That mast in saw yesterday, just been in the area. Now complete and broadcasting o2 3g and I suspect 4g as well (dont have a phone to test that though).

So clearly they are putting it on most masts as they go.

O2 is being bought by three. Why would they worry? Three 3G combined with O2 2G would actually make a pretty decent network. They've both got loads of 800 so can't really push 4G until they have VoLTE so maybe they are putting in the kit and not turning it on? Dunno.

But my point was that O2 and Vodafone are working together so one should follow the other. In Hampshire at least, this doesn't seem to be happening for some reason. Vodafone are miles ahead.

And in areas with Vodafone 4G their 3G is actually fine (9Mbps + download) whereas O2 3G still sucks in their 4G areas.

Is that because Vodafone are spending the money putting in thier own back haul and o2 are dependent on others?

Ive noticed loads of BT work unblocking of ducts around here and suspect this is linked to some of the other proposed mast sites.

I suspect 3 are probably cutting back as they will probably want the o2 network in most places. This is nice new all singing and dancing kit - whereas their current stuff is getting on a bit in places.

They no doubt will want the cheapest and best sites to operate.

Coincidentally, as I was fueling the car up at morrissons in town on the way back from work today I thought I'd pop round the corner and take a quick look at the site which Vodafone 4gd last month, still just the one cabinet, there is space left on the new concrete pad with ducting pipe in the middle ready for O2, but no sign of them yet, maybe they are backing off a little and only doing the minimum investment required in the cornerstone agreement,
If both three and O2 are backing off from upgrades, however they mix it up its could make for misery all round if they try and intigrate any part of each others networks due to a lack of capacity on both sides.. things are bad enough in some areas on three already without lots of extra people from O2 jumping on board, on the flip side can't see three users like me happy for there phones to sit on clapped out O2 3g masts or worse still the dreaded 'G' appearing on the phone in areas where a weak 3g signal used to work fine.

Just to show some areas are different, Vodafone's coverage map has shown we are getting 3G (not 2G or 4G) here in "the next three months" since the middle of last year. No sign of anything yet, they are still the only network with no coverage here.

Well here all the plans were for 2 cabs but now on the install ita one cab but o2/vf both working - so something has changed. Its like they are now starting to share cabinets as well. Maybe its a way of reducing costs.

As for 3 - I think they will sell 2g as a great backup and making a "reliable" network. Its one way of getting rid of those data hungry customers - pop them on 2g.

Thanks for the info about them not using 2 cabinets anymore, I never knew that and it does explain why I've only seen one at this site and one possibly installed at masts which are not live yet in Telford, they are quite tall cabinets so must be able to configure for both operators, do they contain equipment for the 900mhz 3g as well or is this added to the existing cabs in place for both?

The ones ive seen tend to leave in the old one and then just install this new one cabinet. Clearly thas has been a chance as all the plans always talk and show 2 cabinets, but only one seems to be installed.

Assuming this is some planned cost saving move.

Its interesting though that on the sites ive seen its taking Mono just 2 days to swap poles, install kit and have it live.

I can see why at this pace its clear you can get a fairly rapid rollout. I suspect its basically 3 masts per team, per week.

O2 can't back off on upgrading as they still have to hit 98% as agreed with ofcom. It was part of terms for cheaper spectrum, O2 are spending less than Vodafone, vodafone are actually ploughing ahead as they want to hit 98% by the end of this year as they upgrade a site they are readying it for O2 when they get to it. As Vodafone have now realised their network 'was' crap they are throwing some serious cash at it hence the speed.

Well at 3 a week per team they could do quite a few masts.

I wonder how many teams are on the road doing these masts?

I ditched Vodafone a year ago as they had NO 3G where I worked (which is about 10 miles from Vodafone HQ!) - just now on their coverage map there is STILL no 3G or 4G in that area - so not much improved there! (cf. 3 who have excellent 3G or EE who have 4G as well!)

98% by the end of the year is a massive target and surly that would put them ahead of EE? I can't see how they can manage that one as they have such a lot of areas and masts to get switched on in 6months.

Let's just hope they start wholesaling this 4g as well to MVNO's so that pricing becomes a bit more competitive on the VF network.

Just seen an o2 advert for £15 sim only deal with 2gb of data and 5000 texts, 500mins.

I wonder if Vodafone will try and compete on price and offering with this?

Planned 3G has come and gone from the Totnes area for over a year. One minute it's planned, the next it's not. I also reported that part of Plymouth was planned a week or so back. That's gone as well now. I could understand that things might change during rollout and that estimates may need to be revised but I think it's a very negative thing, especially if you were to sign a contract on the back of it. Which I wouldn't.

Never tried VOD 3G (can't find much) but can confirm that my experience with O2 3G was truly awful.

4g o2 and vodafone launched in grantham these last two days...signal seems to be travelling further in doors than what EE'S does. Speeds of around 20/25 on both so going in the right direction

They are both equally bad really, o2 is slightly better, but they have strengths in different places.

They're so ashamed that you can't see the full extent of the coverage on the maps but on the March Ofcom Report you could see it in full, EE and Three put them to shame.


Here's a picture of the Ofcom Report I found:
http://imgur.com/Jg1K3VB

O2 3G is awful I would have to agree I was with O2 and the 3 for about a month as indoor coverage on 3 for me was awful. O2 3G/4G was very slow also, the huge problem I had with O2 was switching down to gprs for non reason when coverage on 3/4g was 'OK' even switching down in strong 3/4g areas.

The funny thing about the VOD map is that if you select the 3G layer it comes up with blanket coverage here until you notice that the red stuff is actually 2G, which I didn't want to see. It's a blatant cheat but I suppose there is no way they can admit to how badly they have ignored 3G in rural areas. Hopefully they will get it right this time.

Interesting near botley, hampshire by the train station, o2 have had terrible coverage for as long as i can remember. 2g and 3g still terrible but 4g on a wifi point is full signal. vodafone have a mast there so i suspect they are installing 4g o2? but without the 2g-3g.
coverage checker shows 2, 3 and 4 though. weird.

I have been given some interesting Information this evening by my brother in law in some areas Vodafone last night did some base station software upgrades to enable VOLTE on 4G base stations this is obviously not live yet for consumers but more staff are due to start trialling it from June for a late summer launch

I am not sure of all the areas that were done last night but confirmed that areas around me in Leicestershire,Sheffield,Some of London and Peterborough were done. He did say this was an ongoing project so expect more will be done soon.

I can confirm this as well.

Thanks for the info. Well this summer is going to be interesting, are Vodafone and Three going to beat EE and rollout VoLTE first, or will Vodafone's and Three's rollout be buggy and EE will have made the right call holding back a little while longer. To me it looks sensible to use VoWiFi to test IMS servers and the like, but many networks have gone straight to VoLTE without problems.

Your brother in law didn't happen to tell you anything you can share about VoWiFi, Vodafone Wallet (NFC payments) or the new price plans?

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1937180