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Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread
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M1kos
13-01-2016
Probably just separate panel for 02 or vod 2100 as going through a splitter Loses gain
David_bl1
14-01-2016
Originally Posted by Pedro_C:
“The Brighton mast and also another Vodafone/O2 one at Thame Rugby club also have an additional slim line panel which I cannot work what is for:
http://pedroc.co.uk/new%20Vodafone%2...me%20rugby.jpg”

Could be a receive-only spacial diversity antenna to help mitigate the effects of multipath and improve gain.

However the physical separation doesn't seem as great as I would expect. Normally a diversity antenna would be mounted as far away from the primary tx/rx antenna, although still on the same side of the mast as they cover the same sector.
Jon_111
14-01-2016
Originally Posted by red_snow:
“Hello folks.

I'm on EE at present but where I work, I cannot get a signal in my building. I currently have to use call forwarding on a dual sim Moto X Style to a Giffgaff sim to receive calls. In addition, I have to use wifi to connect to my work Vodafone device (setup as an AP) to get data. This is driving me a little crazy! This is because VO2 can give me a 4G signal in my building whereas EE 1800MHz just cannot get through!
Ft
Now I know that EE may at some point this century and to only ~18% of it's masts deploy 800MHz, however I have waited long enough and there are no guarantees it'll help me where I work. Therefore, although I never thought I'd say it ....... I'm considering Vodafone

Does anyone know if Vodafone publish their rollout plans or network improvement plans at all?”

Can I ask where you got your dual sim Moto x Style from? I looked around a while back and couldn't find one to ship into UK at least. Ended up with a dual sim Moto x play.
red_snow
14-01-2016
Originally Posted by Jon_111:
“Can I ask where you got your dual sim Moto x Style from? I looked around a while back and couldn't find one to ship into UK at least. Ended up with a dual sim Moto x play.”

I actually got very lucky with eBay. Some chap had been to India and brought one back as that seems to be one of the very few places you can buy them!
beans0ntoast
14-01-2016
Originally Posted by Pedro_C:
“The Brighton mast and also another Vodafone/O2 one at Thame Rugby club also have an additional slim line panel which I cannot work what is for:
http://pedroc.co.uk/new%20Vodafone%2...me%20rugby.jpg”

Don't know much about that, but my guess is 1800MHz or 2600MHz? Surely both Vod and O2 would use the same panel for 2100?
Pedro_C
14-01-2016
Vod and O2 seem to be doing their fortnightly switch off of my local mast. It provides around 60/20 on 4G and 30/5 on 3G.
Unfortunately, the other serving site seems to be taking the hit with 4G speeds of 2/1 and 3G of 0.2/0.9
DevonBloke
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by Pedro_C:
“Vod and O2 seem to be doing their fortnightly switch off of my local mast. It provides around 60/20 on 4G and 30/5 on 3G.
Unfortunately, the other serving site seems to be taking the hit with 4G speeds of 2/1 and 3G of 0.2/0.9”

What like they just have a rota where they turn it off for fun??
Hey maybe it's the engineering team playing games.
They watch the forums on a bunch of screens and then turn off masts at random to see the reaction.
Probably got bets on it and everything!!!
That's ridiculous and I need to go to bed..
Stereo Steve
15-01-2016
VOD have PLANNED more coverage in Torquay. In the next 3 months. That's like March or so. I fully expect to see it go unplanned about Feb time. Jokers.

Just get it done VOD. Stop pissing about and turn some stuff on. Idiots.
Jon_111
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by red_snow:
“I actually got very lucky with eBay. Some chap had been to India and brought one back as that seems to be one of the very few places you can buy them!”

Ah OK. I couldn't find anyone to ship to UK but the dual sim X Play was available in France but shipped from UK.
M1kos
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by Stereo Steve:
“VOD have PLANNED more coverage in Torquay. In the next 3 months. That's like March or so. I fully expect to see it go unplanned about Feb time. Jokers.

