Mobile Broadband - Central London 3G Problems

[asimnali]

Dear Vodafone,

I have been having problems with connecting to 3G mobile broadband via the black pro dongle. It has been on and off since my contract started in October 2009 where there would be 7-10 days of only GPRS in every month.

For the last 3-4 weeks, I have not been able to connect to 3G at all. It is always GPRS/Edge but web pages won't load up even after refreshing and waiting upto 5 mins. I got fed up and since my black pro dongle was still under warranty I got a replacement from vodafone. It has been switched to a white dongle (K4505) which I hope is still the pro version but just a different colour (as the non-pro version was previously white). There has been no change in connectivity and I still only receive GPRS. In fact, the new dongle crashes my computer (macbook pro leopard) and the screen goes grey asking to hold the restart button - see other threads as many people are having this problem with no current solution to the crashes).

If anything, the connectivity has got worse and now the connection self disconnects. When I try to reconnect, further error messages appear (I can't remember what they say) and the only way to resolve this is to restart the computer.

Now I know that your systems show that my postcode area (SE1 1XY London Bridge/Waterloo) reports no problems at all. I travel around London with my laptop and have never been able to connect to 3G anywhere in this time period. Indeed several people on google searches have reported the exact same problem in central London - all of whom have been told that their postcode shows no 3G problems whatsoever and it doesn't seem to be pan-London problem as nobody else has reported it. However, it is clear several people are reporting it but not enough for it to trigger an investigation. I have spoken to my colleagues that use Vodafone dongles in the SE1 7EH (Westminster) area and they all have the same problem but haven't reported it. This might explain why Vodafone has few reports of the problem.

When I called Customer Services several times (not from a Vodafone therefore very expensive 0870 calls) I was finally told that there definitely seems to be a problem across central London 3G with Vodafone despite postcode searches reporting no problems but the solution to the problem is unknown nor is the time frame. That was 2 weeks ago.

I am now very frustrated with it and more so with the lack of communication, acknowledgment from Vodafone that indeed there is a problem with London and 3G and some explanation of resolution. Also, as I have been paying my contract, I have now paid for a month of no 3G connection. Is this going to be refunded for service interruption and is there any update on the issues I have mentioned?

Sorry for starting a new thread on this topic - the other threads either appear to be deleted or I can't find them anymore.

Many thanks for any help you can give.

[asimnali]

Hi Ali of Scotland,

I've checked for network issues in your area, and can see that we already have your details from previous contacts with us via email.

Unfortunately the issue with no longer picking up 3G appears to be purely related to congestion in this particular area. With 3G cell sites, their coverage area shrinks and expands (a function known as "breathing") based on the number of connected users. The more people connected to that site, the smaller the coverage area becomes. What has happened with your serving 3G cell site, is that more customers are now using 3G in this area than previously, resulting in your home now falling outside of the coverage area. This is not classed as a fault. If you were still able to pickup signal, but simply couldn't connect or experienced frequent disconnections, then we would be able to raise this as a fault and deal with it accordingly.

What I would recommend in this instance, is to use our Coverage Map tool to "Submit Feedback" on the coverage in your area. This is done by pressing the button that looks like a signal strength indicator, and clicking on the map where you are experiencing issues. This will go directly to our site planning team so they know where to look when they next plan improvements to coverage in this area


Hi Jon,

I have not received the email that I keep being told has been re-sent to me. I've checked my spam box. I have now given up with Vodafone in general. The replacement dongle that has been sent to me now crashes my computer (and several other customers experience this as seen in the forums). When the dongle does work, it does not connect all the time (not even to GPRS). When it does connect, the connection becomes idle within a short period of time. During the day, not even GPRS can be used, I guess because of this 'breathing' effect Vodafone suffers from due to congestion. What I cannot understand is why Vodafone continually allows more and more customers to join the network when it clearly cannot cope with the demands to the 3G cell.

I now would like to arrange for a refund on the 3G contract I have with Vodafone as I'm paying for a service that cannot be provided, and lately no service at all. I'm sure its not unreasonable of me to assume that I should be able to access broadband throughout the day and not just after midnight.

