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Old 13-04-2016, 22:40
jaffboy151
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Working fine here, they normally update the maps on a Wednesday night / Thursday morning so might be too do with that.
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Old 13-04-2016, 23:27
clewsy
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We often here which mobile phone network had the overall best coverage for various types of service from many sources and many people, but in the end it's a highly personal thing that depends on many personal factors and usage requirements, no one person can say to another with any confidence which is best for someone, and service levels and quality have changed so much in the past few years anyone saying service or coverage was bad when they tried it a few years ago might find things very different now or in the next few months.
I changed from three last year who were the best network in my locations to Vodafone, who if you look at coverage maps are a solid 3rd place for coverage or any kind, in Shropshire and South Cheshire behind O2 & EE,
But for me I had a full usable 2g signal indoors and 4g upstairs at home last year, 3g full signal at work and 3g 90% albeit slow 900mhz on my commute with Vodafone vs threes no indoor coverage, very weak 3g with no throughput on my commute and a congested non responsive 3g & 4g at work, it was a no brainer really as those are the areas I use my phone most of the time. Now, Vodafone have improved things that I now have 3g/4g indoor coverage at home, on most of my commute and at work I have had 4g since the next year, with at least 4 more mast I pass coming online in the next few weeks..
But if you live in Devon, hants, big parts of Wales and wast anglea, you will probably still think them the devil incarnate and rightly so.
Myself and other think the same about EE where I live as they have not upgraded nearly all the orange 2g masts and left the Mbnl masts on 2mb copper backhaul in the most part.
Very true, like I have said many times. It's like EE have given up on upgrading sites now, but the Cornerstone masts seem to be still expanding and filling gaps in.
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Old 13-04-2016, 23:43
jonmorris
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Given the work on VoLTE that's already operating for iOS users, and 800 (possibly with public access) going on this month and next, I think a lot of work has been behind the scenes. 800 may well be planned to solve problems in certain areas, albeit only usable by people with the right phone/firmware.

It's rather like Three's slow down of 1800 site activations for much of the end of 2014 and into 2015, to supposedly concentrate on 800. It's a shame that even in 2016 it seems it wasn't quite as good a roll out as many thought.
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Old 14-04-2016, 07:16
packages
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Very true, like I have said many times. It's like EE have given up on upgrading sites now, but the Cornerstone masts seem to be still expanding and filling gaps in.
I thought that EE's plan is to virtually 4G all of their masts by the time their 90% geo obligation is due and only a few will not be upgraded and I'm guessing 800 will be present there anyway?
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Old 14-04-2016, 07:19
daleski75
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Given the work on VoLTE that's already operating for iOS users, and 800 (possibly with public access) going on this month and next, I think a lot of work has been behind the scenes. 800 may well be planned to solve problems in certain areas, albeit only usable by people with the right phone/firmware.

It's rather like Three's slow down of 1800 site activations for much of the end of 2014 and into 2015, to supposedly concentrate on 800. It's a shame that even in 2016 it seems it wasn't quite as good a roll out as many thought.
I honestly think Vodafone are shaping up to be a very good network and hopefully they can bring their customer service up to the same standard given time.
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Old 14-04-2016, 11:02
Bentoni
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I thought that EE's plan is to virtually 4G all of their masts by the time their 90% geo obligation is due and only a few will not be upgraded and I'm guessing 800 will be present there anyway?
EE are saying they will upgrade every mast to 4G.

I've switched from EE to Vodafone since late Janaury, I honestly think their 4G is well good. I get 4G in more indoor locations well, and overall low latency and acceptable speed(at least 15 Mbps down). The only complaint I had was their online account management, it was full of bugs and their tech support can do nothing to help you.
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Old 14-04-2016, 11:03
jchamier
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Very true, like I have said many times. It's like EE have given up on upgrading sites now, but the Cornerstone masts seem to be still expanding and filling gaps in.
I suspect EE have done all the "easy" and "medium" masts and are now working on the "really difficult" upgrades. Cornerstone are still doing the easy and medium ones - and seem to be adding new.
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Old 14-04-2016, 11:08
jaffboy151
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Very true, like I have said many times. It's like EE have given up on upgrading sites now, but the Cornerstone masts seem to be still expanding and filling gaps in.
I know I'll most likely get a slating for saying it and VO2 are only upgrading so much so quickly because they've done virtually sod all for the past 10 years, but as much as EE is rated when you look around at some of there equipment I can't help thinking they only have such a advanced 4g network in many places because of the past work put in by T mobile and three, and the fact they were able to reuse a frequencys they were already using making many site upgrades easy (in relative terms) many sites still around me haven't seemed to need new antennas and are only now getting touched mainly due I think to three needing alterations for 800mhz & there 1800mhz, any of the more difficult orange 2g sites or 3g sites without fibre have simply been left untouched. EE are finally upgrading 1 old orange Street pole in my work town this month, the 1st upgrade from them I've seen all year, in comparison cornerstone are doing 5 street poles and roughly 3 larger masts before the end of April.
EE are still well ahead overall and always will in my opinion in regards to speed but if they continue to rest on there laurels they will end up behind,
I'm sure 800mhz will help them soon though, but what will the speeds be like?
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Old 14-04-2016, 13:06
jchamier
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I know I'll most likely get a slating for saying it and VO2 are only upgrading so much so quickly because they've done virtually sod all for the past 10 years, but as much as EE is rated when you look around at some of there equipment I can't help thinking they only have such a advanced 4g network in many places because of the past work put in by T mobile and three,
You mean that T-Mob and Three did proper business planning and investment in 2006/2007/2008 when Voda/O2 and Orange did almost nothing? I was on T-Mobile in 2008 with 10mbps downloads on 3G when people on Vodafone and O2 were trying to get EDGE to work! Three users also had good speeds. Back then the other networks were selling phone calls, didn't anticipate the smartphone revolution.

