That VoLTE map has been around for quite a while, but I don't think anyone who knows what it's for has stated it publicly
Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread
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Originally Posted by jchamier:
“Not unsurprising really!”
“Not unsurprising really!”
It is smaller though which suggests it's not so robust near either the cell edge or some cells are activated taking into account some of the gaps. I wonder what the handover to 3G threshold is.
There are some 4G sites that are active but are not on there so unless it was an overlay for a specific period in time that then was not used?
Originally Posted by mobilecentre:
“There are some 4G sites that are active but are not on there so unless it was an overlay for a specific period in time that then was not used?”
“There are some 4G sites that are active but are not on there so unless it was an overlay for a specific period in time that then was not used?”
Yeah it's obviously not something they are releasing external just yet. I'm curious will it be VF or EE which goes first there. Either way the other won't be too far behind...
They've not even updated the normal 4G map for our area yet even though it's had 4G for like a month now. Voda says coming soon, O2 says nothing, both have it already...
I seem to have noticed a "start South/central and work spread Northwards and outwards" method of 4G deployment on watching the map over the past year or two, that trend's been continuing lately. South Cumbria's getting there now, so they're obviously doing pretty well with it
I seem to have noticed a "start South/central and work spread Northwards and outwards" method of 4G deployment on watching the map over the past year or two, that trend's been continuing lately. South Cumbria's getting there now, so they're obviously doing pretty well with it
Originally Posted by joemcd:
“I'm curious will it be VF or EE which goes first there. Either way the other won't be too far behind...”
“I'm curious will it be VF or EE which goes first there. Either way the other won't be too far behind...”
EE's active in some cities, works on my iPhone 6s - made some calls. No issues.
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“For Vodafone and O2, I can't see the rush for VoLTE really until they get much much more masts upgraded, it's not like they can increase power levels at all,
Judging by the way many urban upgrades have been approached sadly I think many of the big rural 2g masts will be among the last to be switched on in some areas. They seem to only upgrade big masts once they are supported in the area by smaller masts, some have been done and have shown a massive footprint on the coverage maps, there really are loads of planned upgrades on the map now, with many going live quite quickly and then others added, seem to be moving on to the more isolated 3g towers too,”
“For Vodafone and O2, I can't see the rush for VoLTE really until they get much much more masts upgraded, it's not like they can increase power levels at all,
Judging by the way many urban upgrades have been approached sadly I think many of the big rural 2g masts will be among the last to be switched on in some areas. They seem to only upgrade big masts once they are supported in the area by smaller masts, some have been done and have shown a massive footprint on the coverage maps, there really are loads of planned upgrades on the map now, with many going live quite quickly and then others added, seem to be moving on to the more isolated 3g towers too,”
Yes I agree as VoLTE is unusable for VO2 as 4G800 is on low power
Originally Posted by georgi_prodanov:
“Yes I agree as VoLTE is unusable for VO2 as 4G800 is on low power”
“Yes I agree as VoLTE is unusable for VO2 as 4G800 is on low power”
And 4G800 will remain on low power until either (a) VoLTE becomes the norm, or (b) V/O2 use another frequency nationwide for their 4G.
By using 1800 as their main carrier, EE and 3 have allowed themselves to run 800 at full power.
I'm not sure what this obsession is with 'full power'. Masts will very rarely run at full power (the only exception being in very rural locations) because if they do, they'll interfere too much with surrounding masts running on the same frequency. As a general rule, a mast will only be broadcasting with enough power to cover just over 50% of the distance between it and the next mast in a given direction. I think I'm right in saying (although somebody with more knowledge will be able to confirm/deny) that on the edge of a 4G cell, it'll actually being doing a form of time division with a neighbouring mast, so that they're not both broadcasting at the same time and interfering with each other.
