Finally decided to drag myself into the 21st century and get one of these smartphone things as I’d like internet access when on the move. I’m up in the Highlands a lot at weekends where I’m guessing coverage isn’t great, so what network would be best (or least worst) to sign up with?

I’m a bit of a mobile phone ignoramus, and there’s a bewildering world of deals out there.

Vodafone is the best I’ve found followed by Orange.

Stick with O2 or, more likely, Vodafone(they do a bit of mast sharing). No one else has anything near the same coverage. In general, you’ll get a signal if you are prepared to climb the nearest munro.

I’ve got Vodafone which is generally ok close to civilisation populated areas – obviously there are countless areas with no signal up here but that’ll affect all networks I would think. I hear that O2 is ok as well.

I’m on o2 and vodafone.

It’s patchy in the glens (as you would expect), but as druidh points out, you’ll catch a signal if you’re up high 🙂

There is always the option of getting hold of an unlocked phone and getting a load of sim cards for different networks. That’s what I used to do when I was doing a lot of sea kayaking round the west coast.

For mobile Internet I’ve found 3 best in Lochaber, O2 is patchy, Vodafone rubbish for Internet, all are good for calls,
PJ.

Cheers, the Vodaphone O2 thing backs up what I’ve seen from a quick hunt around the interweb. I always like to get first hand experience though. I suspect most of the people who do these “coverage survey webpage” things have never been anywhere near the Highlands.

In general, you’ll get a signal if you are prepared to climb the nearest munro

Exactly. I have every second Friday off and I can only think of one thing more fun than getting to the top of a hill (on foot or bike)……and that thing is then e-mailing back photos from said summit to my friends stuck in their offices staring at their screens. I’m bad that way. 🙂

It gets old after a while 🙂