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Three 4G Discussion Thread (Part 2) |
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#2726 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
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I seriously wonder if Three ever intends to release 800 to a lot of its customers. There's certainly not much of a marketing push for it.
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#2727 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 49
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Hi,
I recently had my mainboard changed on my S6 under warranty. Since then, I can't access voLTE or any of its settings. If anyone has an S6 on three with voLTE working could you please tell me which build number you are on (Settings -> About) Thanks in advance! |
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#2728 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
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Quote:
What should have happen is that everyone is allowed on 800mhz and then if your phone didn't do VoLTE then it just wouldn't do that but still allowing you to use 800mhz for data only.
This is why phones that don't do VoLTE can't use the 800 signal. MiFi type devices and data only tablets however should be allowed to - suspect Three haven't got that far yet. |
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#2729 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
How do you sell someone a service on a phone that has signal that does not do voice calls? I could see Three being ridiculed on the News every night for "phones that can't make phone calls".
This is why phones that don't do VoLTE can't use the 800 signal. MiFi type devices and data only tablets however should be allowed to - suspect Three haven't got that far yet. |
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#2730 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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In fact, when I had a 3 branded s6 I had the VoLTE symbol and it still reverted back to 3g when I made a call.
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#2731 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
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If they allow MBB devices, I can imagine it would hit speeds significantly. Guildford has one 800MHz mast, serving about 70, 000 people. It's tri-sector, so you 're looking at about 5, 000, 35, 000 and 30, 000 on each sector. 35, 000 sharing 40mbps of capacity is not going to work well if people use MBB.
"1800MHz", I hear you cry. yeah, good luck with that, they've only enabled about four sites... |
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#2732 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
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Quote:
Isn't this the case anyway with 4g - when you make a call it reverts back to 3g. Can't see how this would be any different if you were accessing the 800 signal.
The 4G you are getting is at 1800 and deliberately limited to ensure it covers the same places (indoors and outdoors) that get the 3G signal. |
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#2733 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
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Quote:
If they allow MBB devices, I can imagine it would hit speeds significantly. Guildford has one 800MHz mast, serving about 70, 000 people. It's tri-sector, so you 're looking at about 5, 000, 35, 000 and 30, 000 on each sector. 35, 000 sharing 40mbps of capacity is not going to work well if people use MBB.
"1800MHz", I hear you cry. yeah, good luck with that, they've only enabled about four sites... It needs to be the people who can't get anything else - the "edge cases" as it were. |
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#2734 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
Very true. Three (and EE) will have issues with their 2x5mhz of 800 for most things. Makes sense why EE haven't enabled it yet, and so few people on Three.
It needs to be the people who can't get anything else - the "edge cases" as it were. |
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#2735 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,543
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Quote:
If they allow MBB devices, I can imagine it would hit speeds significantly. Guildford has one 800MHz mast, serving about 70, 000 people. It's tri-sector, so you 're looking at about 5, 000, 35, 000 and 30, 000 on each sector. 35, 000 sharing 40mbps of capacity is not going to work well if people use MBB.
"1800MHz", I hear you cry. yeah, good luck with that, they've only enabled about four sites... I think people need to understand the business side to see why they do things from a technology standpoint. Each year there's a CAPEX and OPEX budget given by the CFO of companies, they will break that into 4 quarters. The CAPEX buys equipment and the OPEX pays for staff and other operations costs. They can physically only buy X number of cabinets, poles, base station controllers etc and that can only send off orders to x number of suppliers or issue contracts within that budget. They can't over spend and invest above and beyond what makes economic sense for the business. So what they do is plan the best way around it given the constraints you'll never get rid of in business. I suspect they have restricted 800 in the first phase to enable them to focus on coverage. If they let everyone on to 800 with so few sites the service was be affected and people would be screaming and shouting and making jokes about how poor the speeds are for 4G. So during the build out they are going to restrict it. When the wider coverage is done and other urban 1800 masts and some more 800 masts get enabled, I suspect they will begin to reprioritise and relax the restrictions. We're only what 6 weeks in to 800 and supervoice? over the next 6 months that device list will slowly grow and grow till in 12 months they might just flip the allow all switch with 1800 as priority and 800 as fallback for all. |
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#2736 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
You can get 800 signal in a LOT of places where there is no 3G signal.
The 4G you are getting is at 1800 and deliberately limited to ensure it covers the same places (indoors and outdoors) that get the 3G signal. |
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#2737 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
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Quote:
I seriously wonder if Three ever intends to release 800 to a lot of its customers. There's certainly not much of a marketing push for it.
