|
||||||||
EE 2G/3G/4G Discussion Thread (Part 2) |
![]() |
|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|
#1251 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
|
Quote:
For very very remote locations, that are 2G only, what are we expecting to happen to these? There's masts in the middle of nowhere that can't be connected via fibre of microwave, surely. Are these going to have 4G antennas but still limited backhaul?
Even the scottish islands can be reached with microwave from a location with fibre. Anywhere there is mains electricity technically can be reached - its just a matter of cost! |
|
|
|
|
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
|
|
|
#1252 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
|
Quote:
For very very remote locations, that are 2G only, what are we expecting to happen to these? There's masts in the middle of nowhere that can't be connected via fibre of microwave, surely. Are these going to have 4G antennas but still limited backhaul?
There must be very few (if any) places where microwave to a fibred site can't be made to work |
|
|
|
|
|
#1253 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Portsmouth
Posts: 787
|
Quote:
Even the scottish islands can be reached with microwave from a location with fibre. Anywhere there is mains electricity technically can be reached - its just a matter of cost!
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1254 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 282
|
Quote:
This! Especially if you go from an area with 3G and 4G, to a 2G/4G mast with no 3G, and your device is set to ignore 2G. . Or an area from 3G to 4G800. The call will drop if there is no reverse Srvcc.
Same with data. If I go from 3G to that weird mast near the A11 monument, I'll end up dropping the stream until the phone then finds the 4G from said mast. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1255 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Portsmouth
Posts: 787
|
Quote:
You can see why companies are working hard to disable access to the engineering screens in Android. You should not be disabling 2G. It should not be possible to do this.
Those who access those screens should know that it may have an adverse effect on the service they receive and thus not moan about it. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1256 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 272
|
Finally! The mast on top of the Cinema in Clacton has finally been 4G'd
Decent speeds as well but I suspect microwave backhaul with this ping http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1945466554 No 3G yet so fallback straight to 2G when you initate a call. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1257 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 462
|
Quote:
I don't think there is anywhere that Microwave can't be used - but the original EE statements did say a 'handful' of masts may not get upgraded (and I guess remain 2G only) but I wonder if those are in incredibly remote rural locations.
Even the scottish islands can be reached with microwave from a location with fibre. Anywhere there is mains electricity technically can be reached - its just a matter of cost! |
|
|
|
|
|
#1258 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,985
|
Quote:
1. Very few people set their phone to ignore 2G.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1259 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 731
|
Quote:
Don't disable 2G it's a whole network layer you are missing out on!! These repetitive comments about the shape of the network today and 2G being no good to listen to radio, I am sorry to say but your are going to have to accept a 'sub standard' level of service until EE completes the network wide rollout of LTE and upgraded backhaul on the 3G network.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1260 |
|
Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 932
|
Quote:
You can see why companies are working hard to disable access to the engineering screens in Android. You should not be disabling 2G. It should not be possible to do this.
Also, my ZTE Blade 3 had a 3G/4G only mode, yet didn't even support 4G, so surely such a mode could also be implemented on devices such as the Galaxy S4? And anyway, surely rooting your device (not that I actually know how to root it, I'd have to get someone to root it for me) would give you access to all areas of the device, thus allowing you to create your 3G/4G only mode? |
|
|
|
|
|
#1261 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
|
Quote:
It should be possible if you are aiming for being able to take calls, whilst having data reliability as your no.1 priority.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1262 |
|
Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 932
|
Quote:
But you'd get this in automatic mode, no? The phone and network know when to switch up or down between the technologies as appropriate.
The older Samsungs (such as the Ace Plus) also do this, cling on to 3G until there is little or no 3G. Yet Samsung messed up big time on the S4 by allowing it to drop to 2G, when 3G is still perfectly usable, and up to 2/3 bars in strength. If you had the choice of a 2 bar 3G signal, or a 4 bar 2G signal, what would you choose if you wanted data reliability? On the other hand, what did the S4 choose? ![]() EE have got it right. Samsung haven't - yet the phone still works fine in every other aspect. Hence the requirement for LTE/WCDMA. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1263 |
|
Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 932
|
Quote:
Finally! The mast on top of the Cinema in Clacton has finally been 4G'd
Decent speeds as well but I suspect microwave backhaul with this ping http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1945466554 No 3G yet so fallback straight to 2G when you initiate a call. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1264 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 272
|
Quote:
Doubt it would be microwave at those speeds - correct me if I'm wrong but microwave masts are usually limited to 30/15 on 4G, i.e. single speed?
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1265 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 149
|
Quote:
Doubt it would be microwave at those speeds - correct me if I'm wrong but microwave masts are usually limited to 30/15 on 4G, i.e. single speed?
