[3g-g]

Has anyone been using Voda 3g services? I really don't know anyone that's taken up a Voda 3g handset and tarrif... It strikes me that they're pushing it more as just a new lot of handsets with some extra features and not really as the new technology.

Would be interested to hear what some users have to say about it, coverage, call quality etc.

[Ben]

Yeah... things have been unnervingly quiet on the Vodafone 3G front. Quiet consumers is probably a good sign, but I know there were some teething problems in the very beginning. Come on Vodafone 3G customers - where are you!

[Jon3G]

Yeah... things have been unnervingly quiet on the Vodafone 3G front. Quiet consumers is probably a good sign, but I know there were some teething problems in the very beginning. Come on Vodafone 3G customers - where are you!



Hi

Nice forum. Cant see no (nick referred to removed) so a good thing

Voda is pretty good, however the coverage is letting it down. but its getting better all of the time. call qulity is good and the content is excellent value. Not tried vid calling even though I do get free mins

[Ben]

I agree with you 100% about Vodafone's coverage. I'm totally jealous of those who have good Vodafone 3G coverage because I regard Vodafone as one of the best networks out there. I'll certainly give them a try when 3G is available in my area. If I was covered at launch I'd have run right out and grabbed one of those V800's I tell you!

Glad you like the forum - all comments and suggestions welcome :)

[Jon3G]

keep it for the forum people and not for personal gain and it will be great

[Marcwic]

Hi

Nice forum. Cant see no (removed) so a good thing

Voda is pretty good, however the coverage is letting it down. but its getting better all of the time. call qulity is good and the content is excellent value. Not tried vid calling even though I do get free mins

I get free video minutes, but I didn't realise they were NOT cross-network, as all my friends are on 3. Ooops, massive phone bill !

[Ben]

Argh that sucks! I have loads on Orange and, as far as I know, they are xnet. I don't use many, but it's good to know that I can video call without worrying about the price!

[Jon3G]

I get free video minutes, but I didn't realise they were NOT cross-network, as all my friends are on 3. Ooops, massive phone bill !


God job you told me because I thought they were xnet

Thanks Marcwic

[Hands0n]

Tried Voda on an unlocked A835 with a PAYG SIM but could not get 3G on the handset. That was a few months ago. Their CS couldn't help, said that they did not offer it on PAYG - despite reading that they did on "another forum" that I frequented previously.

I wonder if x-net vid will come (if through no other way than market forces). It has to to make videocalling successful for all the networks in the way that x-net voice has really boosted the use of mobile vs landline.

Having used videocalling on a few occasions I can say that I find it an attractive proposition, but not something that I'd use anywhere as near frequently as voice.

Before I take the plunge and go fully 3G I want to sample all of the networks before I buy. They've got until Jan '06 to win my custom or H3 may just get another 12 months out of me if they can seduce me with a handset as groovy as the E1000.

[Hands0n]

Update - popped the Voda SIM into the A835 and got a 2G signal as expected. Tried a voice call, that worked okay. When I next looked at the display it had changed to 3G (woo hoo!). Tried a voice call, okay. Tried a videocall, no go - couldn't get it to dial my other 3-networked phone. I think there is a big config issue to be resolved when using the Voda SIM but I didnt have the time to do much more than this ...... I noticed many of the H3 settings were still in the phone and not carried across in the SIM/USIM.

[davidlove]

Am finding Voda 3G patchy, yet I live/work in London. Estimate 3G service only available 50% of the time. Specific problems:

Even though I'm well within a 3G area, 6680 displays 3G then goes to 2G once call is placed.

Calls dropped when handing over from 3G to 2G and vice versa.

When 3G service sustained, speed is good, esp with Voda Live! which is optimised, but not "10x faster than GPRS" or anything like that.

Cannot get any streaming to work so far, but that might be my settings.

But I realise this is early days and I'm sure it will get as robust as GPRS over time.

[3g-g]

Am finding Voda 3G patchy, yet I live/work in London. Estimate 3G service only available 50% of the time. Specific problems:

Even though I'm well within a 3G area, 6680 displays 3G then goes to 2G once call is placed.

Calls dropped when handing over from 3G to 2G and vice versa.

When 3G service sustained, speed is good, esp with Voda Live! which is optimised, but not "10x faster than GPRS" or anything like that.

Cannot get any streaming to work so far, but that might be my settings.

But I realise this is early days and I'm sure it will get as robust as GPRS over time.