This means in places like London masts will always be on very low power, no matter what frequencies they're using, which is one of the reasons the signal bars on modern phones have switched from reporting signal strength to signal quality
This means in places like London masts will always be on very low power, no matter what frequencies they're using, which is one of the reasons the signal bars on modern phones have switched from reporting signal strength to signal quality
Originally Posted by gazzz02:
“I'm not sure what this obsession is with 'full power'. Masts will very rarely run at full power (the only exception being in very rural locations) because if they do, they'll interfere too much with surrounding masts running on the same frequency. As a general rule, a mast will only be broadcasting with enough power to cover just over 50% of the distance between it and the next mast in a given direction. I think I'm right in saying (although somebody with more knowledge will be able to confirm/deny) that on the edge of a 4G cell, it'll actually being doing a form of time division with a neighbouring mast, so that they're not both broadcasting at the same time and interfering with each other.
This means in places like London masts will always be on very low power, no matter what frequencies they're using, which is one of the reasons the signal bars on modern phones have switched from reporting signal strength to signal quality”
“I'm not sure what this obsession is with 'full power'. Masts will very rarely run at full power (the only exception being in very rural locations) because if they do, they'll interfere too much with surrounding masts running on the same frequency. As a general rule, a mast will only be broadcasting with enough power to cover just over 50% of the distance between it and the next mast in a given direction. I think I'm right in saying (although somebody with more knowledge will be able to confirm/deny) that on the edge of a 4G cell, it'll actually being doing a form of time division with a neighbouring mast, so that they're not both broadcasting at the same time and interfering with each other.
This means in places like London masts will always be on very low power, no matter what frequencies they're using, which is one of the reasons the signal bars on modern phones have switched from reporting signal strength to signal quality”
I know this is a question and not in response to the above but is their any talk of Vodafone 4G1800?
Originally Posted by beans0ntoast:
“And 4G800 will remain on low power until either (a) VoLTE becomes the norm, or (b) V/O2 use another frequency nationwide for their 4G.
By using 1800 as their main carrier, EE and 3 have allowed themselves to run 800 at full power.”
“And 4G800 will remain on low power until either (a) VoLTE becomes the norm, or (b) V/O2 use another frequency nationwide for their 4G.
By using 1800 as their main carrier, EE and 3 have allowed themselves to run 800 at full power.”
What about Vodafone 4G2600 If they deploy it on every mast then should be able to tun 4G800 on full power
This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G 
http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg
Originally Posted by Skippy2005:
“I know this is a question and not in response to the above but is their any talk of Vodafone 4G1800?”
“I know this is a question and not in response to the above but is their any talk of Vodafone 4G1800?”
Outside of this forum is seen no mention of Vodafone's doing anything with 1800mhz apart from what they're already doing which is using it for supporting 900mhz 2g in some areas.
For me the most important and urgent thing Vodafone need to get doing with there existing network is adding extra capacity to 900mhz 3g, even in very advanced rollout areas this is still used alot and suffers badly with congestion,
Originally Posted by georgi_prodanov:
“What about Vodafone 4G2600 If they deploy it on every mast then should be able to tun 4G800 on full power”
“What about Vodafone 4G2600 If they deploy it on every mast then should be able to tun 4G800 on full power”
Even with 2600mhz on full power on every mast you still cannot run 800mhz 4g on full power as it will travel much further then 2600mhz, vo2's networks are largely set up to run low frequencies historically and masts are spread out a distances to support this, even with 2600mhz on every mast there would still be many holes.
This was the problem with 2100mhz 3g not that they made much of an effort rolling it out anyway.
But 2600mhz 4g should be on all urban and semi rural masts really for future support, Lord knows why they are not going this.
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“Outside of this forum is seen no mention of Vodafone's doing anything with 1800mhz apart from what they're already doing which is using it for supporting 900mhz 2g in some areas.
For me the most important and urgent thing Vodafone need to get doing with there existing network is adding extra capacity to 900mhz 3g, even in very advanced rollout areas this is still used alot and suffers badly with congestion,
Even with 2600mhz on full power on every mast you still cannot run 800mhz 4g on full power as it will travel much further then 2600mhz, vo2's networks are largely set up to run low frequencies historically and masts are spread out a distances to support this, even with 2600mhz on every mast there would still be many holes.
