Moving to Vodafone!

[DBMandrake]

Secondly, calls going to voicemail when you have a signal is not confined only to Orange, but happens on ALL the UK networks when you are connected on 2G if a data session is active.

You will get the exact same problem with Vodafone, and because Vodafone's 3G coverage is lousy, you will get it a lot more often with Vodafone, because when you are on 3G the phone can receive calls and texts while a data session is active, and on Orange you will be on 3G in far more locations. (With the right SIM)

Apple is strictly correct when they say it's the networks fault - but what they didn't tell you was that currently all UK networks have this issue when in 2G coverage, and it's something to be aware of with a data-using Smartphone.

Well I have some humble pie to eat before all you Vodafone fans

It seems that Vodafone has made a change to their network which prevents an active 2G data session from causing all incoming calls to be sent straight to voicemail without ringing. Prior to this all UK networks suffered this issue on 2G.

A change was first noticed in a discussion in the thread below, which prompted me to go back and retest all the networks:

http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=99775

For those that don't want to click on the link, the summary is that with Vodafone if you are accessing data on 2G and an incoming call occurs, the data session will be aborted and the call will come through. As well as this, incoming SMS messages can come through at the same time as a data session, without evening interrupting the data session.

ALL the other networks currently cannot do this - calls go directly to voicemail if 2G data is in use, and SMS messages are delayed until some time after the data session is finished.

Big thumbs up to Vodafone on this change, as this is a major cause of missed calls with Smartphones, and I hope to see the other networks follow suit....