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Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread


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Old 02-02-2014, 23:01
qasdfdsaq
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Whoopee. O2's only 4G transmitter in Edinburgh city centre is now down.

Sorry a phone mast close to you isn't working
This means you might experience problems making calls, using the internet, or sending/receiving emails in this area.
Updated 22:00 (refreshed hourly). Recent faults might not show yet.
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Old 03-02-2014, 19:18
Steven L Hunter
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I have to admit the 4G rollout is great in Edinburgh for vodafone but I do notice in a lot of places you are forced onto GPRS even though 3G is available maybe network congestion or something.
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Old 03-02-2014, 19:37
AlecR
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I have to admit the 4G rollout is great in Edinburgh for vodafone but I do notice in a lot of places you are forced onto GPRS even though 3G is available maybe network congestion or something.
That's Vodafone's crappy network for you.
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Old 03-02-2014, 19:41
jchamier
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I have to admit the 4G rollout is great in Edinburgh for vodafone but I do notice in a lot of places you are forced onto GPRS even though 3G is available maybe network congestion or something.
Voda seem to prioritise 2G/GPRS over 3G. I assume because they haven't updated some setting on the SIM cards. Its the only network I've seen do this, as 2G/GPRS has less capacity per site than 3G.

Even outdoors. I can turn my phone off in a blackspot (indoor room at office) and go outside, turn it on, and I get full signal GPRS. Then airplane mode, then off again, wait 45 seconds, and full signal 3G.

Vodafone GPRS is so useless for any data that you can't even get a text message (Apple iMessage) to work. On O2 or EE you can on GPRS!
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Old 03-02-2014, 19:45
AlecR
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Voda seem to prioritise 2G/GPRS over 3G. I assume because they haven't updated some setting on the SIM cards. Its the only network I've seen do this, as 2G/GPRS has less capacity per site than 3G.

Even outdoors. I can turn my phone off in a blackspot (indoor room at office) and go outside, turn it on, and I get full signal GPRS. Then airplane mode, then off again, wait 45 seconds, and full signal 3G.

Vodafone GPRS is so useless for any data that you can't even get a text message (Apple iMessage) to work. On O2 or EE you can on GPRS!
No, it's because Vodafone's crappy network wasn't designed to handle data and still hasn't been updated (modernised). It was designed in the 90s when phones were used for phoning people. O2 has the same issue.

Three and EE's networks are far more modern.
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Old 03-02-2014, 19:58
Steven L Hunter
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That would explain why on GPRS the web pages load nothing at all until you go back onto 3G. For calls though i've never once had No Service through them so I guess you are always reachable.
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Old 03-02-2014, 20:16
jchamier
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I get no service on vodafone in the middle of a town near here, only 25miles from Heathrow, where O2 and EE work, so it really does depend :-/
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Old 03-02-2014, 21:01
AlecR
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That would explain why on GPRS the web pages load nothing at all until you go back onto 3G. For calls though i've never once had No Service through them so I guess you are always reachable.
For using a phone as a phone, O2 and Vodafone are the best, but for data, they are the worst.
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Old 03-02-2014, 21:48
Thine Wonk
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For using a phone as a phone, O2 and Vodafone are the best, but for data, they are the worst.
I agree with this from a coverage point of view, but Vodafone has also had 8-9% call failure rates in some cities, meaning you could have important calls going to voicemail or fail when you try and make a call. O2 doesn't seem to have been affected by this kind of call failure rate.
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Old 03-02-2014, 21:52
enapace
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For using a phone as a phone, O2 and Vodafone are the best, but for data, they are the worst.
Funny enough I bet a fair amount of people don't use there phones for calling these days. I know I use mine still for calling and actually I think EE/Three is better if there is coverage call quality is better in my opinion. But a lot of people use there phones for data and texting only and rarely call at all.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:01
japaul
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I see Vodafone have gone public with their 4G Sure Signal Premium which isn't out until the summer. Not really like the existing Sure Signal femto, more like enterprise grade small cell technology.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/...ftst048449.pdf
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:05
qasdfdsaq
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Nice, though no technical details.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:10
enapace
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I see Vodafone have gone public with their 4G Sure Signal Premium which isn't out until the summer. Not really like the existing Sure Signal femto, more like enterprise grade small cell technology.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/...ftst048449.pdf
Interesting imagine first places to get these will be Vodafone call centres and shops. Not a massive surprise Vodafone is first to do this they have always been business oriented more than regular consumers.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:11
japaul
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Do a search for SpiderCloud's E-RAN which is what it is. Trials have been going on for a bit now.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:16
japaul
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This is the underlying technology