Just get it done VOD. Stop pissing about and turn some stuff on. Idiots.”

I think it will happen at least the Paignton upgrade two masts showing on Roadworks.org as having new gear installed in next few weeks
interactiv-uk
15-01-2016
Nice speed round here for 10MHz L800 on O2..

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1509517784
jaffboy151
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by Stereo Steve:
“VOD have PLANNED more coverage in Torquay. In the next 3 months. That's like March or so. I fully expect to see it go unplanned about Feb time. Jokers.

Just get it done VOD. Stop pissing about and turn some stuff on. Idiots.”

Vodafone have put quite a lot of new planned coverage for south Staffordshire, Shropshire and around Worcester, a few areas in these parts dissappear and then reappear a week later, battlefield areas of Shrewsbury is one that's been doing this since October, it's annoying but at least we can see where there looking to add service, something O2 don't do.
My issues with the roll out so far is they seem to be actively avoiding main centre of town masts and doing edge of town masts instead, which leaves patchy coverage in the centres and back on legacy masts..
Stafford,Penkridge,Eccleshall,market Drayton, Telford, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent just to name a few off the top of my head.
Also in these parts, virtual no O2 masts are being touched for some reason.
DevonBloke
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“My issues with the roll out so far is they seem to be actively avoiding main centre of town masts and doing edge of town masts instead”

Which is exactly what EE have been doing for the last 2 years.
Totnes is now mostly covered outside by the new edge of town mast but the main mast still hasn't been done.
It's to get the coverage percentage up quickly isn't it.
DevonBloke
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by interactiv-uk:
“Nice speed round here for 10MHz L800 on O2..

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1509517784”

Wow, pretty good. 75 is max so you're almost hitting the stops there!
Pedro_C
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by DevonBloke:
“What like they just have a rota where they turn it off for fun??
Hey maybe it's the engineering team playing games.
They watch the forums on a bunch of screens and then turn off masts at random to see the reaction.
Probably got bets on it and everything!!!
That's ridiculous and I need to go to bed..”

It's still off so calling voda.
jaffboy151
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by interactiv-uk:
“Nice speed round here for 10MHz L800 on O2..

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1509517784”

That's a good speed!
62 is the max I've got so far when I was in Manchester, most of the nearest Masts tend to top out at 55 mbps
InfamousTeal
15-01-2016
Vodafone have planning permission to 4G my local mast, and today was the day, according to their website, that there'd be "disruption to calls, texts and data from 8am to 10pm" - so all day. So, a big upgrade. Was very excited, surely, this is it!

Nothing happened.
Redcoat
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by InfamousTeal:
“Vodafone have planning permission to 4G my local mast, and today was the day, according to their website, that there'd be "disruption to calls, texts and data from 8am to 10pm" - so all day. So, a big upgrade. Was very excited, surely, this is it!

Nothing happened.”

It might not yet be completed. It'll be Telefonica's engineers & technicians that will have likely done the work as they're responsible for CTIL work in Northern Ireland. I know from experience down here that when they start getting to work on a site to get 3G & 4G converted over it takes more than a day for it to be done - sometimes 3-5 working days especially if the antenna system has to be replaced, new cabinets have to be installed etc. and both networks 3G & 4G might not appear to be switched on at the same time (there might be a delay of a few hours to a few weeks).

Also there might also be return visits to tweak the new equipment installed. I know that when the local O2 mast was CTIL'd the coverage for 2G in particular but also for 3G900 was significantly worse in one sector than it was before as a few weeks later Telefonica came back out to fix this and managed to return these signal levels to the same as that with the old antennas.
InfamousTeal
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by Redcoat:
“It might not yet be completed. It'll be Telefonica's engineers & technicians that will have likely done the work as they're responsible for CTIL work in Northern Ireland. I know from experience down here that when they start getting to work on a site to get 3G & 4G converted over it takes more than a day for it to be done - sometimes 3-5 working days especially if the antenna system has to be replaced, new cabinets have to be installed etc. and both networks 3G & 4G might not appear to be switched on at the same time (there might be a delay of a few hours to a few weeks).