That's pretty poor from Voda, I'd of expected a lot more from them, especially in London! Of all the places Voda wouldn't want dropped calls is there.

As far as the change over from 3G to 2G when placing a call.. is that before it's even connected or does it happen after you're into the call?

I'd be interested in having a muck about with Voda 3G purely for data. Is anyone out there using the 3G mobile connect card? Or pairing a 3G handset with a laptop? Let us know how it's going... give us some reports on data speed, QoS, coverage etc.

[pigsywigsy]

Interested to read davidloves comments about Vodafone 3g.

I've similar issues, I'm based in Glasgow (good 3g coverage) & been on Vodafone 3g since last November.

With my E1000 I miss calls every day (straight to voicemail) even tho the phones switched on, often can't make calls (call failed).

Had the handset & SIM swapped already but this made no difference, was thinking about getting a different handset next but looks like his 6680 does much the same thing.

[3g-g]

With my E1000 I miss calls every day (straight to voicemail) even tho the phones switched on, often can't make calls (call failed).

Had the handset & SIM swapped already but this made no difference, was thinking about getting a different handset next but looks like his 6680 does much the same thing.

This seems to be an issue with UMTS, I wasn't aware that Voda were having problems too, I thought it was only Nokia infrastructure specific, but if Voda are having similar problems it must be in the nature of the technology.

I take it this happens if you haven't used the phone for a period and you've stayed around the same place for a while?

[Hands0n]

Not that I know the infrastructure in such detail but ........ Didn't a lot of Orange 3G customers complain of exactly the same kind of problem? As a bit of a self-straw poll I find that my Orange 2.5G (SPV-C500) does that - calls go to voicemail, phone does not even ring, full set of five bars, sitting on the table. Next call comes through fine! None of this happens with my H3 handset though, and dont' they use some Nokia in their infrastructure? Not saying you're wrong though 3g-g. I may live and work in a non-Nokia area of their network. FWIW - leaving me more puzzled now than before :)

Interesting in that in my playing around with a Voda PAYT SIM in an A835 - I get 3G signal, but when I place call it is made in 2G (phone flips over as call is being placed). After the call finishes it flips back to 3G. Five bars on both layers of network! Go figure!!

[3g-g]

Not that I know the infrastructure in such detail but ........ Didn't a lot of Orange 3G customers complain of exactly the same kind of problem? As a bit of a self-straw poll I find that my Orange 2.5G (SPV-C500) does that - calls go to voicemail, phone does not even ring, full set of five bars, sitting on the table. Next call comes through fine! None of this happens with my H3 handset though, and dont' they use some Nokia in their infrastructure? Not saying you're wrong though 3g-g. I may live and work in a non-Nokia area of their network. FWIW - leaving me more puzzled now than before :)

Interesting in that in my playing around with a Voda PAYT SIM in an A835 - I get 3G signal, but when I place call it is made in 2G (phone flips over as call is being placed). After the call finishes it flips back to 3G. Five bars on both layers of network! Go figure!!

Yep, you're correct Orange had a similar problem, and T Mobile seem to be having the same issue at the moment also. Although, quite why your C500 is doing it is a strange one, the problem with the 3G network was that the handsets and network weren't updating each other with locations after a period of inactivity, so the network thought the handset was off thus the routing of calls to answerphone. On GSM the LA is a regular thing, so really I'd expect every call to get through if the phone was on... that may be a handset issue you're having. You're also correct about H3 using Nokia infrastructure, however I believe it's only in Scotland, in the south it's all NEC AFAIK.

Is it possible that your Voda SIM has only been provisioned for data and not voice, hence the switch every time you attempt a call?

[pigsywigsy]

Yep, you're correct Orange had a similar problem, and T Mobile seem to be having the same issue at the moment also. Although, quite why your C500 is doing it is a strange one, the problem with the 3G network was that the handsets and network weren't updating each other with locations after a period of inactivity, so the network thought the handset was off thus the routing of calls to answerphone. On GSM the LA is a regular thing, so really I'd expect every call to get through if the phone was on... that may be a handset issue you're having. You're also correct about H3 using Nokia infrastructure, however I believe it's only in Scotland, in the south it's all NEC AFAIK.

Is it possible that your Voda SIM has only been provisioned for data and not voice, hence the switch every time you attempt a call?

SIM is provisioned for voice without a doubt, in fact voice calls over 3g on Vodafone are perfect (Nortel 3g infrastructure up here).

