EE 4G Coverage improving really quickly!

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  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    DD_nVidia wrote: »
    Yeah isn't it only till the end of March or something then it goes up to £76/Month? (or is it £71?)

    The SIMO plan is obviously cheaper since there is no handset to subsidise, I can't remember by how much though.

    Lets hope they just keep the prices low since they'll have some competition sooner rather than later.

    I think the t-mobile plans are changing but no sure what to yet.

    But EE will be streets ahead by the time the other networks start (around June-July I guess). EEs prices won't shift down, the other networks will match them.
    Prices won't come down for a while. They can't. They have to pay for everything. Like the 1.5 billion quid it's costing to dig up the entire country. They then have to pay for the LTE spectrum in a minute.
  • douknowotimean?douknowotimean? Posts: 1,799
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    Sorry to go off the point a bit but having seen the title of this thread, EE needs to improve its 2G and 3G coverage first IMO, before expanding 4G. I am now getting 2 bars on 2G where as before I would usually get at least 4 or 5.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    This will be to do with the massive upgrades happening. It's like that all over the country at the moment and will be for a while. Cells are being decommisioned and coverage then has to be tweaked on the remaining cells. With 2G this is not plain sailing as cells have to be precisly tuned to avoid overlapping frequencies. I'm getting fluctuating 2G sometimes now. It's the price we have to pay in the short term for the (hopefully) excellent network we will have in 18 months or so.
  • douknowotimean?douknowotimean? Posts: 1,799
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    It might be all and truly good in 18 months time but what about now? As well as having an unlimited (or at least 3GB+) allowance, I do make a lot of calls (some of which can be at least 90 mins per call) and for me they just need to get the basics right before implementing rip off stuff like 4G.
  • sparky93sparky93 Posts: 436
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    I put old orange, and my screen grabs of ee midlands from nov to now.
    Rollouts
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    sparky93 wrote: »
    I put old orange, and my screen grabs of ee midlands from nov to now.
    Rollouts

    That's better than O2's 3g coverage today back in 1995 :eek: :mad:
  • KesterKKesterK Posts: 3,485
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    That's better than O2's 3g coverage today back in 1995 :eek: :mad:

    That will be 2G, not 3G rollout.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 996
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    I have to clarify something... I understand EE are making their antennas more sensitive for better signal.

    - Is it for 3G as well as 2G or just 2G only?

    - If it is for 3G too and it is happening on MBNL masts, will 3 benefit too or it is just EE customers that will see better signal?

    - Finally if the power of a MBNL 3G mast was increased would both EE and 3 benefit from it as they share the mast or would it only be EE or only be Three that benefits (Depending on who increased the power)?

    Does anyone know for definite? Only reason I ask is because my 3G is improved indoors where I live, I don't know if it's just increased power or if the antenna has been replaced but what I have done is tested my EE SIM and a 3 SIM in my Galaxy Note 2 and they are not the same, Some places in my house 3 and EE (T-Mobile mast) are exactly the same, sometimes EE is stronger and sometimes 3 is stronger so what's up with that? Btw i'm not going on 'Bars' as that tells you nothing, i'm looking at the dBm on the status screen.

    Can anyone in the know answer those questions for me? Thanks in advance! :)
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    KesterK wrote: »
    That will be 2G, not 3G rollout.

    Yes exactly :D

    Orange launched on 28th April 1994 and within a year they had better coverage on 2G then O2 has on 3G today. Says it all really!
  • ozzozz Posts: 825
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    O2 have updated their coverage maps in the past few days and it seems they've expanded on their 3G900 coverage by quite some margin. EE is the best though with Vodafone slipping into bottom position! Hopefully not too long to wait for 4GEE, the cell located on a pylon near me gives me excellent 2G & 3G coverage.
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    ozz wrote: »
    O2 have updated their coverage maps in the past few days and it seems they've expanded on their 3G900 coverage by quite some margin. EE is the best though with Vodafone slipping into bottom position! Hopefully not too long to wait for 4GEE, the cell located on a pylon near me gives me excellent 2G & 3G coverage.

    I went on a long trip from West coast of Scotland to North East coast of Scotland with two phones. One on O2 a Samsung Galaxy S2 (supports 3G 900MHz) and an iPhone on EE.

