Anyone know when vodafone plan to use their 900mhz spectrum for 3g?

Has anyone on o2 (who have already started rolling this out) noticed a difference in signal and data speeds?

I would also like to know what vodafone plan to do with the 3G on 900mhz. Been months now and not heard a thing

So would I (you can see where this thread's going can't you). Despite the potential that 900MHz has for delivering 3G to previously un-served rural areas, so far it seems that O2 have just used it to increase capacity in areas that already have 2100MHz 3G coverage.

As well as increasing capacity in urban areas the increased coverage area provided by 3G900 means I now get 3G signal on motorways etc around towns where there was none before.

It makes sense for O2 do do what they're doing with complimenting existing busy areas to improve capacity where 3G2100 is already available as only a few models of phones as well as their dongles support it - As more handsets are released with 3G900 capability I would expect the existing 2G network areas to be slowly converted.

This was never going to be an overnight switch over for O2 in rural area (which some people seem to expect) but they have made fantastic progress and have rolled out the new network to a massive number of towns and cities already.

Looks like it's true that Voodoofones network is older and not as easy to upgrade, hence no sign of it there yet.

VF network needs no more work than O2 to deliver UMTS900

the difference between the two is that O2 were desperate for a way to improve their shite data network, VF on the other hand had invested far more in the existing 3G network than O2 had so dont need to roll out UMTS900 at the same rate.

You know, 900MHz is more about bandwidth in
preparation for LTE.

You're misrepresenting the current situation, your comments would have been accurate in 2008, Much has been invested by Vodafone and O2 since then and the situation is completely different. Check Ofcom for the latest position.

But O2 have got some catching up to do still, in terms of coverage and spec.

I don't know how much of their network is HSPA+ but others will have completed a 100% rollout of HSPA+ by the end of the year. FYI HSPA+ is not the same as HSDPA.

I don't know the current position regarding HSPA+, but earlier in the year O2 started work on upgrading the network in preparation for LTE, two contracts north and south. (Once LTE gets the go ahead it will be essentially a software upgrade and so rolled out quickly) It also enabled them to roll out 900MHz quickly. And of course, in 2009/10 they had been spending £1m a day on network improvement. There is also the site share agreement with Vodafone (note: not a network share ).

I would be very surprised if Vodafone hadn't done similar in the last few years.

The big question at the moment seems to be over the legacy part of Orange's network. But that is another story.

What do you mean by legacy part of Orange's network?

A few thoughts...

We're a way off LTE yet

Even if they do the "software upgrade", then there is still the matter of the poor backhaul on o2

They will have to wait for handsets to become available and consumers to buy these high end devices.

MBNL have said they plan to enter the bidding and follow roughly the same availability timeframe of O2 and VF in terms of LTE

O2 are miles behind on coverage and capacity and 1M a day isn't that much really,and is spread across upgrades, and servicing 2G and 3G.

MBNL spent over £500M last year on 3G only, and is sending more money on new sites and upgrading to HSPA+ across the entire network right now.

MBNL has many more 3G cell sites than O2 and other networks have much better backhaul.

O2 has a site sharing agreement with VF, but it's only practical to share certain sites as the 2 networks are very separate.

MBNLs deal with Arqiva (who were formally NTL broadcast and national grid wireless) means they have access to national grid pylons, and tens of thousands of other structures spread right across the country.

MBNLs deal with BT wholsale means the backhaul agreements are in place to meet future capacity needs.

MBNLs deal with Ericsson employed hundreds of staff to do the upgrades, the deal with BT meant hundreds of BT staff working on the backhaul, the deal with Arqiva means many people work on sites.

The £1M a day O2 looks small in comparison to the recent MBNL work, remember it's a 3BN revenue company in the UK. O2 are spending less than most of the others on their network and it shows in their coverage and backhaul.

While Orange/T-Mobile/Three have 3G coverage here, O2 don't even appear to have upgraded our local base station to EDGE yet, it only seems to do GPRS.

this thread is going off topic its asking about vodafone 900mhz 3g
not o2 or mbnl

At least it keeps the thread bumped up. I suspect nobody here knows the answer, unless the OP has received a private communication from someone involved.

its not really going off topic, as people are pointing out VF have not needed to be as quick as O2 to rollout UMTS900

And if they were rolling out UMTS900 i don't think VF would shout as loud as O2 about it, seems to me by being so forward with UMTS900 O2 are admitting their 3G rollout has been under invested and not upto much on UMTS2100

Any more news on Vodafone 3G 900mhz?