Awesome Mobile Phone Technology

[2026-07-19 image ©Thinkbroadband] 6G is scheduled for 2030 (maybe) and it will bring a much better network than 5G and 4G. But around that time we will still have 2G, which will be a 40 year old network. Do we really need 2G. 3G was switched off in 2025 so why is 2G still here?

Over recent years the number of connections to 2G has dropped to a very small number but not zero. The mobile operators are now in the process of managing the demise of 2G. The switch off of 2G will not be as simple as the switch off of 3G. 2G is still available for phone calls and can send some (limited ) data. Now if this were just standard consumer calls and data then moving everyone onto a 4G phone and 4G network would make the 2g switch off simple, a was the case with 3G. Yes there are people still on 2G who have no intention of moving to 4G. Their argument is similar to the argument people have to keep the copper wire landline - it works so why move. But in both cases relaying on these old technolgies os costing operators a lot. It would be simple enough to off a free or discounted 4G simple phone to take calls, job done.

However 2G is used for many applications basedfon the phone system to make connections such as alarms, personal alarms, care systems. Also 2G data is still used in many IoT applications, most notably the first generation smart meters.

Just as with the move away from copper to fibre with our broadband and landlines, the move away from 2G does require various App providers updating the systems and updating the customer devices. These App providers have been slow to move and unless pushed by the operators will not move.

[2026-07-19 image ©honestmobile] I have been seeing lots of adverts of 'Honest Mobile' and indeed their competitors. This blog is a comment on the operation of these secondary SIM operators and not a criticism of any one of them.

I have my main SIM with Vodafone and use it for calls, text and data in the Uk and abroad. The latter I need to pay extra for. This is the case for most UK customers they are linked to a single UK operator. What happens if my operator cannot get a connection? I cannot make calls, send texts nor view data. What is annoying is if someone I am with is with another operator and can get a signal. Why cannot I swap to a different UK operator when mine ha no signal? There is no technical reason but there is a commercial decision and the UK operators do not allow internal UK roaming.

Now these secondary SIM operators have stepped in and when your SIM does not have a signal their SIM will link with another network for you and allow you data. This is however restricted to a number of Apps and does not include Internet Browsing nor Social Media nor Video Streaming but there is a wide range of other Apps available. I guess they have restricted Apps with a potential for very high data demand and anyway you could use WiFi for these purposes when it is available. The SIM they offer is a data-only SIM so no calls nor SMS.

Their main selling point is that they will provide, within the monthly or annual fee, international roaming which for many will be the trigger to get such a SIM.

Note that in addition to this secondary SIM they will provide a replacement SIM for your phone on the Three network as a Mobile Virtual Operator. They do claim a super fast 5G data service but in reality it is only as fast as Three, which is the fastest 5G network in the UK at present.

Perhaps there main selling point is their low prices and no in contract price increases.

[2026-07-12 image ©Vodafone] The standard model for mobile phone communications is to use ground level signals which involves putting masts up over the country. In urban and semi urban areas this seems the right technology to enable our mobile phones. But we want mobile connectivity over all of the UK and people in rural areas also want connectivity. To provide a network of masts in these areas is expensive and schemes such as the Shared Rural Network provides 50% government funding and 50% mobile operator funding on shared masts.

Another solution is the use of satellite infrastructure and indeed satellite operators are putting this forward as THE way to connect mobiles away from the cities. In the US, with the large expanses of empty land, this is the only option but the UK is a small island with a large population, making the argument for satellite connection less obvious.

[2026-07-12 image ©mobileboosterUK] OfCom has announced that it is to auction bandwidth between 1492 and 1517. This is part of the L-band with VodafoneThree owning the 40MHz below this band, and O2 the 20MHzz below that. Vodafone use their 40MHz band for Suplementary Download. Immarsat own the 42MHz above the block being auctionned.

Looking at these figures, the amount being auctioned is small but it is in the sweet spot for mobile communications. Anything over 6GHz is difficult to manage over langer distances and anything less than 1GHz lacks the capacity neeeded.

