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EE 2G/3G/4G Discussion Thread (Part 2)


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Old 15-08-2016, 23:51
beans0ntoast
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Indoor 4G coverage in Costa on the High Street. Think it's only just been activated as there isn't any coverage showing on the map yet.

Set my phone to 4G only from Stamford to Heacham, the only time the signal went and lost streaming radio was at Thorney. The mast at Thorney is a tall ex Orange mast which hasn't been touched yet.
That's good, anywhere else where there's good coverage? Last time I went to Hunstanton, the model shop at the end of the road had no service indoors for 3G, and M&Co had about 7% of 3G signal indoors (-109dBm). Not good considering that the mast is at the top of the hill, on the main road in....

I'm just hoping they rearranged the panels so that one of the panels actually points to the town now...

I know all about the mast at Thorney; there's actually 2 masts in that area. One is by a small B&B just the other side of Thorney and has had new panels, and is MBNL 3G - but no 4G from it yet. The Orange mast right next to Thorney is still active on 2G (EDGE) only - having that on 3G and 4G will definitely help with coverage/capacity in that area.

Has reception at Eye/Eye Green improved? I know that has always been weak for EE 3G (and I assume 4G as well, as there is no nearby mast).
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Old 16-08-2016, 10:52
japitts
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There's certainly a load of works going on in this corner of Bristol lately. One of the local legacy-OUK sites seems to be "sleeping" increasingly frequently - i.e. 3G being on-air but blocking all incoming & outgoing calls.

It's gone to sleep and woken up, so many times now I'm losing track. The status page has stopped showing it, and I'm unfortunately at the stage now of making quick test calls first thing each morning to see if it's working. So unreliable has it become. It's not even as if the site is falling over and losing service - but staying on-air and you only know it's gone duff again when a call fails.
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Old 16-08-2016, 16:55
packages
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My iPhone is connecting to more and more 800mhz on the daily commute but I still don't think it's being run on full power still.
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Old 16-08-2016, 17:15
ozz
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That's good, anywhere else where there's good coverage? Last time I went to Hunstanton, the model shop at the end of the road had no service indoors for 3G, and M&Co had about 7% of 3G signal indoors (-109dBm). Not good considering that the mast is at the top of the hill, on the main road in....

I'm just hoping they rearranged the panels so that one of the panels actually points to the town now....
Had a look when i drove past, panel arrangements look identical to streetview.

The orange mast is still on with 2G.
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Old 16-08-2016, 18:56
Gigabit
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What are the chances of the Moto G4/G4 Plus ever supporting VoLTE/800MHz on EE?
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Old 16-08-2016, 19:24
packages
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What are the chances of the Moto G4/G4 Plus ever supporting VoLTE/800MHz on EE?
EE branded or Sim Free? I would say likely as it was released this year but don't count on it. I would hope that all VoLTE android phones released in 2016 will support it.
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Old 16-08-2016, 20:23
beans0ntoast
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Had a look when i drove past, panel arrangements look identical to streetview.

The orange mast is still on with 2G.
Aah so the panels are virtually the same, but they've just added 4G to the old panels?
Or did they add new panels but have them in the same layout?

3G in the town has always been weak, due to the panel arrangement. As for the orange mast, is that the Throney one or the Hunstanton one? As I know that there is an Orange mast in Hunstanton (at the top) that is still active, but 2G only.