Yes, when Orange SA and DT decided to merge the networks into EE in the UK they took the best assets (the T-mobile MBNL part, and the Orange voicemail, etc) and then added the other masts. Mergers take years.

and the fact they were able to reuse a frequencys they were already using making
If you recall they applied to Ofcom and then Voda and O2 went to court to stop them! It took the Government to intervene to sort out the mess. I think in the end they had a 7 month lead.

many site upgrades easy (in relative terms) many sites still around me haven't seemed to need new antennas and are only now getting touched mainly due I think to three needing alterations for 800mhz & there 1800mhz, any of the more difficult orange 2g sites or 3g sites without fibre have simply been left untouched.
Interesting you're seeing that, where I am its been new antenna panels everywhere (which are not cheap) and massive backhaul upgrades. I assume its down to population density, and your area will be upgraded eventually.

EE are finally upgrading 1 old orange Street pole in my work town this month, the 1st upgrade from them I've seen all year, in comparison cornerstone are doing 5 street poles and roughly 3 larger masts before the end of April. EE are still well ahead overall and always will in my opinion in regards to speed but if they continue to rest on there laurels they will end up behind
I understand scheduling is complex, councils often won't let two companies work on the same stretch of road at the same time (even on different things) and some companies book slots longer than they need (e.g. water/gas etc) - so this delays the mobile networks.

I'm sure 800mhz will help them soon though, but what will the speeds be like?
Quite slow as this is only 2x5mhz as per Three. The main capacity is at 1800 and secondary at 2600. The 800 is for in building and long distance coverage. Where I live I'm not expecting to see any 800 as 1800 works amazingly well in my town, even indoors. For years T-mobile and Orange beat VO2 for coverage - until in the last 18m when CTIL have deployed additional masts.

the UK is small compared to the USA, but it has quite intensive networks
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Old 14-04-2016, 17:07
Stereo Steve
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More 4G planned for Ideford A380 in Devon I see. Good. Very heavily used road that one.Keep on rolling Cornerstone. Seems there is something new planned or active every week down here. Currently missing me by a mile but that's nothing new.
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Old 14-04-2016, 17:16
moox
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More 4G planned for Ideford A380 in Devon I see. Good. Very heavily used road that one.Keep on rolling Cornerstone. Seems there is something new planned or active every week down here. Currently missing me by a mile but that's nothing new.
They're turning on a cell site near me by the looks of it - I move from being almost in the orange/fringe zone, to being slightly further in the purple zone. Not a dramatic increase for me, but it will fill a current blackspot on the A30 and is otherwise welcome

Still don't have a SIM w/ credit to test it out though
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Old 14-04-2016, 19:08
mrMick
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O2's status checker now says 4G is on it's way to my little bit of Cambridgeshire. Mum has been warned since she is the O2 customer of the house lol
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Old 15-04-2016, 00:24
Bentoni
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Just notice that you can no longer make calls and use data at same time when on Vodafone's 3G

Whenever I receive a phone call while on 4G, the phone reverts to 3G for the call, but at the same time, data would stop to work.

The handset I use is iPhone 6S Plus, on the latest iOS 9.3.1. Please Could anyone else on Vodafone try to reproduce the issue? I contacted Vodafone's tech support and they say it's part of the iPhone's design, when on 3G it would prioritise voice.
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Old 15-04-2016, 08:50
Skippy2005
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Just notice that you can no longer make calls and use data at same time when on Vodafone's 3G

Whenever I receive a phone call while on 4G, the phone reverts to 3G for the call, but at the same time, data would stop to work.

