Drop In 3g Reception?

[drunk1]

Hi,

Been using a contract 3G dongle for roughly 8-9 months now in 1 location and have been getting 4/5 3G reception for the whole time, although over the past couple of days the best I'm getting is 1 bar 3G with it usually being a 5 bar GPRS signal I am recieving.

This is no good at all, I am having to use my iPhone to get things done but Safari isn't the best browser for what I need the connection for.

But I have heard rumours that the Vodafone 3G network will struggle due to now having the iPhone on its network and hence 3G usage will take a massive jump on Vodafone.

Have also checked the coverage map to see if there are any engineering works etc that would affect my signal at this time but everything seems ok, well, the website says so anyway.

So not happy at paying £25 p/month for a GPRS signal.

Any help would be excellent.

Thank you.

[Retired-Daz_V]

Hi Justin_d, and welcome!

The location you've provided is covered by a range of 3G cells and micro-boosters. It's likely that the problem will be more to do with your SIM / connection rather than the area. This isn't uncommon, and if you're using a data device in the same location for long periods of time, they sometimes lose full connectivity to their cell and just need a refresh. This is very easy to do, and is as simple as popping the SIM into another 3G device (phone or modem) - a device change will be detected via the IMEI difference, and the cell will re-register your connection.

Let us know if this helps - if not, we can look into other things, and send you a new SIM card out to test if it is this that's causing the trouble.


Daz

eForum Team



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[drunk1]

So what stage are we at now?

Any closer to having this fixed? Didn't get anywhere on the phone, they didn't have a clue what I was on about.

Frustrated is an understatement.

[Jenny]

Hi cyndy_hughes,

I’ve just looked into this further for you and can see that we have ordered parts to repair the site and the estimated date of arrival is the 16th February 2010 (subject to change).

We don’t have any further updates other than this at the moment.

Regarding the advisor(s) you spoke to over the phone, they would most likely not have this information to hand. The eForum is a technical help forum and so we have access to different systems to enable us to resolve in depth technical faults. I would assume that they don’t therefore have access to this same system.

Regarding your line rental, if during the time that this fault has been present, your usage is below average (compared to previous months), then we will be able to look into providing a credit for this period of time. However this is something that we would only be able to look into once the fault has been fixed.

All the best,

Jenny
eForum Team

[ColinM]

Hi cyndy_hughes,

I’ve just looked into this further for you and can see that we have ordered parts to repair the site and the estimated date of arrival is the 16th February 2010 (subject to change).

We don’t have any further updates other than this at the moment.

Regarding the advisor(s) you spoke to over the phone, they would most likely not have this information to hand. The eForum is a technical help forum and so we have access to different systems to enable us to resolve in depth technical faults. I would assume that they don’t therefore have access to this same system.

Regarding your line rental, if during the time that this fault has been present, your usage is below average (compared to previous months), then we will be able to look into providing a credit for this period of time. However this is something that we would only be able to look into once the fault has been fixed.

All the best,

Jenny
eForum Team

This seems to be a common problem suddenly in many parts of the country. We can't all have 'false trees' suddenly appearing. I am in central Exeter and exactly the same thing has happened. You may recall there was a very similar problem affecting many people almost exactly a year ago, when we were all told that all our dongles had developed a spontaneous unknown fault - it had nothing to do with network problems. Curiously, after many people had wasted a huge amount of time sending back perfectly good dongles to no avail, the problem mysteriously, and simultaneously, disappeared after a few weeks.

If the 3G network is struggling at the moment it would at least be honest to admit it. Will any of the vodafone team confirm that these are not caused by 3G capacity or similar problems?

[Retired-Daz_V]

Hi ColinM,

I appreciate your frustration at this, but there's not a single answer to group all 3G problem reports under. Some 3G issues might be down to a congested site, whilst others might be as a result of a damaged or blocked cell. In other cases, it could be down for routine maintenance that becomes more complicated and requires more work. In terms of communicating this, it sometimes is frustrating for both us and you guys as engineer's notes aren't always readily available to front line customer care - this is normally limited to tech support access.

If anyone is is suffering 3G issues, please do let us know and we'll see what's going on!


Daz

eForum Team


Don’t forget you can also check your bills online with our fantastic Online Billing service – take the stress (and paper work) out of managing your account with us! Why not register today and see how much time you could save doing things online?

[ColinM]

Hi ColinM,

I appreciate your frustration at this, but there's not a single answer to group all 3G problem reports under. Some 3G issues might be down to a congested site, whilst others might be as a result of a damaged or blocked cell. In other cases, it could be down for routine maintenance that becomes more complicated and requires more work. In terms of communicating this, it sometimes is frustrating for both us and you guys as engineer's notes aren't always readily available to front line customer care - this is normally limited to tech support access.

If anyone is is suffering 3G issues, please do let us know and we'll see what's going on!


Daz

eForum Team


Don’t forget you can also check your bills online with our fantastic Online Billing service – take the stress (and paper work) out of managing your account with us! Why not register today and see how much time you could save doing things online?

In terms of communicating this, it sometimes is frustrating for both us and you guys as engineer's notes aren't always readily available to front line customer care

Technical support IS PART of customer care. Is vodafone really complaining that because it choses to place profit over adequate customer support, and looking for sympathy from customers?

If anyone is is suffering 3G issues, please do let us know and we'll see what's going on!

Like so many others here I have done so. This has resulted in - nothing. I still have a non-service.

I took out this service specifically because it allows me to work from home. I took this out on the advise provided by vodafone and the technical information provided by vodafone.

The 'service' now provided has degraded to such a level as to be unuseable. From a constant useable 3G this has now dropped to an extremely slow 2G. I therefore no longer use the connection as it is not as decribed or as sold.

This is a the most recent test from around an hour ago.


This is simply awful.

I have made all reasonable attempts to resolve this. I will not be making any further payments to vodafone unless this dramaticaly improves.

[drunk1]

Hello.

I'm just here to keep on top of you. As it's now February 16th, I'm here to find out if the parts have now been delivered and are about to be put to good use anytime soon?

Thank you.

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi cyndy_hughes,


I've just had a look at the case the ETA for parts was for the 16/2/2010 as that's today, I have sent an email which I'm still awaiting a response from.

Looking at the case notes. I suspect that we will be passing the parts over to our contractor to do the work.

As soon as this has happened, your site should be back to normal.

Best Wishes
BenJ
eForum Team

[drunk1]

Hi cyndy_hughes,


I've just had a look at the case the ETA for parts was for the 16/2/2010 as that's today, I have sent an email which I'm still awaiting a response from.

Looking at the case notes. I suspect that we will be passing the parts over to our contractor to do the work.

As soon as this has happened, your site should be back to normal.

Best Wishes
BenJ
eForum Team

That's fine. Appreciate the quick responses and such.

Is there any rough timescales as to which I can expect? Or is it a case of how long is a piece of string?

Either way, if it is not too much to ask if you or one of your colleagues could give a quick update when any other information becomes available by checking the thread every couple of days or at least once a week?

Thank you.

[Retired-Lee]

Hi cyndy_hughes,

The last information on this case is that we are still awaiting delivery of parts and these are expected by the end of this week.

I'll check back tomorrow for an update. Again, the case reference is 1955120.

Cheers, and thanks for your patience,

LeeH
eForum Team