...having used the O2 network (formerly Cellnet/Telcom-Securicor) for over 25 years allow me to share my opinion.
When GSM launched the standard data rate was 9600bps (9.6 kb) - this in fact had been the data rate over the analogue network pre-digital too. To be honest it was very workable for email (and even mobile fax) - and this specific speed was what was later referred to as GPRS. Again, until 3G was thrust upon us - I found GPRS more than usable for basic emails etc. Something has changed and I suspect that it is the usual behind-the-scenes dumbing-down that seems to apply to all services in this country - mobile no exception. I believe that GPRS and Edge speeds have been deliberately wound down to barely usable data speeds - below even that of circa 1994 (and before). The argument that an email client (or text message client) on a modern smartphone sending basic text format data requires some kind of mysterious extra data that demands much more bandwidth is hogwash and, in my opinion, is the opinion of the ignorant.The sad truth is that O2 are busily robbing Peter to pay Paul - (compare with the stupid HS2 rail project - i.e. why create a new superfast network when the existing one would be fine if they just improved coverage?) - to beef-up 3G datastreaming they have robbed capacity from GPRS and Edge and with the onset of 4G I have no doubt that they will start robbing speed from 3G - it boils down to a capacity issue.
One victim of the more extreme data-robbing over the years has been the good old voice channel - you know the one - that noise we make when we actually want to speak to each other. Voice quality has fallen through the floor since GSM was launched in 1994 - back then it really was comparable to a landline (the analogue network was too) - nowadays it is over-compressed garbage that is transmitted from the handsets (received landline calls are a bit better). Not a "proper" telephone call in my opinion and far from an intimate experience that a phone call should be.
Enjoy.
