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Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread
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georgi_prodanov
06-03-2016
Originally Posted by clewsy:
“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.”

Yes I agree with you but the speed they are doing the upgrade is very fast and by the end of this year we shall see a huge 4G coverage
DangerMouseUK
06-03-2016
Changed back to this account (was GreenLantern)

I went for a drive the other day not that far north of the Marlow turnoff on the M40 (A404) - the next turning or so. After driving for 5-10mins into woodland areas, 0 Vodafone coverage and we're only 45-55 mins drive from London here !!

Wasn't too impressed.
georgi_prodanov
07-03-2016
Originally Posted by DangerMouseUK:
“Changed back to this account (was GreenLantern)

I went for a drive the other day not that far north of the Marlow turnoff on the M40 (A404) - the next turning or so. After driving for 5-10mins into woodland areas, 0 Vodafone coverage and we're only 45-55 mins drive from London here !!

Wasn't too impressed.”

Hm that is very odd especially for Vodafone. Does any other network have coverage there? I work in a lot of places around woods in to woods and villages and have not seen NO SIGNAL. Usually it is good where I work near Reading or around Berkshire
InfamousTeal
07-03-2016
Are we ever getting the zoom buttons back on the coverage checker?
beans0ntoast
07-03-2016
Originally Posted by InfamousTeal:
“Are we ever getting the zoom buttons back on the coverage checker? ”

Are we ever going to get a coverage checker that doesn't mislead you by showing 2G on the 3G coverage map?

If I come along with my phone, forced to 3G (or 4G) mode, and I see a red bit on the coverage map, will I get a signal? Nope! Do ordinary people think they will get a very weak signal? Yep! Result? Misleading!

edit: And Raunds (Northamptonshire) STILL has no Vodafone coverage...
M1kos
08-03-2016
Vodafone planned maintenance page is showing nothing anywhere.... Very strange!
Ashley_Bradbury
08-03-2016
Does anyone know what the red "limited coverage" stands for on vodas website? I mean 2g indoor is purple and outdoor is gray. Whenever I travel in the red parts I get no signal whatsoever.
InfamousTeal
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by Ashley_Bradbury:
“Does anyone know what the red "limited coverage" stands for on vodas website? I mean 2g indoor is purple and outdoor is gray. Whenever I travel in the red parts I get no signal whatsoever. ”

It means no service pretty much! If the order is:

Indoor
Outdoor
Limited

Then what is limited?? How can there be a signal less than outdoor only?

You're right, this basically means No Service and they just want there to be some colour there to look good.
japaul
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by Ashley_Bradbury:
“Does anyone know what the red "limited coverage" stands for on vodas website? I mean 2g indoor is purple and outdoor is gray. Whenever I travel in the red parts I get no signal whatsoever. ”

Just different thresholds which approximate to indoor/outdoor and something lower. There probably is some signal in the red areas which an old phone might be able to work with. But for most modern smartphones - forget it.
jonmorris
08-03-2016
In the old days of analogue you had coverage based on hand portables and transportables/car phones. Maybe Vodafone still thinks some people could have larger antennas or boosters that could make receiving 2G possible in such limited areas?
japaul
08-03-2016
Yep I posted a scan of one of the old maps that showed the distinction not so long ago.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=2623
moox
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by japaul:
“Just different thresholds which approximate to indoor/outdoor and something lower. There probably is some signal in the red areas which an old phone might be able to work with. But for most modern smartphones - forget it.”

Vodafone's coverage checker points out the indoor thing (for 3G/4G anyway) - they even go as far as to mention that older houses might be worse than newer ones.

That's true for me - thick granite walls are great at emitting radiation, but are great at keeping other types of radiation out
beans0ntoast
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by Ashley_Bradbury:
“Does anyone know what the red "limited coverage" stands for on vodas website? I mean 2g indoor is purple and outdoor is gray. Whenever I travel in the red parts I get no signal whatsoever. ”

From what I make of that coverage checker, purple is indoors and outdoors, gray is outdoors only, red means that you might get a hint of outdoors signal but you are unlikely to get anything.

So basically, just treat it the same way as the 3G coverage checker and you'll be ok: Purple for indoors, gray for outdoors, red (and no color at all) for nowt.
Ashley_Bradbury
08-03-2016
I assumed it was more for sos 999 calls on other networks
beans0ntoast
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by Ashley_Bradbury:
“I assumed it was more for sos 999 calls on other networks”

No, it wouldn't show the 2G coverage of other networks - it means there might be a small chance of getting a signal, but you'll be unlikely to get anything.

999 calls will go through any network.
mrgs12
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by moox:
“Vodafone's coverage checker points out the indoor thing (for 3G/4G anyway) - they even go as far as to mention that older houses might be worse than newer ones.

That's true for me - thick granite walls are great at emitting radiation, but are great at keeping other types of radiation out”

Going to make the indoor coverage obligation difficult in some areas, thick Cotswold stone walls here 90% of houses here no signal and stated on website surely the network can't say poor indoor coverage not suitable for smartphones etc? 800mhz going to suddenly make up for 900mhz shortcomings.
japaul
08-03-2016
The type of building doesn't affect the obligation (which of course doesn't apply to Vodafone although they'll presumably have similar coverage to O2 who do have the obligation).

