Product Reviews Net » 3G

Who wants 4G if you can’t even get 3G?

Gary Johnson — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:52:02 +0000

Back in the summer we told you about the BBC app that was being used to provide a map of the UK and its 3G coverage. The country still lags behind much of the developed world when it comes to having 4G networks, which are not thought to be available before 2013 at the earliest. Trouble is who wants 4G if you can’t even get 3G?

UK regulator Ofcom has provided its own map of the country revealing 3G coverage and according to The Telegraph 27 percent of homes and businesses in the country can’t get a 3G mobile signal for all of the major carriers. Parts of Scotland and Wales that are rural as well as being hilly, were listed as having the worst 3G coverage in the UK.

Many customers in rural parts of the UK often get no signal at all, or can only receive a signal from only one operator. Each one of the UK mobile carriers is obliged to cover 80 percent of the country, but they can decide what areas to cover, and often pick those that will be most profitable.

Carriers were offered licenses to provide a 3G network back in 2000, and made the British Government billions. But carriers have struggled to see returns on that investment, so have focused networks on the most profitable areas.

Ofcom maps reveals that only two-thirds of the total UK landmass can get a mobile signal at all, but this is still equivalent to 97 percent of the UK population. When you look at 3G coverage that is needed for better use of smartphones, this drops to only 13 percent. We told you recently that more of the UK was now using smartphones, so many will be hoping that coverage improves in certain areas.

Do you get good 3G coverage in your area?

More About: 3G, 4G, Ofcom

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Verizon 3G Network Outage: Is It Down For You?

Peter Chubb — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:40:00 +0000

We have just learned that the Verizon 3G network is down, and as yet there are no explanations from the carrier what has caused this outage. I was amazed to see that even on Verizon’s Twitter page there was no mention of this issue – so is it an isolated incident, or more widespread?

Customers must have first thought that the problem was with their handsets, but this is not the case. It was Engadget who learned from Verizon forums about the issue, and has seen a huge reaction on Twitter, but only when you do a search for “Verizon outage”.

Vlad Savov from Engadget is certain that engineers are working to solve this outage problem, but that will not be much comfort to those affected by this issue. One reaction on Twitter mentions that one customer contacted tech support, and there is no ETA as to when the 3G network outage will be fixed. Back in April their were two Verizon outages, one while the iPhone 4 was unveiled and the other affected emails.

Are you affected by this issue, if so where do you live and how long has it been down?

More About: 3G, Verizon, Verizon Outage 2010

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AT&T’s 3G Performance: Better Than Verizon, Sprint & T-Mobile

Jamie Pert — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:55:15 +0000

Many iPhone 3GS owners seem very unimpressed with AT&T’s 3G network, however a recent chart which has shown up on SlashGear seems to suggest that the network’s overall performance is better than its competitors.

The chart (seen here) compares AT&T with Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon in terms of download speed, upload speed and reliability across 13 different U.S. cities.

AT&T boast the fast download and upload speeds in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.

They also offer the fastest upload speeds in Denver and Phoenix, however T-Mobile outdo them in terms of download speeds in both cities.

AT&T’s download speeds were on average 67 percent faster than the other three carriers, they also delivered a reliability of 94 percent, these results certainly question whether Verizon can still be regarded as the number one U.S. carrier.