EE Promises Seamless Orange And T-Mobile Signal Sharing

T-Mobile and Orange customers will now be able to  switch smoothly between 3G signals from the two brands, following the completion of Everything Everywhere’s Smart Signal Project.

If a user’s 3G signal becomes so weak that it might impact performance, such as one bar of signal, the device will automatically switch to the other network.

Everything Everywhere first started merging the two networks last year, but signal sharing only occurred once a user lost their signal entirely, before reconnecting to whichever signal was strongest.

Everything Everywhere More Often

If no 3G coverage is available at all, smartphones, tablets and dongles will seamlessly switch to a 2G signal before reverting to a 3G signal when the device is back in range. Network charges will remain exactly the same, regardless of which network is being used.

“Smart Signal Sharing marks the completion of the Orange and T-Mobile signal integration project, which provides our 27.5million customers with the widest 2G and 3G coverage available in Britain today,” said Olaf Swantee, CEO of Everything Everywhere. “The launch is yet another proofpoint to our commitment to provide our customers with the best network in the UK – now and in the future.”

The project is part of a £1.5 billion investment made by Everything Everywhere into its network, which will be partly financed by the sale of some of its spectrum, a condition of the European Commission’s approval of its formation. The move could reignite speculation that the company is considering unifying the Orange and T-Mobile brands.

Everything Everywhere claims it is investing £1.4 million every day on improving its 3G network and preparing for the launch of 4G networks later this year. However the operator announced plans to deploy a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network on its existing spectrum, ahead of the 4G auction due to be held later this year, attracting the ire of its rivals.

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