EE: https://imgur.com/a/JfMs1 Three: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1639139465 I worked out this site to have at least a 400Mbps microwave and you can get some that can do over 1Gbps which is more than enough for most sites. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1266 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 33
|
When I'm using VoLTE on my iPhone 6s Plus, I sometimes notice an animation stutter when making a call through the dialer or recent call list. Is it just me, or is this a known issue that hopefully will be resolved with a carrier/iOS update? It doesn't actually happen all of time, but it does more often than not.
It's completely stutter free when VoLTE is switched off. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1267 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 149
|
Quote:
Doubt it would be microwave at those speeds - correct me if I'm wrong but microwave masts are usually limited to 30/15 on 4G, i.e. single speed?
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1268 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 282
|
Quote:
When I'm using VoLTE on my iPhone 6s Plus, I sometimes notice an animation stutter when making a call through the dialer or recent call list. Is it just me, or is this a known issue that hopefully will be resolved with a carrier/iOS update? It doesn't actually happen all of time, but it does more often than not.
It's completely stutter free when VoLTE is switched off. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1269 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 33
|
Quote:
It's the phone failing to keep up with the faster call setup...
Thanks. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1270 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Totnes, Devon
Posts: 6,682
|
Quote:
Doubt it would be microwave at those speeds - correct me if I'm wrong but microwave masts are usually limited to 30/15 on 4G, i.e. single speed?
There's a newly upgraded Tree mast near me that has MW and I've had 107Mbps off that. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1271 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
|
Quote:
It would on most phones, as I've seen people on here (and elsewhere) say that their phones (usually iPhones) cling to 3G until the signal is virtually gone. Which is something I'd appreciate.
The older Samsungs (such as the Ace Plus) also do this, cling on to 3G until there is little or no 3G. Yet Samsung messed up big time on the S4 by allowing it to drop to 2G, when 3G is still perfectly usable, and up to 2/3 bars in strength. If you had the choice of a 2 bar 3G signal, or a 4 bar 2G signal, what would you choose if you wanted data reliability? On the other hand, what did the S4 choose? ![]() EE have got it right. Samsung haven't - yet the phone still works fine in every other aspect. Hence the requirement for LTE/WCDMA. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1272 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: This forum
Posts: 3,388
|
Quote:
It's the phone failing to keep up with the faster call setup...
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1273 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Suffolk, East Anglia
Posts: 665
|
Quote:
Finally! The mast on top of the Cinema in Clacton has finally been 4G'd
Decent speeds as well but I suspect microwave backhaul with this ping http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1945466554 No 3G yet so fallback straight to 2G when you initate a call. |
|
|
|
|
|
#1274 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 272
|
Quote:
Is this the main mast covering the town centre, it's shared by O2/Vodafone who already had 4G there?
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1275 |
|
Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 932
|
Quote:
Nope. My local microwave fed mast-
EE: https://imgur.com/a/JfMs1 Three: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1639139465 I worked out this site to have at least a 400Mbps microwave and you can get some that can do over 1Gbps which is more than enough for most sites. So long as the mast that is being received off is fiber, I don't see any problems ![]() Quote:
I don't get what it is with your sudden assumptions that microwave=slow. There are microwaves that can go up to 3Gbps symmetrical and for a site carrying G18 and L26 for EE and U21, L08, and L18 for Three and EE, you're never going to need any more than 2Gbps backhaul. Though obviously most sites aren't balls to the walls like this and load isn't distributed evenly across sectors and technologies/bands so in most cases a 500Mbps microwave link would suffice and spectrum congestion would occur well before backhaul congestion.
I was probably assuming that it was an older microwave that hadn't been upgraded, rather than a modern Pasolink capable of 1Gbps. Thank you for teaching me about how that works, I shall remember next time! Quote:
My mast is on Microwave and I get 30ms.
There's a newly upgraded Tree mast near me that has MW and I've had 107Mbps off that. Also, isn't your mast in a daisy chain of micro's, i.e. the mast you receive the micro from, is also connected via micro? I seem to recall you saying that your 3G was also speed limited due to backhaul. Quote:
You're forgetting the network may be pushing you down to 2G for reliability. Hence my earlier suggestion for a MiFi with data sim which is likely to not be profiled for voice. Yes the S4 could have poor antenna and radio software and making the wrong decision, or its doing exactly as per spec. You and I don't have professional network monitoring hardware to see the SNR over time. (Like BT engineers have JDSU for ADSL faults)
![]() But if I went for a MiFi, then what was the point in me getting the 16GB SIM deal from EE? As Mi-Fi's can't take calls, and I'm not switching SIMs all the time... I know that the old Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus didn't do this, but from an article that I had read about previously, the Galaxy S6 seems to act strangely in regards to signal as well... |
|
|
|
![]() |
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 07:56.






