Comparing Iraq's mobile network with the UK

Deborah Haynes reports for the London Times in Baghdad. A few days ago, she wrote about her experiences trying to get a decent signal in Iraq. Obviously the performance isn’t that good at the moment…

Link: Inside Iraq Blog – Times Online – WBLG: Hello. Hello. Can you hear me?

The network is terrible, the signal patchy at best and a number often needs to be dialed three or four times before a connection is made, and even then the call usually gets cut short.

.. Although what’s quite interesting is the amount of people commenting that it isn’t much different here in the UK.

Slight exaggerations of course.

I was speaking to a leading mobile entrepreneur the other day who’s recently swapped to T-Mobile. He laments it. In fact he could have written Deborah’s column based on his experiences with the network. He’s going to switch back to Vodafone shortly.

Me? Well I find T-Mobile OK. 3UK seems, on balance, much better.

Here’s one of the comments posted to Deborah’s article:

I can’t talk or receive calls on my mobile when at home. Text messages get through, and I can send a reply to the text if I stand out in the middle of the field. Warzone? Nope. Just a few miles outside of Windsor!