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Old 24-08-2015, 20:13
japaul
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Another question, providing O2 rollout their 1800mhz for 4G properly with the correct backhaul and to enough sites! What sort of speeds are we looking at minus congestion? Around 30mb?? And in theory what sort of speeds if they are CA with 800mhz? Would O2 likely rollout of 1800mhz as MIMO to increase capacity??

Also do you think they will need to do a nationwide rollout given they could soon be part of 3, or could it be ploy to safeguard their spectrum like EE have ensuring they are using it all to avoid a sell off??

Thanks ❓
Denco's post above gives a good idea of the extra speed possible with this. I'd say though that as it will probably be used more in busy areas the actual increase will be much smaller than average in absolute terms (although large in percentage terms) but a few extra Mb/s is always welcome.

I don't think it has anything to do with the Three deal (which isn't even being looked at by the authorities yet). In any case the spectrum is already being used by them. They are just repurposing it.
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Old 24-08-2015, 20:31
japaul
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I'd forgotten that several cat 4 devices will be able to take advantage in the meantime before they get there hands on Three's 800MHz, if/when that happens.

Any idea if they still plan on using 0.8MHz of 2G along with the 5MHz of 1800MHz 4G? I guess that would be pretty pointless though, maybe they are just replacing 1800MHz 2G cards with 4G cards meaning only cabinet work would be required and no feeder or antenna work.
They could still use 0.8MHz for 2G (which is all it could be used for on it's own) as 1800 is only on certain cells so reuse is less of a problem. It would provide a few extra channels of 2G capacity for those sites. Of course this assumes they use 5MHz for 4G. It's less likely but possible that they will just use 3MHz which will leave more space for 2G.

The priority thing will be interesting as it goes against what normally happens as you say. The carriers still have to work as standalone ones. When I was in Italy recently I noticed Vodafone had different priorities for 1800 as in some areas they have 10MHz of it in use and in other areas 15MHz.
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Old 28-08-2015, 17:18
lightspeed2398
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Vodafone SIM Only back on the discounted price. They really can't make up their minds can they?
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Old 28-08-2015, 18:36
clewsy
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I think they just want to just get more customers as they need to build their subs base really.
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Old 28-08-2015, 19:12
enapace
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I think they just want to just get more customers as they need to build their subs base really.
Very true specially if the Three/O2 deal goes ahead they will be what 6 Million customers behind EE at that point ? Won't help hurt there balance sheet to much but I doubt they want to be so far behind the other two networks.
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Old 28-08-2015, 19:21
clewsy
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Well its economies of scale I guess. If they get more customers then they can reduce unit costs and I suspose makes it easier to keep them long term.

They arnt bad prices on the offers. They should really just stick at them and they could increase customer base nicely.
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Old 28-08-2015, 19:25
enapace
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Well its economies of scale I guess. If they get more customers then they can reduce unit costs and I suspose makes it easier to keep them long term.
Vodafone has never considered the UK one of its key markets and I don't think that is going to change unless they get some massive movement of subscribers from the other networks which at present isn't happening. Germany Italy and Spain are there main European market though they are also focusing on India as a revenue boost market.
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Old 28-08-2015, 21:36
samantha_vine
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Yeah

Vodafone are said to be an awful network and well behind EE
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Old 28-08-2015, 21:40
lightspeed2398
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Yeah

Vodafone are said to be an awful network and well behind EE
2g wise no, they're in front. 3g and 4g they're well behind but catching up rapidly. They've got money to chuck at the problem.
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Old 28-08-2015, 21:52
lee18xx
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Vodafones 4G network is turning out to be bloody good. They're signal penetrates better and travels further and speeds aren't half bad. I would say pure network speeds aren't everything and id take a solid reliable and slightly slower speed anyday. I believe quickly Vodafone are starting to offer this.
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Old 28-08-2015, 21:52
lee18xx
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Their***
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Old 28-08-2015, 22:03
Gigabit
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So Vodafone are a UK-based company and their primary market isn't the UK?!?
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Old 28-08-2015, 22:18
Stereo Steve
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That's thereist.

Eats, shoots and leaves.
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Old 28-08-2015, 23:16
Gigabit
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I'm sure I've asked this before but nevermind.

Why does my Vodafone smartphone constantly switch between GPRS and EDGE, even though the location of the phone remains the same?
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Old 29-08-2015, 07:15
Skippy2005
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I'm sure I've asked this before but nevermind.

