O2 service "upgrade"

A few days ago I got quite excited because I got a text from O2 saying that... well, it was the standard one you get from their app when you select base stations and see their status. The one saying "Our scheme to improve coverage, and upgrade 2G and 3G services; and roll out 4G, has now reached your area. Expect some outages on March 14th". This is a town of over 10,000 people (not couting outlaying villages the mast covers) and so I thought they'd probably give us HSPA - I doubted that they'd move us straight from 2G to 4G.

Anyway, their own coverage map hasn't changed, and they've upgraded us to... wait for it... EDGE. In 2016.

Absolutely pathetic.

I was hoping they were going to do it in a few stages as their mast checker stayed red, i.e. "We're working on it..." until today, but now it's gone green.

I know, I know, swap networks to EE; but I'm tied to a contract until November. I don't want to keep changing my SIM card and have multiple numbers either. In case anyone was wondering whether I'd made a schoolboy error, my phone supports 4G/LTE, I've used it in loads of places.

Spoke too soon, we've got 4G now. Why did they do a quick EDGE phase? Not that I really care, now.

"have multiple numbers either" Huh? Just take it with you. Ask for a PAC, give the PAC o your new provider, wait patiently, job done.

John

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

Spoke too soon, we've got 4G now. Why did they do a quick EDGE phase? Not that I really care, now.

very likely they did not have the backhaul to handle 3G and 4G switch on (GPRS to EDGE does not really need much more capacity)

they likely replaced all the hardware at the base of the tower and the cells on the top of the mast (i assume you got 3G as well now)

O2 is obligated to provide 98% indoor 4G800 coverage i assume in populated areas (by around 2017) so you start to see smaller populated areas having their masts upgraded to 3G+4G (where they mite of only been kicking out a 3G or 2G signal before)

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

Spoke too soon, we've got 4G now. Why did they do a quick EDGE phase? Not that I really care, now.

Possibly the hardware was upgraded to something a little more modern. Nowadays, the RF hardware is multi-standard, so includes the capability of GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 3G as well as 4G/LTE. Something like this:
http://networks.nokia.com/system/files/document/nsn_...

Nokia originally got the contract from O2 for upgrading their network, and reported that they'd use this more modern technology; I'm not sure if they still do:
http://networks.nokia.com/news-events/press-room/pre...

During installation, their first priority will have been to restore existing capability, especially getting GSM up and running. The EDGE capability will have come with that automatically, using the same spectrum that the old hardware will have been configured with.

Bringing up new capability - 4G - can be done in a more leisurely manner. It will make use of spectrum that has never been used from that site before, so there are probably procedures to go through to make sure it is using the right power etc, that physical coverage is as-expected, and it isn't interfering with neighbouring cells.

In reply to a post by leexgx:

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

Spoke too soon, we've got 4G now. Why did they do a quick EDGE phase? Not that I really care, now.

O2 is obligated to provide 98% indoor 4G800 coverage i assume in populated areas (by around 2017) so you start to see smaller populated areas having their masts upgraded to 3G+4G (where they mite of only been kicking out a 3G or 2G signal before)

Just one small point, this isn't actually strictly true. They're obligated to provide a certain speed of data service, but not actually 4G800 or indeed any particular technology. I've got a link buried somewhere that explains what the licence requirement actually is, but I do remember it's technology-agnostic and not exactly what their PR & marketing would have everyone believe!

I will have to take a photo of the mast. It's a horrible ugly tower thing on an industrial estate, where you couldn't believe that they could fit any more of the white rectangular transmitters on. But after looking at it now, I can see that this site: http://pedroc.co.uk/Vodafone%20mast%20guidec.jpg probably tells me that the whiter-looking, squared-off panels are the new ones:

In reply to a post by leexgx:

they likely replaced all the hardware at the base of the tower and the cells on the top of the mast (i assume you got 3G as well now)

And yes, it falls back to 3G (sometimes HSPA+, sometimes just HSPA) in the remote parts where 4G fails.

It's like a different world, really, going from having GPRS which of course is absolutely useless, to having internet when walking around the town. My parents both have non-3G phones and their signal has improved so they can always make a call, now - it's about time, the mast covers over 10,000 people.

Again, I will get a photo of the disgusting ugly thing (I'm all for mordernisation, but this thing really is ugly) and let you see what's happened. O2 haven't updated their own app yet to show that we are covered with 3 and 4G, and it's been nearly a month now. You'd think they'd be very keen to do that as quickly as anything else.

Thanks for the replies, everyone, I don't know much at all about mobile transmitters, so it's been very helpful.

This is the site in 2009, which is so irrelevant that it might as well be the opening scene to 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Apes throwing femurs at it. Comparison to today will follow when I can be bothered to waste my energy on O2.

Edited by deleted (Sun 27-Mar-16 06:05:11)

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultati... is the Ofcom document

i could not care less how they look my self

O2 on public roads have been really going with Pole masts most of them was built when they got 3G900 (the ones where the cells are inside the top of the pole covered up to make them look pretty) now around where i am they are taking the tops off and replacing the cells and replacing/adding cards

i thought some one was having a go at the local mast when i lost most of the 3G signal on me phone so i when to the pub where it sits on and had a look to make sure someone was not stealing stuff (at midnight we had 4G, i guess the mast already had enough hardline capacity to go to 4G)

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

A few days ago I got quite excited because I got a text from O2 saying that... well, it was the standard one you get from their app when you select base stations and see their status. The one saying "Our scheme to improve coverage, and upgrade 2G and 3G services; and roll out 4G, has now reached your area. Expect some outages on March 14th". This is a town of over 10,000 people (not couting outlaying villages the mast covers) and so I thought they'd probably give us HSPA - I doubted that they'd move us straight from 2G to 4G.

Anyway, their own coverage map hasn't changed, and they've upgraded us to... wait for it... EDGE. In 2016.

Absolutely pathetic.

I was hoping they were going to do it in a few stages as their mast checker stayed red, i.e. "We're working on it..." until today, but now it's gone green.

I know, I know, swap networks to EE; but I'm tied to a contract until November. I don't want to keep changing my SIM card and have multiple numbers either. In case anyone was wondering whether I'd made a schoolboy error, my phone supports 4G/LTE, I've used it in loads of places.

Ignoring that you were simply impatient... I wouldn't swap networks to EE in a million years. Made that error, never again.