[2026-07-12 image ©ElectronicWorld] Headline news today is that England have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. This world cup is being held predominantly in the US which is a bit of a problem for home fans due to the time differences.

Vodafone-Three have released data indicating a high demand for mobile data in and around the time of the England games. Some of this demand can be people on their phones [social media] whilst watching the games. But the main demand is seen as watching TV on the mobile, or perhaps using mobile data.

When large numbers of people watch an event such as this in real time the mobile companies do not send a separate copy of the video to inch individual. The video is cached at the network edge. This means the "hit" on thee network is not as high as individual streaming.

[2026-07-05 image ©Orange 5G lab] What is 5G+? EE are advertising their new faster better network as 5G+. But what is 5G+, or more particular what is 5G?

5G started life at an inconvenient time - Covid time. For various reasons the UK network operators chose to initially install the 5G wireless network but to use 4G backhaul to the 4G core. This meant that the speed gain with 5G was only the speed gain that the wireless part gave us, which to be honest was not too much. At the beginning of mobile phone technology a new generation should provide a 10 fold increase in speed. The original 5G was not really a doubling of speed. Other the intervening 5 years both 4G and 5G have increase in speed but we would be hard pushed to say that 5G was so much better than 4G that we need 5G.

EE are in the middle of an advertising campaign to persuade us to buy a new nd better 5G+ contract with them. [The other operators are also prmoting 5G+] 5G+ is what 5G should have been at the tart. 5G+ includes a 5G back haul and core network. Much of this is based on better softwarein the core and moving many functions to the edge, to the mast. This will give us a speed up and when this becomes more universal 5G will start to have the speed that will distinguish it from 4G and arguably what 5G should have been at the start.

[2026-06-28 image ©vodafone] OfCOM has come out with some more details of how the mobile (and broadband) companies need to protect their networks in event of a power cut. In the case of mobile networks they would be concerned about a power cut to the mobile mast as well as the downstream core operations. Looking at a mobile mast it is obvious that to keep this up and running for any length of time would be well over what a battery could do and in these times having generators kick in may not be acceptable.

Thankfully most power cuts are short lived and whilst an issue is not as difficult to manage as long term (days) of power cuts. The issue for the network operators is that we as mobile customers would not be too bothered for a drop in service of a couple of minutes. However if there are major power outages, that occur annually as a result of winter storms then people need to use their mobile. The mobile operators cannot be expected to be able to keep the network running when there is a long widespread power outage. Indeed it seems to me that is is NOT the task of the mobile operators and the UK needs to have a power network that is more resilient.

[2026-06-28 image ©Nybys] How good is the UK for 5G? It appears not very good. In recent surveys about the quality of signal in comparable European countries we, the UK, come towards the bottom of the list. This was highlighted by the MP for Tonbridge in Kent, who complained about the poor signal where he was working in Dulwich. Now Dulwich is in London and his point was if the signal is poor here, then there cannot be too much hope for the rest of the UK. He further commented that the reason for the poor coverage was seated in the lack of competition in the market with only three mobile operators. One may argue about this point as there are a number of EU countries with 3 operators (Greece for example) but many do have 4 (France & Germany).

However the mobile operaters would counter that the UK planning rules make it difficult, and sometime impossible, for them to expand their network. The view in many councils seems to be that they do not want "ugly mobile masts" but the residents do want mobile connections. This is an incompatible stance. O2 have recently had to switch of masts on tall buildings in London due to the owners looking to develop, or the building being surrounded by taller buildings making the signal os less use. They claim that it takes 2 years to get permission to build a roof top mast.

[2026-06-14 image ©ofcom] The Met Police are asking tech firms to make stolen phones harder to reuse. If the phone is closed then to get into the phone the thief would need a fingerprint, or facial image or a passcode. which does make the phone hard to get in and steal your data; however if they steal the phone when in use and are quick they have full access to your data - which is not good.

But does a phone stolen in the Uk have any real value? each phone has within it an IMEI number, the equipment number, which is unique to the phone and cannot be changed or cloned. Once the phone theft is reported to the netwokr this IMEI number will be blacklisted making the phone unusable on a UK network. The UK network also shared their IMEI database with many other counties including Europe, US, Canada but not China. Your stolen phone may find it's way to China.

