In general is T-mobile worth a 2-yr contract, considering a Web trawl has shown their customer service to be a contentious issue? I hear good and bad from friends/colleagues so more input from the stw Collective would be welcomed

Coverage isn’t very good. Of course depends area to area, but when I had O2 I rarely struggled to get a signal when traveling; with t-mobile half the time I am on 2G, even in big town centres etc. In North Wales you might as well stick it on airport mode.

Given that coverage may be an issue whereabouts are you?

My first network down in more than 12 years was related to T-mobile in the North East city centre last month.

I use Virgin network and they in turn “piggyback” on Orange, T-mobile network etc …

Problem only sorted when I called Virgin Call Centre. If I had not then I am not sure if problem would be sorted as it was more than 24hr line down.

Been using them for a dozen or so years with no problems. They were the only one to give good coverage at home – no hanging out the upstairs window as with all the others at the time. Never had an issue out and about, they can piggy back off Orange if necessary. The few times I’ve need to call them the customer service has been good, most recently with unlocking an i5 when I had a call back making sure all had gone through OK. Also have a US account when traveling there.

Been with them for years here too, only had to call a couple of times and they’ve been very good. As above they share network with Orange (EE) so coverage has been fine.

I’ve always liked that they never charge for data usage (contract dependant I’d imagine), if you run out of your designated amount they just lower your data bandwidth. I’ve never been charged a penny extra and merrily tethered my phone to my laptop/tablet on numerous holidays, going way over my limits.

I’ve recently moved from t-mobile to giffgaff (so 02), my experience has been T-mobile has a much better data availability and more of it is 3G compared to 02.

Been with them since the dawn of time, as in since Mercury One2One!

With one of these;

Often have far better coverage than friends on Three/Vodafone/etc. Rarely have any major coverage issues, and can’t remember a single network outage (Not counting when Crackberry went down). Overall, pleased.

Coverage is excellent as you get to use the Orange network also.

Customer service is as good/bad as any other (Indian call centre).

I recently moved to Orange/EE after being with Vodafone for 9 ish years.

My experience so far is in very rural areas Vodafone probably has better mobile phone coverage than Orange. In the village where I live VF signal is stronger than Orange but it’s perfectly usable.

That said when there is a signal Orange / EE nearly always has a 3G data connection whereas away from major conurbations Vodafone had an unusable GPRS one.

Customer service line is challenging. Can’t seem to get through evenings but if you call during the day you usually get connected to the support centre somewhere on the Indian subcontinent if the accent is anything to go by.

Horses for courses. If you don’t have any problems you’ll be fine. I for one am happy for the far better data coverage in my area with Orange and happy to take the occasional blackspot in mobile coverage. If you do have problems you may have fun trying to speak to someone who can actually do anything for you.

Been a tmobile customers for 10 years, now on iphone5. Ever since they merge with Orange the signal has been in / out much more frequently, and since the EE takeover 3G disappears every now an then for no reason.

That and their refusal to negotiate on contract value with iphones even for loyal customers will probably have me changing in 18 months.

My work O2 4GS lives side by side with my tmobile phone and has none of these problems.

EE (which owns the t-mob, ee and orange brands) has considerably deeper 2g and 3 coverage now than any other network – more tranmitters in more places. The virtual operators on EE (including virgin) will offer the same coverage followed in short order by Three, and some way off the back of the pack by 02 and Vodafone who are just scraping 90% 3G coverage compared to close to 99% for EE and Three.

mine is down at the moment 🙁

[quoteThat and their refusal to negotiate on contract value with iphones even for loyal customers will probably have me changing in 18 months.[/quote] not THAT loyal then are you?

Apple set the prices mate not the network. Your “loyalty” means nothing if you don’t generate revenue. Now sit down, have a think, and reevaluate how much you should be contributing toward a £600 phone.

Cheers for the input, folks – sorted with My First Smartphone on O2… all shiny and new (until i drop it 8) )

themilo – Member
Apple set the prices mate not the network. Your “loyalty” means nothing if you don’t generate revenue. Now sit down, have a think, and reevaluate how much you should be contributing toward a £600 phone.

I’ve been loyal for eleven years. And I appreciate the business accumen, I aware of that, But they used to discount price plans for loyal customers. My wife for example has 50% discount as long as she doesn’t change her price plane, which she obtained 7 years ago – so they CAN eat into the profit margins they are gaining from the rest of us.

AND on that note, I found out today that a FREE add on reduces overseas call costs by 2/3 – yes 2/3!! however you can only obtain this on your account if you call them, otherwise std rates (1.50 per min where I’m going) apply by default – this is NOT advertise and is clearly a path to a large profit.

Also, TMobile do NOT pay £600 per handset. I know of another similar company thats obtaining iPADS en masse for £110 per unit on a corporate arrangement.

So I give you 11 years and you treat me this way? – bye…..