Parents of Durham freshers 2026

[NellyNoMates]

Thought I would start a new thread for parents of any Durham freshers starting September 2026.

I found the similar thread from last year so helpful in preparation, but don’t want to hijack their thread with our own questions etc.

All welcome

Dropped my DS off on Sunday morning after staying in a hotel the night before. The room was much nicer than I expected. He is in Collingwood so it must have been recently refurbished. Only a slight mark in the carpet and small bit of furniture damage to give clue that there had been a previous occupant since it was refurbished. He seems to have been kept very busy since with freshers events. I think he will be exhausted in a few days!

We also had a problem with our mobile phone network coversge. We are on Three so interested to find out which networks are working well in Durham!

DH has sorted some kind of temporary (payg maybe?) e-sim on the ee network for DD to try out. Apparently it can work alongside her Vodafone one so her phone switches between the two. (I have no idea - I’m a total technophobe) It certainly seems to have helped for the last 24hrs so we’ll continue to monitor it, and if needed switch her contract across, or keep both sims for longer to have the greater flexibility.

My son is on 02 network via giffgaff and was fine at St John’s. Not so great at his new home this year, so we will be testing what works better there.

My son is also on O2 via Giffgaff. He’s at Castle in Moatside and the network coverage seems ok. There are spots where coverage drops off but I think Durham will present a bit of a challenge to most networks due to the terrain and the architecture.