Networks | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:04:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Networks | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 London commuters suffer with poor mobile connectivity https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/laptops/jon-martindale/london-commuters-suffer-with-poor-mobile-connectivity/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/laptops/jon-martindale/london-commuters-suffer-with-poor-mobile-connectivity/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:11:42 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=216684 While there are plenty of places we can all agree using your phone isn't acceptable, the train isn't one of them. Granted an obnoxious voice call might get a few people riled up, but checking your texts and the latest news headlines should be possible. That goes doubly so for when you're commuting to work, as many …

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While there are plenty of places we can all agree using your phone isn't acceptable, the train isn't one of them. Granted an obnoxious voice call might get a few people riled up, but checking your texts and the latest news headlines should be possible. That goes doubly so for when you're commuting to work, as many people do to London every day. However trying to do so on most of the common routes into the city is unlikely to leave you satisfied, as a new study by Global Wireless Solutions has found that most of the lines into London feature horrible reception and wireless data coverage.

Despite London itself receiving excellent coverage from all of the major networks, when it comes too the train lines entering it, it's a whole other story. Many of the networks still use their 2G networks to handle much of the information going back and forth, as well as using codecs too compress the audio quality of most calls. And even when you can get 3G or 4G coverage, there's a near one in four, or one in three chance (respectively) of packet data dropping out.

When it comes to comparing the networks however, Three does surprisingly well, especially considering it doesn't have a 2G network of its own. It's able to connect the most calls at the highest quality. O2 was the worst culprit when it came to the quality of calls, utilising its 2G network on some 60 per cent of them, while EE wasn't far behind with 40 per cent.

Data rates shifted the rankings a little, giving Vodafone the nod for 3G connectivity and EE for 4G connectivity.

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Every balloon represents a failure of some kind

In terms of specific train lines which featured poor reception, St. Pancras was the worst by far, with the highest number of dropped packets across all networks. Runners up in that respect were Radlett, Kentish Town and Upminster.

Paul Carter, CEO of GWS said of the results, that he hopes with commuter pressure mounting, it won't be long before networks offer better service to commuters.

” It’d be great to see networks, rail operators and station-masters taking the lead on improving connectivity for commuters – rather than having to be dragged into the 21st Century kicking and screaming,” he said.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I'm sure some of you guys commute into London on a regular basis. How do you find signal for data and calls on your way in and out?

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EE and Vodafone buy almost 200 Phones 4U stores https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/ee-and-vodafone-buy-almost-200-phones-4u-stores/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/ee-and-vodafone-buy-almost-200-phones-4u-stores/#respond Mon, 22 Sep 2014 13:45:43 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=212910 EE and Vodafone have gone ahead and bought almost 200 former Phones 4U stores, despite serious allegations that UK networks colluded to drive the company out of business. The former phone retailer entered administration last week, after EE and Vodafone unexpectedly decided to not renew their contracts, a move that Phones 4U founder, John Cauldwell, branded as …

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EE and Vodafone have gone ahead and bought almost 200 former Phones 4U stores, despite serious allegations that UK networks colluded to drive the company out of business. The former phone retailer entered administration last week, after EE and Vodafone unexpectedly decided to not renew their contracts, a move that Phones 4U founder, John Cauldwell, branded as “ruthless” and “predatory”.

EE has gone ahead and purchased 58 Phones 4U stores for £2.5 million, these stores will be re-branded and will re-open as soon as next week. The company will even be saving 359 ex- Phones 4U staff members jobs at the newly branded store.

An EE spokesperson confirmed the move in a statement: “We can confirm that we have agreed with the Phones 4u administrator to purchase 58 stores, safeguarding 359 jobs, subject to court approval.”

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Vodafone has made a similar move but on a larger scale. The network has purchased 140 stores and all inventory currently at those locations for £7.1 million in an effort to rapidly expand its retail offerings. In total, this buyout will safe guard around 900 jobs.

Speaking to The Inquirer, a Vodafone representative said:

“Our offer was accepted by the administrator and we are pleased to report that approximately 900 former Phones4u employees will keep their jobs and join our dynamic retail business. Subject to court approval, we will start engaging with these employees and begin the rebranding of the stores to Vodafone as soon as possible.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This is actually very good news as now over 1000 former Phones 4U employees will still have jobs and won't be in such a tough position this holiday season. However, it does give some weight to allegations that these two networks colluded to drive Phones 4U out of business. Maybe we'll see other networks follow suit to buy retail space and save jobs.

Source: The Inquirer

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Tesco mobile customers to get free 4G https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/matthew-wilson/tesco-mobile-customers-to-get-free-4g/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/matthew-wilson/tesco-mobile-customers-to-get-free-4g/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2014 17:11:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=175243 Tesco Mobile has announced today that the company won't be charging its customers a premium for using the 4G network, which is based of off O2's infrastructure. Tesco used to charge customers £2.50 premium but decided to drop the charge in order to compete with the network, Three, which will also be offering its customers …

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Tesco Mobile has announced today that the company won't be charging its customers a premium for using the 4G network, which is based of off O2's infrastructure. Tesco used to charge customers £2.50 premium but decided to drop the charge in order to compete with the network, Three, which will also be offering its customers 4G data at no extra cost when it begins to roll out its 4G service.

To get 4G, all you need to do is top up with a £7.50 SIM-only deal which will instantly give you 500MB of 4G/3G data, 5000 texts and 250 minutes, which isn't bad for £7.50 although if you're looking at upgrading to 4G, you might want to find a deal with more data. As previously mentioned, Tesco's mobile network runs on the O2 infrastructure but since O2's 4G network is so new, it doesn't reach very far. At the moment you can get 4G in 13 major cities including: Edinburgh, Newcastle, London, Manchester and Birmingham being amongst the few.

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Lastly, in order to benefit from 4G- your going to need a 4G capable phone. Fortunately, most handsets these days come with 4G enabled, although low end Android phones usually miss out on the feature.

KitGuru Says: 4G is cheaper to broadcast than 3G so it makes sense that we don't pay a premium for it once the infrastructure has been implemented, hopefully more networks will follow suit over time. Will any of you guys be upgrading to 4G any time soon?

Source: Cnet

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