Ha ha....
I knew you would be first to come back to rebuke my post Devon ☺️
They've got to be quite confident to run it at that sort of priority level, as like you say you would never see 3g or 2g even most likely, but even with 1800mhz 4g at full power can the risk lots of indoor users jumping on it, it would have to be set at a very low level of 4g 1800mhz signal before switching.

For people in North Wales, one of the local papers asked the networks what plans they have for improving coverage.

Good response from O2 who have given their 3G/4G coverage percentages both now and planned for the end of 2016 by county. Also worth reading the Vod and Three responses. EE's less so.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/business/...ee-o2-10980289

Good on o2 for being open and transparent with some detail voda and three less so and ee blah blah

Me? Rebuke? No, surely not.
I was merely helping you to see the error of your ways! hahaha
If 4G1800 was on full power I can tell you now that 800 would have no issues at all.
The 1800 is going to be awesome when it's cranked up.
The robustness of 4G means it will probably go a bit further than 2G as well.
I was concerned that 1800 on low power might cause some issues for 800 but actually the 1800 takes a huge swathe of landmass out of the equation.
I will bet you real money that priorities will be 4G2600=>4G1800=>4G800=>3G2100=>2G1800
How much?
How far away are you? I'll do it for pints of Beer!

Excellent and well informed quote by Three there.
"Radio waves don't travel through mountains......"
Thanks Three, for clearing that up.

Does anyone know what is happening in Barnsley, S.Yorkshire with o2 4G? They upgraded a couple of masts middle of last year but coverage and capacity is rubbish. Thanks

If O2 achieve those leaps in coverage I'll be very impressed!

Usual evasive codshit and fictitious map from EE...

Well EE will go toss now that BT own them.

It's time to milk the cow and cut back investment.

I'm wondering about the disparities between O2's and Vodafone's forecasts in that article. Under CTIL/Cornerstone, wouldn't the rollout pace be broadly the same? If that's the case, then either O2 is being optimistic or Vodafone is being conservative. Seeing as it's Vodafone which is leading on the rollout in Wales, I think I'd be slightly more inclined to believe them.

To be fair, EE have been doing a pretty good job of milking the cow and making no investment in certain areas for some time, without any influence from BT.

What I can't understand is why there is such disparity between the regions they favour and those they ignore.

I think EE's reply owes more to their media relations team than any contribution from the network planners (who probably weren't even consulted).

I'm sure that's true, but it is endemic within EE. The network planners will have all the information of course, but they operate in a silo and no information of of any value or credibility ever gets to the average user. That's understandable for commercially sensitive stuff, but as an organisation they provide so little information to their user base that front-line staff often seem to simply make it up as they go along to appease people.

It's a foul way to do business, and I can't help but think it will come back to bite them in the future. O2 and Vodafone genuinely look like they'll be biting at EE's heels by this time next year. When their coverage is comparable I think a large proportion of customers who have essentially been forced to use EE over the last couple of years will jump ship as there'll be no goodwill left to trade on. If this coincides with a scaling back of investment due to the BT effect, it'll be a perfect storm and EE will really suffer. They will have squandered the head-start they had.

Interesting times ahead....

I'm sure Olaf already knows what's going to happen. But he will be off seeking out new challenges.

This year I've been really impressed by Vodafone and how far it has come. It's now really hard for me to see 2G, and that's a massive change.

I must try O2 as I give the network a hard time and probably unfairly so in many places.

Wonder if we will start to see EE taking the BT approach to things from now on, quoting minimum government /regulatory guidelines backed up by fictitious maps & statistics and meaningless statements.
Back to our region a minute Cheshire,
Do any of the networks actually have 4g coverage in Whitchurch yet? It's a good sized town yet last time I looked every network didn't have a wiff of 4g there, all the surrounding areas have at least one 4g mast in them from the networks. Has there been a few planning refusals? This happened in stone and there is now a nice hole in coverage between Stoke and Stafford on cornerstone and EE.

I'll take you up on that bet Devon, if I win you'll have to send me some of your West Country cider, if I loose I'll send you some local beer,

Vodafones Cornwall map is showing quite a lot of purple now on the future map I reckon almost 50% of County will be able to receive some kind of outdoor 4G within a month or two south devon still lacking although hillhead (Brixham) is being done and Rf goes miles from up three trust me I know from experience!

I guess this is a bit like EE, as it took a while to get going and then everyone seemed to be seeing some form of improvement.

I use everyone as a general term as I know many of us, me included are still waiting for EE 3g to arrive, let alone 4g!

Yes, Whitchurch itself does have 4G coverage from one EE mast now, but only within the confines of the town to the bypass. The map shows wide coverage North towards Malpas, Eastwards towards Ellesmere and South through Prees, but there isn't a sniff of it in reality until you get into Malpas, Ellemere, Market Drayton or Shrewsbury. In the centre of town it's pretty good, just not extending very far. If you look on the EE coverage map and choose the double speed option, the yellow area shows a fair representation of the true 4G coverage of any kind. Blue coverage doesn't reflect reality on the ground, indoors or out.

Voda and 02 are still on 2G. In some ways I'm glad of this as I use O2 for solid voice-only coverage throughout the area.

I'm not aware of any planning refusals - there's a distinct lack of any applications in this part of South Cheshire and North Shropshire from what I can see!

Three are some applications in from cornerstone for Whitchurch at least 2 or three I just can't remember off the top of my head which ones apart from the one 2g only monopole with the spiral around the top near a McDonald's or little chef. It's hit and miss as to whether cornerstone have to put applications in for building and rooftop masts as they seem few and far between, in fact all the ones that I have seen applications for haven't been done yet, where as the sites without any visible planning applications have be upgraded or are on the predicted coverage map. I've noticed none of the rural orange or tmobile masts where Vodafone are bolted to the top of have been touched or have applications in..

Chipping Camden you barely get a 2G signal is the mast up by Broadway tower? Always found 3G 900 in Bourton on water poor well that was last year doesn't it come off a tv relay some distance away?

Ironically the VF for Chipping Campden comes from Lark Stoke one of the highest points in the area and basically goes straight over the top of the village! However O2 have a site near the phone exchange on the west of the village that shows (again) on the coverage checker as having an upgrade in the next three months so that will give coverage and mobile data to Campden on VF for the first time ever.

The Broadway tower site is Three, O2 have one further south on the A44 towards Blockley which has permission for shared VF / O2 so once they do that VF will be much better.

I was in Bourton the other day and you now have 3G / 4G around most of the village coming from the relay you mention and also Stow is now covered with 3G / 4G from the O2 site by the supermarket.

It mazes me that so many of these tourist hotspots were never covered with 3G as millions of people visit every year.

It is just not VF with poor data "coverage" in the Cotswolds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35718107

A lot of improvements for VO2 here in Reading. Almost every mast gets 3G/4G upgraded. Last year was about 50percent 4G coverage in Reading but this year it is amazing. Yesterday I was surprised when noticed on my phone 3bars 4G in one of my clients house. Then drove around and saw a new poll put on the road opposite the O2 poll on Henley road Reading. Amazing how fast they built the 4G coverage

A little off topic but Miserden near Stroud in Cotswolds is named as slowest broadband area of UK. It does seem to get the c**p end of the stick. Historically the Cotswold area has always been the most aggressive in mast objectors with Mast sanity based in Stroud saying mobiles are just an excuse to watch porn and gamble!

Where they have done its not bad at all. I think the problem is that people in the rural areas are wondering will they see 4g? Suspect so, however they are probably going to be the final stage of the plan once all the big cities and towns are complete.