Whilst I would agree he CEO's press release wasn't the most eloquent way to get his point across, it is to some degree correct. I think a lot of people on this forum look to 4G as being some kind of saviour, it will revolutionise the way consumers use their smartphones. Broadly speaking most customers only care about being able to take photos upload them to their choice of social network, and being able to message friends and family using whatever app they like.
I have never come across a situation where a non "tech savvy" phone user does a speedtest or cares about how fast it should be. 4G is an enabler nothing more, the market as it now stands is moving towards fixed but generous usage allowances. This will be the way UK networks monetise 4G, they will in short offer more for the same price (won't drive down prices).
I think we can all agree Vodafone under invested in its network for the last 10 years or so, they have more or less admitted this publicly. They have more or less committed to spending near £2Bn on upgrading their network for the future (4G and above). I think as another user Uno said in another thread, Vodafone are recognising that speeds have fallen somewhat and will be alleviating those issues promptly.
Being honest I think some people are far to stubborn and stuck in the past, yes Vodafone was a load of shit for many years. But for me since first opening my account with them 4 years ago, they have been good. I was on Orange previously and I could get no throughput in Manchester City Centre, moving to Vodafone allowed me to use the internet. Send a WhatsApp nessage or post a status on facebook. Neither could be performed on Orange at the time especially during midweek when half a million plus would descend on the city for work. The merging of the networks and latterly network share was a boon for Orange, as that was also a company that had rather poorly invested in 3G, not something you notice now.
Oranges network was shit for many years, fair enough like Vodafone 2G coverage was excellent. 3G had been under invested for a number of years. The only reason the merged company has such a good network now is down to MBNL and formerly T-Mobile having the foresight to recognise the technology would be more in demand in the future.
But we can talk all day till the cows come home about how crap a network has been or currently are as they don't have 2G backup, not enough 3G or poor 4G speeds. I think everyone is focussing too much on the technology at hand, rather than assessing the overall direction and aims. In the future coverage will improve massively for those on Vodafone and even EE, they both have a very good selection of spectrum allowing them to achieve credible results. For me Vodafone has improved over the last 18 months, 4G is expanding widely and common sense apporach is used to building out. Relative to Three who seem to take a postcode lottery to 4G.
I have been using the free EE 4G sim for the last month or so, the speeds I have been seeing have been more or less the same as Vodafone. Admittedly EE does have the largest number of 4G customers/users, its also double speeds where I live and work. Again my experience was broadly similar for 3G, maybe a touch better on Vodafone due to 3G900. I am impressed with EE so far, one thing I have come to realise, is having a 2G backup is a must. I went out into the sticks for a few days over Christmas and both networks offered acceptable 2G coverage. Suffice to say I didn't get anything on Three (shock horror).
Bluntly put I think people need to get over themselves in relating to the legacy problems of Vodafone and focus more on what will happen in the future. Building out 4G like Rome, won't done overnight. However in those areas where Vodafone has put in place new infratructure you will generally find the service much improved and more importantly reliable, something that can't be said of another network.