This was the problem with 2100mhz 3g not that they made much of an effort rolling it out anyway.
But 2600mhz 4g should be on all urban and semi rural masts really for future support, Lord knows why they are not going this.”
“Outside of this forum is seen no mention of Vodafone's doing anything with 1800mhz apart from what they're already doing which is using it for supporting 900mhz 2g in some areas.
For me the most important and urgent thing Vodafone need to get doing with there existing network is adding extra capacity to 900mhz 3g, even in very advanced rollout areas this is still used alot and suffers badly with congestion,
Even with 2600mhz on full power on every mast you still cannot run 800mhz 4g on full power as it will travel much further then 2600mhz, vo2's networks are largely set up to run low frequencies historically and masts are spread out a distances to support this, even with 2600mhz on every mast there would still be many holes.
This was the problem with 2100mhz 3g not that they made much of an effort rolling it out anyway.
But 2600mhz 4g should be on all urban and semi rural masts really for future support, Lord knows why they are not going this.”
Yes I understand now thanks a lot
O2's new shiny monopole and cabinets are sitting proudly on the A49 near Bunbury (Cheshire) now. Sadly, I was driving past at a busy time so couldn't stop to see what the speed was, or to take a photo for avid mast-spotters.
I wonder if it's pumping out a Vodafone signal too?
I wonder if it's pumping out a Vodafone signal too?
Originally Posted by CheshireBumpkin:
“O2's new shiny monopole and cabinets are sitting proudly on the A49 near Bunbury (Cheshire) now. Sadly, I was driving past at a busy time so couldn't stop to see what the speed was, or to take a photo for avid mast-spotters.
I wonder if it's pumping out a Vodafone signal too?”
“O2's new shiny monopole and cabinets are sitting proudly on the A49 near Bunbury (Cheshire) now. Sadly, I was driving past at a busy time so couldn't stop to see what the speed was, or to take a photo for avid mast-spotters.
I wonder if it's pumping out a Vodafone signal too?”
Hopefully as there was a bt of a hole in coverage last time I was there. About time they started a mast or 2 in Whitchurch now.
Originally Posted by Pedro_C:
“I have seen schematics which show 1800MHz 4G equipment fitted.”
“I have seen schematics which show 1800MHz 4G equipment fitted.”
Was this O2 Pedro? As I've seen 1 or 2 drawings where O2 plan to reuse there 1800mhz for 4g but not Vodafone.
I enjoyed this video you did on the various poles and masts used by the networks predro
https://youtu.be/Vcu3d-g-ln8
But you seem to have missed the most popular new cabinet out cornerstone use in the West which is the Huawei BTS3900AL
There's a picture of one here, plus have you seen one of these old O2 2g monopoles before. This is the only one I've seen of this type, the new cabinet has been sitting unused for about 10 months now.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/cr22bak6t...ePKWTN3TdsIEPa
Sorry it's so dull, taken at 6am in poor light
Originally Posted by voodoofish:
“This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg”
“This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G
http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg”
Where was this Central London??
Originally Posted by M1kos:
“Where was this Central London??”
“Where was this Central London??”
I see similar on Vodafone data in Bristol most lunchtimes.
Originally Posted by voodoofish:
“This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg”
“This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G
http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg”
That's like almost everywhere I was trying back in 2013 and early 2014.. from Hertfordshire into London and the surrounds.
I am glad that for the most part, these pathetic speeds are long gone.
Having been to their control centre, I can only assume they're fully aware of such issues and have a plan to rectify things. What's more, I actually have confidence that they will fix it - which is something you'd have NEVER heard me say a few years ago.
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“Hopefully as there was a bt of a hole in coverage last time I was there. About time they started a mast or 2 in Whitchurch now.
Was this O2 Pedro? As I've seen 1 or 2 drawings where O2 plan to reuse there 1800mhz for 4g but not Vodafone.
