VODAFONE'S mobile phone network has been dealt another blow.

It was ranked last among the nation's carriers for network coverage with an effective two-star rating.

It received 21 complaints for every 100 customers (11 more than leader Telstra), an international review of Australia's mobile networks revealed yesterday.

The rankings focused on consumer experiences in 10 key areas including drop-outs, late text messages and problems with accessing the internet from smartphones.

Telstra was named best mobile carrier in all categories, while Optus was beaten by Virgin Mobile - which operates as a separate entity on Optus's mobile network.

Steve Kirkeby, of US researcher JD Power and Associates, said both Optus and Vodafone had to improve, but noted while network was considered most important, price and customer service could alter rankings.

Elise Davidson, from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, said while all carriers were working on their networks for some Australian's improvements can't come fast enough.

"Mobile coverage in Australia can be patchy in some areas leading to call drop-outs and slow internet on smartphones,'' she said.

Telstra yesterday said it has 300,000 people using its 4G network after launching it this year.

Optus' Günther Ottendorfer, managing director networks, said the company has 1000 new mobile towers on the way and was lifting network capacity.

"It's important to note that Virgin operates entirely on the Optus network and this positive result was received before the rollout of a series of major network initiatives from Optus," he said.

A Vodafone spokesman said the data had been collated before significant improvements to its network in the past two months.

"Vodafone is building a new network, and while we've worked hard to minimise disruptions, we suspect that some of the engineering work that we have undertaken to improve our network may have shown up in the findings of this survey result," said spokesman Greg Spears.





Originally published as Vodafone ranked last for coverage