Hi Jenny,
Thank you for your post. I do understand the technology involved. I work in the industry, so you can talk technical rather than using more simplified terminology.
I mainly use data when I am travelling on the train, and have no problems on any other part of the route, despite the "speed" of this line, which is particularly slow in parts as it stops so often. But it is only recently when I have noticed no data at all in this area, and also no phone reception either. Virginia Water station has long been a bit of a problem area, and I accept you'll get that particularly as you travel, but that has now extended over the next 4 miles. To me this smacks of either recduced network capacity, or base-stations "breathing" more regularly (reducing their power and therefore coverage) due to high loads. Managing this is a network responsibility because without doing this, you won't provide a usable network. But I know you know this.
Switching to 2G is not a solution because you cannot get data at all on 2G any more. I've tried many times when I have 2G or E signal, but no matter what application I'm using or what type of data I'm downloading, every application will just time out when connected to 2G, including browsing simple web-pages such as BBC news. Edge (ie 2G+) occassionally obliges with a web-page, but rarely. In fact, when I phoned up your customer services once, I mentioned that I couldn't get data any more on Edge, and was told "yeah, you won't any more" as if this was well known.
However, when you are on the move, 2G/2G+ is always pointless because there is no time to receive data from one base station before you have to switch to another and possibly restart the http call. 2G is therefore not a solution that would work for anyone for data while fixing calling to 2G limits how much network you can use and increasing the chances of you being cut off.
There is no 4G reception in this area. Whatever your coverage checker shows, what actually matters is whether a phone can connect to 4G in this area, and mine has never been able to do this. I think the first 4G mast I connect to after this is probably somewhere between Feltham and Twickenham. Of course there is no 4G/VoIP calling yet on Voda.
I will admit that happily today, the reception was actually mildly improved in this area. There were still two or three relative data blackspots (ie 1 bar of 3G or less, and no data sent/received) - one at Virginia Water station whilst stopped at the platform, and one either side of Egham station, each would be at most 0.3miles. The train was traveling at about 30mph or less in these areas due to line speed restrictions and stopping at stations.
I accept that a busy network could cause problems, but it is up to Vodafone to manage long-term changes in demand. If a particular base station has increased usage such that it is often at capacity and has to "breath" by reducing power, you need to look to increase capacity in the area. As I know the industry reasonably well in this regard, I knew it was important to wait several weeks before raising this concern because I didn't want to raise it if the network was a bit busy for a few days or you were already dealing with it being over capacity.
However, over the last few weeks I have noticed that "No Service" is appearing frequently on this part of the journey. This means that there is zero 2G, 3G or 4G service, not that the network is just busy, or I'm travelling too quickly. Indeed, this is actually one of the slowest bits of the whole line.
Thank you for checking the base-stations in the area. That is probably all that can be done for now. But if the "No Service" continues when it has never existed before, the only remaining solution for me would be to change to a network that offers service where I wish to use my phone, right? I believe that roads and railway lines are probably the most important places to provide high capacity base-stations, and your explanation suggests this is not the case in this area (but I have no such problems around Twickenham or Clapham for example, where there are many more people around, or Winnersh or Ascot where conditions are similar).
On the subject of the blackspots at Richmond and Martins Heron, these are 100% guaranteed. If the train stops in those areas, as it has done, the reception does not return. There is simply no reception. They are dead spots on your network not shown clearly by the coverage checker. I don't suspect this is a fault of the base-station itself, more that the base-stations may not be able to cover these areas (I think they may both be fairly close to base stations, so this seems surprising, but perhaps explained by the rather speedy recovery in both locations). Yet the blackspot and assocaited call drop is 100% guaranteed in both locations. For data, it is easy enough and quick enough to wait, and applications with buffering get through fine, but you cannot make a call (which means that I cannot hit my doctor's 8am opening time to grab an appointment, for example, as I cannot remain on hold to my place in the queue as I pass through Richmond at almost exactly this time). As your recent advert that showed someone staying on hold to reserve tickets for his daughter for the whole day, this suggests blackspots and unreliable areas should be becoming less common, so I thought it only right I raise this.
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