Thanks GavinAshford. Well Three have form for this considering the way 1800MHz was rolled out. What I don't understand is how 800MHz comes into play, will that be linked to the VoLTE rollout or separate? If linked then could be a hint they plan to limit 800MHz for VoLTE devices only, if unlinked then srvcc will really need to be flawless for people who will be jumping from 1800MHz to 2100MHz instead of 1800MHz to 800MHz.

I guess they might enable VoLTE for everyone first on 1800MHz then open up 800MHz, but then that would mean they wouldn't open up 800MHz for another 6 months which doesn't fit with there plans.

As I said earlier, why concentrate on a new thing (VoLTE) when they haven't yet done the old thing (LTE) yet (whenever, maybe, don't ask as we ain't going to tell) in so many many many places.

Are Three just running a service for a selected few where they get 4G and then VoLTE whilst everyone else gets sweet FA?!

It is hard to know exactly what Three are planning at the moment, but it could be that Three need to wait to sort out VoLTE before they can pubically turn on 800MHz giving people the old thing (LTE)

Kind of shocking that they have come out and said they think it will take them over a year to enable VoLTE for all there customers. I do wonder what Three really thinks it's doing lately the stupid adverts the weird rollout plans kicking people of legacy tariffs.

Honestly I don't regret leaving them and think they are trying be an underdog in the market still but no longer have anything to distinguish themselves.

They also say you need to be in a VoLTE ready area as well as having a VoLTE phone. I'm now wondering if the cities with the most 800MHz coverage will get VoLTE and public 800MHz first like London, Birmingham, Manchester, and then other locations will continue to be switched on. Would mean both statements about September rollout and 2016 rollout would still be true.

And this way of doing things is not unheard of, T-Mobile and At&t rolled out in a very similar way.

You'll just need the right hardware and there will be a lot of grumbling but in the end, everyone will buy the right hardware. That's the way it is. If you are paying £60 a month for an iPhone or top end Samsung, you might have cause complain that it doesn't work. If you've bought some Chinese copy off Amazon like I did, you take your chance and be prepared to eBay it in favour of something that does work. That's life.

What should of happened is 3 should have rolled out 800 and 1800mhz at the same time as each site is upgraded, they didn't need to switch on 800. All this going back and revisiting, changing equipment. What a waste of time and money, they could be pushing forward into other areas now rather than going back....

Because the new thing will mean a lot more of the old thing. Don't be surprised if one day you get a lot more 4G coverage as they switch 800MHz on in a big way, in order to launch VoLTE

As others have said, it's possible that they are waiting for VoLTE because turning on 800MHz could lead to a situation where you have a 4G signal but you can't actually make a call - that'll be irritating and will cause complaints

Or they could be turning on the old old thing: 4G on 1800mhz that was the old project before they slowed down and stopped that last roll-out plan.

So all in all there is lots they could be doing and always seem to pick do nothing instead.

I mean in my town there is 4G on O2, Vodafone, and exceptionally good EE. So all the big players apart from Three.

Looking at their old planned coverage map posted a few pages back (for 2014 I believe) it doesn't look like their 1800MHz coverage is far off their plan. A large amount of the rolled out 1800 matches up to the planned map, although it's not completed and it's probably not as dense as planned either.

I suppose they don't want to spend a huge amount of money covering the whole country in 800 and then the O2 merger goes through and they've suddenly gained thousands of masts that are already 800 4G equipt.

I wonder if the places where Three have already rolled out 800 (but not publicly enabled) have O2 800 4G coverage...

I agree actually, Three should have gotten 1800MHz more dense and rolled out to more of the places on the target map. However they have obviously decided to go mainly for 800MHz whether for good or bad, and this will likely get turned on (along with VoLTE) once a town has quite dense 800MHz coverage.

I think the 1800MHz rollout is quite far of that old planned map tbh, there are lots of places in the north where you simply cannot get a 4G signal or it is very easy to lose.

Yes if they get hold of O2s network it would be best not to duplicate too much, but that won't happen for at least another 12 months and the network can't cope in places. And it isn't even a given that they will get O2s network which will leave them in a mess if Three just stop investing. But the simple solution would have been to rollout 1800MHz properly, by which time a decision would have been made about 3/O2 and Three could look to rollout 800MHz if the O2 merger wasn't to be approved.

Lots of places that Three have rolled out 800MHz are in fact covered by O2 800MHz, 1800MHz + 800MHz would have been much more satisfactory.

Looking at the map in the northwest it's nowhere near it still. Most towns have it in the centre now but there no continuous sections of it like you get with Vodafone o2 or EE. Very few masts activated.

Well I was getting 4G at Clacton Tescos today on three first time I have noticed it.
Though signal does not reach the main town which needs it most & around the beach odd that they do the out the town ones?
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...24&oe=5682E754

Look forward to posts saying "I have a VoLTE compatible phone and Three wont enable it on my account."

Well done Three

which translated from Three BS it means.. forget about VoLTE until late 2017.

Visited a number of 3 sites in Dorset yesterday, all have the small Kathrein antennas supporting 1800/2100, so no signs of 4g800 there.

A little peek at a site running the future of Three 1800MHz

http://i.imgur.com/mnFicBK.png

Woohoo
I thought the handover wasn't until September, is this just a trial site or are Three now able to use the extra 5MHz?

Trial and only with the permission of EE as Three don't have a licence until October.

Of course Three could just go ahead and use it. They would then be like the pirate stations that fill up FM in London and you'd probably find that 4G would only stream urban music

What's the speed like on them japaul?

Nice to see they are testing the additional 2x5MHz they will get shortly but looking at there rollout plans it may make little difference. Wouldn't surprise me if the 1400MHz spectrum wasn't used more than the 1800MHz.

Should help with current 4G congestion.

Am I right in thinking that once Three have the licence for this, they can just software update their sites and it shouldn't take long to roll out?

True it should help with 4G congestion in the near term but what will really help is densifying the 4G layer.

Correct they should be able to as long as they forward thought when they installed the Samsung Cabinets they always knew they were getting this extra 2x5MHz from EE.

Lost 4G completely today and 3G has dropped one bar.

I wonder if any work is being carried out.