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Three 4G Discussion Thread (Part 2)


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Old 12-07-2015, 12:11
d123
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How so? When the whole idea of MBNL is a full ran share? And part of that was to add three to all the ex orange sites, sure that breaks the agreement they have both signed, when Olaf quite loudly said he wants the and thinks the MBNL agreement will and should continue??
I presume EE are rather annoyed at the idea of Three going along with MBNL and getting Three presence on the majority of EE 3G sites (which was always of more benefit to Three than EE) and then biting them on the backside by going after O2.

The MBNL'ification of sites seems to have had the brakes applied from around the time Three started sniffing around O2.
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Old 12-07-2015, 12:26
Skippy2005
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Speaking to the 2nd line network guys at Three the mast "landlord" or EE for ex Orange sites decides when to allow MBNL access to a particular mast - it's not an automatic right as we all thought. As the RAN share is for 3G you can simply get round this agreement by not adding 3G to a mast which is what they seem to be doing/trialling with 2G CSFB.
I understand that but I thought the whole point of MBNL was a full network share for 3G so the idea of adding 6000 ex orange site would mean they had to add both upgraded 3/EE to the mast!! Please ignore my ignorance I don't know much about the network side of things, I know more than the basics but not in depth thanks again guys!
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Old 12-07-2015, 12:29
Skippy2005
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I presume EE are rather annoyed at the idea of Three going along with MBNL and getting Three presence on the majority of EE 3G sites (which was always of more benefit to Three than EE) and then biting them on the backside by going after O2.

The MBNL'ification of sites seems to have had the brakes applied from around the time Three started sniffing around O2.
Thanks it's becoming clear to me now so! Is EE going to keep the 6000 ex sites or chop the numbers even further! Where would it leave MBNL, in the future then, what's people's thoughts
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Old 12-07-2015, 12:50
jabbamk1
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Thanks it's becoming clear to me now so! Is EE going to keep the 6000 ex sites or chop the numbers even further! Where would it leave MBNL, in the future then, what's people's thoughts
The number is nowhere near 6,000. The majority of those have already been bought in to MBNL.
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Old 12-07-2015, 14:55
Skippy2005
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The number is nowhere near 6,000. The majority of those have already been bought in to MBNL.
I know that the original figure was 6000 as part of the diamond program. Itll be interesting to see where this will go, will BT want any part of of MBNL who knows
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Old 12-07-2015, 15:28
lightspeed2398
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We could end up with a system such as Sweden where networks share only certain parts of networks. For example Tele2 share 3g with Telia but 2g/4g with Telenor. Personally I'd go for 3o2 have their own 2g, share 3g with MBNL and 4g with Vodafone in terms of building. I've no idea how that would work business wise but it could be a possibility couldn't it?
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Old 12-07-2015, 20:13
GreenLantern
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is 3-4-5mbit in central London normal for Three's 3G network now ?
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Old 12-07-2015, 20:56
japaul
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The number is nowhere near 6,000. The majority of those have already been bought in to MBNL.
To be honest I was thinking it was still around 5000+ too. EE say they have around 20000 base stations in total and I thought Three were on 14000-15000 (all shared with EE) or do Three have more now?
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Old 12-07-2015, 21:04
Skippy2005
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To be honest I was thinking it was still around 5000+ too. EE say they have around 20000 base stations in total and I thought Three were on 14000-15000 (all shared with EE) or do Three have more now?
I'm sure I read three are aiming for 17000 to hit the 99% target by 2017
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Old 12-07-2015, 22:29
jaffboy151
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1st of all I'd like to say a big well done to three for managing to provide almost 3.5 hours of virtually uninterrupted radio streaming as I drove from North Shropshire up to Northumberland via the M6, M62,M1,A1 & A19, just the one drop out on the A19..
Vodafone managed to maintain a 4g signal without dropping down to 3g or 2g from Manchester all the way until I Left the A1M and joined the A19 then is was nothing, 2g Only....which to me show even in areas where they have upgraded to 4g you will still be stuck with lots of 2g which they've failed to update, seems leopards don't change there spots after all..
The slideshow looked interesting,
I'm thinking three might 1st launch its 800mhz for VOLTE devices only this year, then share O2's 4g with everyone along with its 3g network for call backup on 4g and better building penitration for 3g.
I have baseless theory in my head that I might be able to sniff out possibly where areas that three might have added there 800mhz 4g as while travelling around I've stuck the note 4 into the service menu and took note of when it indicates SIB19 is being received, it often comes up in areas a long way from any 1800mhz 4g coverage and quite often in rural areas on bigger masts which could provide a large coverage area,
Hope they switch it on soon as I'm dying to see how good or maybe how bad coverage and speeds are.
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Old 12-07-2015, 22:35
mupet0000
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There's always the possibility that it's 1800MHz just not publicly accessible for some reason. Although I'd much rather that Three have been going around getting a large amount of sites ready for a mass 800MHz activation in September.
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Old 13-07-2015, 10:50
kevb999
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Very surprised yesterday when parked near Aldi/Morrisons in Bridlington I was getting 4g. I live on the north side of Bridlington but still getting 3g here. Didnt have time to use the speed checker though as was at work. Nothing showing on the Three network coverage map though.
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Old 13-07-2015, 11:09
mogzyboy
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I had 4G from Three whilst going across the Second Severn Crossing last Friday. I think that's relatively new as I've not seen it before and I was on the bridge only a few weeks ago. A very usable 24Mbps down.
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Old 13-07-2015, 13:57
jaffboy151
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Hmmm... Just got a replacement Sim from three as I was a silly boy and lost my phone at the weekend, popped it in my spare Sony E3 phone at home and 2 bars of 4g pop up! Indoors! No 4g for miles around here on three normally and I don't usually get a 3g reception indoors let alone anything else, I doubt it's 800mhz but can't check on my Sony I don't think but it does seem quite consistently robust if constantly weak, doubt they would add 1800mhz 4g to my local mast as it serves nobody special really, just villagers and cows, might have to investigate further with the anorak on!
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Old 13-07-2015, 14:29
transmission1
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Very surprised yesterday when parked near Aldi/Morrisons in Bridlington I was getting 4g. I live on the north side of Bridlington but still getting 3g here. Didnt have time to use the speed checker though as was at work. Nothing showing on the Three network coverage map though.
I think 4G went live in Bridlington on Friday afternoon. Coverage is Bridlington South and Town Centre at the moment with very good coverage. Not sure which band this is using but I'm sure they will enable north side very soon. I can't see them leaving the town split without 4G, there are about 6 sites in Bridlington for Three so I guess they all need to be upgraded as they can.
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Old 13-07-2015, 14:34
Denco1
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Hmmm... Just got a replacement Sim from three as I was a silly boy and lost my phone at the weekend, popped it in my spare Sony E3 phone at home and 2 bars of 4g pop up! Indoors! No 4g for miles around here on three normally and I don't usually get a 3g reception indoors let alone anything else, I doubt it's 800mhz but can't check on my Sony I don't think but it does seem quite consistently robust if constantly weak, doubt they would add 1800mhz 4g to my local mast as it serves nobody special really, just villagers and cows, might have to investigate further with the anorak on!
Download G-NetTrack, Cell IDs 0,1,2 means 1800MHz, I think 6,7,8 is 800MHz but it might be something different.
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Old 13-07-2015, 15:08
Zebb
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According to the coverage maps, just Three left to provide indoor coverage in my location, hopefully September or before?
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Old 13-07-2015, 17:39
jonmorris
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Three said at the event for the pending launch of 800MHz that nobody can yet get access to it - unless an engineer or, soon, a tester.
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Old 13-07-2015, 17:54
Zebb
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Six weeks ago I couldn't spell injinear, now i is one. I don't mind testing 800MHz, but they haven't changed the aerials on the mast yet - I keep checking.
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Old 13-07-2015, 19:00
benmockford
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Sporadic 4G coverage appeared in parts of Bognor Regis on Saturday. At best I get 1/2 bars before it quickly reverts back to 3G. Managed to get a speed test of 31mb down and 5mb up whilst in the loft yesterday!

