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Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread
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clewsy
13-07-2015
I guess the real challenge comes when it's filling in all the gaps. I suspect that doing all the masts they currently have is the easier part, as opposed to building those new sites to fill in the gaps in the really small areas.
Stereo Steve
13-07-2015
Originally Posted by clewsy:
“I guess the real challenge comes when it's filling in all the gaps. I suspect that doing all the masts they currently have is the easier part, as opposed to building those new sites to fill in the gaps in the really small areas.”

But then if you look at their 900 2G coverage and assume that they had 4G 800 across that and possibly a little more, that's a good network. Probably not the fastest but would be enough for a lot of people.
M1kos
13-07-2015
loads of 3G 900 now showing all over the place in places which only have 2G as coming soon in next three months I really hope this time it actually happens as weve seen this before!
ard100
14-07-2015
New mono pole site installed at 38, Unit 4-5 John Baker Cl Llantarnam Industrial Park, Cwmbran, Gwent NP44 3AX‎ today huawei cab will be live tomorrow,
RAN Man
14-07-2015
Originally Posted by Stereo Steve:
“But then if you look at their 900 2G coverage and assume that they had 4G 800 across that and possibly a little more, that's a good network. Probably not the fastest but would be enough for a lot of people.”

From a coverage point of view you're right. Capacity wise they will struggle with 10Mhz 800, so would need to refarm a lot of that 900Mhz used for 2G and 3G onto 4G sooner rather than later.

Adding other higher band frequencies (2600 for Vod, none yet for O2) will help but is expensive, and doesn't always solve the capacity issue, if most users are towards the edge of the 800/900 coverage.
Last edited by RAN Man : 14-07-2015 at 20:46
Pedro_C
14-07-2015
Vodafone broadly beats EE in Guildford for 4G at the moment, despite only having half as many masts 4G'd as EE. Also EE is supposedly a double speed area... However, at times the speeds from both can be dire.

The rural mast serving me does seem to be suffering from some congestion at peak times as I get ~15mb/s at 8pm ish, compared to about 35mbps at 2am.
Darkmarsupial
17-07-2015
Looks like vodafone are finally upgrading Shrewsbury to 4G. Showing up on Planned Coverage map and I've just had a text saying there may be short disruptions to service in the area over the next six weeks while they upgrade.
jaffboy151
17-07-2015
There's planning permission on the Shropshire council website for a few Vodafone and O2 mast replacements so it should be good coverage when it finally goes live, some in place for work in telford and Whitchurch too.
ard100
17-07-2015
This site went live the afternoon it was installed but the only problem is the 4g power output seem half of what he 3g 2100mhz power is
Originally Posted by ard100:
“New mono pole site installed at 38, Unit 4-5 John Baker Cl Llantarnam Industrial Park, Cwmbran, Gwent NP44 3AX‎ today huawei cab will be live tomorrow,”

Stereo Steve
17-07-2015
Originally Posted by ard100:
“This site went live the afternoon it was installed but the only problem is the 4g power output seem half of what he 3g 2100mhz power is”

If it's putting out 4G on 800 you would expect it to start at low power so that it didn't give anyone a signal but no calls. Until VoLTE is working, this will be the same for any network. They'll probably tweak it up so that they can be sure that it very rarely happens.
lightspeed2398
17-07-2015
Originally Posted by Stereo Steve:
“If it's putting out 4G on 800 you would expect it to start at low power so that it didn't give anyone a signal but no calls. Until VoLTE is working, this will be the same for any network. They'll probably tweak it up so that they can be sure that it very rarely happens.”

Surely they can be running it at below 3g 900 levels though?
interactiv-uk
17-07-2015
Originally Posted by lightspeed2398:
“Surely they can be running it at below 3g 900 levels though?”

Power levels tend to be set lower than the smallest coverage area that 3G has when cell breathing takes effect. This stops the 4G signal reaching further than the worst case 3G footprint (irrespective of frequency) so CSFB works properly.
lightspeed2398
17-07-2015
Originally Posted by interactiv-uk:
“Power levels tend to be set lower than the smallest coverage area that 3G has when cell breathing takes effect. This stops the 4G signal reaching further than the worst case 3G footprint (irrespective of frequency) so CSFB works properly.”

Why would it be irrespective of frequency? Surely 3g900 fallback will work just as well as 2100?
M1kos
17-07-2015
Blah blah the site is probably still in the testing phase I've never seen a Voda 4G Streetworks mast on low power
Skippy2005
17-07-2015
Hi I wonder if anyone can answer this for me, Vodafone are upgrading a mast in my city, it currently only has Voda 2/3G, the description of the work says we are improving 2/3G call and data in this area and work will take place between 8am and 10pm. Given the length of the work is it likely to be a swap out of old equipment for 4G? The site is owned by Arqiva and used to have T-Mobile on it some years ago, Mon-Friday morning this week the work was showing on the O2 status page but has now been taken off and has appeared on Voda's, just to add to this O2 don't currently have a BST at this site? Thanks
Gigabit
18-07-2015
I have real doubts that O2's mast "maintenance" actually means they're doing anything at all...
jaffboy151
18-07-2015
Originally Posted by lightspeed2398:
“Surely they can be running it at below 3g 900 levels though?”

