Everything Everywhere is hoping to get permission to provide 4G coverage to its customers by the end of the year. The company is the largest cell phone provider in the UK with 27 million customers, and as a report on The Guardian is stating it will also mean customers of Virgin Media and Three will also benefit as those company’s use the same network.

The country has fallen behind the likes of the US and Germany with 4G technology with some residents still struggling to even get 3G coverage. Countries such as France and Italy are further ahead than the UK in auctioning off spectrum to provide a 4G service. In the UK auctions have been delayed by various legal arguments, and are not expected to be completed until the beginning of 2013.

Everything Everywhere has applied to Ofcom for permission to change some of its 1800MHz spectrum, which is already used for slower 3G connections over to 4G. Everything Everywhere was created with the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, and the company also has an agreement with rival operator Three for the sharing of masts.

The company is thought to have spare capacity to offer a limited service without the need to purchase new spectrum. As there aren’t many 4G handsets currently available in the UK the service will at first be restricted to 4G via a dongle.

Using 4G will see connections with around 8 to 20 megabits per second, which is faster than the average broadband connection speed found in many homes. Meanwhile 3G connections in the country are slower with speeds averaging around 1.4Mbps.

The service will initially be on trial from April in Bristol but could go national if Ofcom gives permission for the move by April or May. The company has also announced it now has a record amount of customers tied to a contract. An article on the BBC is reporting that during the quarter to December 31st it saw 313,000 new customers signing up.

This was put down to consumers upgrading to smartphones coupled with data packages, which were mainly on monthly contracts. Everything Everywhere’s plan may be hit with some opposition from rival operators though, as it could gain an early advantage being able to offer a 4G service.

The auction is set to be held towards the end of this year as rival companies bid to buy the spectrum that is needed to help with the demand of the increase in use of smartphones and tablets. The Guardian are reporting that Ofcom now want 98% of the country’s population having access to mobile broadband, which is up from 95%.

Auctioning off the 4G spectrum could provide the UK Government with a £3 billion windfall along with millions in annual license fees. Ofcom has revealed new rules regarding the auction that has seen earlier guarantees for two operators removed. Before both Three and Everything Everywhere was to have a certain amount of spectrum in the 800MHz band reserved.

This band is currently being used by analogue TV signals that will become available by the end of the year when they are switched off. With regards of subscribers Everything Everywhere is the largest network following the merger of T-Mobile and Orange, while Three is the smallest.

The two companies have said they should get space reserved on the 800MHz spectrum as both O2 and Vodafone currently have no spectrum below 1000MHz. Lower spectrum bands are cheaper to build as they can send radio waves over greater distances, which means less masts and cheaper networks.

Ofcom may introduce protection for Three at a later date but not Everything Everywhere. It is expected that demand for mobile broadband in parts of Europe including the UK, will increase by 500% in the next five years.

The decision to increase the coverage of mobile broadband by Ofcom for remote rural areas comes in response to requests from MPs. One of the lots of spectrum to be auction off comes with this increase coverage obligation, but whoever wins this could have access to £150 million.

Will you be glad once 4G is available in the UK?

According to regulator Ofcom the company is still the most complained about internet provider in the UK, but the BBC is reporting that the number of complaints has come down over the last six months. TalkTalk have now been the top of the tree regarding complaints for the last four consecutive quarters.

During the same period it was found that mobile provider Three was the most complained about, which was mainly centered on disputed charges and customer service issues. Rival mobile provider Virgin Media also saw an increase in complaints during the last year.

The figures are based on complaints that are actually sent to Ofcom instead of those that find their way to the individual operator. It has been found that mobile services receive fewer complaints compared to fixed line or broadband.

During the first three months of 2011 complaints about TalkTalk peaked at an average of 0.81 per 1,000 customers, and fell to 0.55 by the third quarter of 2011. TalkTalk responded by saying it was “encouraging that complaints continue to come down”. They continued by saying that there had been a 40 percent reduction in customer service calls year on year, and would continue to work on improving.

For the fourth quarter in a row Virgin Media had the least amount of complaints at 0.19 per 1,000 customers. Its mobile division saw an increase though up from 0.3 to 0.7 complaints per 1,000 customers.

Three are way out in front though with complaints climbing from 0.09 to 0.14 per 1,000 by the third quarter of 2011. Meanwhile rival O2 were the least complained about mobile provider during 2011.

Have you had to complain about your service provider?

Regulator Ofcom has revealed in its draft annual plan for 2012/2013 its thoughts on the future for 4G networks in the UK. According to Cnet there is no chance of any such networks next year, and should start rolling out in 2013 and 2014, but will not be cover most of the country until 2015.

This will disappoint many consumers looking enviously at their US cousins who are already receiving. A 4G network will also be used to provide internet access to more rural locations where currently any service is patchy at best.

Auctions are expected to begin for 4G spectrums in 2013 now after originally being scheduled for next year, even though Ofcom are still hoping to start these next year if possible. We reported before that UK carrier O2 had begun testing a 4G network in various locations in London. This followed BT and Everything Everywhere starting similar trials down in Cornwall.

Whatever happens it could be a good three years before there is any reliable 4G service rolled out to UK customers. The auction is likely to cost carriers huge amounts just like it did when the 3G spectrums were sold off. The UK is even lagging behind fellow European states with regards to 4G networks, but will come eventually.

Will you be glad to have access to 4G or you happy with the data speeds you get now?

