarily Android device, it is not quite that - It's a BlackBerry that will run Android apps. Everything does point towards the PRIV running Android v5.1.1 (Lollipop), whether it will compare to current Droids in real world use has still to be seen.
Personally, I hope that BlackBerry don't choose to have too much of their OS planted inside this phone. The world will be happy with a high end Android slider with a decent hardware keyboard.
But, in this form, can it really be called a BlackBerry?

I'm sure that BlackBerry do produce the best hardware keyboards for mobiles, and maybe this could be sold off/farmed out, but I think that BlackBerry would have to churn out some pretty spectacular mobiles - at lower prices - to be able to make any headway in the tightly-fought Android mobile market.
The PRIV, plus two other BB10 devices isn't going to turn BlackBerry around.

To be fair, even BB10 didn't manage to turn BlackBerry around: The older BB10 devices were and are expensive for what they are, and BB10 was found to be much more data hungry - Something that long standing BlackBerry fans suddenly had to contend with after years of running a data-frugal operating system.

Much like the BlackBerry Passport, the PRIV is an interestingly designed device; maybe feature phones could pull off these radical forms, but high-end, high price devices will struggle.

BlackBerry looks like they are doing too little, too late.

Giffgaff 4G - Call THAT 4G?!

It's been a few weeks since I got my first 4G phone and started using the online-only PAYG mobile network giffgaff.

This is just a quick entry to say that so far, I am not impressed.

I've trialled the 4G speeds at different times of the day in the few locations in North Hampshire where I can actually get a 4G signal, and it is embarrassing: 0.53mbps download, and 1-2mbps upload.

This is 4G people! I wouldn't expect this on 3G in most places!

Even Vodafone's much complained about 3G is slightly faster than this.

I'll stick with giffgaff for now. I have a large amount of payback due from them and it helps to have friends/family on giffgaff so that I can make use of the free giffgaff to giffgaff calls and texts, but these are seriously bad speeds.

Luckily, I don't need to use data that much when I'm out, but even then I don't want to wait two minutes for Facebook to load before I can use it on my mobile.

I can honestly say that EDGE on Vodafone was more reliable five years ago!

Still, some giffgaff customers report really fast data speeds, and can even stream movies, so your experience of giffgaff might be radically different to mine.


If you fancy trying out giffgaff, you can get a free SIM HERE with £5 of extra, free credit once you top up £10 - Giffgaff do have some good value PAYG bundles, and you can see how they compare with other mobile networks and read my giffgaff review on my PAYG bundle deals website HERE.

Windows 10 Event: 06/10/2015

I followed Twitter with interest today as Microsoft laid out their new Windows 10 wares.

Seeing how the long awaited Lumia flagship mobiles, the Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL were the main event, it was strange that Microsoft chose to gear up the press for their other tech announcements.
Having seen Microsoft's exciting new Surface Pro 4 and superb Surface Book, I can understand why these devices stole the show.
The tech media seem to be very pleased with these laptop/tablet devices, and the poor Lumia 950 has had to take a back seat.

I am excited about these devices, even if I'll never stump up the cash to buy one - They are likely to be costly, and let's face it, you can do as much with less, even though it isn't anywhere near as cool.

What about the new flagship phone?
I'm glad that Microsoft don't produce mobiles and then cast rumours to the wind about a smaller or larger version some months after launch: It's quite clear, the Lumia 950 comes in a standard size, or the XL size.
Mobile Fun Tweeted that the Microsoft Lumia 950 will cost £450 unlocked in the UK - which is a bloody good price for this phone.
There had been rumours a few weeks ago that Microsoft would "charge more than the iPhone 6 for the Lumia 950", which I thought was a crazy pricing strategy.
Flagship mobiles have rapidly increased in price over the past three years: Nobody should have to pay more than £500 for a mobile phone in this day and age, yet prices for the latest models frequently exceed this figure by a few hundred pounds.
Microsoft would have been silly to expect anyone to pay a huge amount of cash for a phone that runs an operating system that is found only on around 2-3% of all smartphones globally. Only BlackBerry seem to think that it's still ok for them to charge a fortune for their dated hardware (I'm still waiting to see what eye-watering price they pin on their PRIV Android/BlackBerry slider phone).

