I'm sharing this experience while it is still hot and seared into my brain.

There is a lot of debate on the interwebs as to Three's wisdom in cutting loose their 2G fallback and moving to a 3G-only network. Living, playing and working in an apparent ocean of 3G this has never been an issue for me. Even in my travels as far as mid-Wales in one direction and the very edge of Kent and Sussex in the other, I have yet to experience any particular wholesale issue.

That said, I do read on the forums and Twitter of very many who have a diametrically opposite experience. Understandable, more so since this weekend's direct experience.

I have just returned from 24 hours in a 3G wilderness, that being the Chelmsford area of Essex. It was a wedding, a day-long celebration, with a stop-over in the area. And in 3G terms if was dreadful. The area is largely a 3G NotSpot.

Three
Of course, once I hit the notspot I was completely disconnected from phone, sms and mobile data (the latter of which is more important to me). At the hotel the only place I could pick up a signal was in the car park. At the venue, I had a signal at one part of the grounds (Leez Priory) but not at the main building. Travelling around the county it was a checkerboard of signal vs no signal.

I feel for the poor Chelmsfordians.

Vodafone
Ah yes, I was indeed armed with both of my smartphones, the other being on the Vodafone network. So all was saved, I remained connected. Except that I wasn't.

The reality I experienced is that Vodafone has much more 3G NotSpot in Chelmsford, and a fair degree of 2G NotSpottery too. At Leez Priory I had neither 3G or 2G, anywhere on the grounds. Same deal at the hotel, no 2G or 3G.

Where I did find patches of 2G the data was of GPRS quality, not once did I locate any EDGE. I had to pinch myself and double-check the calendar to verify what year I was in. Yup, it was still 2011, I hadn't inadvertently driven through some timewarp back to the 1970s.

So Vodafone on 2G is better than nothing at all on Three? Right? Well, it may have been if it actually worked, and it didn't. Nothing I attempted on 2G/GPRS worked. Timeouts in abundance trying to use Twitter, Facebook, Google+, IMAP email, even location services. Nothing worked.

Whatever 2G networking was in place was patently completely saturated to the point of uselessness.

Conclusions
Whilst it is very inconvenient to have no 3G connectivity I have to say that it is frustrating beyond belief to have a 2G connection that is useless to the point of worthlessness. It raises a false expectation that cannot be realised. So , my personal preference, is for me to be either connected or disconnected, not in some place of limbo.

Not only Three but all of the networks need to get their coverage sorted out. They must know that an area as large as Chelmsford has blanket NotSpot coverage. In such a densely populated county that, in 2011 is unacceptable.