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EE 2G/3G/4G Discussion Thread (Part 2) |
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#3801 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 149
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Quote:
EE 2G/4G 1800 and MBNL 3G 2100 upgrade, plus 4G 800 for ESN.
I believe the bottom cabinet is Huawei 800 RFC2. Stacked on top is APM30H providing DC power and battery backup (you can see the yellow warning sticker if you zoom in closely). Mast is currently only capable of 1800 and 2100, so needs to be replaced with a new monopole carrying three 800/1800/2100 sector panel antennas. Site will receive Huawei 1800 RFC cabinet for 4G around the time the antenna is upgraded. The site is going to get a new pole and three Huawei BTS3900A cubes (two transmission and one power) which will carry 800 and 1800 for EE but they are not present in the GSV image. |
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#3802 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 118
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Quote:
Nope. The cab on the left is AC and the larger one on the right is an MBNL flexi.
The site is going to get a new pole and three Huawei BTS3900A cubes (two transmission and one power) which will carry 800 and 1800 for EE but they are not present in the GSV image. The planning schematics dated 17 March 2016 show two cabinets being stacked, which is how they appear in the image: http://planningdocs.gloucester.gov.u...006A614516.pdf I wonder whether they have already done the 2G/4G 1800 refresh and stacked those two cabinets? |
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#3803 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 871
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Quote:
It's a very large cabinet just to be AC power, and it didn't exist a year earlier so not related to the MBNL metrosite cabinet.
The planning schematics dated 17 March 2016 show two cabinets being stacked, which is how they appear in the image: http://planningdocs.gloucester.gov.u...006A614516.pdf I wonder whether they have already done the 2G/4G 1800 refresh and stacked those two cabinets? |
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#3804 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 659
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Quote:
It's a very large cabinet just to be AC power, and it didn't exist a year earlier so not related to the MBNL metrosite cabinet.
The planning schematics dated 17 March 2016 show two cabinets being stacked, which is how they appear in the image: http://planningdocs.gloucester.gov.u...006A614516.pdf I wonder whether they have already done the 2G/4G 1800 refresh and stacked those two cabinets? |
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#3805 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 59
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Does anyone know if EE have got some improvements lined up for Great Staughton, Cambs?
I went through there earlier today and was surprised to see that it was EDGE only, but on code 234-30 rather than 234-33. From what I read on sitefinder (before it went completely down) there was an Orange mast nearby, so was expecting Orange code 33, but got code 30 EDGE instead. Signal on 23430 EDGE was quite strong though in some parts of the village. I thought most code 30 masts were upgraded to at least 3G by now courtesy of MBNL? Is it likely that this code 30 mast will get 3G and 4G? Or will it become a 2G/4G mast? (Having said that, anything is better than EDGE, whether it be 3G or 4G.) |
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#3806 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 59
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Hmmm.... According to EE's coverage map, the closest mast to Great Staughton is EE 2G/4G only... however when I checked only yesterday, my phone lost 4G at the entrance of the village and then went straight to 2G... even though I know that my phone is compatible with 4G1800....
I wonder what is going on there....
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#3807 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,010
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I can get knocked back to 2G (EDGE) very occasionally, but it will return to 4G - even when using data.
Plus, if you're using 2G on an upgraded site, EDGE isn't actually unusable as it would be on an old Orange site. |
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#3808 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 23
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I was using Bouygues in France and the EDGE network there actually seemed relatively usable, it was by no means a good experience but I could certainly open websites on it. This was in and around Paris.
If I could ever get a usable EDGE signal on EE i'd be pleasantly surprised. |
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#3809 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,875
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Whenever I'm using Vodafone I always get frustrated when my phone gets stuck on 3G even though 4G is available, simply because the network is not setup to force a switchover.
I don't understand why only EE have managed to do this? |
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#3810 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,010
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Yes, it's annoying on Three too. Especially as it only needs the quickest toggle of flight mode to go back to 4G.
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#3811 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Suffolk, East Anglia
Posts: 665
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Quote:
I was using Bouygues in France and the EDGE network there actually seemed relatively usable, it was by no means a good experience but I could certainly open websites on it. This was in and around Paris.
If I could ever get a usable EDGE signal on EE i'd be pleasantly surprised. |
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#3812 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,010
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EDGE is fine on a site that's upgraded and has enough backhaul. Same applies to Vodafone and O2.
But you need to be on an upgraded site, not an old one yet to be done. And if the site is upgraded then you're more likely going to be connecting to 3G or 4G. Maybe as an experiment, for fun, people should lock their phones to 2G only and see how it works? |
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#3813 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Rutland
Posts: 561
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Sent iMessages over 2G EDGE without problems today.
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#3814 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,527
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Quote:
Maybe as an experiment, for fun, people should lock their phones to 2G only and see how it works?