I also learned that only the AT&T network in the USA will be stocking the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, which is a big shock - Here in the UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE all Tweeted that they will be stocking the Lumia 950 (at least). We are lucky to have such networks here in the UK, with much better pricing than our US counterparts.

Are these devices enough to make the world ditch Apple and Android? No. Not a chance.
But, there is no reason why the continual push of Windows 10 can't hook customers in. After all, the increasing insecurity of Android must surely (hopefully?) be making some customers reconsider their blinkered choice of smartphone.
Within a few years, most PCs will be running Windows 10, and given that Windows 10 Mobile could make integration a lot easier for individuals and businesses, the ubiquity may be just what Microsoft has sorely needed for many years.

As for whether the Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL are the right mobiles to boost Microsoft, I don't agree that they are. They are more of a token gesture, but at least they are the pioneers of the Windows 10 movement into device integration.
Who knows, maybe since BlackBerry disappeared from the radar, businesses might consider Windows 10 devices over these dated solutions.

RootMetrics Review/Opinion

RootMetrics - A Valuable Resource or More Misleading than Network Coverage Checkers?

RootMetrics provide a useful resource by opposing the main networks' coverage maps, and use what they call "real world" testing to determine whether mobile networks do in fact provide good coverage for calls, texts and data across the UK (and other countries).

They do perform some useful tests, which tend to reflect real mobile network use, but are their results actually worth anything?

From my own experience using various different networks in different locations, all I can say is that RootMetrics clearly haven't done any testing anywhere near any of the places that I have lived and worked over the last 10-15 years.

The first thing that I have to get off my chest is RootMetrics praise of EE.

EE love to tell everyone that they have the "Biggest, fastest and most reliable network".

This comes across on their homepage, when you call them and in their numerous advertisements. And, if you believe RootMetric's data, you would think that this is true.

Frankly, it is not.

I have used T-Mobile, Orange, Virgin Mobile and EE, and I have yet to find a county in Southern England where there was a reliable signal for calls on this network. As for data, forget it.

I used to work in Dorset, where Vodafone was pretty much the only mobile network that covered most of this beautiful county. Our work mobiles were on Orange, but they simply didn't work. Colleagues who inadvertently got contract T-Mobile handsets quickly discovered that T-Mobile was almost as bad, and that getting a mobile signal indoors was an impossibility.

With the merger of these two big mobile networks, EE still haven't managed to increase their coverage. All they have done is to roll out 4G and hike their prices up - Yes, you can get a decent 4G signal in most very large towns and cities now, but the overall coverage and reliability is non-existent.

RootMetrics - you need to do more testing in more locations.


Is your network coverage good enough?
After poor customer service, mobile network coverage is the most frequently complained about issue.
The one thing that customers tend to be blind to is that just because they can get the SuperSmartPhone XYZ on a tempting contract, if they find that they can barely use the phone due to poor signal, the cooling off period isn't long enough to really get a handle on how the phone will perform on the given network.
Many customers will "make do", when in actual fact they are tied in to a 2 year contract that they may struggle to get any value from.
Caveat emptor springs to mind.
A colleague of mine stoically sticks with O2, even though the O2 network around his home and work is non-existent. Why? Because O2 offer him a decent handset.
He clearly doesn't use it very much away from his home WiFi network.
- So, if you are about to take the plunge and switch networks, can you trust RootMetrics information?
The answer is yes, but for the love of God do your own testing before you sign any contract, even a rolling 30 day SIM only contract.
RootMetrics offer what is the best "average" mobile testing, but it isn't exhaustive and I have even found that some network operators' coverage maps are, amazingly, better than RootMetrics' own maps.

The best way to test out any new network is to get hold of a free PAYG SIM from your chosen network(s). Pop it in a spare mobile and see what the signal is like in varying conditions.
By this, I mean look at your signal strength in every room in your home, at different locations (no point not having a signal where you sit!). Also, test the signal at different times of day, and in different weather conditions - Dry or wet atmospheres can affect signal strengths.
Look at your signal strength indicators in all of the places that you go to regularly (family homes, the pub, shopping, work, etc.).
By now, you'll realise that you need to do some quite exhaustive signal trials, and ideally once ou have decided that the signal is good enough for your use, top up the SIM and test it out with your own real-world tests: Mobile data connections can be flaky, and call quality is still a problem for many areas, so try out your new (potential) network well, before you decide to commit.