The problems are when my E1000 is in 2g mode, if the phone's in 2g mode & I'm standing still & watching the screen the signal strength will constantly go to zero then come back full strength without switching onto 3g, at no point however does the "Vodafone" disappear from the screen.

Indeed this has to be a network or handover issue as I live in very close proximity to Vodafone 3g & 2g sites (bout 200 yards away) so there's no question of being out of coverage.

The problem happens all over Scotland also. Setting my E1000 to GSM only mode didn't seem to help much either.

Answers on a postcard pls...................

[3g-g]

The problems are when my E1000 is in 2g mode, if the phone's in 2g mode & I'm standing still & watching the screen the signal strength will constantly go to zero then come back full strength without switching onto 3g, at no point however does the "Vodafone" disappear from the screen.


Is this E1000 originally from the 3 network?

[pigsywigsy]

Is this E1000 originally from the 3 network?

Yep, both E1000s have been direct from Vodafone

[3g-g]

If the E1000s were direct from Voda then it seems like a handset receiver problem, either that or buggy SW. I take them back and ask for replacements.

[Hands0n]

I'm pushing my levels of incompetence here but ............. could it also be something to do with Cell Breathing? Not that I'm an expert in this but I'm thinking along the lines of perhaps Voda's 3G network is not too well padded out with capacity right now - not taking too many Voda 3G users to cause the Cell Breathing to occur and thus leaving the handset with no alternative but to fallback to 2G mode. Would that/could that also account for the fluctuating signal strength he/she is seeing? Do feel free to tell me if I'm talking utter carp (anagram).

FWIW - I have an E1000 on H3 and it works faultlessly, even plopping on to 2.5G when the need arises but certainly not exhibiting the behaviour that pigsywigsy is seeing. Unless Voda have somehow shagged the E1000's firmware I have found it generally to be a very well behaved handset - that seems to be bourne out by the general lack of complaint read about that handset on the forums.

[3g-g]

It's a completely valid point however the affects of cell breathing aren't as obvious as the coverage vanishing from your handset. I think to simulate that type of scenario you'd need one cell, of which you'd need to be on the very edge of it, then a large number of heavy bandwidth hungry users very close to the cell origin taking all the available capacity of the site, so effectively you wouldn't have any capacity to use (thats the breathing part). However, I think pigsywigsy is watching the handset, so I presume the phone is idle and he's not making any voice or data calls. When this is the case, even if the cell was under heavy load, the handset should still have a correct coverage reading, you don't need to know what state the site is in with other users as you're not needing any capacity. If you were to try and undertake any call/data then the coverage would be more accurately reflected by the cell your HS decides to communicate with.

It sounds to me like a HS related issue, very similar to the problems I had with a C975. It would lose all coverage even though I knew exactly where the site was and what state it was in. It'd then re-apprear but not route calls through to the handset, sending everything to voicemail. The only thing I could think was that because it was originally a 3 handset and still had all the 3 branding and gumff in it somewhere within the settings it was trying to get onto 3 and my Orange USIM wasn't letting it! But this wouldn't explain why pigsywisy is having the same problem if his/her handsets were direct from Voda.

[pigsywigsy]

If the E1000s were direct from Voda then it seems like a handset receiver problem, either that or buggy SW. I take them back and ask for replacements.

Ta for the suggestion

The 2nd one is already a replacement for the 1st one which kind of proves the fault lies elsewhere unless they both have the exact same fault 5 months apart..........

[Ben]

I'd say get them replaced again... the only way to make Vodafone sit up and listen is to keep getting the handsets replaced until a) you get a fully working service or b) they offer to replace your handsets with others that are acceptable to you.

[Jon3G]

I have found that if you say you have been through to technical support and they have passed you through to upgrades to get your phone change for another, then that normally works.

Process

Make sure you have made a few contacts with CS and that your phone has been changed before, lets say 3 times. You then call Voda upgrades and say you have been passed through to them and been advised that they need to change you handset for another model. Its worked for me and a few other people I know

I got my V800 replaced with a 6630, plus I got £30 for the difference in handset price at the time of purchase

[pigsywigsy]

Ok,

Had my E1000 replaced again, this is now E1000 number 3, guess what, still dosen't work right, exact same problems as before.

Can't possibly be the handset thats at fault unless they just don't work properly in the first place but no one else is complaining about them.