    Expect for Major towns and cities O2 still had no 3G coverage most of the journey where as EE had 3G coverage most of the journey. The difference was night and day.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    I went on a long trip from West coast of Scotland to North East coast of Scotland with two phones. One on O2 a Samsung Galaxy S2 (supports 3G 900MHz) and an iPhone on EE.

    Expect for Major towns and cities O2 still had no 3G coverage most of the journey where as EE had 3G coverage most of the journey. The difference was night and day.

    I've also put a giffgaff sim in on 3G mode only and driven to work and back and I cannot reliably use tune-in, it breaks up for about 30-40% of the journey, unlike my 3 sim which usually doesn't break up at all, but very occasionally breaks up at one specific point in the journey for less then 10 seconds.

    I've done this in long journeys to Birmingham, mid wales, London and even Norfolk comparing O2 to 3 and there's absolutely no comparison. There are so many 3G gaps of miles and miles still on O2. You will lose signal for sometimes 10 miles of a journey.

    Vodafone was quite good From Birmingham to home, it was rock solid for about 50 miles, and then the last leg of the journey nothing for about 20 minutes of driving on the motorway.

    Whilst the others have improved to 90% 3G coverage that's still way off the 98% of 3, T-mobile and Orange.
  • mooxmoox Posts: 18,880
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    I've also put a giffgaff sim in on 3G mode only and driven to work and back and I cannot reliably use tune-in, it breaks up for about 30-40% of the journey, unlike my 3 sim which usually doesn't break up at all, but very occasionally breaks up at one specific point in the journey for less then 10 seconds.

    I've done this in long journeys to Birmingham, mid wales, London and even Norfolk comparing O2 to 3 and there's absolutely no comparison. There are so many 3G gaps of miles and miles still on O2. You will lose signal for sometimes 10 miles of a journey.

    Vodafone was quite good From Birmingham to home, it was rock solid for about 50 miles, and then the last leg of the journey nothing for about 20 minutes of driving on the motorway.

    Whilst the others have improved to 90% 3G coverage that's still way off the 98% of 3, T-mobile and Orange.

    For my commute that involves driving in mid Cornwall and then a train to Devon, there's no contest too.

    With 3 and EE, apart from a 15 second blip on the drive and the occasional blackspot when deep in the back of beyond, it's 3G all the way.

    With O2, it's 1 bar of 3G at home (surprising as I live in a village), then 2G all the way to where the town the train station is in. Then on the train it's basically 2G until you get to the destination city.

    Vodafone is basically not much better than O2, if at all.

    I have a friend who lives in deep North Devon, and he's very close to switching from O2 to 3, because O2's 2G is crap where he lives and he gets a very good 3 signal (plus it is cheaper and he can get unlimited data etc). That says it all for me.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Good god, I just checked O2 as well and it has really improved down here. Quite a massive improvement in fact.
    Impressive indeed.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    Good god, I just checked O2 as well and it has really improved down here. Quite a massive improvement in fact.
    Impressive indeed.

    The confusing thing is even if you click 3G900 you don't get 3G only coverage until you put a postcode in then select mobile internet.

    I think this is your part of the world isn't it Devon? That's showing 3G only, including 900Mhz.

    http://oi47.tinypic.com/34pdr3c.jpg

    Compared to 3

    http://oi45.tinypic.com/rhvh1v.jpg
  • iangradiangrad Posts: 813
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    When Vodafone & Three eventually start a 4g service ? will it be the same quality as EE and perhaps more importantly will it have the capabilities for more users as on my current Three 3g contract it slows to just 90kb/s at busy times but go in at 3am and its 5mb/s !
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Duh! Oh yeah. I'm being a dumb ass. Thanks Thine for reminding me of that. Postcode, I forgot.
    Don't forget EE as well, or I'll go all "wave" on your ass Hahahahahaha.....
    Ok, correction, O2 still shite :)
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    Duh! Oh yeah. I'm being a dumb ass. Thanks Thine for reminding me of that. Postcode, I forgot.
    Ok, correction, it's still shite :)

    It's ok I had the same moment of amazement too many months ago when I thought they had done something amazing only to realise they trick you and will only show you a 3G / mobile internet only button AFTER you've put a postcode in.

