Vodafone and O2 to merge mobile networks • The Register – Call it #voodafone ?
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3 responses to “Vodafone and O2 to merge mobile networks • The Register – Call it #voodafone ?”
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It’s only a merger of one, very specific, part of the networks, which is the base stations themselves. The two networks have different radio allocations, and the same hardware in the base-stations will be using Vodafone’s frequencies for their customers, and the data transmitted will be passed on to Vodafone’s network backend. Similarly for O2 and their (separate) frequencies and their (separate) backend.
This is different from the situation with Orange and T-Mobile, who have been having a full merger into one network, but who also already have a network share arrangement with Three of the kind that Vodafone and O2 have just announced.
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>Orange and T-Mobile, who have been having a full merger into one network
Mmm. Friend of mine is consulting on that gig.
Apparently phrases like “you can’t just join two networks with one big switch and expect it to work properly” have had to be said.
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As a customer of both T-Mobile and Orange, I can confirm that no, the network merger has not gone especially smoothly.
(The fact that it was for quite some time necessary to leave international data roaming switched on on your phone in order to use both networks domestically, and this led to a nasty case of personal bill shock when I took the phone abroad and forgot to switch it off is a particular sore point).
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