Vodafone 4g sites which are live near me set 4g power levels so they carefully sit between that of 900mhz 3g and 2100mhz 3g with it more towards that of 900mhz than 2100mhz, not measured db levels but say you get you get just below full bars 900 3g you will get maybe zero or 1 bar 2100 3g and around 2-3 bar 4g.
Interestingly though three have just activated a 4g site which is is crewe, around 8 miles from me, and just down the road from a Vodafone 4g site which I also get reception from, sadly despite being a bit weaker then Vodafone, it still seems to appear in mostly the same places as the Vodafone 4g and has better data speed and response despite the strength difference. Vod -105db vs three -126db I'd hoped for better from Vodafone.
clewsy
18-07-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“I have real doubts that O2's mast "maintenance" actually means they're doing anything at all...”

That I agree with as seen it so many times now.
interactiv-uk
18-07-2015
Originally Posted by lightspeed2398:
“Why would it be irrespective of frequency? Surely 3g900 fallback will work just as well as 2100?”

It's the smallest coverage footprint 3G gives
Skippy2005
18-07-2015
Originally Posted by clewsy:
“That I agree with as seen it so many times now.”

As I quoted it no longer shows on O2 for the 20th July but does now show on Vodafone status and it is a Vodafone site, Vodafone is stating it is to improve 2/3G call and data coverage. Could this be a cornerstone cock up or could Vodafone be kitting it out for 4g
jaffboy151
18-07-2015
How reliable is the predicted coverage part on the Vodafone website? For months now it's been steady increasing the predicted 4g upgrades around where I live, until last week when they removed most of the predicted coverage for Crewe and Nantwich, it did cover all the towns but is now back to 30-50%, meanwhile adding Shrewsbury centre.. There's roadworks planned in the next 2 weeks to replace a street mast in Crewe so it's still happening, just don't understand the logic...
ard100
18-07-2015
Checked it again today 4g 800mhz is deffo half the power of 900mhz 3g and 900mhz 2g on the mast maybe they might still be testing it ? did a speed test got around 50mb mast was installed and active same day and cabs where installed the same day and fiber was pulled from a fttc cab all on the same afternoon

Another thing with this mast it seems a bit smaller than the orignal and there is a bank of trees about 200cm from it to the north here is the old mast https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.63...8i6656!6m1!1e1 as you can see the pics are 7 years old and the leylandii trees are now taller than the new mast i wonder if they will cut them

Another view of the site https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.63...8i6656!6m1!1e1

If you go to the housing estate to the north of the mast is meant to cover the signal levels on all bands are low as the trees are thick and mask it,



Originally Posted by Stereo Steve:
“If it's putting out 4G on 800 you would expect it to start at low power so that it didn't give anyone a signal but no calls. Until VoLTE is working, this will be the same for any network. They'll probably tweak it up so that they can be sure that it very rarely happens.”

maverickjesus
18-07-2015
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“How reliable is the predicted coverage part on the Vodafone website? For months now it's been steady increasing the predicted 4g upgrades around where I live, until last week when they removed most of the predicted coverage for Crewe and Nantwich, it did cover all the towns but is now back to 30-50%, meanwhile adding Shrewsbury centre.. There's roadworks planned in the next 2 weeks to replace a street mast in Crewe so it's still happening, just don't understand the logic...”

When they did my area it disappeared off the planned coverage map for nearly a month, before rolling out across 4 or 5 masts in the space of a week & got added to the as-is coverage map. No idea why it works like that.
clewsy
18-07-2015
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“How reliable is the predicted coverage part on the Vodafone website? For months now it's been steady increasing the predicted 4g upgrades around where I live, until last week when they removed most of the predicted coverage for Crewe and Nantwich, it did cover all the towns but is now back to 30-50%, meanwhile adding Shrewsbury centre.. There's roadworks planned in the next 2 weeks to replace a street mast in Crewe so it's still happening, just don't understand the logic...”

I was in Crewe this afternoon and its deffo improved already in the Queens Park end as full signal and some really decent, usuable 3g. In the past its been really slow and congested.
lightspeed2398
18-07-2015
It's interesting on Vodafone's map how much 3g expansion they're planning in the next three months around areas like Cornwall. Presumably they're installing equipment but can't get fibre backhaul.
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