Mobile networks on site

[Hockster91]

Hello all,

What are people's recommendations for mobile networks that work well at Glastonbury?

I'm particularly interested to see if anyone has experience of using GiffGaff at the festival and how good it is.

Thanks!

[stuwilky]

Ive got giffgaff - never struggled for calls at all, but the O2 network does take quite a lot of strain and at peak times texts were taking a while to be delivered.

If you're gonna text we always put the time in the message!

EDIT - put the wrong bloody network name!

Edited April 24, 2015 by stuwilky

[eFestivals]

it's generally the case that EE (who sponsor the fest) seem to have enough capacity all the time, while other networks might be iffy at points.

I've been using orange and then EE for 15+ years, and I can't think of an occasion where I've failed to get a signal at Glastonbury, or texts haven't come thru swiftly (which hasn't always been the case at other fests).

[Smash1984]

I'm on O2 and the past two years have been a mix. Sometimes i would receive texts right away and others not until after the festival. Been swtiched over to EE now so shoudn't have an issue now!

[Hockster91]

Thanks for your replies! There are a group of us who will all need to get phones for use on site so I was thinking GiffGaff because of their free network to network calls.

I'll have another scout around...

[paddyclark]

Three was hit and miss last year.

[ian the worm]

+1 for EE.

Its always strong there.

[pie_and_a_pint]

EE's pretty good, yes. I used to be on O2 and it was terrible generally, and especially anywhere rural like Glastonbury. Used to be fun waking up in the morning and getting all of the previous evening's texts though!

[funkyuk]

I am on O2 (work phone only) it's patchy at best. Mobile network eats more battery more than Wifi in general, and because its constantly searching and switching between 2G and 3G.

Last year I took my mobile wifi (mifi) access point that has an EE sim, and had my phone connected to that all the time (I turned off my phones mobile network, and used whatsapp / Kik / twitter) 4G Broadband across site is awesome and my battery life fared much better.

EE is best network on site by a country mile

[gaxsa]

One old phone, one EE PAYG sim and one top up voucher

[Bonedaddy]

Thanks everyone for the insight, i've just ordered myself an EE payg sim to use at Glasto. Will also use as a trial to see if it can tempt me away from Vodafone for everyday use!

[saintfletch]

I have always either used O2 which was ok ish or got a cheap orange/EE PAYG phone. I'm now on Vodafone, does anyone know what the signal is like across the site for this?

[mungo57]

I used to be on T Mobile, but left when they switched me over to EE as I hate EE and the coverage in my area got swiftly shite. Now I am on 3, drawback being that I can't make or receive calls or texts if I am not connected to 3g. I will be taking my 3 sim and a shit old phone I could care less about and I will probably take my old PAYG Vodafone sim that still works for emergencies if I aint connected. Too much arseache!

[Brave Sir Robin]

Thanks everyone for the insight, i've just ordered myself an EE payg sim to use at Glasto. Will also use as a trial to see if it can tempt me away from Vodafone for everyday use!

This is what I did last year, worked well (until my Nokia "35 day battery" packed up after 3 days!)

[incident]

I have always either used O2 which was ok ish or got a cheap orange/EE PAYG phone. I'm now on Vodafone, does anyone know what the signal is like across the site for this?

Last year for me, signal was OK across site, Voice + Text generally worked fine, Data was non-existent most of the time.

[KryziF]

Last year for me on Vodafone voice was fine. There were occasional delays with texts but was generally fine. Also mostly had good data coverage, I was uploading pictures from my camera to my blog via my phone so not small files and worked OK. My other half has EE and Vodafone wasnt as good but not bad enough to make me consider getting a payg EE sim instead.

[saintfletch]

Cheers incident & KryziF! Think I'll just stick with my normal VF phone instead of having to send everyone I'm going with a different number to use.

[owenmc606]

What's peoples experience of using the Three mobile network at Glasto?? Cheers!

[wosman]

Used it for the first time last year and it was pretty decent, no delays with texts and only hard to call before/after headliners etc

Data was ok during the day, again tailed off later on as traffic increased

[psychology]

What's peoples experience of using the Three mobile network at Glasto?? Cheers!

Yeah, three worked okay for me last year, no real problems

[owenmc606]

Used it for the first time last year and it was pretty decent, no delays with texts and only hard to call before/after headliners etc

Data was ok during the day, again tailed off later on as traffic increased

Yeah, three worked okay for me last year, no real problems

Cheers for that guys!

[neville]

I'm coming from Italy in the week during the festival. I'm thinking about buying a top up with data, text and voice to use in Glasto. I understand EE is a good one on site, right?

[incident]

Yes.

If you're not already tied to one of the UK networks, and just need to get a sim card to use Glastonbury, then EE is by far the best choice.

It's the only network that has extra transmitters on the Festival site so coverage and capacity is far better than on other networks.

[paulo999]

Last year - or maybe the year before - I chatted to a mast installation engineer working on an antenna near the farm. He said that all the networks now have their own temporary masts. ISTR he worked for Ericcson (so?), installing for everyone.

That said, as a flagship event for EE, I'd expect they will still have the best coverage.

[JGP]

I was on 3 last year and I had signal and 3G all of the time but absolutely nothing would work, couldn't access anything over the internet and calls and texts just wouldn't work, except for once when it was really crackly. Luckily 3 sell their phones unlocked so I'll just order an EE sim and use that in my iPhone because I use it for pictures etc too.

But if you're on 3, and you need use of your phone, I'd take an EE sim to be safe.