Forum Discussion
Appalling 4G signal strength. Disappointing!
SmartyTrousers While theoretically the service and coverage should be the same, I can't help wondering if Three customers are at the head of the queue when it comes to service level.
To be fair, they pay more and should rightly expect first call on any signal in the locality, thereby leaving Smarty customers with what is still available.
Now, I'm no expert on mobile telecoms but I feel sure that the clever electronics can sort out the customers and prioritise those from the owner's main network. This is something that often seems to be reported when people are EU Roaming.
I must say the if I were a customer of Three directly I would be pretty peeved if I thought that those paying less were getting first dibs on the signal in an area.
I agree that it's theoretically possible for Three customers to be given priority when it comes to data speeds or coverage, although I've never personally seen any evidence of that.
I'd say the customers of the big network brands are mainly paying for the brand names, although the virtual networks like Smarty also offer lower prices by keeping customer service online and making their offering largely self-service.
The problem with people comparing Smarty and Three (or any other two networks, whether virtual or not) is that there are many variables which will dictate the speed and coverage someone will get at a given moment in a given location on a given device. To do a fair test, you would need the two SIMs in the same model of device, in the same place, running the speed test at the same time.
I use a Three SIM in a 5G router for my home broadband and currently use Smarty for my phone, and I can say the coverage and performance is identical from both SIMs in the same device (or as identical as they can be, considering results are going to vary from one speed test to the next using the same SIM in the same device).
The only difference I am aware of is that Three customers can get a non-CG-NAT connection if they use the 3internet APN, which means you can run a server on your connection if you want to.
SmartyTrousers You make some very good points.
But surely we know that things are not identical on Three and smarty because there is a difference in what phones will work on each network now that 3G is being turned off - isn't that so?
I think the difference in VoLTE compatibility is a difference at the phone end, not the network end. Specifically, that Three, being a full MNO, is more likely to have its carrier profile (including the specific configuration needed for the device to work with its VoLTE) deployed to different device manufacturers. My suspicion (and I'm happy to be corrected on this) is that the reason virtually all iPhones work fine on Smarty is because, in the absence of a carrier profile for the MVNO, the iPhone falls back to using the parent network's carrier profile. And hey presto - it works perfectly. I'm guessing in the Android world, maybe the device falls back to some generic VoLTE configuration in the absence of a carrier profile for the MVNO.
But you make a good point - from the perspective of the end user, if your phone works on Three but not Smarty, that is a definite difference in service.