Why does my Vodafone smartphone constantly switch between GPRS and EDGE, even though the location of the phone remains the same?
Because it's likely to be switching between masts, one is likely to have been upgraded at some point to Edge only or recently to 2/3/4G. G is really the first generation 2G data.
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Old 29-08-2015, 07:45
enapace
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So Vodafone are a UK-based company and their primary market isn't the UK?!?
Pretty much yeah you only have look at the terrible 3G coverage they had to realise that. They are throwing miney at the UK at presents but if that makes it a primary market I very much doubt with them being a fair bit behind market leaders.
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Old 29-08-2015, 08:51
jaffboy151
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I'm sure I've asked this before but nevermind.

Why does my Vodafone smartphone constantly switch between GPRS and EDGE, even though the location of the phone remains the same?
Mine does too, just between two equally strong masts where one has has a upgrade at some point, where I live what I find more annoying is if I switch to 3g/4g mode there's a r bar 3g signal and 1-2 bar 4g signal lurking underneath, whichs get a ignored.
2g wise no, they're in front. 3g and 4g they're well behind but catching up rapidly. They've got money to chuck at the problem.
They've still got a LOT of catching up to do, I travelled from home in Shropshire/Cheshire down to Penkridge in south Staffordshire and off the motorway there was no 3g or 4g anywhere, three was 3g almost all the way with some 4g in the Stafford area.. It's happening, just not quick enough in many places...
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Old 29-08-2015, 09:01
moox
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2g wise no, they're in front. 3g and 4g they're well behind but catching up rapidly. They've got money to chuck at the problem.
Vodafone have had money to chuck at the problem since 3G was brand new. They've spent the last decade doing pretty much the opposite.

They're going to have to spend a lot of money to get close to EE or 3 in terms of coverage - and even where there is coverage they haven't spent any money on backhaul (as the local VF 3G site proves. I can get 20+Mbps on EE or 3, 10-15Mbps on O2 (where it exists), and a whopping 1Mbit on Vodafone)
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Old 29-08-2015, 09:21
interactiv-uk
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What annoys me about Voda is they buy up loads of spectrum and don't do anything with some of it - dunno if his is tactical to stop other operators using it. That certainly did this with 3G, successfully buying the same amount as 3 which was more than O2, Orange and T-Mobile. They were in the best place for 3G rollout but just sat on the spectrum! There should be some sort of use it or lose it policy (unless there is but Ofcom don't really push it).
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Old 29-08-2015, 09:47
packages
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Vodafone have had money to chuck at the problem since 3G was brand new. They've spent the last decade doing pretty much the opposite.

They're going to have to spend a lot of money to get close to EE or 3 in terms of coverage - and even where there is coverage they haven't spent any money on backhaul (as the local VF 3G site proves. I can get 20+Mbps on EE or 3, 10-15Mbps on O2 (where it exists), and a whopping 1Mbit on Vodafone)
Hmm... sometimes yes but more often....

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Old 29-08-2015, 09:53
Gigabit
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Because it's likely to be switching between masts, one is likely to have been upgraded at some point to Edge only or recently to 2/3/4G. G is really the first generation 2G data.
I only think I've only got one Vodafone mast serving me though

It now also switches to HSPA+ which is a very poor signal indeed - no data flows over it so it'll be very intelligent and stay on that for about 10 minutes before switching to a bar of 4G which does work and then back down to EDGE again...
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Old 29-08-2015, 11:39
jchamier
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It now also switches to HSPA+ which is a very poor signal indeed - no data flows over it so it'll be very intelligent and stay on that for about 10 minutes before switching to a bar of 4G which does work and then back down to EDGE again...
That could be how your particular handset copes. As its being discussed in an EE thread thread about 4G routers, different handsets and routers have quite different reception characteristics.
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Old 30-08-2015, 22:03
djfrancis
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Is it me or dos Vodafone go to 3G on standby? And H+ when data is getting used?

Question Is. If your in a 4G area dos it default to 2G/3G if no Data is passing?
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Old 30-08-2015, 22:59
Gigabit
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Is it me or dos Vodafone go to 3G on standby? And H+ when data is getting used?
Every network I've ever been on does that.
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Old 31-08-2015, 09:59
M1kos
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My phone stays in 4G all the time unless someone calls me I've hardly ever see 3G anymore only on very old masts which haven't been updated otherwise it's always H or H+
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