RH14 - Billingshurst

[divefrosty]

1) Does the issue happen in just one location? If so, how far do you have to travel to regain service? Occurs at Weald School and by house at least, I've not got time to drive around the the area.

2) What is the full postcode (e.g. ST1 1AA) of where the issue occurs? If you don't want this showing on the Community, add it to your profile here. Please see profile 

3) Does the issue occur if you try your SIM card in a different phone? Don't have another iPhone to try the Sim in, but I have a Blackberry DTEK60 with a SIM in and that only seems to register 3G not 4G.

4) What errors are seen or heard when the issue occurs? - Ping tests fail with iPhone but work on 3G with Android.

5) Does this happen on 2G, 3G, 4G or all? Only seems to happen on 4G.

6) When did you first notice this issue? Been like this for months.

7) Is the issue permanent or intermittent? If intermittent, are there certain times of the day when it occurs? Permanent

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @divefrosty

The Vodafone Network Checker is showing....

" We've fixed an issue in this area recently. Sorry if you noticed any disruption - things should have been back to normal since 8.25pm 17 Jun 2017"

It can sometimes take a few extra days for masts to settle. 

The Network Checker also indicates the area as a fringe coverage area for indoors. 

Link > Vodafone Network Checker.

[divefrosty]

Hi,

Do you work for Vodafone? is this an official statement from Vodafone, ie, when something is fixed, it can take a few days for things to settle down. How many days is a few? 1-2 Days, 2-3Days? 

Given the new information I provided yesterday, are we certain there isn't still an issue? Given it has been 2 days.

Where exactly was the fault location wise?

Re being on the Fring? - how far is a fring? 1/4 Mile, 1/2Mile? 1 mile? Why say you have 4G when you don't? I'm within what I call a good 4G zone on the map yet the phone is offered and provided 4G but because the signal strength in the area is rubbish it blocks things from working rather then working reliably with 3G. Get 4 G working properly throughout or turn that feature off I say rather than providing a town with a fringe of coverage that just causes issues.

Re no signal in the Town.

The Network coverage map shows that I should get at least 2G, but also 3G at all times in the town, but along the high street we get no signal, so how is that possible?

Finally this town is about to have about 500 houses built, so this needs to be sorted ASAP or you will start loosing customers and not gain any as the new ones arrive.

Many thanks

[Jenny]

@divefrosty - Please get back to us with your full postcode, or add this to your profile – this isn’t currently showing. Once we've got this, we can check what's going on in your area.

Just to clarify, @BandOfBrothers is one of our Community Champions and you can find more information on what this means, on the page I've linked to. 

[divefrosty]

Hi Jenny

I've tried to go in and check my profile and it's saying my username and password isn't recognised now. So I tried to reset the password and it's saying my username isn't recognised, yet I can get and make coments to my post okay under the name Divefrosty, so a bit confused, is your Forum also not able to work correctly?.

Re my postcode, the issue occurs at the Railway Station, at the Weald School, and my house near Turner Avenue, so basically over a large area of the South part of Billingshurst, but also remember I said in my original post if you are in the town centre you don't get a mobile signal. 6 Bells,, Sainsbury to the Heads Head. So you don't need my exact postcode you have the village/Torn name and RH14 to start with.

Re the 4G: we as customer pay for the 4G service and like to use it, if Vodafone can't supply a working and reliable 4G service in this area, then please why can't you either upgrade and get it working, or turn it off until you can.

Yesterday afternoon I tried ping tests in the garden and at the Station both failed.

We should as customers not have to be costantly modifying our phones to see if we can use 4G or not, you either provide a working service or you shouldn't try and claim you are when it doesn't work or it doesn't have the capacity. As I said 500 more houses are due to be built. 

Now maybe it's not an issue with your service and maybe it's the device, as it happens I work as a Service Manager for a software company that used to also make devices, so I have access to Apple and Blackberry Devices.

Therefore I've run the test on a number of devices that are available to me.

just to list things out:

iPhone 5s - 4G fails

iPhone 6 - 4G fails

iPad Air 2 - 4G fails

BlackBerry PRIV - 4G fails

I'll get a new Blackberry DTEK60 out and try that also if you like.

Where do I send my bill for the last couple of hour's worth of testing on your behalf?

many thanks

[Jenny]

@divefrosty - I’ve checked the coverage at the locations you’ve mentioned, and both 3G and 4G are patchy.

There aren’t any planned changes for the next three months in this area, however you can keep an eye on our UK coverage checker for any updates.

In the mean time, if you have problems when using 4G, you can change your phone’s network settings to 2G only, or 2G/3G.

[divefrosty]

I think I've found your issue.

I was at the gym the other morning at 6:30am and everything pretty much tested okay and I realised you can't cope with the capacity when 1500 students turnup for school in the area.

That's the issue, which I think is what Ollie was also saying, and it's only going to get worse as they build another 500 houses.

Plus it still doesn't fix the issue of no signal in the centre of the village you still have a black spot there, when will that be addressed as we can't even get 2G there or GPRS.... we get nothing.

[OllieJT23]

Unfortunately Vodafone will never admit to a capacity issue. Therefore we just have to wait for a possible upgrade to the mobile tower. Could be tomorrow, could be a years time or could be never! I believe as Billingshurst is pretty remote the chance is slim compared to city locations. It's a shame as when they first upgraded the tower it went from 2G to 4G with great speeds. No you can't even load a webpage during peak times. 

No village centre reception will need a new mast. Location probably at the top of the village where the new houses are being built. Chance of this happening is slim again as EE have that mast.

Solution is to move to a different provider. Just check before you change.

[divefrosty]

think you're right, customer retention and growth isn't on their agenda.

Next time I'm at their HQ in Newbury I'll bring this up with the people I know there.

[Alex]

@divefrosty @OllieJT23 As previously mentioned by @Jenny - Any planned upgrades to your area will be shown on our network coverage checker.