Apart from putting up their prices, Vodafone dont seem to have done much recently. With O2 rolling out 3G900 and trying 4G ,EE merging and upgrading to HSDPA+ and 4G. 3 upgrading their their masts. Vodafone seem to be very quite. No mention of any major network upgrades and their coverage round here is still as poor as it was 3 years ago.

They upgraded alot of their masts in this area (Dumfries & Galloway) to EDGE recently, but their 3G coverage is almost non existent apart from 2 major towns in the area.

what do you want them to do? they are the world's most successful celco. it doesn't seem like the kind of business that needs a lot of jazz hands.

Deep dish.. not thin and crispy they say. Only major areas get 3G but when they do it's quite fast and reliable.

Most of the new masts are partnerships with O2, so they are catching up with the rest for coverage. I guess they are waiting it out for LTE?

Vodafone are always late. They just in the last few months started giving you 'rewards' for topping up that O2 were doing almost 10 years ago.

They would rather people buy a Sure Signal box than provide real coverage these days, definitely the worst network for me in several places and yet to see any improvements with Cornerstone locally whereas 02's coverage is pretty much spot on.

I want a good signal back in manchester. For the last week or so, when I am in the centre of manchester, which I go to work every day, the signal keeps dropping off, making the phone unusable until I get out of the city.

I thought Vodafone were just an all round good network, I've got a couple of friends that absolutely swear by them. They seem to have coverage everywhere, not always 3G in places where I have 3G on Three, but then there's places we go where they have 2G and I have nothing like a pub we went to at the weekend with a basement type room.

If I wasn't on Three I'd be on Vodafone I think.

Frost exact same happening with my signal in Manchester. I've just upgraded my phone and thought it was that and was going to call them tomorrow to send it back.. Must be a problem with the network then. Normally signal in city centre is ok.

Vodafone have plenty of options and might just be keeping their powder dry to see what happens with EE's application to use 1800Mhz spectrum for LTE. Why bother refarming 900Mhz to UMTS when it could be used for LTE? They also have some 1800Mhz spectrum that they could use for LTE also.

Like O2 Vodafone have kept data limits in place and until that becomes a sales/retention issue they will probably keep doing so whilst trying to deliver mobile data with WiFi coverage through BT's network and improving blackspot coverage with SureSignal. Careful management of their UMTS capacity and migrating 900/1800Mhz customers onto 2100Mhz give both Vodafone and O2 more options to use that bandwidth for LTE and more robust UMTS coverage on 900Mhz that no other network has access to.

Vodafone and O2 are the networks of choice for business users because they both have coverage for voice and text beyond the reach of any other network. I am confident both companies are planning how they can capitalise on the huge dividend that Ofcom have given them to reuse their GSM frequencies for the new generation of efficient data delivery services.

But aren't EE getting 800mhz which will penetrate even farther?

Possibly, I thought it was 1800MHz

EE Will be getting 800 spectrum just like everyone else..

Not a certinty. There will be an auction later this year of 850 and 2600Mhz blocks which all of the existing operators and new entrants can bid for.

"Each network will be limited on how much of the spectrum they can bid for, to ensure competition in the market.

The regulator said: "Because of their current spectrum holdings, and/or the much lower risk that these national wholesalers would fail to acquire further spectrum in the auction, we do not consider it necessary to reserve any spectrum for Everything Everywhere, Telefonica [O2] or Vodafone.

"We therefore think it is appropriate, and so propose to, in effect, reserve some of the available spectrum for a fourth national wholesaler, by which we mean a bidder other than Everything Everywhere, Telefonica or Vodafone.""

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012...n_1203797.html

I have just left Vodafone pay monthly and gone back to o2, while i got reasonably good signal on Vodafone 2G the constant disconnections when in a call was enough to make me move providers. (Was not my handset either as friends also on Vodafone experience the issue) Not one single dropped call since being back with o2 and i get better signal, Vodafone have some of the worst customer services i have ever dealt with took me 3 days just to get a data bolt on added as the CS staff haven't a clue regarding their own products and services!

Sadly I still have another pay monthly account with them but im terminating that early too, Me well i would never use Vodafone ever again, to think they used to be the best!

they are not that kind of a network. you don't have to decide if you are an aardvark or a jelly fish, you don't get mega bolt-ons.

they are old school in this respect.

Vodafone have plenty of customers and clearly they don't need to care about keeping up with other networks as their customers are loyal, regardless of them being expensive and tight

You think the biggest network in the UK will not be the most likely to get a share of the 800 spectrum. I'd be worrying more that the bids from Three/O2 do not come in high enough as they are both pretty screwed for cash right now. Its going to be interesting with bids coming in from several new guys.. i wouldn't be surprised if China mobile, Virgin etc get that Fourth space, maybe even the third one!

Bear in mind, EE isn't really part of any multinationals any longer - FT and DT didn't even want to keep the networks going as a separate going concern - I seriously doubt that they (DT especially) will be lending a financial hand should things get expensive.

Couple this with the fact that 1800Mhz will be refarmed for LTE, and it's possible that EE could see less value in the 800Mhz spectrum and be outbid.

It's possible but unlikely..

More likely than Three or O2 not getting any.

EE will pitch hard for all available spectrum just like all the others as they know they will need the extra bandwidth to compete effectively in the future. Their investors will not allow the value of their UK asset to be affected adversley by starving it of the funding required to bid for future growth.

Italy could provide a clue where TIM and Vodafone bid enough to get 850MHz and some 2600MHz and 3 bid less and only got the latter, less desireable frequency range.

EE's disposal of 30MHz of 1800MHz will make aqusition of new bandwidth a priority and the proceeds from that sale will put EE in a good position to bid in the forthcoming auction.

I predict that all the current operators will win slices of 800Mhz spectrum, but it was suggested that EE is in a better position in these auctions than Three or o2, which just isn't so.

There is not sufficient avalable bandwidth for all present mob ops to get 850MHz spectrum. That is the reason 3 wanted some ring fenced for their bid. That has been ruled out as has a block on EE bidding for it. 850MHz may go to a completely new entrant as happened with the largest chunk of bandwidth in the 3G auction.

This is true - nothing is certain and there could be surprises.

In the interests of staying on topic, I think we can all agree that Vodafone are more than likely to get some 800Mhz spectrum?