As for as I'm aware, unless things have changed at Hunstanton, the mast arrangement (from closest to furthest away, starting at the school):
Airwave TETRA/Orange G18(legacy panels)/O2 G09 Omni
Vod G09 using relatively modern panels
EE/3 G18/U21 by fire station using a slightly odd panel arrangement with no panel facing down the hill towards the town.
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Old 17-08-2016, 11:47
georgi_prodanov
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how do you know when coverage map gets updated
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Old 17-08-2016, 16:55
matty1000kk
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A bit of an observation but why is it some Ex Orange masts do not have the antennas replaced when they are 2G refreshed and 4G added. I know of at least two sites local to me that are now pumping out lovely double speed 4G but on the legacy antennas. By contrast, a few others have also been 4G'd but with lovely new antennas as well!
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Old 17-08-2016, 18:20
mogzyboy
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A friend of mine has an S7 (bought as an upgrade on EE from CPW), how does he activate WiFi Calling?
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Old 17-08-2016, 18:29
packages
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A friend of mine has an S7 (bought as an upgrade on EE from CPW), how does he activate WiFi Calling?
http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-devi...sung-galaxy-s7
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Old 17-08-2016, 20:17
beans0ntoast
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A bit of an observation but why is it some Ex Orange masts do not have the antennas replaced when they are 2G refreshed and 4G added. I know of at least two sites local to me that are now pumping out lovely double speed 4G but on the legacy antennas. By contrast, a few others have also been 4G'd but with lovely new antennas as well!
Are these ex-Orange masts doing 2G/4G only, or 2G/3G/4G? Because the old panels (if it was a 2G only site) would be single input panels, for 1800MHz - so doing GL18 (G=GSM, L=LTE) on the old panels is possible. Whereas GL18, U21 (U=UMTS) would be better on dual input panels.
Having said that, the newer panels will likely have better RF properties (i.e. higher gain, better coverage etc) than the old ones so I assume that the panels may get changed one day?
Might also depend on what has been granted by planning so far?
These are just educated guesses but may be right...
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Old 17-08-2016, 20:51
matty1000kk
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Are these ex-Orange masts doing 2G/4G only, or 2G/3G/4G? Because the old panels (if it was a 2G only site) would be single input panels, for 1800MHz - so doing GL18 (G=GSM, L=LTE) on the old panels is possible. Whereas GL18, U21 (U=UMTS) would be better on dual input panels.
Having said that, the newer panels will likely have better RF properties (i.e. higher gain, better coverage etc) than the old ones so I assume that the panels may get changed one day?
Might also depend on what has been granted by planning so far?
These are just educated guesses but may be right...
Well one was Orange 2G/3G however at some point during the T-mobile/Orange network merge it become 2G only - I assume because of the rubbish backhaul. Its now 2G/3G/4G.

The other was 2G only (sitefinder shows it as Orange 2G/3G but I can never remember it being 3G) and is now 2G/4G only.

Both are the classic 6 sector Orange setups.
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Old 17-08-2016, 22:14
jchamier
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Are these ex-Orange masts doing 2G/4G only, or 2G/3G/4G? Because the old panels (if it was a 2G only site) would be single input panels, for 1800MHz - so doing GL18 (G=GSM, L=LTE) on the old panels is possible. Whereas GL18, U21 (U=UMTS) would be better on dual input panels.
Actually the panels aren't fixed freq but banded, and 1800-2100 is often in the same band. My local mast is still using very old panels but does G18, U21 and L18 and I've seen 80mbps from it - its a double speed 2x20mhz mast. The signs on the cabinets at the base are still T-Mobile UK Ltd.
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Old 18-08-2016, 11:48
beans0ntoast
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Actually the panels aren't fixed freq but banded, and 1800-2100 is often in the same band. My local mast is still using very old panels but does G18, U21 and L18 and I've seen 80mbps from it - its a double speed 2x20mhz mast. The signs on the cabinets at the base are still T-Mobile UK Ltd.
So how comes most Orange 2/3G masts use double input panels, despite the ability to combine the 18/21 into a single input? Unless the Orange masts have tighter frequency bands?

Most of the upgraded masts I've seen have upgraded panels though, and a panel change will definitely be required for L08 and L26 (if utilized).
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Old 18-08-2016, 12:26
Pedro_C
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The panels of old tended to be quite narrow band. So on the dual band old Orange ones, two ports can only take 1800 and two only 2100. Clearly, if the panels are not damaged and electronic tilt is not a prioirity in the area, these panels are obviously suitable for broadcasting 4G
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Old 19-08-2016, 12:14
ryan125hst
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Has anyone signed up to one of the new 4GEE plans yet then and experienced the 60 Mbps cap? I'll be signing up soon and I'm a bit disappointed that there's now a speed cap. The thing is, it'll only be noticeable during speed tests, so it's not worth the extra money for me (BT Sport and the EU data allowance won't get used by me either). It's just a shame I won't be able to see these huge speeds that many of you post. Looking on YouTube, even PAYG users have been getting speeds above 60 Mbps. I wonder if this will stop?

