[darkbrowneggs]

I have been with Orange for over 13 years, and they have really annoyed me at the minute.


I am not sure how good they are for coverage compared with other mobile providers


Any thoughts anyone?


I will be as far north as Shetland hopefully and presumably I must do Lands End before I leave for the continent

[tizaala]

We only have a mobile for emergencies out in the car as we have no signal at home, I have tha aldy rugged phone with two sims  Virgin/ Tesco, the Virgin I put £10 on 3 years ago and still has  £1; 70p credit. . they only charge you for what you use.

[ballingall]

We use Vodafone as we find it has the best coverage. Despite living in central Scotland, only 25 miles from Edinburgh, the phone signal here is appalling for anything other than Vodafone.


Beth

[Greenerlife]

Start here

http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/mobile-services/


Then look at individual service provider offers.  (Mind you my area is supposed to be brilliant coverage, but I can't get a signal unless I go into my garden and point SSE!)

[Victorian Farmer]

I would go whith tesco sim onley pay monthley 500 minites unlimated tex as you no im all over and tesco is o2 if you pay monthley it will save toping up.It will cost 12 pound .

[sokel]

We only have a signal from Orange or Vodafone here but when we first took contracts out Vodafone where the only ones that worked.
Orange do not work that well where my sister lives so we have stuck with Vodafone , they are not the best to deal with if you have a problem but I have found if I get stroppy they have sorted problems out and I have been compensated 

[Lesley Silvester]

I'm with Orange - now EE - and I get a signal most places unless they are remote.

[bloomer]

the orange/ee partnership has big gaps in scotland i have discovered, i'm fine in built up area's but i have a number of places i visit regularly that aren't even very remote and signal is non-existent...

[darkbrowneggs]

Now this is what I love about this forum.   You can ask a question on anything from pigs to plums to phones and you will get great info.   


Now - although I have had a moblile phone for years and years, I very rarely used it - in fact once when I upgraded I couldnt get the sim card in for months, and had to get the plumber to do it.


Anyway- if I buy my own unlocked phone, can I just buy a sim card from anyone and stick whichever one in that will work in the area I am in?  Forgive me if this is an inane question, but as I say I am not very techie 

[Steph Hen]

O2 had hopeless coverage for me in angus, maybe better elsewhere? Vodafone used to be great coverage, could take calls sitting on the sofa, but during 2013 it got much worse, it is again a scrabble to run up the stairs to answer calls whilst while hanging out the bedroom window if want to hear what the persons saying.


However, in their favour, today they replaced a SIM card for me after my phone was nicked in USA. No charge, all very easy. So thank you Vodafone.

[benandjerry]

We have o2 for our phones and T mobile for our mobile dongle for the computer.  We are in the Scottish Borders.  Signal varies from excellent to naff, often depending on the weather??!! 

[doganjo]

I've been with T mobile for 'hunners o years' - my son used to work with them and is now with O2 - I get service on my phone where no-one else can .  Last week near Livingstone, Edinburgh at my sister for a birthday lunch, phone rang, i took the call and the place fell silent - they NEVER get service in their dining room - there were at least 6 different providers round that  table - none had a signal.

[mowhaugh]

We have no mobile signal here on any network, but Vodaphone is the best for our area in general, and a shorter drive from here to get a signal if you need to in an emergency.

[oor wullie]

In the past Vodaphone has always been the best in the North and West.  You can see the extent of coverage on this map

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/our-network-and-coverage/uk-coverage-map/index.htm?cid=rdr-11072-01

The map is pretty accurate for my area (no reception at the house but there is 100m behind the house).

I assume other networks have similar maps

[lachlanandmarcus]

We are on a hill in NE Scotland and both Vodafone and 02 claim to have good coverage.


In reality, Vodafone is fine IF we use a sure signal booster (£50 from Vodafone, makes a big difference).


O2 have no coverage even tho it's the only visible mast for miles as they mistook that mast as one of their mobile ones for normal phones whereas in fact it is a special emergency services one for mountain rescue and police for the cairngorm range :-DD so no help at all for normal phones!


That didn't stop O2 being Gits when we realised their mistake and tried to return their phones within the 7 day cooling off tho. But we won in the end. Vodafone all the way here.