Lack of coverage from Vodafone??

[a_ukboy]

I have an Iphone 3GS unlocked from o2 with a sim only 12 month plan, i'm now starting to regret Vodafone as my operator of choice, im findind the Vodafone network coverage to be pretty poor, specially 3g coverage and the lack of indoor 3g coverage in particular.. I live ands work in London and have had to buy a suresignal just to get coverage in my flat which is on the first floor and im in an apparently excellent 3g coverage area, yes outside i am but inside 1-2 bars 2g only.. This is not just the iphone, i have been testing this with my N95 with a Voda sim and im getting vertually similiar results, sometimes the N95 shows better coverage but mostly the same, i know its not my flat as all the other networks can recieve great 3g coverage within my flat, also my work full signal outside and npt a sniff of a 3g signal indoors, lat week i was in Oxford Street, yeah great outside but once inside like Selfridges no signal...

Come on Vodafone, whats going on? Although o2's 3g is poor too i've noticed that they seem to be better for indoor coverage as i've been checking with my partners iphone which is on o2...

Whats everyone elses experinace with "an outstanding network"

[Ben]

I take it you get full 3G inside at your flat now you've got Sure Signal?

Hmm, don't know what to say really; I had great Vodafone coverage all over London last weekend and the weekend before - didn't notice any notspots so can't really comment. Didn't go into Selfridges.

[DBMandrake]

Vodafone (and O2) have poor 3G coverage, there's no two ways about it. To have their advertising pushing what a great network they are recently is a bit of a joke really.

I haven't been to London before, and I'm sure things vary a bit from place to place but in the Central Scotland region Vodafone's 3G coverage is dire, even worse than O2. Large populated areas with no 3G signal even outdoors. Neither O2 or Vodafone have good in-building 3G penetration, even in built up areas - they just don't seem to have the same density of cell towers as the other networks leading to a usable 3G signal outdoors, but usually no 3G indoors.

You'll get better 3G coverage, especially indoors, from all the other networks, eg 3, Orange and T-Mobile, although they each have their pluses and minuses and individual black spots, with none of them being an ideal network...

I barely get 1-2 bars of GPRS indoors at home from Vodafone, 5 bars GPRS from O2 (occasionally a dodgy 3G signal that goes away when you try to use it) and 5 bars solid 3G from 3, Orange, and T-Mobile.

I will give Vodafone one kudos - theirs is the only UK network which will allow an incoming call to come through while 2G data is in use on the iPhone - all the other networks will give the dreaded straight to voicemail missed calls issue in that situation, however on the networks that give good 3G coverage it's not a big deal because you're on 3G most of the time anyway. (And 3G allows simultaneous voice and data)

[a_ukboy]

I take it you get full 3G inside at your flat now you've got Sure Signal?

Hmm, don't know what to say really; I had great Vodafone coverage all over London last weekend and the weekend before - didn't notice any notspots so can't really comment. Didn't go into Selfridges.

Yes i do have full 3G in my flat thanks to the suresignal, great piece of kit.. But that's the only time i get a 3g signal inside a building which i find very strange with Vodafone, at least with o2 i use to see 3g and sometimes full 3g within a building..

[miffed]

I've been vocal about the past , and really don't get the "emperors new clothes" thing about Vodafone ! But theres not a lot more I can say in words - instead I have prepared a photo collection called " My God , Vodafone's coverage REALLY is a crock of ......." (infact , hand on my heart , putting the Vodafone SIM in my HD2 was the FIRST time I have seen the 2G "G" since I bought the phone in January ! ) Vodafone , a network for the previous decade !


Enjoy !




108910901091

[miffed]

I don't have an Orange or Three SIM to hand , but I'd bet any amount of money that if I brought one here , they'd both manage a 3G signal too.

7.2Mbps my *&*@ !! , they are just about capable of bog standard GPRS in 2010 !

[Hands0n]

And yet, I'm absolutely basking in the stuff here in North Kent. Five bars of the stuff, never no 3G in the town. But I can cite the same as you when looking at O2 - not a whiff of 3G, lamentably poor 2G

Maybe when the mast share gets sorted out this stuff will be history.

[Ben]

You should tweet those pics to @vodafoneuk, get them to follow you, then DM them your post code so they can check it out. The twitter boys are very chatty and helpful, for the most part :)

I'm not saying they'll do anything, but at least they'll be confronted with the issue in a very public way.

[stuartturrell]

i have always been a person critical of vodafone's coverage of where i live.
Signal is poor and when there is a signal, its intermittant.
Orange have by far the better network where i live, but all networks are poor for 3g here on the Isle of Wight.
Thank orange for their Edge network! haha

[miffed]

My parents live on the Island - I think the geography makes for some real problems !! I once drove South east from Ryde towards Sandown/ Shankllin etc. and there was a particularly hilly , green bit , with a long straight road that heads toward a Cafe of some description at the bottom of a valley (Bembridge maybe ? )
Well , anyway , we drove past it , and thought "hey , that looks nice !" , So we decided to phone my my Mum & Dad and get them to come and meet us there ...
I had a T-mobile phone , and an o2 one , plus my daughter had a Vodafane one ..... And there was absolutely NO SIGNAL on any of them !!!

I also remember going to the little Mobile phone shop in Newport (the one down the back alley bit by McDonalds) This was years ago when when it was a One2one dealer , I found it quite bizarre that , when I was asking about some of the phones (Nokia 8210 and stuff back then !!) - He said "Where do you live" , and then when I told him I didn't live on the island he said "Ah, thats OK then , only there is hardly any One2one signal on the island " ;)

Bet he did a roaring trade !!!

[getti]

Everyone will have different opinions on coverage as it is personal. Where I live I get full 3G on 3, Vodafone and T-Mobile with speeds anywhere up to 3.5mb/s. 3 bars od 2G on O2 unless I walk down the road a bit then it goes up to a few bars of 3G.

The merger of Orange and T-Mobile will help improve signal especially as still so many people have a bad impression of T-Mobile signal which is mainly down to the 1800mhz they use not getting indoors very well. Even though the way thy advertise it has had a lot of stick I have to give thumbs up to Vodafone for their femtocell idea to at least give you coverage in the house when you need it. If you live in a poor area when no network covers you this is ideal to at least get mobile use although you do pay a bit more.

O2 seem to have the same issue as T-Mobile with the impression 3G is poor due to their late start

[DBMandrake]

i have always been a person critical of vodafone's coverage of where i live.
Signal is poor and when there is a signal, its intermittant.
Orange have by far the better network where i live, but all networks are poor for 3g here on the Isle of Wight.
Thank orange for their Edge network! haha
Do you not even get 3G coverage from 3 ? I don't know what part of the island you're on, but their coverage map shows reasonable coverage in most populated areas and areas with roads...and I've found their coverage maps to be generally fairly accurate and maybe even a bit conservative. Anywhere where they didn't have coverage would also fall back to Orange's EDGE/GPRS network..