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Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread
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clewsy
29-03-2015
Originally Posted by uno:
“Was told something interesting today about the Vodafone & O2 rollout they currently have two teams special teams of engineers one covering North of Nottingham and the other South their role is going round doing upgrades in key general Election battlegrounds.

This makes good sense as where the party leaders go will be the strong media circus that follows all wanting to upload photos and videos. Also on election night Sky news and BBC are planning on covering even more results declaration this year many of these will be done with new technology using 4G so on the election night the networks are predicting huge spikes in data as there will be all the media and people involved in the election using their phones and devices.”

That makes sense actually as in Stoke the focus has been Newcastle area which is meant to be a key battle ground, so woukd explain why that part of the area has been done first I guess.
Zebb
09-04-2015
Vodafone updated their 4G coverage map today and looks like they're charging ahead in N. Lincs. Wish 3 would at least attempt to do something.
Skippy2005
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by Zebb:
“Vodafone updated their 4G coverage map today and looks like they're charging ahead in N. Lincs. Wish 3 would at least attempt to do something.”

I think Vodafone are the dark horse to watch, they are pressing ahead in areas they see fit but O2 don't as yet. I'm sure I'm correct in saying this please correct me...
lightspeed2398
10-04-2015
The joint venture between Vodafone and O2 means that where one puts up 4g the other will do so soon.
WelshBluebird
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by lightspeed2398:
“The joint venture between Vodafone and O2 means that where one puts up 4g the other will do so soon.”

Does that mean current Vodafone only sites will become O2 sites too? Or is that just for sites that are already shared? I know they are working together, but not sure how closely!
lightspeed2398
10-04-2015
It's not as close as MBNL for EE and Three but baring any change due to the O2 and three merger they seem to be putting all of their masts into the shared company.
jchamier
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by WelshBluebird:
“Does that mean current Vodafone only sites will become O2 sites too? Or is that just for sites that are already shared? I know they are working together, but not sure how closely!”

Here when O2 installed 4G on a mast, Vodafone 2G and 3G came available that week, and Vodafone 4G arrived the following month.
jaffboy151
10-04-2015
Vodafone are spreading into my area of North Shropshire/Staffordshire now which is good news as I'm up for contract renew in a few weeks so have ordered a sim to try out 4g & 3g coverage, are O2 and Vodafone upgraded definitely linked as the coverage maps for my area show quite different results, much more on 4g Vodafone then O2 around Stoke and Newcastle, keeping my eye on a few roadside masts I pass regularly in Telford, Nantwich, market Drayton and Newcastle for signs of action. Do vod/O2 share backhaul/fibre at these sites?
daveyfs
10-04-2015
I'm with EE on contract but I've been trying out an O2 PAYG sim the past few weeks. They've recently turned on 4G in Swansea and I must say I've been really impressed.

With EE I rarely get 4G inside buildings and the 3G is frequently indifferent (outside its great). On the O2 sim I'm getting solid 4G (2-3 bars) inside those same buildings with speeds around 15-20mbps. Even the 3G has improved - getting about 7-8 on that. Added to that, it subjectively feels more 'snappy' than EE even though the absolute speed may be lower and the ping around the same. Going to monitor it for a bit in the places I use data, and try Vodafone too, then maybe switch.

I think there are areas where some network infrastructures are just stronger than others for whatever reasons, and in Swansea, even before 4G, I always felt O2 and Voda were the better ones to be on, whilst T-Mobile and Orange (particularly Orange) were always on the weak side. Based on recent experience that may prove to be the case with 4G too.
Gigabit
10-04-2015
This O2 4G following Vodafone thing seems to be incorrect where I live (Hampshire). There are several places I can think of that have had Vodafone 4G for a good 3 months + (6 months + sometimes) with no sign of O2 4G.
jchamier
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“This O2 4G following Vodafone thing seems to be incorrect where I live (Hampshire). There are several places I can think of that have had Vodafone 4G for a good 3 months + (6 months + sometimes) with no sign of O2 4G.”

Interesting! It must be down to backhaul etc, as in central Farnborough O2 installed two new masts in early 2012 which gave good 3G outside our office, but only 2G inside. In Dec/Jan they were both being maintained, vans around and new equipment cabinets appeared. Then in early Feb the O2 4G arrived, then by early March Vodafone 4G arrived on the same mast. The Vodafone 2G and 3G was a bit earlier and one mast coming online (by Farnborough Tech) made a useful difference to my Vodafone reception. Since then the Vodafone masts by the A331 have been 4G'd and now my 4G coverage is great, and 3G is 7 to 10mbps. Before then it was Vodafone 0.5mbps and EE/Three over 10mbps.
Gigabit
10-04-2015
Has 3G coverage improved too? Do they tend to enable 900MHz support when 4G is added?
lightspeed2398
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“Has 3G coverage improved too? Do they tend to enable 900MHz support when 4G is added?”

