Three mobile network coverage in Caithness...

[Cobra]

Hi folks,

I have been doing a fair bit of searching on here, and from what I can gather Three offer a fairly stable 3G connection for mobile phones in Thurso and Wick. Some folk have said that their signal is fine throughout the county, others have said it's patchy at best - the Comm in Thurso being a certain blackspot, for better or worse!

The last thread I found was a year old, so I'm just wondering what the coverage is like now and whether there have been improvements. I'm looking at buying a new phone, and Three are offering the best deal, but I'm just wanting to know what it's like up here before entering a 24 month long contract. I'll be using my phone in the town mainly, but sometimes I'll need to use it away out in the middle of nowhere.

If anyone can offer their thoughts, experiences or advice, I would really appreciate it!

Cheers!

[Kodiak]

I have no personal knowledge of 3G coverage but this is what they claim their coverage is in Thurso. The darker the purple the better the coverage.

[Dadie]

we have no real coverage in our house with any network.....
in Watten...I have to walk up the st or hug the fence in the back garden just to get enough bars to send a text....

[acameron]

I left O2 and went to Three because it was the best deal (4S which needs a fairly constant connection) and apart from castletown area and parts of Halkirk, I have had mobile broadband coverage everywhere. Had up to 4 mb speed in Thurso. And with the 'All you can eat data' deal! Excellent! Also if you are going for the 4S on the 'One Plan' go via Quidco, I got £110 cashback.

[Cobra]

Thanks for the replies. It looks like Three is the way to go.

If anyone else has anything to add, it would still be appreciated!

EDIT:

I have just pre-ordered the new phone on Three.

Kodiak - thank you for the map.

Dadie - I feel your pain - I live in a black hole for signal, O2 at least...

acameron - thanks for the advice.

[EDDIE]

Only thing with the 4s is there is supposed to be a new iphone comming out in sept with a bigger screen size but the 4s still a good phone i thng the 2 year contract its a bit to long considering the phones go out of fashion within a year

[Cobra]

I'm actually going for a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.0.4 on it.

I've been using iPhones since the very first one came out in November 2007, and I've always had to "jailbreak" to get a reasonable degree of customisation. It's becoming more and more of a pain to do this, when Android will freely offer me access to my own system and hardware. Plus, Android plays nicely with other Linux systems, and as someone who doesn't use Windows this is a bonus. I could even add an entire Ubuntu system to my new phone:

http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

It's going to be a wrench leaving iOS after so long, but I think Android will suit me better.

As for handsets going out of fashion, that's very true... But I'm not interested in fashion: give me a solid hardware platform and an open-source UNIX-based OS that I can tweak to my own desires, and I'm happy.

Yes, I'm a geek.....

[Geo]

we have no real coverage in our house with any network.....
in Watten...I have to walk up the st or hug the fence in the back garden just to get enough bars to send a text....

I don't know why but Watten seems to be a black spot for comms. I've tried most networks and they've all had signal problems going through Watten. When I used to use CB it too had problems when in Watten.

[Sgitheanach]

i get an excellent t mobile signal at badlipster

[Cobra]

I don't know why but Watten seems to be a black spot for comms. I've tried most networks and they've all had signal problems going through Watten. When I used to use CB it too had problems when in Watten.

I wonder if that's because Watten is kind of in between the two sides of the county, so the signal from either side is weak. I'm not familiar with how CB radio works, so I don't know if the issues CB was having in Watten supports or disproves what I'm thinking.

There's nothing in Watten that should cause issues, though. It's not as if it's in a large valley or anything like that.

[Cobra]

Well, it's been just over seven months and I have to say that I am entirely impressed with Three. They seem able to provide high-speed data coverage throughout most of Caithness - including places like John O'Groats and Dunnet Head. Castletown, parts of Halkirk and pretty much all of Watten are the real blackspots I've found so far, but it makes little difference.

I find it incredible that a network is able to dish out unlimited data at such high speeds (5-8Mbps is the norm in Caithness, had it as high as 10Mbps in Inverness), allows you to run it as a wireless broadband router and connect multiple devices to it and the S3 still functions as a phone while doing all that.

If anyone else is thinking of going with Three in Caithness, it's a solid bet.

Once again folks, thank you for the solid advice you gave me away back in May - it is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!