5G, 3G, 2G
I live in an area with somewhat, or very, patchy coverage on all networks, on 3G, 4G and 5G. I am currently on Three while partner is on EE. (She had to move from Vodafone because their network is so awful here.)
This means that most of the time, at least one of us has a signal. Which is helpful.
At the end of this year, Three will have terminated all 3G coverage but still has virtually no 5G in the whole county and beyond. O2 and Vodafone have no 5G at all. While EE has at least got some coverage in the more populated areas - though still with many gaps.
Yet the websites of all these networks are pushing 5G phones. We are being told the network
Apparently we will enjoy a better network experience with greater coverage and reliability at no extra cost. I can't see why we will see any improvement at all.
Their claim:
"MergeCo will achieve this whilst also reducing energy consumption by accelerating the installation of energy efficient 5G equipment and replacing less power-efficient 2G and 3G systems."
is also junk as 3G will be turned off by the time the merger happens (by end of 2024) and Vodafone 2G will only exist for utility meters. (And Three does not have any 2G.)