[andyukguy]

Very interesting thread, however it seems to have turned into a "who will have the highest average speeds" type discussion. The way I read the OP's message was more to do with coverage than speeds.

I don't really subscribe to the "cell spacing" argument put forwards in favour of EE. I tend to operate inside the M25 and spend a fair amount of time in London specifically. There is no doubt in my mind that EE is not as good at providing in building coverage as o2 and Vodafone in this area. What's the use of fast 4G outside if I'm stuck with no service of any description inside. Just off the top of my head some locations all in central London where in the past month I've not had any service at all on EE: The Comedy Store (Picadilly Circus), Foxlows Restaurant (Clerkenwell ) and a friends house opposite Portobello Market. Vodafone and o2 had strong signal, with fast working 3G data in all of these locations (I don't have 4G enabled contracts to test whether they had 4G as well).

If EE don't have coverage in these buildings now I can't see what will suddenly change. The only thing that will realistically bring coverage is 800Mhz but are EE even planning to roll this out in London? It doesn't appear to be their strategy from what I've read.

I think there are different groups of people: I firmly belong in the "I just want it to bloody work" group I don't care if I'm "only" getting 5Mbps on LTE, I can still do everything I need. In that respect, looking at what Vodafone have to offer in the terms of overall spectrum (900Mhz + 2100Mhz 3G, 800Mhz LTE + 2600Mhz LTE) I think they are going to be the winners in terms of coverage, particularly indoors...

...at least for inside the M25! But that's all I care about

[BKM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

Lots of people still buy O2 and Vodafone for "better coverage due to lower frequency" and my employer is the same. I travel the country reasonably for work, and in ALL the places, I normally get better service on EE than Vodafone - and in poor coverage places I get the same on both. (ie, GPRS).

Vodafone are (or were earlier this year!) ONLY good for calls!

I left them as their 3G coverage was just appalling - which made using a smartphone somewhat difficult!

[jchamier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

I think there are different groups of people: I firmly belong in the "I just want it to bloody work" group I don't care if I'm "only" getting 5Mbps on LTE, I can still do everything I need. In that respect, looking at what Vodafone have to offer in the terms of overall spectrum (900Mhz + 2100Mhz 3G, 800Mhz LTE + 2600Mhz LTE) I think they are going to be the winners in terms of coverage, particularly indoors...

...at least for inside the M25! But that's all I care about

Inside the M25 is a very different setup than outside, and it seems Voda and O2 have done very well with 900mhz 3G inside the M25. Outside the M25 Voda is horrendous, and O2 only slightly better.

It will be one to watch, the frequencies (and physics) sound good, but it will be down to the implementation.

Vodafone have a long way to go - they now have the money, but you can't create a national high performance network in a year. MBNL started in 2007/2008 !

[andyukguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

Inside the M25 is a very different setup than outside, and it seems Voda and O2 have done very well with 900mhz 3G inside the M25. Outside the M25 Voda is horrendous, and O2 only slightly better.

It will be one to watch, the frequencies (and physics) sound good, but it will be down to the implementation.

Vodafone have a long way to go - they now have the money, but you can't create a national high performance network in a year. MBNL started in 2007/2008 !

I agree! Vodafone have their own fibre and a great spectrum mix, but it doesn't mean they'll deliver what's possible.

Just to illustrate the point I made above, I was in a bar in Hoxton last night and it was the same story I've been finding in lots of places in London: http://i.imgur.com/fjDIOgh.png

[Gigabit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

I agree! Vodafone have their own fibre and a great spectrum mix, but it doesn't mean they'll deliver what's possible.

Just to illustrate the point I made above, I was in a bar in Hoxton last night and it was the same story I've been finding in lots of places in London: http://i.imgur.com/fjDIOgh.png

This has been my experience also.

You get EE 4G in way more places but in my experience, O2/Vodafone signal is better when you do get it, especially indoors.

[jchamier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

This has been my experience also.

You get EE 4G in way more places but in my experience, O2/Vodafone signal is better when you do get it, especially indoors.

Is that 3G or 2G ??

I tend to get the opposite here in Farnborough, 3 and EE but zero Voda or O2, but then I only care about 3G and 4G, and generally ignore 2G, since most people contact me via various messengers (WhatsApp, iMessage, FB messenger) or email these days.

I wonder if where you were is where MBNL want to put a mast and have been blocked by locals (so no 1800), and by chance a 900mhz 2G mast has a better position. In that case 800mhz LTE will help, assuming an LTE Voice capable handset.

But I wouldn't put it past EE to have turned off an old Orange only mast that covered that area

[Gigabit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

Is that 3G or 2G ??

I tend to get the opposite here in Farnborough, 3 and EE but zero Voda or O2, but then I only care about 3G and 4G, and generally ignore 2G, since most people contact me via various messengers (WhatsApp, iMessage, FB messenger) or email these days.

I wonder if where you were is where MBNL want to put a mast and have been blocked by locals (so no 1800), and by chance a 900mhz 2G mast has a better position. In that case 800mhz LTE will help, assuming an LTE Voice capable handset.

But I wouldn't put it past EE to have turned off an old Orange only mast that covered that area

From what I've been told, there has been no change to any of the masts in this area.

What I can tell you is that Three 3G signal has always been poor and EE 3G signal is also just as poor - it's basically very, very patchy. This to me suggests a distant MBNL past serving EE 3G and Three 3G.

We do get a bit of EE 2G but again it's fairly patchy, not as patchy as 3G but not great. This to me suggests that this is coming from the same MBNL mast as previously mentioned but the lower frequency means it travels slightly further.

I know where that mast is and it is quite a distance away, in a wood blocked by lots of trees.

I don't know if the O2 mast that gives me good 2G signal is also shared by Vodafone but it seems logical as the signal is nearly identical on GPRS. However, Vodafone does have EDGE in this area which I receive here but is worse signal than GPRS, so perhaps that's a different mast that only Vodafone (currently) have access to? I know that wasn't available a few years ago but it's strange that Vodafone added EDGE but not 3G.

I am hoping that when the MBNL mast gets 800MHz coverage may improve.

Going by the same logic, when O2 add 800MHz to my nearest mast, I should get a good 4G service. I can receive a one bar Vodafone LTE signal at the moment (ranges between -120dBm and -110dBm) which I assume is from an even more distant mast. I assume the same will happen for Vodafone when they add LTE to my nearest mast.

Sorry for the long post

[voodoofish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyukguy

I agree! Vodafone have their own fibre and a great spectrum mix, but it doesn't mean they'll deliver what's possible.

Just to illustrate the point I made above, I was in a bar in Hoxton last night and it was the same story I've been finding in lots of places in London: http://i.imgur.com/fjDIOgh.png

There are lots of places places in London you can only get O2/Vodafone but to be fair sometimes it can happen the other way around too. When testing a Vodafone sim in the British Museum I got no signal in some parts of the building, and a network search showed only O2 and EE had signal. EE are also the only network with good 3G at City Thameslink station, which I think is because they have femtocells on the wall (they're unmarked but look identical to one I saw in LHR T1 domestic departures a year or two ago which has a 'One2One' label on it! Three only gets 1bar 3G which often dropped out, so presumably they're not part of MBNL either). It's not really in London, but in the big Boots in Gatwick North I also got no signal on Vodafone but 3G on Three. Obviously these are just a few examples, but I think it's pretty difficult to just pick one network and always get signal everywhere there is signal, even in London.