[beecart]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any knowledge of how the Vodafone / O2 network share (Cornerstone / Project Beacon) is going ?

Nothing other than the initial announcement seems to have been publicised... Anyone work for CTIL who can provide customers and users of this forum with an update please?

Thanks

[The Lord Lucan]

There are a few who visit here, however it would be unlikely to see access to details like the original EE/MBNL roll out.

I will say the roll out has gained suitable pace of late and I think people will be surprised when details are released shortly in regards to 4G. Vague I know.

[Everything Goes]

My money is on 16 cites at launch in vain attempt to catch up with EE.

London, Birmingham, Cardiff,Bristol, Belfast, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Southampton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19543042

[davybhoy]

Originally Posted by beecart

Hi all,

Does anyone have any knowledge of how the Vodafone / O2 network share (Cornerstone / Project Beacon) is going ?

Nothing other than the initial announcement seems to have been publicised... Anyone work for CTIL who can provide customers and users of this forum with an update please?

Thanks

Where are you from mate? Since back in 2010 there have been over 170 planning applications to date throughout N.I. for O2/Vodafone and nearly all of them are for combined masts. Some are brand new and some are upgrading an exisitng O2/Voda mast to contain antennae for the other network as well as the required cabs and equipment. I would say a lot of the work from 2010 and 2011 has already been carried out and I know of a completely brand new mast (up to maybe a year old) as well as others (up to maybe 2 years old) that are within a few miles of me.

Obviously most of the mast upgrades are in the Greater Belfast area and City Centre but there are quite a few rural ones too. That's not to say planning applications have stopped. I suppose more can be add/approved on a daily/weekly basis.

[davybhoy]

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

My money is on 16 cites at launch in vain attempt to catch up with EE.

London, Birmingham, Cardiff,Bristol, Belfast, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Southampton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19543042

To be honest, from what I have seen it would be unbelievably stupid of both O2 and Vodafone not to have taken measures to ensure that they can launch 4G ASAP given the work that they have done/are doing over here. That said, a lot of the planning applications are from long before the auction so it could well be a case of all new planning applications and installation works that will probably take about a year from now to complete if they have to start from scratch...

[The Lord Lucan]

You can ignore 2011-mid/late 2012 planning apps in general for 4G. They will be Specifically Cornerstone 2G/3G.

If I were them I'd do more than 16 cities.. Harder to do with ageing equipment like Voda's.

[Thine Wonk]

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

You can ignore 2011-mid/late 2012 planning apps in general for 4G. They will be Specifically Cornerstone 2G/3G.

If I were them I'd do more than 16 cities.. Harder to do with ageing equipment like Voda's.

There was talk of quite a bit of service disruption as the upgrades happen. The operators themselves said there would be planned outages in each cell that they upgrade (as there was / is with MBNL) but I've not heard much.

Details about how they're doing it, what equipment they are sharing etc has all been kept very quiet. I think the two big brands don't want to admit they are network sharing and to try and keep it as hush hush as possible.

[The Lord Lucan]

This I feel is the case too. Nobody that I know working for them is willing to admit that though. Also it has the benefit on launch of BAM 20+ cities 50+% pop straight up without anyone having high expectations.

[legends wear 7]

I don't see them launching on that widespread volume.

im not expecting much more than 6-10 cities at launch

London
Birmingham
Manchester
Liverpool
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Cardiff

i would guess are the priorities.

will be outages on any networks site when someone has to move within the hazard zone of the antennas

[jabbamk1]

I''ve heard that Three, Voda and O2 will begin rolling out 4G in early July. Anyone else heard this?

[legends wear 7]

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

I''ve heard that Three, Voda and O2 will begin rolling out 4G in early July. Anyone else heard this?

would think Vodafone will launch before the others, why else pay extra to get your hands on the early released spectrum blocks.

i know engineers at Vodafone who have told me the date they are working to, its in spring but they stress that having the kit installed and the day its turned on are two different things.

[Thine Wonk]

Originally Posted by legends wear 7

would think Vodafone will launch before the others, why else pay extra to get your hands on the early released spectrum blocks.

i know engineers at Vodafone who have told me the date they are working to, its in spring but they stress that having the kit installed and the day its turned on are two different things.

Well the tests are going on in Dudly at the moment I believe to assess the impact of DTT interference, of which Three is most likely to be the main culprit as they have the very lowest block.

It won't be April as DTT@800 in a large part of England will still be turned on until the end of April.

It will be in May, and I wouldn't be surprised if O2 and Voda don't launch a couple of weeks apart and then Three turn on some 800Mhz in June.

My guess is the first 2 weeks of May, but they won't be able to turn anything on in Devon, Cornwall or certain areas of Scotland until July when Westcountry and STV get their DTT frequency moves.

[The Lord Lucan]

Last week in May (if no hitches) I was told by Voda friends, few weeks later for O2 and I'm only hearing late Autumn for Three. EE unlikely to use 800 before July.

[Everything Goes]

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

Last week in May (if no hitches) I was told by Voda friends, few weeks later for O2 and I'm only hearing late Autumn for Three. EE unlikely to use 800 before July.

Three will have use of 800MHz long before the Autumn. The 4G licences were issued on the 1st March. It could be that people are thinking about them not getting 1800MHz until the Autumn.

