It was interesting to look at EE's network improvements while being brought home from uni on Saturday. Travelling from Sheffield to Retford and using the Service Mode on my Samsung Galaxy S7 (*#0011#), I didn't notice anything different until reaching Worksop. Here, while on the A57, I noticed Band 7 being used, and this was also being aggregated with Band 3. It's the first time I've seen 2,600 Mhz 4G in Worksop on EE and it doesn't yet show on the map. It does show in the website data though if you put a Worksop postcode in and find it on developers tools in Chrome.
I was also pleased to see Band 20 making an appearance in Retford. No additional coverage, and my phone dropped from 4G to 3G as it always does in a certain place in Ordsall. However, up near the primary school, I was getting Band 3 aggregated with Band 20. A similar story in my house, with the living room still being a bit of a 4G black hole with 3G or sometimes 2G being preferred. However, when sat on my desk, Band 20 was being connected to and sometimes being aggregated with Band 3. No Band 7 in Retford yet though it seems.
It seems to have gone entirely though now. I've been checking the signal round the house today and not once have I seen Band 20. It was only on low power before as the coverage was no better than Band 3, so I can only assume they were testing it. I can't wait for it to be turned onto full power next year as 4G is a bit patchy downstairs and occasionally drops to 3G upstairs, so this will mean perfect 4G coverage all over.
Another thing I've noticed that I haven't before is there seems to be an old Orange 2G mast- it only broadcasts GPRS but was code 33. I think it could be the one near Grove if you want to see it on the coverage map. In my room, I get 4 or 5 bars of 2G off it. 3G wise, I tend to get 2 or 3 bars (from a different mast that is as Grove is 2G only I believe), and normally 0-2 bars of 4G (1800) Mhz. There still seems to be masts that need to be switched to the EE code and have 3G added, never mind 4G1800. Even the addition of the latter will help coverage by the looks of it, with 4G800 finishing it all of nicely.
I'm home until mid January now so I'll keep monitoring the situation and will update when I see any changes. I hadn't seen any Band 20 in Sheffield by the time I left so I don't know if there's any active in the city center yet, I wonder if that will appear when I return to the city next month?