DS Forums

 
 

Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 30-12-2014, 11:52
uno
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 507
Paulker- I am pretty sure that he mentioned both Glasgow and Edinburgh going 2600 in early 2015 and I suspect due to the size of the city it again will be in line for capacity increases soon. At least they are recognising that the speeds are dropping due to increased use/subscribers and are planning action to remedy.

Although I don't know for sure in Glasgow but in my local area of Leicestershire when Vodafone engineers need to revisit a 4G mast for planned maintainance it is normally to configure new or upgraded C&W based backhaul or tweak the settings.

You may often see a number of masts close together being down for maintainance at the same time this is generally when they are doing software upgrades on the base station equipment, This involves an engineer taking the mast out of service plugging laptop in and updating the software then getting it all working again before moving onto the next one, if all goes to plan should take about an hour so can often do 5 or 6 a day depending on mast locations as obviously if on top of a tower block takes longer than a lamppost style street one.

When they add 2600 equipment that is normally a 48 hr timescale but is almost how always completed the same day but then test 2600 for 24hrs before turning it off if not in a launched area like round Leicester
uno is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 30-12-2014, 14:50
jchamier
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,389
Get your company to supply you with an EE 4G MiFI.
That would be nice, don't think they can.
jchamier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2014, 15:52
M1kos
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 499
Good info there Uno thanks
M1kos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2014, 18:35
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
Ahh London, the one place with good O2 3G.
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2014, 20:47
paulker
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 901
Thanks for the info uno
paulker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2014, 21:15
Everything Goes
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: In the future....
Posts: 11,257
Paulker- I am pretty sure that he mentioned both Glasgow and Edinburgh going 2600 in early 2015 and I suspect due to the size of the city it again will be in line for capacity increases soon. At least they are recognising that the speeds are dropping due to increased use/subscribers and are planning action to remedy.

Although I don't know for sure in Glasgow but in my local area of Leicestershire when Vodafone engineers need to revisit a 4G mast for planned maintainance it is normally to configure new or upgraded C&W based backhaul or tweak the settings.

You may often see a number of masts close together being down for maintainance at the same time this is generally when they are doing software upgrades on the base station equipment, This involves an engineer taking the mast out of service plugging laptop in and updating the software then getting it all working again before moving onto the next one, if all goes to plan should take about an hour so can often do 5 or 6 a day depending on mast locations as obviously if on top of a tower block takes longer than a lamppost style street one.

When they add 2600 equipment that is normally a 48 hr timescale but is almost how always completed the same day but then test 2600 for 24hrs before turning it off if not in a launched area like round Leicester
Wow I thought that software updates to base stations would be done remotely. How old fashioned Its little wonder things take so long.
Everything Goes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2014, 23:24
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
O2 3G coverage on the Alton to Waterloo line I think has improved. Only the usual deadspot between Ashvale and Woking remains - don't know why it's still there, it's been terrible on all networks for years.
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-12-2014, 01:23
xreyuk123
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 509
Wow I thought that software updates to base stations would be done remotely. How old fashioned Its little wonder things take so long.
Things tend not to get done remotely sometimes in case they go wrong. Depending on the importance of sites, they can't afford to drop some of them, so having someone there means if it goes wrong, it can be rolled back easily.

Usually with software updates go wrong, they lose complete communication with the sites.
xreyuk123 is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 31-12-2014, 16:48
barker71
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 462
Just wanted to confirm , where the cornerstone upgrades are happening to enable 4g on masts they have previously been 2g only, are they also getting 3g or not?
barker71 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-12-2014, 17:37
sills
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Kent
Posts: 195
Our local mast had a planning application from Cornerstone to replace the aerials. It's never had any Vodafone on it before, just O2 2G and 3G900. On their coverage checker its shown as just getting Vodafone 3G added to it (no 2G or 4G) in the next three months.
sills is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 31-12-2014, 18:25
M1kos
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 499
I wouldn't take any notice of Vodafones future coverage map as it's woeful. I'd say if you live near a streetworks site(lamppost) expect it to be upgraded in the near future to both networks and 3G 4G
M1kos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-12-2014, 19:04
sills
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Kent
Posts: 195
Hope it's accurate in as much as Vodafone will be adding their equipment to the mast, the surrounding villages have never had any coverage from them before, just the other three networks.
sills is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2015, 01:51
The Lord Lucan
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 4,966
O2 3G coverage on the Alton to Waterloo line I think has improved. Only the usual deadspot between Ashvale and Woking remains - don't know why it's still there, it's been terrible on all networks for years.
Any chance you could pin point the area in question on a map?
The Lord Lucan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2015, 02:01
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
Why is signal better when standing outside than when in a car?
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2015, 10:47
sethpet
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 494
Why is signal better when standing outside than when in a car?