    As you can see it shows only 1 x 3G enabled cell in the whole screenshot area, surrounded by 8 x 2G only cells. You and I aren't the only ones, it's very misleading, even professional tech bloggers have been caught out by that.

    They make it hard to see their 3G only coverage because they are embarrassed about it, the same reason why you can't zoom out and still see coverage - they don't want you to see that so they prevent it.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    iangrad wrote: »
    When Vodafone & Three eventually start a 4g service ? will it be the same quality and perhaps more importantly will it have the capabilities for more users as on mt current Three 3g contract it slows to just 90kb/s at busy times but go in at 3am and its 5mb/s !

    Yes, LTE (4G) has way more capacity per cell than 3G.
    Your issues could also be a backhaul problem. It may not have a fibre connection yet and is relying on legacy microwave. It probably will within 18 months or so.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    Don't forget EE as well, or I'll go all "wave" on your ass Hahahahahaha.....
    Ok, correction, O2 still shite :)

    Sorry:

    O2 - http://oi47.tinypic.com/34pdr3c.jpg

    Voda - http://oi48.tinypic.com/2q1ibdx.jpg

    Three - http://oi45.tinypic.com/rhvh1v.jpg

    EE - http://oi45.tinypic.com/25kiusl.jpg

    It really is the have's and have not's isn't it. The poor people in that area, no 3G really on O2 or Vodafone, only EE and Three serving the area with 3G data.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    It's ok I had the same moment of amazement too many months ago when I thought they had done something amazing only to realise they trick you and will only show you a 3G / mobile internet only button AFTER you've put a postcode in.

    As you can see it shows only 1 x 3G enabled cell in the whole screenshot area, surrounded by 8 x 2G only cells. You and I aren't the only ones, it's very misleading, even professional tech bloggers have been caught out by that.

    They make it hard to see their 3G only coverage because they are embarrassed about it, the same reason why you can't zoom out and still see coverage - they don't want you to see that so they prevent it.

    Yes, they are very sneaky. Unbelievable really.

    I tell you one thing that bloody annoys me and is a Three plus point you'll be pleased to know. Three still use the newer improved coverage map system with the large easy to use map. Orange and TM used the same map system before EE4G launched and it was way better than the old maps.
    Since EE4G the EE map is crap. Small and slow and rubbish to use. Why would they do this? What the hell was wrong with the old (three) map system.
    There must be a reason but why did they make it smaller.
    Crappy crap crap!
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    Sorry:

    O2 - http://oi47.tinypic.com/34pdr3c.jpg

    Voda - http://oi48.tinypic.com/2q1ibdx.jpg

    Three - http://oi45.tinypic.com/rhvh1v.jpg

    EE - http://oi45.tinypic.com/25kiusl.jpg

    It really is the have's and have not's isn't it. The poor people in that area, no 3G really on O2 or Vodafone, only EE and Three serving the area with 3G data.

    Yes indeed. The other thing is the EE map seems to have less coverage than the Three map yet in reality the coverage is almost just as good. On the old map system the TM map looked pretty much like that Three map but EEs looks worse.
    Might just be the crappy green colour they're using, you can hardly make out the areas of weaker coverage but they're there.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Yeah agreed Devon. Another sneaky thing about O2 is they use the same colour as B roads to show coverage. So it looks like they have more, but they don't, they are B roads!!

    I think they got an illusionist to help them with the 3G coverage map.
    • First make some of the roads the same colour as your coverage, that makes it look better.
    • Next DON'T let them zoom out to see the overall coverage or they might see how shocking it really is.
    • Finally Put a 3G900 button there and make them think that's 3G, but actually show 2G as well. Only show them 3G coverage if they go through lots of clicks, put a postcode in and then select 'mobile internet'.
  • mogzyboymogzyboy Posts: 6,392
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    Oh no...more anti-02 propoganda from the usual suspects I see............. :D:D
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    mogzyboy wrote: »
    Oh no...more anti-02 propoganda from the usual suspects I see............. :D:D

    You just made me laugh so hard :D:D
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