It's like a supermarket advertising it's all new self service checkouts that will bust all queues and then only have it open for 5 minutes on a Tuesday afternoon. |
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#2738 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 634
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Quote:
Isn't this the case anyway with 4g - when you make a call it reverts back to 3g. Can't see how this would be any different if you were accessing the 800 signal.
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#2739 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
Not very successful if there's no 3G signal to revert back to.
However, I would have thought the in touch app could be modified to work with 4g,without needing VoLTE. |
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#2740 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
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Quote:
How do you sell someone a service on a phone that has signal that does not do voice calls? I could see Three being ridiculed on the News every night for "phones that can't make phone calls".
This is why phones that don't do VoLTE can't use the 800 signal. MiFi type devices and data only tablets however should be allowed to - suspect Three haven't got that far yet. Does Virgin Atlantic announce a fabulous new destination starting on Monday, but that 'we don't have any planes yet to actually allow anyone to use that new service'? It's basic business that you don't launch something without all the necessary things in place to make it possible or else you haven't actually launched anything. |
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#2741 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,543
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Quote:
And therein lies the entire cock-up.
You're just being impatient, we're 4-6 weeks into 800 being launched, more devices will be added to the list in the coming weeks and in the longer term I suspect the restrictions will be relaxed, but they are probably needed at the moment as the focus is not on capacity and launching 50 800 masts in a city, it is on coverage and launching 5, but instead using 800 for much wider coverage and slowly adding more devices to it as the cell density increases later in the rollout phase. When you're operating over 16,000 cell sites you can't just click your fingers and turn something on, it takes several years of work. We are at the phase now where 800 is still in early rollout, so the restrictions are needed at the moment., otherwise people like you will be the first to scream and shout. |
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#2742 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
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The thing is, I think indoors Three customers will spend a lot of time on 800 because in my experience, Three just never works well indoors on 1800.
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#2743 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
No, opening up 800 for everyone this early in the rollout phase would be the mother of all cock ups. That's why it is launching in phases over the next 12 months.
You're just being impatient, we're 4-6 weeks into 800 being launched, more devices will be added to the list in the coming weeks and in the longer term I suspect the restrictions will be relaxed, but they are probably needed at the moment as the focus is not on capacity and launching 50 800 masts in a city, it is on coverage and launching 5, but instead using 800 for much wider coverage and slowly adding more devices to it as the cell density increases later in the rollout phase.. |
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#2744 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,543
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Quote:
I get that it's about coverage, but is it fair that only some customers feel the benefit? Doesn't seem equitable to me.
The benefit is that if you have a compatible device (list will grow monthly) then you will get LTE 800 when 1800 isn't available and you'll get voice coverage even outside of 3G coverage. |
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#2745 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,985
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Quote:
Seems strange to me - I've got a bt mobile sim that works on all 4g networks with a phone not running special firmware, and my wife's unbranded phone works on Vodafone 4g no problem - as far as I can see it's only Three that restrict customers
Your wife is on Vodafone, if she doesn't have an iPhone 6s or + you will also find they have restricted her use of WifiCalling. This will also be true of VoLTE when they launch it. Three is the only network restricting VoLTE at present, mainly because they are the only ones who currently offer it. |
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#2746 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
You will over the course of time as the rollout progresses, we're 4-6 weeks in.
The benefit is that if you have a compatible device (list will grow monthly) then you will get LTE 800 when 1800 isn't available and you'll get voice coverage even outside of 3G coverage. |
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#2747 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
You misunderstand, you are on BT Mobile, how do you find WifiCalling is working for you? EE as a network have it as a feature, but it's restricted to certain handsets and only to their direct contract customers. The same will happen when they launch VoLTE.
Your wife is on Vodafone, if she doesn't have an iPhone 6s or + you will also find they have restricted her use of WifiCalling. This will also be true of VoLTE when they launch it. Three is the only network restricting VoLTE at present, mainly because they are the only ones who currently offer it. |
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#2748 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,985
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Quote:
I wasn't taking about VoLTE or wifi calling (features I don't really care about) I'm talking about being able to access 4g on these networks and without being told I've got to have permission to access certain bands.
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#2749 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 48
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Quote:
As has been explained, without VoLTE you can't have 800Mhz, there isn't any way currently for their 3G signal to cover the same area as 800Mhz will on 4G. The network won't allow phones that can't use VoLTE to use 800Mhz as it will mean those customers could easily end up in a situation of strong signal but no calls.
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#2750 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 5
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So a question, they've added new antennae to my mast and all that and this is the third day of work. They turned the mast back on now but I don't have 4G so I'm assuming it's only for EE then. How long does work typically last on a mast?
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