[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark C

It's doesn't really offer any technical benefit (for the user) per se other than people like us getting excited about it ? I've had loads of so called, 'HD Voice' calls to others on EE (and Virgin) for yonks and these calls have been over 3G anyway.

So what actually is the big deal (as far as anything noticeable by normal people) for VoLTE ?

The use of 800MHz and its superior indoor penetration will be noticed and beneficial. Perhaps less important if you're on Vodafone or O2 and they have 900MHz 2G/3G in your area, but very important for 3 or EE customers.

I live in a house with thick granite walls, and it is actually impressive how well 3's 4G800 penetrates here. Historically all of the networks have been naff

[Minardi]

Typical, my essay reply to Resonance has been left on the bottom of the last page! Oh well. Found a better photo of Leverburgh though...

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/...8_d62660e8.jpg

#Iwillstopnow

[packages]

EE have now changed the wording on their website to say you can buy any Nexus 5X and 6P

"WiFi calling is available on all versions of the iPhone 5c and later models of the iPhone, as well as the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P"

http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/wifi-calling

[Broken Hope]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark C

So what actually is the big deal (as far as anything noticeable by normal people) for VoLTE ?

If you use WiFi Calling, not having the call drop when you walk out of range of your AP is a pretty big benefit of VoLTE.

[binary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark C

...
So what actually is the big deal (as far as anything noticeable by normal people) for VoLTE ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by packages

Short term For me it means 800mhz can be switched = a lot more coverage (especially indoors)
Long term = 1800mhz can be turned up when the majority of people are using VoLTE

My bolding... given the mess the mobile industry seems to have created with 4G and VoLTE, that does seem like quite a far off proposition.

[ozz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by exterra

EE seriously need to sort out the updates to their coverage maps. In today's press conference they announced 4g was now switched on in Shetland / Scilly Isles.

The current coverage checkers show:

Scilly:
coverage.ee.co.uk - no 4g coverage
ee coverage checker - partial 4g coverage

Shetland:
coverage.ee.co.uk - no 4g coverage
ee coverage checker - no 4g coverage

Normally the coverage.ee.co.uk is the more up to date one but now it seems to show an older view in some places than the ee coverage checker.

How can the two coverage maps be giving two different views of coverage at the same time and why haven't EE organised themselves to ensure the maps reflect what they are talking about at press briefings?

A MIP mast at Sedgeford, Norfolk has gone live recently (been there a few times and was definately a not spot) yet EE are not showing any 2G/3G/4G coverage on their map. O2/Voda seem to be on the ball so come on EE!

Only knew a MIP mast was here as it's flagged up on EE Network Status Checker.

[Cloudane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by packages

EE have now changed the wording on their website to say you can buy any Nexus 5X and 6P

"WiFi calling is available on all versions of the iPhone 5c and later models of the iPhone, as well as the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P"

http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/wifi-calling

Ah good - now that it's officially supported I can bug then about it grinding to a halt after less than a day and needing a reboot!

Seriously is anyone on a 5X and have WiFi calling working consistently?

[WelshBluebird]

Quote:

Originally Posted by packages

EE have now changed the wording on their website to say you can buy any Nexus 5X and 6P

"WiFi calling is available on all versions of the iPhone 5c and later models of the iPhone, as well as the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P"

http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/wifi-calling

I wonder if they will add anything about the unlocked Galaxy S7 too?

[Mark C]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broken Hope

If you use WiFi Calling, not having the call drop when you walk out of range of your AP is a pretty big benefit of VoLTE.

Ah, yes, that is a good point

[japitts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minardi

Alot of it will be to do with getting masts in, and the thorny issue of getting electric in and backhaul back. On the islands I think it's a fair guess to say that the masts are daisy chaned together via microwave on each island and then microwaved back to the mainland, until fibre goes in..

All valid and fair points, but there's a handful of locations around the Highlands & Islands where Orange has always had blackspots or poor coverage, yet planning & landlord permissions were as far as rollout ever got. In at least one case, I know the holdup was purely political i.e. "why install here when T-Mobile might be doing the same in a few years", needless to say it's an EE blackspot to this day.

Gairloch in Wester Ross, Strathcanaird just north of Ullapool, Uig on Northern Skye are but 3 examples that spring to mind. Given that these were planned even before 3G came along, it would be nice if G1800 at least could be brought live. U2100 and L1800 would be very impressive.

There's also a few rural (but not remote) areas to the west of Inverness (Lentran, Beauly, Muir of Ord) where EE 2G is patchy at best, yet VF/O2 have sites so I'm sure something could be done.

[Stereo Steve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by binary

My bolding... given the mess the mobile industry seems to have created with 4G and VoLTE, that does seem like quite a far off proposition.

If they do roll out 800 fairly soon and it's dense, that won't be a huge problem though really. Aside from 800 possibly getting swamped and 1800 not being able to take the pressure off. But I doubt in the areas it's needed most that it will happen. 2G will still be able to handle a fair amount of calls for the next few years.

