Originally Posted by
InfamousTeal:
“Here's an interesting one for you though:
There's an O2 mast and a Vodafone mast relatively close to each other here. They applied for planning permission to 4G for both, but I highly doubt they're doing both as they're so close together. On vodafone's website, the little maintenance icon is where the vodafone mast is. This could just be because they can't mark on an O2 one.
So I don't know which one they're 4Ging. Question is, how will it work when whichever one is done? Say it's the voda one, will they switch it all on, and O2 customers will automatically connect to it? And they switch off the O2 one at the same time? Or will they both be on? Really don't know what's going on
I wish they'd hurry up as I persuaded my dad to join vodafone, but the call quality from the 2G installed in 2000 is absolutely awful, the quicker we get 4G, and so new 2/3G, the better!”
I suppose it depends on just how distant the two masts in question are. If they're both serving Limavady town with some element of overlap but otherwise different areas, then both sites could end up being upgraded. However if the coverage is largely similar then I doubt both will be upgraded.
Where I live, the distance between the original O2 2G mast and the Vodafone 2G mast is nearly 2km. The O2 mast was upgraded for CTIL use and in service from early March 2015 giving additional 3G & 4G coverage for both O2 & Vodafone. The Vodafone 2G mast OTOH was also having a planning application submitted for CTIL upgrade but had its application withdrawn in January 2015 not because they said 3G & 4G coverage was adequate, but that the application was likely to be refused. At the same time a new PP application was made to replace the Vodafone mast with one further back from houses but also taller than the current one. This got passed, while the time difference between that new submission and the O2 site getting sorted was around 6 weeks, so I'd be confident that they submitted this application for the Vodafone site while preparations were being made to upgrade the O2 mast.

At present however the current Vodafone mast is still standing - I don't know wherever they will replace it with the new pole but the main advantage the Vodafone site has compared to O2's is that it is right next door to the local telephone exchange, making getting the mast fibred up a heck of a lot easier!
Anyway, enough of that. If the Vodafone mast is selected to be upgraded for integration into CTIL first, then the 2G signal will go down while the upgrade is taking place (likely involving new antennas being installed as well as feeders, cabinets, equipment and so on) while the 2G signal from the O2 mast will continue as normal. When the upgrade on the Vodafone mast is completed, the 3G and 4G base stations will be brought online by the respective networks in due course - they might come on at the same time, one might switch on 3G before 4G etc. And Vodafone's 2G will come back, more than likely EDGE enabled if it was not beforehand. However the O2 2G signal will likely not come the Vodafone mast, instead it will remain at the present O2 mast for the time being at least. Maybe at a later date O2 2G will be decommissioned from the current site and then come from the Vodafone site. Presently where I am, O2 2G, 3G & 4G come from the 'O2' site, Vodafone 3G & 4G come from the 'O2' site but Vodafone 2G remains, GPRS & all, from the 'Vodafone' site.
My opinion is at the moment that if you're on either Vodafone or O2 with just a 2G phone, it could be well worthwhile to get a new phone that includes 3G (one that covers 3G 900MHz in particular as well as 2100MHz, though nearly all new ones do now anyway) as in some places where one network might have been weak or non-existent on 2G may now have improved coverage through 3G as its coming from the site of the other operator whose 2G coverage beforehand was the better of the two. In my local case, customers on Vodafone whose 2G service was iffy/weak whereas the O2 2G service was better can now get an improved service on Vodafone provided that they have a handset capable of 3G in the 900MHz band.