The best carrier / mobile network in the UK?

So this question is asked of me many a time so I’m going to approach it in stages! What is the best mobile network in the UK? This depends solely on what you are looking for, so I am going to break it down into coverage, Data, Mobile Internet, and best of all price by carrier. The carriers that I am going to use are the big ones; Vodafone, Three UK, Everything Everywhere (Orange & T-Mobile) and O2.

The best for Coverage:

The best for getting a phone signal whether it be 3G or not was always traditionally Vodafone, but the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, created something that comes extremely close to the undoubted champion. In terms of getting a signal in remote areas of England Vodafone is still the best with Everything Everywhere trailing slightly behind. You may ask how this is surely by creating a super network the coverage should be better. The short answer is no, in fact T-Mobile and Orange once rivals and the same size often used the same masts or points for masts as each other creating a massive overlap only slight gain can be found from this merger.

The best carrier/ network for Data is:

Three UK, and always will be, this network is built for data and is the only network in the UK currently using a 3.75G technology HSPA+. Its 3G coverage is total and its overall coverage is great, this lags behind in terms of rural coverage obviously but if you live in a city and do a lot of browsing then this is the network for you.

Mobile Internet

This award alos goes to three uk for their excellent 3.75G technology and modems, making your browsing experience the best it could ever be in Britain on the move. Furthermore this is the type of technology that the Americans call 4G in some cases, yep a whole G ahead of the standard!

Best Price

It is definite that you can get a great deal on all carriers for SIM Free Three UK are definitely leading the pack whereas with subsidized phones Everything Everywhere are definitely ruling the waves. But don’t be deterred, if you put the carriers up against each other you will eventually get an amazing deal!

Verdict

Everybody uses a UK network and everybody has their favourites, personally mine is Vodafone because it is literally the only one with signal in my area. But I know that if I lived in central London my choice would be a lot harder, whatever you do match up your needs from this piece to the network. Plus although O2 aren’t good at anything in particular they are an all-rounder.