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Three 4G Discussion Thread (Part 2)


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Old 21-10-2015, 16:58
jonmorris
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I thought the Australian site that measures signal for use on the sticks found Sony phones really good?

Far too few sites test antenna performance, or have the means to.

Let's be honest though, how many people would choose a phone on that criteria?
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Old 21-10-2015, 17:38
Skippy2005
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I thought the Australian site that measures signal for use on the sticks found Sony phones really good?

Far too few sites test antenna performance, or have the means to.

Let's be honest though, how many people would choose a phone on that criteria?
Exactly!!! Then they give the your networks shit story! Then again as you say do most people really check the specs, the operators certainly don't sing about it either well not in this country or any other as far as I'm aware. All you have to do is type in your search engine Samsung poor signal, Sony poor signal etc... And watch the list light up! My partners old s2 won't pick up a 3 3G signal until I walk to the end of the complex but my iPhone will happily sit on 1 dot (-115dbm) indoors and this is a central city centre location.
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Old 21-10-2015, 17:51
Skippy2005
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Hi everyone, I don't if anyone knows this question or knows a friend of a friend of a friend as the saying goes!

Three's coverage at my postal address wf1 1de shows as outdoor only on 3G and very good indoors and out on 4G1800, this certainly isn't the case 3G appears depending on where I sit and if I pick the phone up it goes to no service and same with 4G.

Does anyone have any info, as it when if and when this will improve, EE shows good indoors and out for 4G which is not the case either but their 2/3G is rock solid indoors and out which is correct. SoI'm hoping 3 will end up the same. I've asked in the 3 store also and they've checked and nothing shows. The agent said we don't get to know about future coverage she also said 800 won't be as good as 1800 for coverage as its a lower frequency as soon as she said that I gave up and walked out!
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:05
AdamMJones_
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iOS 9.1 is out with carrier update 22.1. No changes that I can see, still on 3G in a 4G800 area.
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:16
Skippy2005
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iOS 9.1 is out with carrier update 22.1. No changes that I can see, still on 3G in a 4G800 area.
I'll test it when I've updated I'm super pumped in 4g but limp in 3G so far it's available I should connect.
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:17
Skippy2005
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iOS 9.1 is out with carrier update 22.1. No changes that I can see, still on 3G in a 4G800 area.
I believe if you have a good 3G signal you won't use 800
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:54
AdamMJones_
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I'm on 1 bar 3G, dropping to no service at the back of my house. I'll see if I can figure it out, are we expecting a VoLTE setting?
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:55
iTech
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iOS 9.1 is out with carrier update 22.1. No changes that I can see, still on 3G in a 4G800 area.
Can Three do their own update because if not we are now a long way off from getting an update for iPhones as I've just updated carrier settings and iOS and no 800. Even though I'm in a strong 800 area.
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:59
Skippy2005
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Can Three do their own update because if not we are now a long way off from getting an update for iPhones as I've just updated carrier settings and iOS and no 800. Even though I'm in a strong 800 area.
No 800 on the iPhone.... I have no 3G so can't say it's because I have a 3G signal.
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:59
tarzion
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Work has been completed in my area with 4G worse than before.

Will wait a few days to see if it improves.

I don't understand why they are transmitting 4G only from the one mast in my area.
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Old 21-10-2015, 19:00
aioderek
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Can Three do their own update because if not we are now a long way off from getting an update for iPhones as I've just updated carrier settings and iOS and no 800. Even though I'm in a strong 800 area.
Just updated and no change... No real surprise I guess, can't imagine Apple will realise another update for quite a while now.. Our only hope would be like you say, if Three send their own carrier settings, although with iPhones I thought all that came from Apple.. Could be wrong! Stil with one bar/no service... Great!!!
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Old 21-10-2015, 19:02
AdamMJones_
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As far as I know carriers can push iOS carrier settings when they wish - go to general > about in settings performs a check. I got this independent of iOS 9.1 whilst on the iOS 9.1 public beta earlier
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Old 21-10-2015, 19:02
Bentoni
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iOS 9.1 is out with carrier update 22.1. No changes that I can see, still on 3G in a 4G800 area.
Yeah.. There is no toggle for LTE for both data and voice, so how disappointing ..

I guess they knew about the iOS 9.1 release date, that's why they were originally saying 21/10/15
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Old 21-10-2015, 19:07
Bentoni
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Just updated and no change... No real surprise I guess, can't imagine Apple will realise another update for quite a while now.. Our only hope would be like you say, if Three send their own carrier settings, although with iPhones I thought all that came from Apple.. Could be wrong! Stil with one bar/no service... Great!!!
Three can request Appleto push out new carrier settings updates.

AT&T in the states got Apple to push out new voice over wifi carrier update, two days after authority's approval
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Old 21-10-2015, 19:09
aioderek
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Three can request Appleto push out new carrier settings updates.

