BS40 - East Harptree

[Anonymous]

HAF Ref: #16102485/16103674

1) Does the issue happen in just one location? If so, how far do you have to travel to regain service?

 One location, needs to travel a few minutes away to regain signal

2) What is the full postcode (e.g. ST1 1AA) of where the issue occurs?

BS40 6BZ

3) Does the issue occur if you try your SIM card in a different phone?

Yes

4) What errors are seen or heard when the issue occurs?

Lack of signal showing and phone and difficulty making/receiving calls

5) Does this happen on 2G, 3G, 4G or all?

All

6) When did you first notice this issue?

A few weeks ago

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

Permanent

[Alex]

I've checked local serving site (1564) it's showing as performing correctly. 

Looking into this area, you should be able to connect to 2G however this coverage won't be a strong connection - 3G and 4G are also very limited. 

For the best connection in this area, I'd recommend changing your phone settings down to 2G only.

It would also be worth checking if you're eligible for Wi-Fi Calling and we also offer a Sure Signal device which you may wish to look into. 

[lightspeed2398]

The suggestion of locking to 2G only is not helpful in my opinion. Although it might stablise inter-RAT handovers, if the poster leaves his home area then it is highly likely that he will encounter 3G/4G coverage and his phone will still be locked to 2G, an inconvenience. Additionally the network should be configured using the correct reselection and handover parameters to prevent ping ponging. 

Using publically avaliable data the terrain and remote nature of that area is pretty clear, not of course good news but these areas are difficult to cover reliably. Indeed there are several points where Vodafone are outdoors on the 2G only. Vodafone will ideally need a new mast in the area which may not make financial sense to them as a business or a more immediate solution may be a Sure Signal. 

[Jenny]

@lightspeed2398 - As the issue they’re having is at that particular location, changing to 2G only would help whilst there.

If there is patchy 3G coverage available, a phone will always try to connect to this first, even if there's far better 2G available. Switching to 2G only will make sure the phone is picking up the stronger signal.

Once they move away from the area, you’re correct - they would need to change their settings back to 3G/4G in order to connect to these frequencies.

[lightspeed2398]

Just to clear this up I didn't suggest locking to 2G, your staff did. I said it was a bad idea and backed up why. It's also not true that a phone will always prefer patchy 3G over strong 2G, it depends very much on how the network has been setup. If patchy is 3G with an RSCP of -115 for example then the access threshold might not be enough to reselect from 2G to 3G.

It is not a major network issue and comes down to the general RAN setup that VF have but it could technically be fixed.