The categories which Virgin Media found themselves disappointing in were both Pay TV and landlines. They were also found reported to be one of the worst in the fixed broadband category but this time they were in second to last place as opposed to TalkTalk who were bottom of the pile. All three of these categories are crucial for the service they are offering so for them to be found so unsatisfactory by customers is a worrying situation for the company.

The results came from 3,000 customers that were interviewed by Ofcom. Virgin Media broadband customers amongst the interviewees gave the company just a 57% rating in terms of satisfaction, the same as BT and only 2% more than bottom of the pack TalkTalk. Sky came out on top with a 64% rating of satisfaction from their customers for their broadband.

The regulator published their findings this morning which also indicated Sky customer satisfaction with their TV services and surprisingly their landline, with a 70% and 74% rating respectively. According to The Register the regulators also said that Sky customers were ‘particularly pleased that advisors took their questions or issues seriously’ offering compensation or payments as a gesture of goodwill while attempting to resolve issues.

They also explained that despite TalkTalk’s low ratings, dissatisfaction with their complaints handling service fell by 22% and other ratings have improved since February. Do these results offer an accurate representation of your feelings towards these services? Are you surprised by any of the results?

The regulator has told companies they must be clearer to their customers about how they restrict traffic. According to ZDNet if the ISPs don’t improve they will be forced to by Ofcom, and again they have stressed that customers should be told what average speed they will get when they sign up in the first place.

Ofcom have said that generally traffic management is beneficial when used, and can protect more important traffic to the likes of the emergency services. It is not always the case though if it is used to hit competing services, especially if it “is not visible to consumers”.

Mobile and fixed broadband providers can have traffic management rules in place, but unfortunately not all customers are made aware of them. It is often used to help congestion during peak times for instance when video services are prioritized over mail services during these busy times.

They did agree though that some ISPs do provide some information, as back in March the likes of BT, O2, Three, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Sky, and TalkTalk have agreed to a voluntary code of practice to be more clearer on their polices.

But Ofcom have said that the information “does not go far enough and needs to be made clearer and easier to understand“. The table of traffic management information, Key Facts Indicator, is only understandable to the more “technically savvy” consumers.

To be easier to understand Ofcom suggests the companies should tell customers how any traffic management policies will affect them such as download speeds for P2P services during busy times. Does your connection often fall fail of throttling?

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?

Accruing to an article on The Guardian during the first six months of this year the company had the most complaints from customers. Between April and June it had more complaints about its phone and broadband services than all of its rivals. This is compared to BT Retail, BSkyB, Orange, and Virgin.

Virgin had the least amount of complaints for both its services during the same period. This is the second quarter in a row that TalkTalk has topped Ofcoms complaints list for broadband and phone services.

For every 1,000 phone service customers it has it received 0.8 complaints, this compares to 0.58 for its broadband service. Meanwhile Virgin received only 0.15 complaints for both of its services. The number of complaints the provider receives has dropped substantially over the last year, but it will still be embarrassing for the company.

Only last month TalkTalk were fined £3 million for overbilling 65,000 customers for services they didn’t get, which was the largest fine of its type imposed by Ofcom. Meanwhile the mobile provider that received the most complaints was 3UK. They have seen a steady increase in customers complaining since October 2010.

The Mobile provider that saw the lowest amount of complaints was O2 that only received 0.02 complaints for every 1,000 customers. Are you happy with your ISP or mobile provider?

It was set to be the British government’s largest spectrum sell off ever, but now according to Guardian.co.uk this won’t happen until the second quarter of next year at the earliest. British telecom’s watchdog Ofcom was thought to be publishing the terms of the auction this month. But after threats of legal action from the carriers including O2, this will not now be ready until November.

A spokesman from Ofcom said: “We are still aiming for the first half of next year. However, we have always maintained it is an ambitious timescale.” Any court case would delay the release of 4G licenses that would benefit the UK biggest mobile carriers, Everything Everywhere, O2, and Vodafone.

It wouldn’t be so good for the newest and smallest carrier Three, because the older carriers have spare spectrum that they are now allowed to reallocate for making calls and internet access. Three unfortunately has none of this so has to compensate by offering customers genuine unlimited mobile broadband access.

The carrier will also run out of spare data capacity before the other carriers, and the 4G auction will allow successful bidders to provide 4G services by the end of 2013. Three recently offered rural communities in the country free access to broadband in an attempt to win favor from MPs and regulators.

UK cell phone users will be seeing all the new handsets becoming available for the likes of AT&T and Verizon customers in the US with 4G capability. The successful Samsung Galaxy S II is also set to get 4G capability in Europe next year but unfortunately UK users won’t be able to make full use of it.

Are you disappointed that there is no 4G service in the UK or are you happy with 3G?

The reason for this, they argue is that the 2G handsets have access to much more widespread coverage, increasing the chance of connectivity in remote areas of the UK. The company therefore suggests that if quality of calls is a priority for a user, rather than invest in the higher end smartphones, they should consider a 2G handset.

According to ITProPortal, OfCom reports that 3G has much lower coverage on the roads than 2G for the moment, and 4G is still non-existent in the UK all together, let alone the countryside. They go on to say that while Android based devices and iPhones provide excellent high speed access to technologies such as the internet, they fail to provide arguably the main tasks they are for and they are receiving and making calls, when in these areas.

In a recent study which the company performed, they found that state of the art smartphones only had a 95% success rate in regards to the test calling compared to the 97% success of the older generations of handsets. Do you live in a rural part of the UK? If so have you encountered problems connecting calls with your smartphone?

Would you consider investing in a 2G phone for rural areas or is call connectivity something you rarely consider when buying a new smartphone?