[The Lord Lucan]

"Research suggests that combined with the proposed increase in licence fees, investment in the mobile sector could be reduced by up to £582 million.

EE has released a report which estimates that national roaming could delay the rollout of 4G by 18-24 months, with its introduction only increasing coverage by 2-4 per cent of the UK geography."

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2014/...-to-two-years/

[WelshBluebird]

Is it too cynical for me to think this is at best essentially PR by EE and at worse a threat ?

[The Lord Lucan]

Not really. All the networks are expressing concerns at the cost, the complications of doing it. like data for example.. O2 wouldn't want a heavy Three user on their network and confusion it would cause i.e. who gets the blame for calls dropped etc etc etc. It would be a nightmare and the cost & fuss it would cause would likely delay investment as stated.

The govt have already stifled the 3G upgrade/4G roll out pace in the last year by increasing costs to the operators (spectrum charges) it would be also another nail in the coffin for the UK's cheap tariffs (compared to Mainland EU/USA). As the customer would have to pay higher costs to pay for the implementation of it.

All because David Cameron couldn't get Vodafone signal in Brighton

[Gigabit]

From the same network that implemented it between Orange and T-Mobile in a matter of weeks.

[carguy143]

I worry that customers from networks with a worse data service will all start forcing their phones on to the "better" network in a given area which could lead to a degradation of network performance for those who subscripe to said "better" network.

[jaffboy151]

This plan could never include data as it would be a nightmare to sort out, but I don't see why it couldn't be implemented in very rural areas or areas with limited Mast site availability like aonb's, wouldn't need to be everywhere and would need to be set up right as I wouldn't want it to act like threes orange backup where once it's locked in it sits there with no data for ages when you know your back in an area of coverage..

[Orangy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

From the same network that implemented it between Orange and T-Mobile in a matter of weeks.

Mmmm, because that worked so well without any ongoing issues for months. Plus they were in control of both networks, rather than rivals. It was rubbish being a T-Mobile customer with a nice 3G mast with just a couple of dB signal less than Orange so the handset switched to the 'strongest' cell - being Orange and 3G speeds plummeted from being measured in several Mbps to a few Kbps and it wasn't possible to force it on to T-Mobile.

Roaming in overlap areas would be a nightmare. I'd rather stick with a weaker EE signal and retain data, than have a strong Vodafone signal with no data and no easy way to control it.

I appreciate it's rubbish if you're in an area without signal and I'd like to be able to still make calls if I were, but the logistics of it in reality are pretty difficult without customers suffering more than benefitting, surely?

[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

All because David Cameron couldn't get Vodafone signal in Brighton

I thought it was Cornwall?

Perhaps he should get the prime ministerial phone moved onto a decent 21st century network

[The Lord Lucan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

From the same network that implemented it between Orange and T-Mobile in a matter of weeks.

And it cost millions, took years for all the issues to be solved and still there are issues even to this day.. And this would be far easier than what is being planned by govt. A 4 way sharing agreement. I'd say they are perfectly placed to comment out of all the networks.

[The Lord Lucan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

I thought it was Cornwall?

Perhaps he should get the prime ministerial phone moved onto a decent 21st century network

I dunno, where ever he thought he was a young Hoff. I'm surprised he doesn't have a phone that can take more than one sim..

I'd have thought the security services would prefer he spoke via the airwave system than one of the networks..

[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

I dunno, where ever he thought he was a young Hoff. I'm surprised he doesn't have a phone that can take more than one sim..

I'd have thought the security services would prefer he spoke via the airwave system than one of the networks..

Good point, you'd think the entourage (which I'm guessing would be from the Met) would have an Airwave radio or two if nothing else worked?

(or they could drive around a bit and find some signal rather than declaring it an immediate nationwide problem)

[gazzz02]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

Good point, you'd think the entourage (which I'm guessing would be from the Met) would have an Airwave radio or two if nothing else worked?

(or they could drive around a bit and find some signal rather than declaring it an immediate nationwide problem)

Do we know exactly where he was? I'm curious to know whether any other network had coverage there, or whether national roaming would have made no difference at all

[japaul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazzz02

Do we know exactly where he was? I'm curious to know whether any other network had coverage there, or whether national roaming would have made no difference at all

Polzeath in Cornwall

He uses 3 in touch now

[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazzz02

Do we know exactly where he was? I'm curious to know whether any other network had coverage there, or whether national roaming would have made no difference at all

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/...nwall-holiday/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...e-9554660.html

Polzeath, possibly?

I live in Cornwall and the problem is not as massive as he wants to make it out to be - there are black spots on all networks, sure, but nothing like the entire county being in the stone age (and better landline based broadband means you could just use WiFi calling or a femtocell)

3 claim to have indoor coverage for most of Polzeath, but Vodafone appears to claim that large parts of the area don't even have outdoor 2G coverage and no 3G coverage there at all (what a surprise)

So perhaps the PM should move to 3 or take a SIM down with him on holiday?

[japaul]

deleted

[The Lord Lucan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazzz02

Do we know exactly where he was? I'm curious to know whether any other network had coverage there, or whether national roaming would have made no difference at all

Looking at Rootmetrics.. I doubt it would have made much difference there. Voda seem to be the strongest going by the maps at least.

[Orbitalzone]

If movies and TV are to be believed, they all have dozens of satellite phones in their limo's for that very reason

[DevonBloke]

Anyway, I thought the networks were working on an alternative (building more masts and sharing the cost) solution to present to the government since none of them want the roaming option and neither do we.
Nah, it's just PR to scare the government.

[enapace]

If the MIP Project actually was done correctly [Massive Shambles} maybe David Cameron would of been fine with his phone call.

[DevonBloke]

Why don't the networks just each stick 250 grand in a pot and spend a billion quid getting the job done. Share the cost of masts, rental and backhaul, stick their own cabs/arrays on and job done.
Instead they have politicians breathing down their necks ranting on about roaming!
Muppets!

Lucan is going to tell me it's not that simple now. But... send the CEOs a tanker of Bucky and it's sorted!
Hahahahaha