Customers with Orange and T-Mobile will soon be able to take advantage of better 3G signals across the U.K. thanks to a partnership that will allow both carriers to share each other’s data signals. The two companies, which are both owned by parent company Everything Everywhere, have been sharing 2G signals since September 2010, but next week will be the first time that 3G signals are included, too.

The initiative is called the “big 3G switch-on” and allows customers to use both Orange and T-Mobile 3G signals regardless of which network they’re on at no extra cost. It means that if you’re an Orange subscriber and you enter an area in which your signal is low, your device can use T-Mobile signals instead — completely free.

27 millions customers have been taking advantage of the service, which promises to offer “faster internet and data in more places across the U.K. than before.” In its press release, the company noted the success of the initiative since its roll-out:

Already, customers of each brand have shown the value in having access to each other’s networks, with 1.7 million days worth of calls (or almost 41 million hours)  having been made on the other brand’s network, and almost five billion extra text messages having been sent and received since October last year – benefitting over 20 million people across the country.

Everything Everywhere has also promised to make improvements to its existing 2G infrastructure in a bid to serve customers’ voice calls in even more areas throughout the U.K. The new 3G initiative will roll-out region by region during the course of the next few months.

Could the 3G initiative persuade you to switch to Orange or T-Mobile?

[via The Next Web]

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Tags 2G, 3G, Carrier, Everything Everywhere, network, Orange, signals, T-Mobile