AT&T in the states got Apple to push out new voice over wifi carrier update, two days after authority's approval
I assume this would cost the carrier a fortune for Apple to push settings for Three? Maybe I'm wrong... If that's is the case, let's hope Three get their finger out!!!
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Old 21-10-2015, 20:42
lightspeed2398
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On my home mast I now get regularly under 30ms pings on the 3G network (still no 4g on my mast), lowest I've seen is 27ms. Just out of curiosity does anyone know what's going to be the lowest ping time we'll see regularly once 4g is rolled out fully?
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Old 22-10-2015, 17:37
japaul
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I thought the Australian site that measures signal for use on the sticks found Sony phones really good?

Far too few sites test antenna performance, or have the means to.

Let's be honest though, how many people would choose a phone on that criteria?
Ofcom recently commissioned some testing to investigate signal differences between various handsets. I'm not sure if the results are going to be published or whether they will just use them to inform other work like determining appropriate real world thresholds for network coverage. Hopefully it's the former. They've been playing around with thresholds because they know some handsets are poor (particularly when it comes to 2G).

The networks would love the results to be published because they're well aware of the problem but still get blamed for a crap signal by customers with handsets that have poor reception. They can't however tell customers about the problems with specific phones beyond a generic 'handset signal varies between different models' statement because it's forbidden by the commercial agreements they have with the handset manufacturers.
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Old 22-10-2015, 21:07
jonmorris
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That would be great. As you say, manufacturers wouldn't be best pleased to have this information released by a network (and a network likely wouldn't want to say either, if they're ranging it) - but if Ofcom does it, then it's somewhat harder to stop.
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Old 22-10-2015, 22:40
DevonBloke
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On my home mast I now get regularly under 30ms pings on the 3G network (still no 4g on my mast), lowest I've seen is 27ms. Just out of curiosity does anyone know what's going to be the lowest ping time we'll see regularly once 4g is rolled out fully?
I think it should be around 25ms under perfect conditions. Sort of the same as landline broadband.
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Old 22-10-2015, 23:05
jaffboy151
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That would be great. As you say, manufacturers wouldn't be best pleased to have this information released by a network (and a network likely wouldn't want to say either, if they're ranging it) - but if Ofcom does it, then it's somewhat harder to stop.
It's something that does really need the spotlight Turning on it in a bid to get handset manufacturers to improve design or quality of component parts,
The differences between the handsets i had were bad enough on Three as they lead to reduced 4g access and premature loss of service which doesn't help three's reputation on coverage fronts, but on Vodafone I found it fundamentally changed how the network was perceived. The poorer reception phone ment I spent lots and lots of time on 2g even in good 3g areas, 3g was often 900mhz not 2100mhz leading me to think speeds were even worse then I thought, 4g coverage area was poor, in fact I remember posting about coverage and saying how it was like Vodafone had set things up to keep you off data..
Then try a better reception phone like my lg, and the same networks now seems to make sense,
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Old 22-10-2015, 23:37
jonmorris
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Huawei is one of the few companies that seems to talk about antenna design, and I think the P8 (and my Honor 7) each perform really well. Each is designed to work better on the edges of service, and I have to say it seems to be true.

But I can't do any proper scientific testing, as moving my phones just a few metres can also make a difference. All I can reliably do is make a mental note of issues over a period of time, and consider if one phone was/is worse or better than another.
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Old 23-10-2015, 00:46
Gigabit
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What are your top phones for reception, Jon?
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Old 23-10-2015, 10:38
Skippy2005
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What are your top phones for reception, Jon?
Just avoid Sameung and Sony!
Motorola, Apple, LG, Blackberry, Huawei and HTC all produce good phones with good receiption.

Anyone wish to correct me?
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Old 23-10-2015, 11:04
LegendaryAced
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Just avoid Sameung and Sony!
Motorola, Apple, LG, Blackberry, Huawei and HTC all produce good phones with good receiption.

Anyone wish to correct me?
Not sure about HTC, as I haven't personally used them since their Windows Mobiles era.

Over the years I have used all the other manufacturers. I can confirm that Apple has done a great job with iPhone 6S, which I currently own.

You have forgotten Microsoft Mobile (formerly Nokia devices). They do a great job in terms of reception and network compatibility.
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Old 23-10-2015, 11:22
jonmorris
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What are your top phones for reception, Jon?
I can't really say with any proper authority. As I said, the signal fluctuates quite a bit in a lot of places I go (3G breathing doesn't help matters) so I can only get an idea, or hunch, based on usage - but it's not scientific.

I can say the Huawei/Honor devices I've used seem really good. My Wileyfox Swift also seems to be doing really well, having got me some incredible speed test results. But good 4G performance doesn't necessarily mean good 2G or 3G, and so on.
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