It still works perfect for voice calls when it's on 3g only, once it drops back onto 2g in an area where there's 3g coverage however then it's all tits up again, calls straight to voicemail, failed calls & alot of comeidian with dodgy microphone type conversations when I have a call established on 2g.

I am a heavy mobile user (dosen't refer to my size!) & work in this field so probably notice any problems more than most, could it be that the whole Vodafone 3g/2g scenario just dosen't work as well as they'd have us think?

PS - Nice one Vodafone for sending me a "new" phone out that already contains someone elses phone numbers!

[Jon3G]

Look this is what u need to do

I have had a V800 , a 6630 and now a 6680 from this method

Explain how many handsets u have had say that you want a replacement for another handset and they should do it. Like I have said its worked for me

[Hands0n]

@pigsywigsy - FWIW, the E1000 is a rock solid handset on other networks so it is unlikely to be your specific handset, unless they reserved an entire bad batch for you. But then you'd have had to pi55 them off majorly for them to even have you on their radar :)

The general opinion on the E1000 on the forums seems to be that it is of good performance.

Do any other of Vodafone's handsets experience these kinds of problems? Scary if they do!

[Jon3G]

I have heard about the issues with that handset both sim free and network locked

get it changed by the method I used

[pigsywigsy]

Look this is what u need to do

I have had a V800 , a 6630 and now a 6680 from this method

Explain how many handsets u have had say that you want a replacement for another handset and they should do it. Like I have said its worked for me

Gave it a try, aparrently there's a new rule at Vodafone that you have to have your handset changed 4 times before they'll give you an upgrade to a different one.

E1000 number 4 should be arriving today............

[Ben]

Four times? That's a little excessive! Oh well, all we can do as customers is go along with it I guess :( Still, hopefully next time you call you'll be able to switch to a handset of your choice.

If you're a heavy user I can't understand why they wouldn't have made the switch already. They seem to bend over backwards for Jon3G!

[Jon3G]

Gave it a try, aparrently there's a new rule at Vodafone that you have to have your handset changed 4 times before they'll give you an upgrade to a different one.

E1000 number 4 should be arriving today............


Give them a call back and try again it really depends what advisor you get. Really it does it work


Four times? That's a little excessive! Oh well, all we can do as customers is go along with it I guess :( Still, hopefully next time you call you'll be able to switch to a handset of your choice.

If you're a heavy user I can't understand why they wouldn't have made the switch already. They seem to bend over backwards for Jon3G!


I only use about £60 a month with them and thats because of the Special offer 3G tariff. I have now downgraded to the Anytime 25 at £15 a month and they still did it.

It all depends how you speak to them. But really keep trying and dont give up until you have the result you want

[shelly58]

hi i'm new to voda 3g...i have just bought the v800 i'm very pleased with the phone apart from not being able to up/download all mp3 tones :mad: but as for 3g coverage its excellent where i live in nottingham...i get 99.9% 3g all the time.

[3g-g]

Hi Shelly58 & welcome to Talk3G!

It's good to have another view point in addition to our ever growing community here. We hope you'll stick around and keep us all updated with how you find your 3G experience!

The V800 is a lovely handset, one that I have thought about trying to "aquire" through eBay on several occasions. It's also great that you have such good UMTS coverage, well done to Voda. Please let us know how you find their coverage and 3G network if you're ever out and about, the Voda 3G users seem to keep themselves quiet, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing!

What is the problem you're having with the MP3 tones? Is it that the handset won't play them? Or are you unable todownload them from Vodafone?

G.

[Jon3G]

The coverage in Notts will be good because Notts store was from launch a 3G store and the coverage as always been good there.

The Mp3 thing is an issue and I think I know were the instructions are to fix it

BRB

[Denyo1977]

Has actually anyone got problems with the V980? While browsing and if the coverage changes from 3g to 2.5g the phone turns itself off and then on again. And unless I haven't got very good 3g coverage (3 or less bars) the call quality is pretty bad.

[Jon3G]

is this in one area or anywere.

The call quality depends on a number of factors and one them is signal strengh. If you dont have decent signal strenge then both talk and date comms will be effected accordingley on both 2G and 3G.

The turning off sounds like a phone issues and I would call CS to get this investigated

[Denyo1977]

It's actually anywhere. I wouldn't be complaining if I had really bad coverage (like 1 bar), but if the phone shows 3 bars I guess that should be decent signal strength.

[Jon3G]

It really depends on the conditions at the time and the handset. 3 bars means different strengh on different handsets.

But the turning off issue, just contact CS