Also there might also be return visits to tweak the new equipment installed. I know that when the local O2 mast was CTIL'd the coverage for 2G in particular but also for 3G900 was significantly worse in one sector than it was before as a few weeks later Telefonica came back out to fix this and managed to return these signal levels to the same as that with the old antennas.”

I did think it would take more than a day, but I went to the mast both this morning and there now, and nobody is there, no new antennae, and normal Vodafone service all day :/

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!
M1kos
15-01-2016
Voda upgrades typically take 3-4 days... And often take two visits of similar duration. No one turning up is quite normal a mast nr me was showing as being integrated today on roadworks.org but no one turned up
jaffboy151
15-01-2016
Yeah, street pole upgrades have usually taken 4 days in total, in blocks of 2 days normally, 2 days for cabinets and cable works, then another 2 days sometimes a few weeks later for the pole swap and commissioning.
The bigger traditional type mast upgraded near my work took 4 days,
Can't imagine this weather helping things much.
Quick question for people in the know,
I'm obviously in a Vodafone part of the country seeming as 90% of the applications are from Vodafone, does this mean few or no O2 masts will get integrated around these parts? Or do they plan to do the lot eventually as if you look at rural North Shropshire Vodafone seem to have forgotten about it even with 2g which is limited outdoor in many places let alone 3g, while O2 have good coverage in these poor areas.
Redcoat
15-01-2016
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.
Redcoat
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by jaffboy151:
“Quick question for people in the know,
I'm obviously in a Vodafone part of the country seeming as 90% of the applications are from Vodafone, does this mean few or no O2 masts will get integrated around these parts? Or do they plan to do the lot eventually as if you look at rural North Shropshire Vodafone seem to have forgotten about it even with 2g which is limited outdoor in many places let alone 3g, while O2 have good coverage in these poor areas.”

Who is submitting the planning applications? The responsibility for upgrading the Vodafone & O2 networks depends on geography. If Vodafone are the ones submitting the plans, then they are responsible for upgrading the masts for Cornerstone in your area regardless if the site is either a Vodafone or O2 one - Telefonica (O2) are responsible for CTIL in NI and they have been making planning applications on masts that carry Vodafone services with no current O2 presence. So it's likely in your case Vodafone are submitting applications for upgrading masts with O2 services at present even if there is no Vodafone presence right now.

The decision as to what masts get upgraded is decided by CTIL themselves. My experience is that if Vodafone & O2 have two sites reasonably close together and one of them is upgraded by CTIL, both operators will have 3G & 4G services coming from the upgraded mast while 2G remains, at least for the time being, on the original sites. There might also be cases where these upgrades are taking place on sites that were 3G only in the first place. In this instance I don't think 2G from either operator is added. I doubt every Vodafone & O2 mast will get the full works, but they will work out how coverage can be maximised for both of them. If the O2 sites by and large appear to provide better coverage locally, then it would appear to be foolish not to take advantage of them - but the decision comes down to the networks.

If O2 have good coverage and Vodafone is marginal even for 2G, then if an O2 site is upgraded by CTIL then Vodafone 3G and 4G will be added to it when work is completed - therefore general Vodafone coverage will improve to roughly match O2 3G & 4G from the same site, but you'll likely need a 3G handset (ideally one that covers 900MHz) to take advantage as 2G is likely to still be at the same level as it was before.
Skippy2005
15-01-2016
Hi guys, off topic but! I trust your answers more than I would the eforums. I have world traveller on my account as I can use my 'home data allowance' abroad for the daily fee, will this include FaceTime calls too??

Cheers
d123
15-01-2016
Originally Posted by Skippy2005:
“Hi guys, off topic but! I trust your answers more than I would the eforums. I have world traveller on my account as I can use my 'home data allowance' abroad for the daily fee, will this include FaceTime calls too??

Cheers”

FaceTime is just data, if you have included data it would be in that data.
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