DS Forums

 
 

Vodafone and O2 4G experience thread


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 27-01-2016, 20:35
paulker
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 901
I seem to recall you're in scotland, and I'm in the south east of england - our experiences are the complete opposite. However Vodafone have radically improved in the areas I visit, and at my friends house in Fleet, Hants, where there was no signal on any network, the recent activation of Vodafone 4G at 800 means I get voda signal in his flat. This was a 'no service' zone only in August.

So in terms of 'most improved network 2015' I would give a gold star to Vodafone.
I find Vodafone excellent but then I don't go rural very often.

I live 7 miles south of glasgow city centre.
paulker is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 27-01-2016, 20:38
paulker
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 901
I know it has been mentioned already but no answer was given. iPhone vodafone users got a carrier update a few days ago. Does anyone know what it did?
paulker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 20:47
jchamier
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,389
I find Vodafone excellent but then I don't go rural very often.

I live 7 miles south of glasgow city centre.
I'm 20 miles from Heathrow, and pretty urban worker myself. For years the Vodafone service was essentially "voice and no data" unless you were on a SureSignal , even at Heathrow airport. My employer signed long term with Voda and then upgraded us to 3G and those on work phones and those with personal trying to use iMessage all said it didn't work. I had to demo on Tmobile, then EE, phone to show it was a network issue. O2 users had data, but not speed - but Vodafone was no data... it was very pathetic. So its really good to see the difference and the investment going in.

I never understood why the effect was so regional.
jchamier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 20:55
M1kos
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 499
Managed to stream music continously in 4G from London to Stourbridge along the M40 with Vodafone admittedly my phone was high up in a cradle and Locked to 4G only but other than two ten second drops it was continuous! wow some of the M40 was still 2G a year ago!
M1kos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 21:01
lightspeed2398
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,306
I know it has been mentioned already but no answer was given. iPhone vodafone users got a carrier update a few days ago. Does anyone know what it did?
I did answer at the time I think but it contained IMS/VoLTE settings, I downloaded it from Apple's servers on my Mac and had a look around the Plists.
lightspeed2398 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 21:19
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
Yes Vodafone have made a lot of improvements in recent weeks.
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 21:48
jaffboy151
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Woore, Cheshire/Shropshire
Posts: 1,675

I won't bother you with the other bits like my account apparently being created without any account number at all so no one can find it and leave you with the exciting news that my number is apparently going to be ported across tomorrow. I really REALLY hope their network is better than their support and ordering systems otherwise I'm out of here faster than you can say EE.
When I joined Vodafone, I went though almost the same level of issues, though completely different from yours, and took an age to sort anything.
What ever changes you make to your account it takes 2 complete working days to register, there Web site and many of the options within it, do not work, it often crashes, if you took out a tariff which was on an offer price, chances are it won't work and you'll get billed the amount until you can eventually speak to someone who can sort it, this took several calls to sort mine, the 1st call went very like your:
Who are you and where did you get this account or reference number from? We have no record of it...
But to be fair, since it was sorted I've had no issues, refunds were all done as stated on the phone, unlike the 3 or 4 months it took three to actually action what they said on the phone, the app is simple and quite useful, I can speed test without using data via there network app, my Spotify add on was really easy to set up and works.
Just dread leaving or moving to a new plan or anything requiring input from somebody.
jaffboy151 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 21:55
andyukguy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 145
When I joined Vodafone, I went though almost the same level of issues, though completely different from yours, and took an age to sort anything.
What ever changes you make to your account it takes 2 complete working days to register, there Web site and many of the options within it, do not work, it often crashes, if you took out a tariff which was on an offer price, chances are it won't work and you'll get billed the amount until you can eventually speak to someone who can sort it, this took several calls to sort mine, the 1st call went very like your:
Who are you and where did you get this account or reference number from? We have no record of it...
But to be fair, since it was sorted I've had no issues, refunds were all done as stated on the phone, unlike the 3 or 4 months it took three to actually action what they said on the phone, the app is simple and quite useful, I can speed test without using data via there network app, my Spotify add on was really easy to set up and works.
Just dread leaving or moving to a new plan or anything requiring input from somebody.
Thanks for the reply! Glad I'm not "special" and everyone gets this sign up experience! I'm fairly resigned to my bill being wrong. My quidco payment will no doubt need to be fought for too!