Not sure if you have ever noticed, but a car has you encased in a metal cage packed with wiring looms.

They are basically faraday cages, just on a much lower scale.
sethpet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2015, 11:59
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
Not sure if you have ever noticed, but a car has you encased in a metal cage packed with wiring looms.

They are basically faraday cages, just on a much lower scale.
But how come the signal is better indoors than in my car? Surely the car is a larger faraday cage?
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2015, 12:02
Thine Wonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,547
But how come the signal is better indoors than in my car? Surely the car is a larger faraday cage?
The signals can't get through the metal in the car, if you have heated windows the thin metal wires also block the signal.
Thine Wonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2015, 12:06
jchamier
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,389
But how come the signal is better indoors than in my car? Surely the car is a larger faraday cage?
Windows in the house and car are better at RF penetration than walls or steel panels. This is why if you can mount your phone where it has RF sight through the windscreen (unless its a Ford heated windscreen with the wire mesh) you get better reception that putting your phone in a door or dash pocket.
jchamier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 19:31
WellHiddenMark
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Not-London
Posts: 1,657

I'm currently in the town of Louth (LN11) at a fairly high point to the north-east. At this point there is a frustrating 3G "dead spot" on Vodafone, where if I go another 50 m up the road I will get full signal, but at the house even my iPhone 6 will always lock to "E" (GSM).

I only noticed the other day when I switched off wifi briefly, that my iPhone was actually receiving a 4G signal, albeit at 1 or 2 bars.

Doing a speed test revealed a DL of 18 Mbps but an UL of only 0.5 Mbps. This suggests there is a significant distance between me and the cell site.

Checking the Vodafone coverage for 4G there is Lincoln - it can't be from there as the Wolds are in the way. Grimsby is also zero coverage. The only other place covered is, for some utterly bizarre reason, Skegness.

Skegness has to be at least 25 miles away straight line. That's impressive to the point of freaky.

Does anybody know how I could find out the cell location / geek details on the iPhone 6?
WellHiddenMark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 19:38
plymouthbloke1974
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Destination: Hard Brexit
Posts: 6,367
You'll probably find a closer mast has been 4G enabled but hasn't been put on the map yet as its in testing?
plymouthbloke1974 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 19:47
WellHiddenMark
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Not-London
Posts: 1,657
You'll probably find a closer mast has been 4G enabled but hasn't been put on the map yet as its in testing?
Well it definitely isn't in Louth as I would expect to get as good reception on 4G as the GSM service including in the town centre itself which is also a 3G dead zone. I was resolutely EDGE when I went shopping earlier.

The only other mast that I could think of that's in testing would be the ones that serve the villages south of Grimsby (still over 10 miles away).

When I went to Grimsby a few days ago, I was only getting 3G - I would expect that Vodafone would be testing the whole area for 4G.

I admit it's a strange one, but 4G in this backwater so early would be a real coup.
WellHiddenMark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 20:07
jabbamk1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
You'll probably find a closer mast has been 4G enabled but hasn't been put on the map yet as its in testing?
Na bro, clearly he has picked up a signal from France and will be hit with a big roaming bill.

You don't read the papers?


jabbamk1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 20:14
jchamier
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,389
[quote=WellHiddenMark;76266477Doing a speed test revealed a DL of 18 Mbps but an UL of only 0.5 Mbps. This suggests there is a significant distance between me and the cell site.[/QUOTE]

LTE works quite well at range, and with 800mhz the range can be quite long. Shame no VoLTE yet for phone calls.

Does anybody know how I could find out the cell location / geek details on the iPhone 6?
Only the Field Test mode tells you the cell site ID number, but none of the apps show you the location. I've tried one on Android and it points in completely the wrong direction for the local cell site, so its not reliable either.
jchamier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 20:18
uno
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 507
There has been 4G upgrade work in both Grimsby and Louth in December so could well be testing off top of my head there was 3 done around Grimsby and then just one in Louth that had to be done as the old equipment had a major failure so was upgraded with latest equipment.

So very likely it was open testing from one of these masts and Lincoln is being done in January
uno is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2015, 20:44
WellHiddenMark
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Not-London
Posts: 1,657
one in Louth that had to be done as the old equipment had a major failure so was upgraded with latest equipment.
Ah that would be May to September 2014 when the audio quality of calls was like it was suddenly routed through some sort of military scrambler from the 1970s and calls wouldn't stay connected for more than a few seconds.

It went on for so long, I gave up hoping that anybody from Vodafone would notice.

So very likely it was open testing from one of these masts and Lincoln is being done in January
According to the coverage checker, Lincoln is already live for 4G.
WellHiddenMark is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 17:24.