At the last count in 2008, there were more than 75 million mobile phones in the UK. That’s more than one mobile phone for every man woman and child in the UK! And that number keeps growing – can the networks keep up with such demand? In the UK, there are four mobile operators, Orange/T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone and 3.

Recently there’s been a rise in so-called virtual operators which piggyback on the existing networks and their infrastructure. However, not all operators are equal and coverage depends on where you are and what you want to do. Whilst all operators provde 99% coverage for 2G services, today’s hi-bandwith mobile lifestyle means that 3G is the network standard that provides broadband services on the move.

Estimates put Orange at the top of the list with a staggering 94% coverage leaving 3 and T-Mobile in second place with 91% in the UK. However, since the Orange / T-Mobile merger – this should increase leaving Vodafone with a respectable 80%. Although this doesn’t tell you the whole story; what can really distinguish operators is the overall customer service. According to a report published online, O2 had the least knowledgeable staff with 35% of questions answered incorrectly followed by Vodafone (20%) and Orange (15%).

User generated reviews can tell a different story with some surprise ratings from virtual operators with Asda, Tesco and Lebara Mobile all in the top five – all scoring highly.  All the major operators can be found at the bottom with 3, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile sporting much lower ratings. This could be due to them being around for longer and having more customers than the relative new comers. Or it could mean that the new kids on the block are doing better – time will tell.

What if you live in a rural area?  Well – Coverage can definitely be a lot worse than metropolitan areas. However, people living in rural areas are quite naturally against having mobile phone masts dotted around England’s green and pleasant land. However – transmitter stations equal coverage and the situation can’t improve unless a compromise is made.

With this in mind, networks are beginning to co-operate by sharing masts wherever possible in an attempt to maximise coverage and minimising installations, but this doesn’t help everywhere. It’s even become an election issue with one Welsh MP suggesting compulsory mobile network sharing to remove some of the commercial barriers.  The UK regulator OFCOM has recognised this problem and has suggested that masts could be camouflaged as trees, chimneys or even weather vanes! However they there’s no easy fix to the problem. If you do live in a rural area then it might be worth seeing what political pressure could be applied to help the situation.

John Smith has worked in the communication industry for many years and has implemented solutions across many sectors, from hospitals to the casino and gambling industry. When he’s not playing poker he can be found playing hardball with the telecoms industry – he is famed for his ability to cut through red-tape during commercial negotiations.

Here is the deal. I pay a little over 60 dollars a month for my cell phone service through Cingular. It isn’t what I need though. I need something that has a VAST amount more of text messages (a plan with 1000 texts or unlimited is preferable) and a minimal amount of minutes (like to have 200 but could settle for 100)…I would like to also be able to get a free or cheap phone when I sign up for my new service. I would like the ability to send pictures, even if it’s on a contingancy (pay per use) bases. I would like to have nationwide long distance but that’s pretty much a given now. Does anyone have a suggestion on what the absolute best deal (cheapest) I could get away with many or unlimited text and minimal minutes? I need to save at least 10 dollars a month off my current bill in order to justify paying cingular the buyout.
several services aren’t available in my area. i believe the ones that ARE are sprint, us cellular, cell-one, nextel, maybe alltel, cingular (kinda) i think that’s about it, but i’d be willing to get a long distance number so long as i wouldn’t be roaming here…

Tmobile has the best for price wise and amount… the only catch is… that they DO offer unlimited texting but only during several times of the year, it took me three months of having their service before I could finally upgrade to unlimited for only 10 bucks a month! I text all the time so I needed a ton of messages. I am currently on Verizon but just left Tmobile about a month ago because they didnt have service out in the boonies where I needed it. That is the ONLY bad thing about tmobile is that their coverage is usually limited to cities with a population more than 10,000 people.
Verizon has decent plans for price but I do feel their texting is a bit overpriced… for 20 bucks a month i only get 2500 messages. And DONT waste your money on V-Cast services for music or anything, just buy a data cable for less than 10 bucks and a 1 gb memory card from ebay for like 30 and have all the free music you want on your phone.
Their plans run from 30-200 dollars

These are the only two providers I would recommend other than Cingular

I want to get rid of my land line phone number. Which is the best company to park my phone number and how much does it cost? Is it cheaper than to keep the phone number and pay my phone bill? It would be great to get the calls forwarded to my cell phone. I think some company calls it consolidating phone lines.

I saved about $50 giving up my land lines. It’s too expensive to pay for no reason. Now all my calls are forwarded to my cell phone. I use parkmyphone.com.