I guess for satnav, EDGE would be fine as well, although the time taken to recalculate a route in the case of Google Maps or Waze (where the routing isn't typically handled by the device) would perhaps be unhelpful.. I'd love to try your experiment, but i'm on Three, so I think I can figure how well forcing 2G only would play out
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#3815 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 149
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I was at a fireworks event tonight with 25k tickets sold and lots of people stood outside the ticketed area.
Due to the sector arrangement on local masts, the majority of the site was served by what is currently an L18 only site (though has planning permission for a replacement site with 4 feeder 2600) however two L26/L18 sites served a small part of the site. This meant that the speeds in the area where I was (covered by the L18 only site) were not ideal as can be seen here. During the actual fireworks there was no throughput at all with ping times in the region of three seconds however VoLTE worked perfectly throughout the entire event with no latency or audible problems. |
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#3816 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 867
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EDGE did seem just about usable on the modern mast when I last tried it. Not quite something you could load the Verge on, but certainly better than the previous case of "page timed out, have an error screen"
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#3817 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 306
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as part of the ESN project, will EE be able to use airwave sites
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#3818 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 871
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Quote:
as part of the ESN project, will EE be able to use airwave sites
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#3819 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 118
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as part of the ESN project, will EE be able to use airwave sites
Some Airwave sites are on shared masts (e.g. Arqiva) so there will be situations where EE is co-located, but that's by technical co-incidence rather than formal site sharing. Besides, even if it were true, the cell pattern for sites running Tetra at 400Mhz (Airwave) is very different to LTE 800Mhz and above, so additional ESN sites would be required and many existing Airwave sites would be in the wrong locations. [Edit - I missed that the original post was a question rather than a statement!] |
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#3820 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 306
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No, there is no formal site sharing.
Some Airwave sites are on shared masts (e.g. Arqiva) so there will be situations where EE is co-located, but that's by technical co-incidence rather than formal site sharing. Besides, even if it were true, the cell pattern for sites running Tetra at 400Mhz (Airwave) is very different to LTE 800Mhz and above, so additional ESN sites would be required and many existing Airwave sites would be in the wrong locations. [Edit - I missed that the original post was a question rather than a statement!] |
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#3821 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 306
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So I think very soon we will have a new upgraded coverage map as it has not been updated since 21.12.16 and I assume EE will start showing geographical coverage from January this year as mentioned on the EE newsroom. Also map will possibly show 2G,3G,4G800,4G1800,4G2600
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#3822 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 73
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EE's coverage is definitely great around me. Mum's just driven me to Sheffield and back as I had to pick up something from my flat at uni. I was keeping an eye on Service Mode most of the way back and it was almost always 4G with the odd drop down to 3G and occasional loss of data due to a weak signal. I only saw EDGE once which was on the outskirts of Worksop on the way there and even then only briefly. I also saw a bit of Band 7 around Worksop again and improved coverage including Band 20 in an area that I'm sure was 2G only last time I checked.
I do wonder if EE plan to build more masts though. There are four places that I am aware of, the A57 south of Worksop, Ranby, the area near Retford Oaks and the area of Ordsall where my Grandparents live, where there are patches of weak coverage. The first two are well covered by Vodafone/O2 2G, 3G 4G and the Retford Oaks area is also better covered by O2. Are EE planning on building any more masts to boost coverage or are they relying solely on Band 20 now? I also had a quick look on the coverage map in the Ollerton area earlier today and was surprised to see how many masts there were 2G/3G or even 2G only. It goes to show that, as great as EE's coverage is, they still haven't finished and their network will continue to improve as more masts are upgraded. |
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#3823 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
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Quote:
Are EE planning on building any more masts to boost coverage or are they relying solely on Band 20 now?.
Try looking on the cellmapper site. |
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#3824 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 73
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Quote:
They may be masts that are not yet 4G converted - there is at least one near me that is a tall MBNL mast that has good fast EE and Three services on 3G and 2G - but has no 4G equipment. So that must be upgraded at some point. Also if there are any old Orange masts around they will be eventually converted.
However, at all four locations mentioned above, even the 2G coverage is weak. As well as this, with Vodafone and O2 covering these with all technologies better than EE (in the first two cases, they have monopoles next to the A57), I hope that EE plug the areas of weaker coverage with new masts to compete. Band 20 might do it, but it will be some time before everyone benefits from it due to a lack of compatible devices and by that time, will the bandwidth be enough? I thought i'd ask as I know people have mentioned VO2 building quite a lot of new masts down south. I wondered if EE was doing anything similar anywhere. |
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#3825 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Rutland
Posts: 561
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Yes, south Retford is bad on EE particularly the stretch from Wilkos depot to the A1. No signal at all in the wooded area with 2G only near the A57/B6040 roundabout.
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