Do you think this speed cap means that I won't ever see 4G+ (I'll be getting a Samsung Galaxy S7) or will it still do Carrier Aggregation and just cap the speed?
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Old 19-08-2016, 12:34
rasseru16
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Has anyone signed up to one of the new 4GEE plans yet then and experienced the 60 Mbps cap? I'll be signing up soon and I'm a bit disappointed that there's now a speed cap. The thing is, it'll only be noticeable during speed tests, so it's not worth the extra money for me (BT Sport and the EU data allowance won't get used by me either). It's just a shame I won't be able to see these huge speeds that many of you post. Looking on YouTube, even PAYG users have been getting speeds above 60 Mbps. I wonder if this will stop?

Do you think this speed cap means that I won't ever see 4G+ (I'll be getting a Samsung Galaxy S7) or will it still do Carrier Aggregation and just cap the speed?
Just remember that the Samsung EE firmware doesnt ever display 4G+ when it is indeed 4G plus, change to BTU (Non Branded) firmware and it will display 4G+.
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Old 19-08-2016, 13:02
beans0ntoast
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The panels of old tended to be quite narrow band. So on the dual band old Orange ones, two ports can only take 1800 and two only 2100. Clearly, if the panels are not damaged and electronic tilt is not a prioirity in the area, these panels are obviously suitable for broadcasting 4G
Thanks for the info. I thought that older panels tended to be narrower and thus require multiple inputs for G18 and U21. Obviously the site will need new panels for L08 though.

I wonder if this is a reason for some of these weird GL18 masts without U21? Or is it more to do with Three UK not paying to be part of the mast, and thus EE don't see a need for U21? I just find these masts strange, especially if it is an area with no U21 at all, as U21 certainly isn't dead yet!
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Old 19-08-2016, 13:11
jonmorris
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Do you think this speed cap means that I won't ever see 4G+ (I'll be getting a Samsung Galaxy S7) or will it still do Carrier Aggregation and just cap the speed?
I believe you'll get full access to sites/bands as anyone - but the speed will be throttled.

If EE restricted access, you might find speeds slower as a result of that, not a cap.

EE has lifted the cap for existing double speed users from 100 to 150 to 200. Now it will just set a cap on a tariff basis.

I do worry that given Three set a precedent that out of contract you can be told to accept significant changes with no way to refuse (refusal means leaving) and existing customers like me could find the speed cap is applied, with just 30 days notice.

I hope that won't happen, but it's a great way to get people to pay more by not really having a choice. No longer will you just be able to say 'I'm fine as I am thanks'.
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Old 19-08-2016, 13:11
jonmorris
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Just remember that the Samsung EE firmware doesnt ever display 4G+ when it is indeed 4G plus, change to BTU (Non Branded) firmware and it will display 4G+.
My P9 showed 4G+ until the latest firmware update. Not EE firmware either.
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Old 19-08-2016, 13:27
d123
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I just find these masts strange, especially if it is an area with no U21 at all, as U21 certainly isn't dead yet!
You're never going to give up on this, are you?

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Old 19-08-2016, 13:33
Synthetic42
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Just remember that the Samsung EE firmware doesnt ever display 4G+ when it is indeed 4G plus, change to BTU (Non Branded) firmware and it will display 4G+.
Can confirm BTU shows 4G+, but i'm using good lock which appears to remove the 4G+ symbol...
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Old 19-08-2016, 14:13
Denco1
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http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...nsultation.pdf
Submission to Ofcom allowing them to use 10MHz of Band 33 4G TDD spectrum, and also for the transmit power of special ESN gateway devices to be raised from 23dBm to 31dBm on bands 3/20 while stationary.

I presume the intent is that stationary emergency service vehicles will become wireless repeaters of some sort, either rebroadcasting the 800/1800MHz signal or the newer 1900MHz. Or it may just be to allow vehicles to keep a 4G connection where it would not have been possible with a lower uplink power.

If I'm not mistaken this will be the first time 1900MHz TDD has been used outside of China.
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Old 19-08-2016, 14:43
rasseru16
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My P9 showed 4G+ until the latest firmware update. Not EE firmware either.
I wonder why EE have specifically chosen not to show the 4G+ icon in their firmware/csc :/
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