The weird thing is about a month ago a streetlamp mast was replaced and 4G added (I assume): there are now two cabinets. But no O2 4G from it at all - in fact I don't think it's even broadcasting 2G! I would assume Vodafone 4G is active there but I cannot be sure, to be fair.

The rest of Alton has VF 4G though like I say; no O2.

But here rather than the 2 cabs that wee planned just one was installed and O2 and Voda have 2,3 and 4 from the new street works mast.

Strange how different it all seems to be.

I got O2 4G yesterday less than 1 mile from the Donegal border which I found as I thought I would be in O2 IE territory their but booming in at 25mbps on 2 bars.

Jon

Thanks for this. I need to get a new phone quick and this video really helped me decide on a network. I've been a Three fan for years but have been really disappointed by their 4G roll out and speeds. However your video (and more importantly) the link to the Open Signal survey that showed that Three users are connected to 3G or 4G over 90% of the time really helped narrow the choice down to EE or Three.

O2 4G was providing good indoor coverage in an enclosed restaurant today. 40Mbps down indoors, in a kind-of pub location (which I would guess would be bad on higher frequencies) shows how good 800MHz 4G can be.

Unfortunately your signal in a single building only shows that the signal is good there. I used to work in the basement of a building in which Orange was the only network that had a working signal. That doesn't extrapolate to mean that 1800Mhz 2G is the best frequency for use in all basements across the country, just the one I was in.

Signal in a specific building is influenced more by mast position than frequency. In your example the O2 base station could have been across the road while the other networks were miles away.

Well there was weak 3G coverage indoors from the same mast I assume due to the higher frequencies used.

If you can guarantee same mast then very likely.

I had in a restaurant with colleagues in Jan signal on EE both 4G and 3G and colleagues on Voda had no service. Outside restaurant they had full strength 3G.

Only conclusion is mast placement and density can be as important as frequency in cellular comms. Both together help.

Doing a coverage search for my area (Grantham) on O2 and I've got the "network modernisation programme to improve 2g and 3G coverage and roll out 4g has reached this area" message. Is 4g imminent let's hope so. 02 3G is good in town though (speeds of about 9/10mb) so not a huge need for it for me personally. Will just be nice.

In my area we never even got that. Just literally got switched on after Vodafone installed a new mast. I have seen that in other areas though and that appears to be when Vodafone are connecting up to an o2 mast.

It doesn't seem that consistent how the cornerstone notion works.

It happened on a supposedly large-scale in Guildford but coverage didn't improve much...

Can anyone on Vodafone lock their phone to 4G only?
It is probably just an issue with my nexus 5, but Vodafone is the only network out of the four where my signal will just drop if I try to choose 4G only.
I cannot get it to idle on 4G either, it completely disconnects from the network and rejoins to 3G every time I turn my WiFi on, so not being able to lock 4G is probably related to this rather than a network limitation.

Go to your dialer and dial *#*#4636#*#* and tap on "Phone Information". A little bit lower is a drop down menu where you can choose different modes for your mobile connection.
Choose "LTE only"

Yes that's the menu I'm using, however it just totally drops my 4G connection when I select LTE only.
Are you on Vodafone and able to lock your phone to 4G only?

Nope. But only to be clear: When you set it to accept 2G/3G/4G the 4G connection is ok and you have good reception?
And then you set it to "LTE only" and it drops the connection?

If that's the case it sounds more like a problem with your phone.

Yes I had a good 4G connection and the connection still dropped.
Whatever was causing the issue it has decided to work now strangely.
Can't say that Vodafone customer service is very good, in my experience they ask you quite a few security questions, tell you to repeat something you have already tried, and then transfer you to another department for the whole process to repeat. One agent even claimed "There is a major issue with android and 4G, please wait while I connect you to another department.

Or the 4G is just too weak! Edit. . No problems with my android Voda 4G

I had under 100dBm signal, speeds of around 10mbps so I doubt it was that either.
Oh well at least it has sorted itself out now whatever it was, thanks for your advice.

Looking at the planned coverage, it almost feels like Vodafone are skirting around me lol

Is the coverage checker "a work of art?" Towns in Wales are showing 3g - yet only in areas with no houses or roads, some areas turn into outside areas only.

There is one town with "some outside 3g" near it but no "3g inside" or strong 3g spots anywhere near it

I will be checking later but as far as I am aware there is no sign of 3g in the area and it seems as if the default mode for the map is "3g outside variable" when there really isnt anywhere near it.

Looks like 4g upgrades have been started in Shropshire at long last,
Here is a few pics of a 2100mhz site that's being upgraded on a industrial estate in Market Drayton, North Shropshire.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5nj71imov...19.30.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/48pyewtss9...19.00.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wwjgcautqc...18.41.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/57c1tiag0s...18.30.jpg?dl=0
New Antennas seem to have fitted along with a tall grey box and space in the pad ready for another, O2 maybe? They've also left a Huawei box full of bits and an old office Yucca plant!!
Couldn't get any more pics as the Chavs were beginning to circle...
Work seems to have taken place on Wednesday or Thursday as it looked like the old antennas were still up before then when i drove past, though i could be mistaken. Not sure if there are any other masts planned to be upgraded soon in the area, sadly the mast was on the predicted 4g coverage map but seems to have now vanished. lets hope they roll out quickly as we need some 4g competition with EE around here

Found out where the local council are putting planning applications online, three aerials are being replaced by four on top of a 42m high water tower, so hopefully 4G will follow this year?

Don't know if this has been covered,but I have a S4 on Vodafone and about 3 days ago both wifi and 4G were working at the same time in a wifi area! The only way around this is to turn off mobile data when not in wifi area,just wondering as 4G arrows were still active when im at home with wifi enabaled,am I still using Data?

I'm pretty sure you are. One of the options in some of the Samsung phones is to "bond" cellular and wifi to give an even faster browsing experience.. I'm sure there is an option to turn this feature off but I'm an iPhone person so don't know where it is I'm afraid!

Unless it is the download booster which combines WiFi and cellular for faster downloads of files over 30MB, it is probably a bug caused by the 5.0.1 update. Does WiFi have an exclamation mark and 4G have data arrows?