Posted by Charlie on 26 January 2012
One of the most important considerations for anyone buying a mobile phone is the signal strength being provided on the various networks. A better signal can mean faster transmission times and fewer dropped calls; it can also make it more likely that phone users who descend into an underground area will continue to enjoy service. All the major phone networks know that signal strength is a vital component of their service and have provided tools that consumers can use to check signals in their area.
Some compilations of results are already publicly available, relieving consumers of the need to do their own checking. When it comes to the Scunthorpe and Brigg areas, for example, it seems that Orange and T-Mobile offer the best signal strength. Close behind them was the smaller mobile phone network Three.
T-Mobile and Orange, of course, have merged their mobile phone operations into a new business concern known as Everything Everywhere. This merger is not completely apparent to consumers since the new company has decided to maintain the Orange and T-Mobile names ‘on the street’, as it were, for now. Still, the merger has produced the UK's largest single mobile phone network, pushing O2 from the title.
Because T-Mobile and Orange are sharing operations, user of either system now have access to the phone masts of the other system. Orange customers, for example, will find themselves automatically switched over to T-Mobile masts whenever the signal on them is stronger.