[pfgpowell]

A month or two ago I bought an iPhone 5s and stuck in a nano card to which my Vodafone number had been transferred. We are in a 4g area (and don't bloody Vodafone plug it) but here at work in High St Kensington, I have stuck with a 3g card (4g costs extra according to Vodafone, and really I don't see the point) am only getting at best E and all-too-often GPRS. When I raised it with the Vodafone shop just up the road, I was told that 'all phones are different in the signal they get', but I suspect that is bullshit. An iPhone not getting a good signal? What are other people's thoughts?

[Gigabit]

Sounds like typical Vodafone to me - I am surprised it is so bad in London though.

I'd get an EE/Three (as their 3G coverage is the same) PAYG SIM and test it out.

[The Lord Lucan]

I have family who live near to Holland Park. O2/EE have ok 4G there. However coverage is generally poor around there indoors due to the lack of sites/big buildings to hide the masts on and it being a strict area planning wise. They had to wait ages for fibre as the cabinet was rejected a few times. I've found coverage is particularly bad around the Palace side.
Vodafone suffers major breathing and therefore coverage issues on 3G as I've found the signal is so much stronger in the early hours although that shouldn't affect the 4G which in theory be similar to O2's..

[My name's Scott]

I live in Ealing and it's the same here too on Vodafone. Diabolical service.

[andyukguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfgpowell

...am only getting at best E and all-too-often GPRS. When I raised it with the Vodafone shop just up the road, I was told that 'all phones are different in the signal they get', but I suspect that is bullshit. An iPhone not getting a good signal? What are other people's thoughts?

To be clear: you have never seen 3G on your phone or it's just in this area you don't have 3G? The Vodafone coverage checker naturally claims wall to wall 3G coverage and to be fair that would be expected from all operators in central London!

[The Lord Lucan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

To be clear: you have never seen 3G on your phone or it's just in this area you don't have 3G? The Vodafone coverage checker naturally claims wall to wall 3G coverage and to be fair that would be expected from all operators in central London!

Wall to wall outdoors offpeak. Not quite true under load, indoors and other factors.

[pfgpowell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

To be clear: you have never seen 3G on your phone or it's just in this area you don't have 3G? The Vodafone coverage checker naturally claims wall to wall 3G coverage and to be fair that would be expected from all operators in central London!

Occasionally I see 3g registered on my phone, then it switches back to E or GPRS. I'm just assuming that Vofafone have known for some time that they would be building up a 4g network, starting with cities e.g. London and at a certain point simply stopped improving 3g. But it is a poor state of affairs, especially getting the bullshit from the guy in the store.

[paulker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

I have family who live near to Holland Park. O2/EE have ok 4G there. However coverage is generally poor around there indoors due to the lack of sites/big buildings to hide the masts on and it being a strict area planning wise. They had to wait ages for fibre as the cabinet was rejected a few times. I've found coverage is particularly bad around the Palace side.
Vodafone suffers major breathing and therefore coverage issues on 3G as I've found the signal is so much stronger in the early hours although that shouldn't affect the 4G which in theory be similar to O2's..

Planning permission issues drive me mad. Self important councillors and daft residents who want a mobile service without any masts. Ha.

I live in an area where a large number of applications have been turned down. Its a hilly area as well so coverage is terrible.

I would quite happily have a mast at the end of my driveway. People are so fickle.

[Gigabit]

They "cause cancer" though!

[Thine Wonk]

Vodafone has the least 3G coverage of all the networks, and 4G is new and still being rolled out. I would definitely look at the coverage maps before signing up and maybe even try a free or cheap PAYG test sim before committing to a contract with any network.

EE and Three seem to offer the best wide scale coverage for data.

[anyonefortennis]

EE is pretty rubbish as well. I miss many calls because the caller gets a constant engaged tone or a message saying your call can't be connected right now. The calls don't even go to voicemail.

[The Lord Lucan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anyonefortennis

EE is pretty rubbish as well. I miss many calls because the caller gets a constant engaged tone or a message saying your call can't be connected right now. The calls don't even go to voicemail.

There are all pretty bad considering the central location. EE & O2 are the best of them however. It's just with Vodafone not only do you miss voice calls, The data speeds and reliability is pretty poor too.

[pfgpowell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anyonefortennis

EE is pretty rubbish as well. I miss many calls because the caller gets a constant engaged tone or a message saying your call can't be connected right now. The calls don't even go to voicemail.

I recently heard a report on Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent from a BBC reporter who spends a lot of time in Africa how he has very little trouble getting a signal in all kinds of out of the way places in Central Africa, and is always astounded when he comes back to Britain who piss-poor the service from all operators is, especially out of town.

[paulker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfgpowell

I recently heard a report on Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent from a BBC reporter who spends a lot of time in Africa how he has very little trouble getting a signal in all kinds of out of the way places in Central Africa, and is always astounded when he comes back to Britain who piss-poor the service from all operators is, especially out of town.

Its those pesky councillors brown nosing the people who don't want a mast near them. Also, masts have to conform to town planning ideals. Basically, masts need to fit in with the surroundings.

In Africa they don't give a toss where they put the masts.

[The Lord Lucan]

I've been to parts of Africa.. Yes you get coverage but it's hugely unreliable. Hard to compare a country with huge expances of land with one of the strictest planning authorities in the UK as well as being of the most populous..

[anyonefortennis]

The coverage in NYC is much better than London. Maybe that's because they are not as fussy where they put their masts as they don't seem to be fussy about what they build there either.

[LostFool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfgpowell

I recently heard a report on Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent from a BBC reporter who spends a lot of time in Africa how he has very little trouble getting a signal in all kinds of out of the way places in Central Africa, and is always astounded when he comes back to Britain who piss-poor the service from all operators is, especially out of town.

I have travelled around India and SE Asia and have regularly found rock solid 3G connections in out of the way places. Two reasons for this
1) In remote areas they often have no landline infrastructure so need good mobile coverage
2) Lack of planning restrictions. Masts get put wherever the operator and/or government wants

In the UK it is still common to have no 3G in the middle of big cities and once you are in the countryside all bets are off. Rather than rolling out 4G I would prefer networks got their 3G coverage working properly.

[pfgpowell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostFool

In the UK it is still common to have no 3G in the middle of big cities and once you are in the countryside all bets are off. Rather than rolling out 4G I would prefer networks got their 3G coverage working properly.

Well, as I originally said, at my office in High St Kensington, London, I occasionally get 3g but usually just E and GPRS. And Kensington isn't exactly the back of beyond. I should add, though (which rather weakens my point) that if I need the internet in the office for Skype or Facetime, I can simply log onto the wifi the company provides for visitors. But that notwithstanding, can I still be a little bit outraged? Please?