There is a specified loss assumed for indoor relative to the estimated signal outdoor and this applies everywhere.
mrgs12
08-03-2016
Originally Posted by japaul:
“The type of building doesn't affect the obligation (which of course doesn't apply to Vodafone although they'll presumably have similar coverage to O2 who do have the obligation).

There is a specified loss assumed for indoor relative to the estimated signal outdoor and this applies everywhere.”

How can it be assumed with a general figure it's like saying Edinburgh with thick walled houses and a 1970s houses are the same? There has to be calculated formula for all building types? Otherwise you get what you get now widely over expectation of signal. Seems an unfair if you can't differentiate between areas how can state signal where there is none.
mr_mojo
09-03-2016
Just got moved over to Vodafone on the £20 deal a week or so ago. Very smooth and insanely good value for money (Netflix + £75 cashback from quidco makes it work out at £6.25/month for 12 months).

Unfortunately the 3G network is abysmal in London. 4G is great - much better than Threes 4G - but as soon as you go down to 3G everything is so slow. Three's 3G was and is as fast as 4G in most cases.
beans0ntoast
09-03-2016
Update on the Higham ferrers mast:

Had a little look today and it appears to be 2 panels per sector - the weather is too poor to get any pics but one day I will. One of them is a long thin panel and the other is shorter, but wider. So I assume the longer panel is 800/900 4G/3G with the shorter one being 3G2100?

Pedro - can you confirm that this is the most likely layout?
japaul
09-03-2016
Originally Posted by mrgs12:
“How can it be assumed with a general figure it's like saying Edinburgh with thick walled houses and a 1970s houses are the same? There has to be calculated formula for all building types? Otherwise you get what you get now widely over expectation of signal. Seems an unfair if you can't differentiate between areas how can state signal where there is none.”

It needs to be something that can be assessed relatively easily though and it wouldn't be practical to find out the loss associated with every different building. It also needed to be clear prior to the auction so that bidders knew what they were getting into.

In any case the actual obligation doesn't state that they must provide coverage to all buildings covering 98% of the population but rather it's all buildings where the loss from outside to inside doesn't exceed xdB.

In the case of O2 using 800MHz, x is around 13dB. It's more if you are doing it with higher frequencies.
Pedro_C
09-03-2016
Originally Posted by beans0ntoast:
“Update on the Higham ferrers mast:

Had a little look today and it appears to be 2 panels per sector - the weather is too poor to get any pics but one day I will. One of them is a long thin panel and the other is shorter, but wider. So I assume the longer panel is 800/900 4G/3G with the shorter one being 3G2100?

Pedro - can you confirm that this is the most likely layout?”

That could well be the setup; I've seen similar
jonmorris
09-03-2016
Originally Posted by mr_mojo:
“Just got moved over to Vodafone on the £20 deal a week or so ago. Very smooth and insanely good value for money (Netflix + £75 cashback from quidco makes it work out at £6.25/month for 12 months).

Unfortunately the 3G network is abysmal in London. 4G is great - much better than Threes 4G - but as soon as you go down to 3G everything is so slow. Three's 3G was and is as fast as 4G in most cases.”

There are places where 3G clearly doesn't support DC-HSPA or have a decent backhaul and speeds top out at around 1.5Mbps or lower, which isn't great.

This is what Vodafone was like almost everywhere a year or two ago, and now you can see the marked difference with old sites still to be upgraded, and those that have.

The upgraded sites on 3G will be 15-25Mbps, much like Three's DC-HSPA network.. and 4G around the same, but with the chance of going even higher (and the lower ping/higher upload speeds).
Ashley_Bradbury
09-03-2016
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“There are places where 3G clearly doesn't support DC-HSPA or have a decent backhaul and speeds top out at around 1.5Mbps or lower, which isn't great.

This is what Vodafone was like almost everywhere a year or two ago, and now you can see the marked difference with old sites still to be upgraded, and those that have.

The upgraded sites on 3G will be 15-25Mbps, much like Three's DC-HSPA network.. and 4G around the same, but with the chance of going even higher (and the lower ping/higher upload speeds).”

I'm just in Manchester centre and shocked at how slow the 4g is and the total lack of any 2.6ghz. I can't believe they haven't rolled both out at the same time.
moox
09-03-2016
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“There are places where 3G clearly doesn't support DC-HSPA or have a decent backhaul and speeds top out at around 1.5Mbps or lower, which isn't great.

This is what Vodafone was like almost everywhere a year or two ago, and now you can see the marked difference with old sites still to be upgraded, and those that have.

The upgraded sites on 3G will be 15-25Mbps, much like Three's DC-HSPA network.. and 4G around the same, but with the chance of going even higher (and the lower ping/higher upload speeds).”

My local VF site is still like this. I reckon it was upgraded very hastily to meet Ofcom's coverage requirements, but they never came back to do the backhaul. Even the local O2 2100MHz site gives very acceptable performance

At least according to Vodafone's checker, no upgrades planned yet
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