PrePaidGSM.net Forum (Archived) - 100% EDGE networks Europe

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100% EDGE networks Europe

From my experience while travelling in Europe, I have found that while a 3G signal for internet mobile data is a very nice thing, a GPRS signal is hell. An EDGE signal however is a good compromise. It makes 'normal' internet usage possible.
That's the reason why I am keen to prefer a network with 100% EDGE coverage over a network with better 3G coverage with GPRS elsewhere.

Therefore I thought it would be good to list all the operators from the European countries with (almost) 100% EDGE coverage.

Here are the ones I know of:

Belgium: BASE
Germany: T-Mobile
France: Bouygues
Sweden: Telia
Italy: TIM
Switzerland: Swisscom and Sunrise
Lithouania: Omnitel
Estonia: EMT
Hungary: Pannon
Bulgaria: M-tel
Albania: Eagle Mobile*

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuba.g (Post 36550)

From my experience while travelling in Europe, I have found that while a 3G signal for internet mobile data is a very nice thing, a GPRS signal is hell. An EDGE signal however is a good compromise. It makes 'normal' internet usage possible.
That's the reason why I am keen to prefer a network with 100% EDGE coverage over a network with better 3G coverage with GPRS elsewhere.

Therefore I thought it would be good to list all the operators from the European countries with (almost) 100% EDGE coverage.

Here are the ones I know of:

Belgium: BASE
Germany: T-Mobile
France: Bouyguesh
Sweden: Telia
Italy: TIM
Switzerland: Swisscom and Sunrise
Lithouania: Omnitel
Estonia: EMT
Hungary: Pannon
Bulgaria: M-tel
Albania: Eagle Mobile*

Excellent post. This capability is completely ignored by most users who blindly choose networks based on hyped up marketing of hypothetical speeds on HSPA+

In Ireland, the 3G networks with EDGE as well as 3G are Meteor/eMobile and O2.

Vodafone only have GPRS outside of 3G areas and 3 dont even have GSM.

From my experience EDGE-cells are often heavily congested in Western markets, where smartphone penetration is high. While I have constantly had >200 KBit/s in Bulgaria (M-Tel), I rarely see rates more than 100 KBit/s here in Germany.
The total capacity of an EDGE-cell is much smaller than on 3G, so fewer users can congest a cell. Also operators evade to sacrifice voice channels for data on their GSM networks, as voice calls provide more revenue than data, so there's few scope for capacity upgrades.
So when comparing EDGE with 3G/UMTS/HSPA you should also consider the total capacity per cell, which is much higher on 3G.

Tušmobil and Si Mobil in Slovenia are 100% EDGE, probably Mobitel too. And they have 3G in most places as well, pity that their prepaid data offers are so expensive...

You can add to the list:

Telia in Denmark
TDC in Denmark
Netcom (Telia) in Norway
Telenor in Norway
TeliaSonera in Finland
DNA in Finland
Vodafone in Iceland
Siminn in Iceland
Tele2 in Lithuania

and maybe LMT in Latvia (only in Riga)