The other option is that the phone is broken up for parts with the electronics worth quite a lot these days.

[2026-06-14 image ©Mayor of London] Boldyn have been hard at work installing 4G / 5G throughout the underground section of the London Tube. By the end of 2026 this work should be complete meaning that pasengers should have mobile coverage throughout the tube system; the overground areas are already covered with the 'normal' masts in the area.

Boldyn is installing a neural network and has agreements with the 3 UK mobile operators to share the network. This seems a great model that maybe should be used through out the UK.

[2026-06-07 Image ©The British Travel Magazine] WiFi on British trains is notoriously poor. The way it works is that there is a router, usually one per carriage, that delivers the WiFi to passengers and relays the signals through the mobile phone network. The system relies on a good mobile signal up and down the rail lines. Whilst the signal is fine in built up areas, and so the WiFi is good, in the fields that the train rushes through there is little to no houses and so little to no mobile signal.

The focus for the mobile operators is in providing mobile signal in areas of population, covering some 98% of the UK population, but the geographic coverage is much lower 81% from all 4 operators. The missing locations are unpopulated rural areas, just those that train speed through. This 81% figure is the figure for some coverage, and not any service level. A more than minimal level of service is needed for trains. A high speed train travelling at 100mph has a much more degraded signal than a person standing still at the same location.

[2026-05-31 image ©InfoBip] As of now Samsung have deleted their Samsung messages App on Android and encouraged their users to use Google Messages, or indeed any other messaging system. Google messages is primarily based on RCS messaging and whilst it has a number of other features over the simple SMS messaging, it is end to end encrypted. RCS will revert to SMS if for whatever reason, usually a lack of signal, RCS cannot work.

At the same time Apple is making changes to it's messaging system and rolling out RCS within it's infrastructure.

Perhaps more interesting RCS messages can be send from Apple to Android and vice versa. Previously Apple kept a fence around their messaging system and if a message was destined to Android it was sent as SMS.

[2026-05-24 image ©BT] A U-turn by BT has brought back the BTMobile brand. It was killed off and all customers moved to EE. Now it is back for BT customers. A BT customer can purchase from BT a new BT Mobile connection on a pay monthly plan.

A year or so back BT decided to market all their customer facing products as EE, but recently there has been a U-turn and BT will still be used for customer products and the BT-Mobile product has been re-introduced for current BT broadband customers. One reason for the change of mind could be that the BT brand has a high recognition within the UK and the link between BT and EE not as well understood. When BT broadband customers are looking for a mobile contract, as many may be with the landline switch off, a BT brand will be more familiar to them. Indeed if a customer does not see the BT - EE link they could just choose a mobile brand for the many out there.

[2026-05-24 image ©TFL] Not surprisingly Boldyn Networks have been chosen to provide a mobile broadband network across the London Underground. The provision will allow emergency responders to keep in touch in any emergency situation throughout the London Tube, DLR and Overground where the stations and lines are underground. Overground stations and lines have connectivity as would the surrounding area.

[2026-05-17 image ©WifFHire] I keep getting adverts for WiFiHire who will rent out a WiFi router (travel sized) which uses an eSIM card to connect to the mobile network for unlimited data - a great idea.

But, the cost seems to be £21 for 3 days, and up to £100 for a month. As many have pointed out in the comments, you can purchase a 4G / 5G router on Ebay for less than £30 [some much less] and an unlimited SIM from one of the mobile operators for less than £25pcm. Or even just hotspot with your phone.

[2026-05-17 image ©vodafonethree] Vodafone and Three merged in late 2025 with Vodafone having 51% of the joint company and Three 49%. Just recently it has announced that Vodafone was buying out Three and taking over the whole company.

It would seem logical that the name will revert to just 'Vodafone' and over time this will be the brand. At the moment they are building towards Three and Vodafone customers being able to use either network, thus improving the connectivity to customers.

The joint company is currently moving towards closing Three / Vodafone shops that duplicate the service. It seems likely that the Three name will disappear from the high street and the Vodafone name will be THE name of the company.