Quick question: I've already got Spotify, does the Vodafone addon simply extend my existing Spotify subscription? I'm half way through an already paid for month with Spotify in an ideal world my free 12 months from Vodafone would just take over at the end of my current paid for period.
andyukguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:18
jaffboy151
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Woore, Cheshire/Shropshire
Posts: 1,675

Quick question: I've already got Spotify, does the Vodafone addon simply extend my existing Spotify subscription? I'm half way through an already paid for month with Spotify in an ideal world my free 12 months from Vodafone would just take over at the end of my current paid for period.
Unless it's changed or I did something wrong, your free 12 month Spotify, sky sports or sky mobile or 6 month Netflix sub starts when your contract starts, it's up to you to assign it to one of them, (they send you plenty of texts to remind you)
I already had Spotify premium too, and needed to cancel my existing subscription, note down the day it runs out, then when it's ran out, go though the activation process via the text or email from Vodafone. If you try and do it before your existing subscription has expired it throws up an error.
Once it's live it's there doesn't seem to be any limitations on it apart from I cannot log on/sign up via a PC for some reason. Multiple phones, tablets, smart tvs and Android boxes seems OK though..
Hope this helps
jaffboy151 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:23
andyukguy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 145
Unless it's changed or I did something wrong, your free 12 month Spotify, sky sports or sky mobile or 6 month Netflix sub starts when your contract starts, it's up to you to assign it to one of them, (they send you plenty of texts to remind you)
I already had Spotify premium too, and needed to cancel my existing subscription, note down the day it runs out, then when it's ran out, go though the activation process via the text or email from Vodafone. If you try and do it before your existing subscription has expired it throws up an error.
Once it's live it's there doesn't seem to be any limitations on it apart from I cannot log on/sign up via a PC for some reason. Multiple phones, tablets, smart tvs and Android boxes seems OK though..
Hope this helps
Ta, that's good to know! I'm hoping if I cancel my Spotify sub and then activate again with Vodafone I won't lose all my starred songs or playlists!
andyukguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:27
voodoofish
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 95
Ta, that's good to know! I'm hoping if I cancel my Spotify sub and then activate again with Vodafone I won't lose all my starred songs or playlists!
I didn't have a problem with that, but Vodafone's system which lets you get the Spotify premium was down for like a week which was super annoying as it meant I'd basically missed out on a month of free Spotify by the time I'd waited for my existing subscription to expire and then Vodafone to sort out their crappy system. They did give me £5 credit to say sorry but were pretty ungracious about it.
voodoofish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:31
jaffboy151
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Woore, Cheshire/Shropshire
Posts: 1,675
Ta, that's good to know! I'm hoping if I cancel my Spotify sub and then activate again with Vodafone I won't lose all my starred songs or playlists!
I didn't.
Spotify isn't like Google play music in when you cancel your sub anything you added or liked that wasn't uploaded by yourself vanishes, it just drops down to the standard free version where it limited track skips, shuffle play only and no high quality audio. Everything else stays the same as far as I know.
jaffboy151 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:32
voodoofish
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 95
As promised, currently getting around 20-30mb down 4-5up on AT&T 4G all over network even in hotspots like Times Square etc... Must be capped for roamers, pings of around 100-200.
I think as you're still using the Vodafone APN your data still goes via the UK. Most speed test apps pick your server based on your physical location, so your ping test is probably going from NYC to Vodafone's servers in the UK and then to the test server which is close to NYC.
voodoofish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:35
andyukguy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 145
Thanks guys, I've cancelled my Spotify sub and will activate again with the Vodafone deal once it drops down to a free account!
andyukguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 22:37
jaffboy151
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Woore, Cheshire/Shropshire
Posts: 1,675
I didn't have a problem with that, but Vodafone's system which lets you get the Spotify premium was down for like a week which was super annoying as it meant I'd basically missed out on a month of free Spotify by the time I'd waited for my existing subscription to expire and then Vodafone to sort out their crappy system. They did give me £5 credit to say sorry but were pretty ungracious about it.
There's a real air of windows 98 or less about Vodafone's online set up.
Like when you add and upgrade various parts in a old pc tower which while work and do improve things it's still the old processor and motherboard clunking everything around.
jaffboy151 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 23:05
jonmorris
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
I didn't have a problem with that, but Vodafone's system which lets you get the Spotify premium was down for like a week which was super annoying as it meant I'd basically missed out on a month of free Spotify by the time I'd waited for my existing subscription to expire and then Vodafone to sort out their crappy system. They did give me £5 credit to say sorry but were pretty ungracious about it.
I am pretty sure you won't have lost out. The code you get is for 12 months of Spotify, so it starts whenever you successfully get to enter it. I am of the opinion, this will continue for 12 months even if you give notice on your contract.

