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OX4 - Kassam Stadium

pdsoper
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

1) No internet access at the Kassam Stadium during matches for any Vodafone users! NOTE that other services (EE, O2, etc.) are not affected and continue to get 4G service!

2) OX4 4XP

3) Happens for all vodafone users (according to people I have spoken to and Twitter...)

4) No error as such, just doesn't connect. Twitter shows "Tweets are not loading right now", safari will just keep attempting to load a page

5) Shows full 4G.

6) Noticed it more since Christmas - although remember having issues last year too.

7) Only seems to happen when watching football. Usually from 3pm onwards.

8 REPLIES 8

Alex
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@pdsoper Even though you're in a good coverage area, when there's a large amount of people using the same network, in the same location, this will cause congestion issues. 

 

This would explain why you have no issues before or after the matches, and it occurs only at peak times. 

So are you publically admitting that the Vodafone service is inferior to other providers who seem able to provide internet access for their users?

 

EE and O2 users seem totally unaffected and yet every Vodafone user I know suffers the same issues. 

 

If you're sure that it's just down to your poor network, then the best option is for me to switch providers. If there's an issue that you might actually investigate, then you might manage to keep some customers...

PedroC1999
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

Things should improve when the area gets an L21 uplift. If you set your device to 2G/3G (ie no 4G) during the event, then what happens?

pdsoper
2: Seeker
2: Seeker
No improvement for me last night but I know others have tried this with mixed results.

If you're saying an upgrade, then that indicates people are aware the service is not what it should be...? Why make people jump through so many hoops if this is the case?

Also, is there a timeframe for this "L21 uplift"?

PedroC1999
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member
The L21 refarm is a generalised LTE capacity upgrade that is happening. It's not just for stadia.

What percentage of the week time wise is the stadium full of spectators? Even at 5 hours per week, the average occupancy when considered as a Week will be quite low. This will make it extremely hard (impossible) to justify a specialist solution. Other networks may be better due to having fewer customers in the area or many other reasons.

pdsoper
2: Seeker
2: Seeker
That's what I needed to hear.

Vodafone not capable of providing the same level of service as their competitors and no timeframe for being able to fix it.

To say nothing of the terrible customer service when trying to get this investigated!

Alex
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@pdsoper I've checked the local serving site (3092) and it's performing correctly. 

 

As stated by @PedroC1999, you may find manually switching down to 2G/3G during peak times useful to establish a working connection to the network. 

 

We're constantly improving our network, you can subscribe for any updates for that area on our Network status checker. 

 

 

IMHO this is a capacity issue. All the indicators are there such as good coverage but inability to use at match times etc, which is down to a lot of people using the service at one time.

 

Unfortunatly whilst its really annoying I doubt if Vodafone are going to spend an awful lot of money increasing their capacity for a location such as the Kassam stadium. As pointed out earlier the stadium is only in use for short bursts. Other networks may have better capacity for several reasons such as mast sites, a secondary benefit of increased coverage elsewhere. And Vodafone might have already attempted to have rejigged their network and maybe putting up a new mast in the vicinity only to have blasted NIMBYS bellyaching at the local council planning committee.

 

It would take for Vodafone to go to the bother of sorting this out 100% ie

increased capacity to probably microcell the stadium and also to introduce 4G+ 2600Mhz to it. At a cost of possibly hundreds of thousands of pounds it isn't going to happen..unless Vodafone can acheive some sort of sponsorship deal . This sort of thing does happen occasioinally with EE for example providing superlative coverage, capacity and Cat 9 speeds for Wembley Stadium. But for them theres the benefits of huge publicity, international call revenue and the spilloff benefitting the local and highly populated areas.

 

I can't see that happening for the Kassam stadium unfortunatly.