http://www.spidercloud.com/small-cell-ran
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:18
enapace
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Just been reading up on it sounds extremely efficient imagine it not particularly cheap but does sound like something that would help in places like shopping centres/football stadiums outdoor events that sort of thing.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:18
Three
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tldr; Will businesses that want these installed have to pay for it?
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:20
jabbamk1
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Sounds like a great solution that'll benefit a lot of places.

Japaul, when do Vodafone release their financials? Feb 6th still?
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:27
japaul
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Yep, Feb 6.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:44
jabbamk1
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Cheers. Thought id got it right.
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Old 03-02-2014, 22:50
qasdfdsaq
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Thanks.

Does look like an enterprise solution rather than a public access thing. We're not likely to see it make any difference in shopping malls, stadiums or events, which would probably rely on traditional microsites for 4G.
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Old 05-02-2014, 14:35
enapace
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Doubt anyone cares but I've started to see a lot of the old C&W fibre cabinets starting to get rebranded to Vodafone ones kind of confusing to some people. One I've seen Is a massive thing but there actually is no Vodafone 3G signal in that area weak 2G one as well. Just seems odd why go to point of changing the cabinet one of the massive Fibre [FTTP size] cabinets honestly surprised council allowed it as some places go ape over some of the street cabinet size ones.
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Old 07-02-2014, 00:08
qasdfdsaq
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I have to admit the 4G rollout is great in Edinburgh for vodafone but I do notice in a lot of places you are forced onto GPRS even though 3G is available maybe network congestion or something.
Voda seem to prioritise 2G/GPRS over 3G. I assume because they haven't updated some setting on the SIM cards. Its the only network I've seen do this, as 2G/GPRS has less capacity per site than 3G.

Even outdoors. I can turn my phone off in a blackspot (indoor room at office) and go outside, turn it on, and I get full signal GPRS. Then airplane mode, then off again, wait 45 seconds, and full signal 3G.

Vodafone GPRS is so useless for any data that you can't even get a text message (Apple iMessage) to work. On O2 or EE you can on GPRS!
Not just Vodafone. Seen this on O2 today as well.

Definitely something strange/broken going on with cell reselection priorities.

Very often (15 times out of 20), when losing 4G signal, my phone decided to fall back to a 1-bar EDGE signal even where there was a very strong, way more than full bars (-50dBm) 3G signal available. Rarely, it'll hand over from 4G down to 3G properly without jumping to 2G first, but on occasion when it falls back to 2G it takes friggin ages to reselect 3G.

At home, on multiple occasions when I caused the phone to drop from 4G, it not only went to a zero bar EDGE signal (-102dBm) instead of a strong 3G (-75dBm), multiple times it stayed stuck on EDGE for a full 10 minutes or so before going back up to 3G.

Unsure why this is but there's nothing wrong with the 3G capacity or congestion here, speeds barely drop 10% at peak times and right now it's midnight.
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Old 07-02-2014, 20:54
davybhoy
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Anyone know about O2's 4G for N.I.? I told my friend that I believed it to be very late this year if not next yeah and 1 of his other friends has commented that he was told Vodafone 4G by April, according to Vodafone. Are O2 and Vodafone planning 4G for over here this year?

On a different note, the amount of 3G combiners I have seen being installed over here beside O2 and Vodafone masts is phenomenal!
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Old 07-02-2014, 21:00
qasdfdsaq
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Must be a different rollout strategy to here then, they don't use combiners in Edinburgh!
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