Has anyone seen any work? Three/MBNL have had a swathe of planning applications granted here so hopefully they are starting to roll it out in earnest.
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Old 13-07-2015, 19:03
jabbamk1
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Three said at the event for the pending launch of 800MHz that nobody can yet get access to it - unless an engineer or, soon, a tester.
This is correct.

I've had access to it though
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Old 13-07-2015, 19:07
lightspeed2398
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It was open generally for a while, I set my Nexus 5 to 800LTE only very soon after they blocked it to non-volte phones shame. I'd like to see what it's like though, it's the only Three 4g I'm getting where I live for a long time.
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Old 13-07-2015, 19:39
jaffboy151
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Download G-NetTrack, Cell IDs 0,1,2 means 1800MHz, I think 6,7,8 is 800MHz but it might be something different.
Boo... Its Cell Id 2, which I guess means its 1800mhz, none of the apps I have will bring up its rough location on a map but They must have activated a mast this weekend in Crewe or Nantwich which as I'm really high up and our house looks over them. I can get Vod/O2 800mhz 4g From sites in Crewe but didn't expect to have 1800mhz 4g from three so strong, its almost the same strength as 3g, I doubt I'll see it on my Galaxy note 4 as that thing is deaf as a post, great phone but extremely sh*t Reception from them..
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Old 13-07-2015, 20:02
bazzer00
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so i live in east london and my three signal indoors at home (phone or 4g) is non existent..i called up customer services today complaining that i cannot use their service indoors and rely on the three in touch app which is poor...i have had the contract for almost 2 years and this has always been the case.. i am now entitled to my PAC code..they came back after a while and said that they had suddenly discovered a fault on the network and it would be fixed by next week?? Do they just lie to stop you from leaving?? how can they not have been aware of this fault previously. does anyone know if three's indoor coverage is set to improve? there is nothing on their website to suggets that there is any maintenance in my area..
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Old 13-07-2015, 20:05
lightspeed2398
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so i live in east london and my three signal indoors at home (phone or 4g) is non existent..i called up customer services today complaining that i cannot use their service indoors and rely on the three in touch app which is poor...i have had the contract for almost 2 years and this has always been the case.. i am now entitled to my PAC code..they came back after a while and said that they had suddenly discovered a fault on the network and it would be fixed by next week?? Do they just lie to stop you from leaving?? how can they not have been aware of this fault previously. does anyone know if three's indoor coverage is set to improve? there is nothing on their website to suggets that there is any maintenance in my area..
Their voice coverage won't improve unless they build another mast or an Orange mast is brought into MBNL. There is of course a chance that they have discovered a fault recently but I can't imagine that after 2 years they have only just discovered it, they have pretty good monitoring tools as jabbamk1 has informed us in the past. Personally I'd say move to a different network if it's that bad.
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