I enjoyed this video you did on the various poles and masts used by the networks predro
https://youtu.be/Vcu3d-g-ln8
But you seem to have missed the most popular new cabinet out cornerstone use in the West which is the Huawei BTS3900AL
There's a picture of one here, plus have you seen one of these old O2 2g monopoles before. This is the only one I've seen of this type, the new cabinet has been sitting unused for about 10 months now.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/cr22bak6t...ePKWTN3TdsIEPa
Sorry it's so dull, taken at 6am in poor light”
“Hopefully as there was a bt of a hole in coverage last time I was there. About time they started a mast or 2 in Whitchurch now.
Was this O2 Pedro? As I've seen 1 or 2 drawings where O2 plan to reuse there 1800mhz for 4g but not Vodafone.
I enjoyed this video you did on the various poles and masts used by the networks predro
https://youtu.be/Vcu3d-g-ln8
But you seem to have missed the most popular new cabinet out cornerstone use in the West which is the Huawei BTS3900AL
There's a picture of one here, plus have you seen one of these old O2 2g monopoles before. This is the only one I've seen of this type, the new cabinet has been sitting unused for about 10 months now.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/cr22bak6t...ePKWTN3TdsIEPa
Sorry it's so dull, taken at 6am in poor light”
Both Vodafone and O2 I've been told by more than one source.
At the time of making the video, I had never seen a BTS3900AL on a CTIL mast. I have since and there is a plan to produce a second monopole video.
I have seen that type of O2 monopole before but forgot to include it on the video.
Originally Posted by voodoofish:
“This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg”
“This is what congested looks like on Voda 4G
http://i.imgur.com/SZB7C9S.jpg”
Pahahahaha
Looks like someone needs to add 2600 onto that mast (if it's on 4G).
If that was on 3G, then that needs 2100 on it urgently, and decent backhaul.
edit: And it was on 4G! That mast NEEDS 2600 AND 1800 urgently!
Originally Posted by Pedro_C:
“Both Vodafone and O2 I've been told by more than one source.
At the time of making the video, I had never seen a BTS3900AL on a CTIL mast. I have since and there is a plan to produce a second monopole video.
I have seen that type of O2 monopole before but forgot to include it on the video.”
“Both Vodafone and O2 I've been told by more than one source.
At the time of making the video, I had never seen a BTS3900AL on a CTIL mast. I have since and there is a plan to produce a second monopole video.
I have seen that type of O2 monopole before but forgot to include it on the video.”
Good to know Vodafone are not planning to just leave the 1800mhz unused in the future, though I do hope this won't in anyway delay or hinder refarming some of 2g 900mhz over to 3g as I'd say for Vodafone in the present and near future this one of the most important areas they need to sort out whilst 4g is on low power.
Whilst 2100mhz 3g in upgraded 4g areas is virtually unused the 900mhz is still under extreme strain and needs the added capacity.
Enjoying your videos Pedro, great to watch in my lunch break, the redifusion one was interesting, I remember my grandparents having the system up until the mid 80s
Originally Posted by beans0ntoast:
“Pahahahaha
Looks like someone needs to add 2600 onto that mast (if it's on 4G).
If that was on 3G, then that needs 2100 on it urgently, and decent backhaul.
edit: And it was on 4G! That mast NEEDS 2600 AND 1800 urgently!”
“Pahahahaha
Looks like someone needs to add 2600 onto that mast (if it's on 4G).
If that was on 3G, then that needs 2100 on it urgently, and decent backhaul.
edit: And it was on 4G! That mast NEEDS 2600 AND 1800 urgently!”
unfortunately quite a few sites desperately need 2.6Ghz added
Originally Posted by Ashley_Bradbury:
“unfortunately quite a few sites desperately need 2.6Ghz added”
“unfortunately quite a few sites desperately need 2.6Ghz added
”
People already claim that EE's 1.8 Ghz doesn't go indoors - so Vodafone's 2.6 Ghz may not help them at all. They will have no choice shortly as 2x10mhz 800 will be saturated in a few years in busy areas.
CTIL will have two options, deploy 2600 everywhere which will help, or start "densifying" the network with more and more masts to share the load ; especially in areas with 0.02 mbps type speeds.
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