It's not made clear you need to cancel your existing sub until you realise you can't just apply it. If Vodafone made that clearer, you could cancel sooner (when I wanted to switch, I had just started into a new month and could have cancelled even before I went to sign the new contract).
jonmorris is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 23:17
beans0ntoast
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 932
Unless you live in the south west or east Anglia, where they appear to have done almost nothing at all - it's almost as if there's an "anti-4G" forcefield at the Somerset border
There's quite a bit of anti-3G in my area of Anglia! (East Northamptonshire.)

I think Voda might be pretty reliable once they've got 3G900 on every mast, and ideally 3G2100 too. But if all you've got is 2G900, the experience is awful, and you're better off on EE or 3.
beans0ntoast is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 23:31
jchamier
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,389
There's quite a bit of anti-3G in my area of Anglia! (East Northamptonshire.)

I think Voda might be pretty reliable once they've got 3G900 on every mast, and ideally 3G2100 too. But if all you've got is 2G900, the experience is awful, and you're better off on EE or 3.
Yes I gather Norfolk is 2G only on voda and excellent 3G on three and has 4g with EE.
jchamier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-01-2016, 23:56
moox
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,641
There's quite a bit of anti-3G in my area of Anglia! (East Northamptonshire.)

I think Voda might be pretty reliable once they've got 3G900 on every mast, and ideally 3G2100 too. But if all you've got is 2G900, the experience is awful, and you're better off on EE or 3.
As I've said before, even 3G900 isn't much to write home about, at least not until Cornerstone comes to town and starts deploying 4G anyway. Honestly you'll still be on 2G a lot even down here. just a bit less of the time than up there, it seems

It sounds like the Cornerstone'd areas have fantastic networks now.
moox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-01-2016, 00:08
Pedro_C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
Yes I gather Norfolk is 2G only on voda and excellent 3G on three and has 4g with EE.
EE and 3 do have 3G and 4G around Norfolk but the signal can get incredibly weak at times; my dad on 3 and mum on Orange found themselves with no signal from time to time, but their devices would usually connect to a strong 2G signal from voda/O2 (emergency calls only).

In Dorset, things were not too different. On my spot on the campsite, EE had -113dBm 3G and about -110dBm 2G. If I walked to certain parts, the signal would disappear. (To be fair, EE/3's prediction was pretty much exactly right). Vodafone. meanwhile. had -86dBm GPRS, which was no data until about 1am when I could then get about 30K.

The pivotal question, however, is which device did I use?

EE.
Enough said.
Pedro_C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-01-2016, 00:10
Pedro_C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660

It sounds like the Cornerstone'd areas have fantastic networks now.
I've added some schematics to my New Vodafone and O2 4G mast setups page (at the bottom) if anyone's interested.
Pedro_C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-01-2016, 00:12
Skippy2005
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 731
I think as you're still using the Vodafone APN your data still goes via the UK. Most speed test apps pick your server based on your physical location, so your ping test is probably going from NYC to Vodafone's servers in the UK and then to the test server which is close to NYC.
So that's how they do it, so would I be right in saying they aren't soaking up the cost of roaming? For example like 3 claim. Would the way Vodafone seem gone be setup they are just charging an access fee? I understand how Euro/world traveller works but I mean from a network point of view.
Skippy2005 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-01-2016, 11:34
mobilecentre
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 103
There's quite a bit of anti-3G in my area of Anglia! (East Northamptonshire.)

I think Voda might be pretty reliable once they've got 3G900 on every mast, and ideally 3G2100 too. But if all you've got is 2G900, the experience is awful, and you're better off on EE or 3.
I see Wansford is now 4gd so the outer westerly part of Northants is getting a tiny bit of activity
mobilecentre is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-01-2016, 13:21
M1kos
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 499
Something odd has happened at my mast. I now have full voda 4G using frequency Id 30 which I think is 800 coming from old 2006 Antennas which I didn't think was possible
M1kos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-01-2016, 13:33
Pedro_C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
Something odd has happened at my mast. I now have full voda 4G using frequency Id 30 which I think is 800 coming from old 2006 Antennas which I didn't think was possible
It's not technically impossible. Are there any newer VF/O2 panels on the mast that they could be using but have left the old ones up
Pedro_C 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.