The handset I use is iPhone 6S Plus, on the latest iOS 9.3.1. Please Could anyone else on Vodafone try to reproduce the issue? I contacted Vodafone's tech support and they say it's part of the iPhone's design, when on 3G it would prioritise voice.
Data works fine here during a 3G call, you maybe connecting to a site that hasn't been upgraded yet despite getting a 4G signal from another site. I have the iPhone 6s Plus on 9.3.1 so vodafones theory is rubbish. Not all sites in one area have been upgraded yet.

Edit.... All Voda/O2 sites around me are now fully upgraded.
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Old 15-04-2016, 10:11
LegendaryAced
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Just notice that you can no longer make calls and use data at same time when on Vodafone's 3G

Whenever I receive a phone call while on 4G, the phone reverts to 3G for the call, but at the same time, data would stop to work.

The handset I use is iPhone 6S Plus, on the latest iOS 9.3.1. Please Could anyone else on Vodafone try to reproduce the issue? I contacted Vodafone's tech support and they say it's part of the iPhone's design, when on 3G it would prioritise voice.
It is a common issue with 3G on Vodafone, and as people is this forum claim, on non-upgraded 3G masts.

You get that everywhere in Brighton and Hove.

Of course it is not part of the iPhone design.
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Old 15-04-2016, 10:58
jaffboy151
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It's not a iPhone problem it's a Vodafone problem, can't use data during calls in my area last few times I tried it. I don't tend to try it very often so can't say if it's old masts or not, needs a bit of investigating, I've a LG G4 so not iPhone related.
Hoping the work is finished today on the mast near my work, looks well under way with big duel panels on each sector so far, struggling with data though as I'm using a 120+db 4g signal which for obvious reasons isn't very robust as you move about, the 85db 900mhz 3g signal from the motorway service station is blown to bits and gives no data at all, not that it ever does on a good day even without a major mast down for maintenance. Will be worth it to have a full indoor 4g signal though next week! ☺️
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Old 15-04-2016, 11:17
Gaz82
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I don't think it's a problem restricted to Vodafone either, I've had this happen on EE before too.
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Old 15-04-2016, 13:22
LegendaryAced
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I don't think it's a problem restricted to Vodafone either, I've had this happen on EE before too.
Other than Vodafone UK, I have tried Three UK and all three Greek mobile operators with iPhones. Except Vodafone UK, all the others are very capable of transmitting data in high speeds while on a voice call via 3G.

EE might have a similar configuration? Or is it possible that you have that on an old Orange mast? I've read in this forum that old Orange masts are still on copper making data really slow even when you use them on their own.
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Old 15-04-2016, 13:28
Gaz82
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Other than Vodafone UK, I have tried Three UK and all three Greek mobile operators with iPhones. Except Vodafone UK, all the others are very capable of transmitting data in high speeds while on a voice call via 3G.

EE might have a similar configuration? Or is it possible that you have that on an old Orange mast? I've read in this forum that old Orange masts are still on copper making data really slow even when you use them on their own.
Maybe, it doesn't happen all the time only every now and then. I was just trying to show that the issue is not unique to just Vodafone, it's happened to me on another network.

I can't speak for the Greek networks but in the UK it might just be that at the times I've experienced it my phone (iPhone 6S) has dropped back to a 2G signal, which Three doesn't have in my area.
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Old 15-04-2016, 19:29
M1kos
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Just did a test I rang 191 whilst carrying out a speed test 13mb down 2.5mb up no problems
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Old 15-04-2016, 19:33
Skippy2005
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Just did a test I rang 191 whilst carrying out a speed test 13mb down 2.5mb up no problems
Yeah I was the same, 21mb down 3mb up during the call. I'm strongly guessing upgraded sites have no issues, I'm also guessing legacy sites don't have the back haul for high band voice and data, so it's disabled to stop congestion.
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Old 15-04-2016, 19:41
M1kos
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Yeah hd voice may cause issues if you call someone who is on voda as well
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Old 15-04-2016, 19:53
Skippy2005
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Yeah hd voice may cause issues if you call someone who is on voda as well
I've found it very good, even had good experience on cross network calls or very good call quality if it is HD again as I've said I'm in a fairly good upgraded area.
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Old 15-04-2016, 20:46
Denco1
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I'm not sure the issue is entirely related to legacy sites.
In Manchester I have a couple of mates on Vodafone/O2 who don't get simultaneous data and calls, something I also experienced when testing Vodafone/O2 sims last year.
Could it be differences in vendor equipment across the CTIL boundaries?
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Old 15-04-2016, 20:57
jonmorris
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Vodafone has an incredible amount of equipment from different vendors, some of which can be upgraded, and some that has to be replaced.

It must be a logistical nightmare, especially when testing things like VoLTE.
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