I thought that they had to enable 3g900 when enabling 4g for the fallback to 3g for calls. It might mean that they finally get some decent coverage.
clivers
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“This O2 4G following Vodafone thing seems to be incorrect where I live (Hampshire). There are several places I can think of that have had Vodafone 4G for a good 3 months + (6 months + sometimes) with no sign of O2 4G.”

Intersting. in fareham by the train station there is an 02 mast and vodafone one. the vodafone one has been upgraded and new cabinet added as well. the 2 cabs have vodafone labels on but the mast has a o2 letter attached saying new antenna installed...
the old o2 mast is still active.
I suspect that the dual operator masts are being installed and o2 will will swap on retirement of the old one? I shall take a photo in a day or so when im up that way.
clewsy
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by clivers:
“Intersting. in fareham by the train station there is an 02 mast and vodafone one. the vodafone one has been upgraded and new cabinet added as well. the 2 cabs have vodafone labels on but the mast has a o2 letter attached saying new antenna installed...
the old o2 mast is still active.
I suspect that the dual operator masts are being installed and o2 will will swap on retirement of the old one? I shall take a photo in a day or so when im up that way.”

I suspect these will get moved to new locations to fill in the gaps if possible?
japaul
10-04-2015
Originally Posted by lightspeed2398:
“I thought that they had to enable 3g900 when enabling 4g for the fallback to 3g for calls. It might mean that they finally get some decent coverage.”

They almost all do but there are a few sites in the South where Vodafone now have 4G but absolutely no 3G (900 or 2100). Some of these are peculiar in other ways as they have been Voda 4G for a while but there's no sign of O2.

An example I'm familiar with is Pewsey in Wiltshire although there are others not so far away. This didn't seem a prime candidate for early 4G coverage as it never had 3G (and doesn't really have 2G on O2). Voda 4G arrived last year but no 3G with it (you can see this on the coverage map) so voice calls are CSFB to 2G (although it's obviously designed that way as it works just as well as fallback to 3G). But why is there no Voda 3G and why is there no O2 anything (unless the lack of an existing O2 presence causes other problems)?
lightspeed2398
10-04-2015
Sounds interesting. Could it be some sites that they run tests on or are they just sites that for some reason or like that?
japaul
10-04-2015
A lot of them aren't a million miles from Newbury so some kind of testing seems the most obvious answer. This would also explain the lack of O2. Perhaps tests of a VoLTE call handover to 2G?
jchamier
11-04-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“Has 3G coverage improved too? Do they tend to enable 900MHz support when 4G is added?”

I don't have any way of testing that I know of. I get 9megabit or so on 3G speed tests on VF, which I suspect would be a bit high for 900mhz but maybe??
Gigabit
11-04-2015
All the 4G sites between Alton and Winchester never had VF 3G and still don't; they do have VF 4G though. No sign of O2 4G.

Weirdly, the coverage map did show 4G coverage in Alton for a while despite it not existing. That's gone now though.
Rossby41
11-04-2015
Part of my local town now partly has 4G with O2 and Vodafone (where I live ), and I must say I've been very impressed. Running on Tesco pay monthly contract, I get around the 50mbps (down), 10mbps (up) mark. Eats data like nobody's business though.
Didn't know O2 and Vodafone where sharing 4G roll out.
jchamier
11-04-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“All the 4G sites between Alton and Winchester never had VF 3G and still don't; they do have VF 4G though. No sign of O2 4G.”

That is odd, must be some C&W fibre down that way that Voda now own, so using, and O2 waiting on one of the other telcos. Surprising its so long.

Interesting the Voda masts had 2G and 4G but no 3G, from what DevonBloke and RAN Man have posted it means the 2G network must have been upgraded to support CSFB from 4G otherwise no voice !
jaffboy151
11-04-2015
Am I correct it thinking that cornerstone are installing 2 lots of backhaul at each mast for Vodafone and 02, not sharing a single feed like MBNL?
clewsy
11-04-2015
Yes two lots of fibre to the masts. Interesting that I noticed today when in a nearby town Vodafone are doing work (causing gridlock) but its actually o2's network checker that they are working on improving coverage and nothing from Vodafone on their site.

I suspect it must be an o2 site hence the need for Vodafone to install ducting as probably the cabling would be in for o2 already.

How are these sites selected? I'm assuming somewhere a grand map is devised so they dont have duplication and some masts will be removed and relocated to fill in other gaps?
lightspeed2398
11-04-2015
Has anyone had any experience with the unpaired TDD spectrum that Vodafone was testing a couple of months ago in the London Docklands? I'd be interested to hear what kind of speeds it delivers.
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