[WelshBluebird]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broken Hope

If you use WiFi Calling, not having the call drop when you walk out of range of your AP is a pretty big benefit of VoLTE.

Indeed!
I actually forgot about this last week. Was on a WiFi call at home, walked out the house then was pretty confused about why it dropped a little bit down my road. Then I remembered! A bit annoying tbh. Is there any way of a call going from WiFi to 3G / 2G at all in the foreseeable future or will it just be to 4G using VoLTE?

[plymouthbloke1974]

Only 4G unfortunately. Once you've handed over to VoLTE it can then hand down to 3/2G

[Broken Hope]

The July date for VoLTE full roll out seems massively optimistic considering they have been messing with VoLTE in Nottingham for over 2 weeks now and it still can't make up its mind if it's going to work or not.

I walk the same route to work every day, it's around 3.5 miles, some mornings my phone will make calls on VoLTE from pretty much every single mast on the way.

Other mornings the calls will drop straight down to 3G even though it's the exact same masts I'm using.

Some days it can be working fine in the morning and not be working in the afternoon.

It's all very odd, you'd think that if it was enabled on a mast it would stay enabled, not being switched on and off all the time.

If it's taking weeks to enable one city and it's still not done yet, I don't see how they are going to fully enable the rest of the UK in a few months.

[ozz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broken Hope

The July date for VoLTE full roll out seems massively optimistic considering they have been messing with VoLTE in Nottingham for over 2 weeks now and it still can't make up its mind if it's going to work or not.

I walk the same route to work every day, it's around 3.5 miles, some mornings my phone will make calls on VoLTE from pretty much every single mast on the way.

Other mornings the calls will drop straight down to 3G even though it's the exact same masts I'm using.

Some days it can be working fine in the morning and not be working in the afternoon.

It's all very odd, you'd think that if it was enabled on a mast it would stay enabled, not being switched on and off all the time.

If it's taking weeks to enable one city and it's still not done yet, I don't see how they are going to fully enable the rest of the UK in a few months.

Wierd. My closet 4G mast in Stamford did this occasionally but now VoLTE 24/7 for the past few weeks.

Up the A1, VoLTE all the way to Grantham but nothing yet towards and in Peterborough.

[seatmad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cloudane

Ah good - now that it's officially supported I can bug then about it grinding to a halt after less than a day and needing a reboot!

Seriously is anyone on a 5X and have WiFi calling working consistently?

Mine does the exact same!

Will be fine and then wifi calling will suddenly stop working and a reboot is the only way to solve it. Sometimes it will last a couple of days whilst other times it will drop within the hour.

I've also had issues with people saying I'm breaking up when speaking to them like cutting in and out. I think I've traced that though to when people have me on handsfree so i don't know if it's something to do with the compression. What does concern me about this is isn't it going to be the same system of VOLTE.

[Resonance]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minardi

Alot of it will be to do with getting masts in, and the thorny issue of getting electric in and backhaul back. On the islands I think it's a fair guess to say that the masts are daisy chaned together via microwave on each island and then microwaved back to the mainland, until fibre goes in.

The terrain up in the islands will mean masts need to be high up to get the best coverage, but hilltops don't tend to have electricity and fibre links ready to go, this all before we start with the very thorny planning issue. That is, unless someone has been there before....

Load up the EE map and the MB21 UHF TV sites map, here and here:

http://ee.co.uk/why-ee/network/mobile-coverage

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/mapsys/google/uhftv.php

With a bit of interpreation you can work out where the EE sites are, and sitefinder will confirm. North Uist only actually has one site on it, at Clettraval TV. The other end of the island is covered by this site here, at Leverburgh:

https://goo.gl/maps/isweC9M9DE72

That site looks like it's at an existing comms site. N Uist also benefits a bit from a cell at Scoval TV on Skye.

Skye is similar, coverage from Scoval TV, a new site at Geary, which looks like a classic Orange site:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1725512

Then there's Penifiler TV (which attempts to serve Portree), Coverage from on Raasay at Inverarish TV. A couple of new sites then, one at Corry (Can't find a pic) and then one at the bridge near Kyle of Lochalsh.

https://goo.gl/maps/bT99DfLDw2x

Islay (an island I've recently visited) is the same again, coverage from Port Ellen TV, Bowmore TV and Portnahaven TV. It also benefits from coverage from Gigha Island TV and a site shared by all networks on Colonsay

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/466458

The point I'm trying to make is coverage has up to now been largely dependant on existing sites and being able to get suitable sites. They will be relatively much more expensive to put in up there, for all the reasons I've mentioned - power, backhaul, physically getting the mast there. Hence fewer sites go in. Adding panels to existing sites is relatively simple in comparison, hence that's what happens.

