So I've explained why I moved from O2 to Vodafone, and we've seen that Vodafone is faster. But does that mean I made the right move? Well, there's more to a comparison than just speed. Here's some other notes...

Network Availability

Both O2 and Vodafone provide reasonable coverage within london. Frankly, I find both a little disappointing in that you can't reliably get 3G coverage even outdoors all over the capital. But I know planning permission for masts etc makes that tricky; the point is I don't see a big difference between the two. Vodafone is worse than O2 at holding a good connection in my work in West London, but better in our Surrey office. What is noticable is what happens when 3G isn't available. On the whole I'd say that Vodafone's 2G network seems to provide better coverage in more places but it's just that, 2G. There's almost no coverage of Edge, the "2.75G" network standard which is available on O2 in most places where 3G isn't present. I have to say I've found Vodafone's 2G speed to be pleasantly surprising, but it would be nicer to have Edge.

Available Services

You might think that what you get on one network is much the same as another, but you'd be wrong. Take Visual Voicemail, the iPhone's system of downloading voice messages to your phone so you can review them locally. It isn't offered on Vodafone, which takes away one of the iPhone's nicest features. Thankfully I don't use voicemail a lot, so I'm not too bothered by it, but others may find that more annoying.

Conversely, Vodafone scores big by allowing iPlayer over it's 3G network. You can browse the site on O2, but where I could be happily watching an (admittedly low resolution) video whilst out and about, Dave simply gets told he must switch to WiFi.

Vodafone does have an annoying habit of sticking a content bar on your account by default, so I had to have that removed to access even one or two fairly innocuous sites. No big deal, but it's an extra call to customer services I'd rather not have had to make - they know I'm over 18 from having done a credit check when I signed up.

Other Costs

Here's a big problem with Vodafone: MMS (picture messages) cost you 36p each. O2 allow you to use your SMS package to pay for these (where 1 MMS = 4 SMS), but Vodafone charge you for each and every picture. You can get a package of 50 MMS for £2 a month, but still, that's very tight fisted indeed on Vodafone's part. I can't help but remember all those David Beckham adverts where they were selling MMS for all they were worth, yet their pricing policies don't match.

On the other hand, if we choose to go on holiday, O2 start to look like the stingy ones. Where Vodafone charge me a fixed rate of 75p per call and then allow me to use my inclusive minutes, O2 charge 35p a minute in Europe to make a call, and 18p a minute to receive one. If you made 2 calls of 10 minutes and received the same in France for example, Vodafone would charge you £3, where O2's bill would be £10.60.

The Summary

So overall, which network is better? Well, that depends on your needs. Look at what deal you can get with each, and think about whether the various services matter to you. But we set out to look at network speed, and though the difference isn't massive, Vodafone ultimately did win that battle fair and square.