[The Lord Lucan]

Everything Goes: yes but only if they install new masts. None on the network today can use 800! However O2/Voda's 900 masts mostly can be used for it, hence why there is very little issues for them.

For Three & EE It is just not going to happen in the next few months, Three will roll out on 1800 first.

[Everything Goes]

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

Everything Goes: yes but only if they install new masts. None on the network today can use 800! However O2/Voda's 900 masts mostly can be used for it, hence why there is very little issues for them.

For Three & EE It is just not going to happen in the next few months, Three will roll out on 1800 first.

I dont for one minute think changing a mast from 900Mhz 2G over to 800MHz 4G is a simple task.

You will need new equipment for LTE probably a new antenna due to standing wave ratio (SWR) issues. 2G only sites may have limited back haul capabilities. So data transfer would be an issue. In sites where they have 3G this may be less of an issue with more modern infrastructure to support them.

[The Lord Lucan]

Erm.. Most of their masts can do 700 - low 1000 Mhz. They would likely require an extra card at the site in the equipment room (remember 800 will be largely used on the big masts, equipment rooms rather than cabinets etc etc), or cabinet upgrades if it is a small site.

This is a lot simpler than ripping out the antennas, installing cabinets, or adding antenna in addition to 1800/2100 which requires more in depth planning consent and takes a bit longer as it's not like for like.

I'm yet to see any of the EE roll out cities even get a planning application from H3G/Three for the Samsung cabinets... Usually these things are 3-6 months in advance and also i have been told that they will not pursue 800 for a good number of months. This ties in with the marketing babel that they will not charge extra/unlimited 4G to keep people from jumping ship whilst O2/Voda show off.. ie Autumn.

Also technically 800 is far from ideal to roll out in an urban area. 1800 is perfect. large scale Rural roll outs are at least a year away.

[beecart]

The Lord Lucan, you seem very clued up on the cornerstone project - when will customers see improved 3G on O2 ?

[The Lord Lucan]

They already are IMHO, I'm not that clued up regarding O2 tbh. Only know the launch date and a few other things. The 3G upgrades is progressing rapidly but like with EE/Three it took some time before things were truly noticeable by a majority of users.
Personally I'd imagine much like them, cities that gain 4G will be the first to also see large scale 2G/3G improvements but that's just guessing.
3G improvements always takes longer to implement and tweak. 2G and 4G can be done so much quicker (so I'm told anyways)
EE/3 did blocks of rural areas at a time clearly to be able to see how they overlapped and integrated together.. rather that lighting up each new upgrade straight away.
(Not the case for urban). Summer should see all networks make a massive leap in 3G coverage/speeds.

[Everything Goes]

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

Erm.. Most of their masts can do 700 - low 1000 Mhz. They would likely require an extra card at the site in the equipment room (remember 800 will be largely used on the big masts, equipment rooms rather than cabinets etc etc), or cabinet upgrades if it is a small site.

This is a lot simpler than ripping out the antennas, installing cabinets, or adding antenna in addition to 1800/2100 which requires more in depth planning consent and takes a bit longer as it's not like for like.

I'm yet to see any of the EE roll out cities even get a planning application from H3G/Three for the Samsung cabinets... Usually these things are 3-6 months in advance and also i have been told that they will not pursue 800 for a good number of months. This ties in with the marketing babel that they will not charge extra/unlimited 4G to keep people from jumping ship whilst O2/Voda show off.. ie Autumn.

Also technically 800 is far from ideal to roll out in an urban area. 1800 is perfect. large scale Rural roll outs are at least a year away.

If the antennas are wide band enough to do 700MHz that will work out well for the auction in a few years time.

EE have already started to roll out 4G on 1800MHz in rural parts of Cumbria interestingly.

Boltons – Allerdale
Caldbeck – Allerdale
Castle Sowerby – Eden
Ireby & Uldale – Allerdale
Mungrisdale – Eden
Sebergham & Welton – Allerdale
Rosley & Westward – Allerdale


http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...umbria-uk.html

[The Lord Lucan]

Cumbria is an exception to this as this is and was EE's test bed for all further Rural roll outs. They also as most of you know had equipment already there (for the last two years) to do the large scale trial which involved BT/EE/Ofcom doing 800Mhz testing, (rural fibre backhaul, coverage plot calibration, microwave capacity trials, Interference testing etc)

[beecart]

As and when people hear any updates the CTIL venture can they update this thread please? Thanks

[s9s]

Originally Posted by beecart

Hi all,

Does anyone have any knowledge of how the Vodafone / O2 network share (Cornerstone / Project Beacon) is going ?

Nothing other than the initial announcement seems to have been publicised... Anyone work for CTIL who can provide customers and users of this forum with an update please?

Thanks

S**t, they have installed a handful of sites only and the rollout is way behind, if you want 4G , go elsewhere.

[enapace]

I honestly had been expecting by now to hear actually when they are going to start rolling out on Vodafone and O2. They said Q3 which is only just around the corner now. Maybe they will announce later this month. At rate it sounding Three's rollout might not be to far behind O2/Vodafone and all of there initial sites probably only need a cabinet fitting. Even though Three might start later they may catch up as MBNL have done a lot of the initial work where as cornerstone is further behind.

[interactiv-uk]

O2 have already said all over their site that they will launch in the summer. You will find out when and when nearer the time!