As to actual experience - I've not been out to the Uists - let's say it's on the to do list! Skye had excellent 2G service when I was there 10 or so years ago, on Orange. Islay I visited recently, I had 3G about 90% of the time (top speed of about 2Meg but that's the microwave backhaul I think?), 2G about 5% of the time (NW of the island) and no service about 5% of the time. I was pretty impressed with that tbh, as it's not an easy place to cover! Coverage on Mull, on the other hand, was cack!

O2 and Vodafone have the real reputation for 2G coverage in the highlands with their shared highland sites. Last time I toured up in the highlands was 2010, Orange as it was then couldn't touch my hiking pals O2 phones - they could make calls in loads of places, and often on the move, I was limited to stopping places I saw with a service! VO2 highland sites look like this:

http://www.prattfamily.demon.co.uk/mikep/phot23.htm

Anyway, Enough, I've been enjoying myself....

Interesting, thanks.

The one that amazes me is no 3G coverage in Portree. You'd think they'd try to cover the main population centre. 2G is fine, but you don’t get a sniff of 3G.

[Minardi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Resonance

Interesting, thanks.

The one that amazes me is no 3G coverage in Portree. You'd think they'd try to cover the main population centre. 2G is fine, but you don’t get a sniff of 3G.

I suspect what was done was done under MBNL, with Three and T-Mob, pre EE.

I remember on a University trip to Mull, there was one lad on T-Mob. No service all week anywhere on the island, those of us on Orange and VO2 were fine. Last day, topping out on a high peak his phone suddenly sprang into life. It was his Mrs giving him a right earful about not calling all week!

Point I'm making is, T-Mob's coverage in the highlands, back in the day, was at best, crap. Hence the EE 3G now looks a bit poor, but I suspect it will change, and relatively quickly with the bluelight contract forcing 4G rollout and bringing 3G with it.

[Cloudane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seatmad

Mine does the exact same!

Will be fine and then wifi calling will suddenly stop working and a reboot is the only way to solve it. Sometimes it will last a couple of days whilst other times it will drop within the hour.

I've also had issues with people saying I'm breaking up when speaking to them like cutting in and out. I think I've traced that though to when people have me on handsfree so i don't know if it's something to do with the compression. What does concern me about this is isn't it going to be the same system of VOLTE.

Glad it's not just me who even as one, let alone has the problem. Might mean that it's something that gets ironed out, then. Must admit, love the flexibility of Android as I do, the bugs sometimes make me wish I hadn't sold my iPhone At least they've supposedly fixed the camera lag in the latest Google Camera update.

[japitts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minardi

Point I'm making is, T-Mob's coverage in the highlands, back in the day, was at best, crap. Hence the EE 3G now looks a bit poor, but I suspect it will change, and relatively quickly with the bluelight contract forcing 4G rollout and bringing 3G with it.

True. T-Mobile only ever covered the tourist routes around the Highlands, Orange rolled out a lot more and in probably 85-odd% of locations they're on a par with VO2 in pure "do I have coverage" terms. In a handful of other areas they've long promised coverage (long before L800 etc came along) but it's never materialised in all the years I've been travelling up there.

Getting Orange's & T-M's coverage joined has helped in places like Skye, but it'd be lovely to think that these latest developments might finally see a few of EE's G1800/U2100-suitable deadspots filled in.

[jonmorris]

Good news - Euro Data Passes can now be activated by users on the most recent plans. £3 per day for 500MB data in EU, by texting EURODATA to 150.

And it's 500MB of full speed data from the end of the month.

[seatmad]

Does anyone else have it that there phone is quite keen to drop down to 3g. On 4g I never seem to have one or two bars. It was either shows 4 or 5 and then gos to 3g.

I'm pretty sure it's the network that set the handoff threshold so would there be any reason behind EE doing this?

[packages]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seatmad

Does anyone else have it that there phone is quite keen to drop down to 3g. On 4g I never seem to have one or two bars. It was either shows 4 or 5 and then gos to 3g.

I'm pretty sure it's the network that set the handoff threshold so would there be any reason behind EE doing this?

It's just 4G going out of range. In a vast number of places 4g coverage is the same as the minimum footprint of 3G

[kev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seatmad

Does anyone else have it that there phone is quite keen to drop down to 3g. On 4g I never seem to have one or two bars. It was either shows 4 or 5 and then gos to 3g.

I'm pretty sure it's the network that set the handoff threshold so would there be any reason behind EE doing this?

I see the opposite - hangs onto 0 bars of 4G (still 22mbps+ mind) for dear life rather than using the 3G signal box at work.

Anywhere else is either 4G or Edge.

[de525ma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seatmad

Does anyone else have it that their phone is quite keen to drop down to 3g. On 4g I never seem to have one or two bars. It was either shows 4 or 5 and then goes to 3g.

I'm pretty sure it's the network that set the handoff threshold so would there be any reason behind EE doing this?

No... mine clings to 4G for dear life before falling back to 3G. Which is great. Because if you're streaming data, and it drops to 3G, it won't go back to 4G until you stop using data.