I am also considering canceling my contract with Vodafone. Please can you advise me on how I can get the refund and immediate cancellation if I choose to go down that route?

Many thanks,
A

[asimnali]

Hi,
Over the last two weeks I have not even been able to connect at all to any form of vodafone Internet. The VMB says searching for network all the time. When it finds edge, it won't connect and says 'could not create network settings. Check your APN settings etc'. This only happens during the day in SE1 1XY postcode. When I remove the dongle an reinsert it, it says "disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and gives me two options: ignore or eject. My old dongle did not do this and only happened when my dongle was replaced by the newer model that also now crashes my computer any time I check my mail on gmail.

I honestly don't know what to do now because not only is the dongle not working correctly anymore but the 3G cell is so over-saturated by customers that I cant connect at all during the day. Soon this area will have the tallest building in the uk which will be offices mainly, and this will no doubt further increase demand on this cell. Can vodafone not prioritise upgrading this cell to meet the demands on the cell rather than increase demands further by accepting new customers? For the last 4 months I'm having to rely on O2 to access the Internet on my iPhone which is not ideal for my business requirements.

Hi Ali of Scotland,

I've checked for network issues in your area, and can see that we already have your details from previous contacts with us via email.

Unfortunately the issue with no longer picking up 3G appears to be purely related to congestion in this particular area. With 3G cell sites, their coverage area shrinks and expands (a function known as "breathing") based on the number of connected users. The more people connected to that site, the smaller the coverage area becomes. What has happened with your serving 3G cell site, is that more customers are now using 3G in this area than previously, resulting in your home now falling outside of the coverage area. This is not classed as a fault. If you were still able to pickup signal, but simply couldn't connect or experienced frequent disconnections, then we would be able to raise this as a fault and deal with it accordingly.

What I would recommend in this instance, is to use our Coverage Map tool to "Submit Feedback" on the coverage in your area. This is done by pressing the button that looks like a signal strength indicator, and clicking on the map where you are experiencing issues. This will go directly to our site planning team so they know where to look when they next plan improvements to coverage in this area


Hi Jon,

I have not received the email that I keep being told has been re-sent to me. I've checked my spam box. I have now given up with Vodafone in general. The replacement dongle that has been sent to me now crashes my computer (and several other customers experience this as seen in the forums). When the dongle does work, it does not connect all the time (not even to GPRS). When it does connect, the connection becomes idle within a short period of time. During the day, not even GPRS can be used, I guess because of this 'breathing' effect Vodafone suffers from due to congestion. What I cannot understand is why Vodafone continually allows more and more customers to join the network when it clearly cannot cope with the demands to the 3G cell.

I now would like to arrange for a refund on the 3G contract I have with Vodafone as I'm paying for a service that cannot be provided, and lately no service at all. I'm sure its not unreasonable of me to assume that I should be able to access broadband throughout the day and not just after midnight.

I am also considering canceling my contract with Vodafone. Please can you advise me on how I can get the refund and immediate cancellation if I choose to go down that route?

Many thanks,
A

[Retired-James]

Hi Ali of Scotland,

In all honesty this isn't something I'm to sure about so will get one of our resident techies to take a look at your issue again in the morning.

James
eForum Team

[Retired-Holly]

Hi Ali of Scotland,

We have an Upgrade Map which shows where our nearest upgrade will be taking place.

I have searched the SE1 1XY postcode you gave and can see two cells in your local area are to be upgraded soon.

This is excellent news as far as congestion goes, it doesn't give an exact date for the maintenance however fingers crossed it will be soon.

Thanks

Holly
eForum Team

[james.lowry]

to anyone who can help answer my question.
On April 14,2010 I added vodafone mobile broadband to my existing vodafone bill as they are both on a contract bases.
And every thing went well and I was very impressed with the layout when I went to access my bill online as I normally do that is of course until June 7,2010 in which I just could not get a connection no matter what I tried to do and even got error messages 679 I think was the error code but can not remember exactly and as I could not get my USB modem stick to connect at all I thought that the only thing I could do was to uninstall it and then reinstall it which is what I did.
Now this like I have said before this was on Monday 7th June 2010 and I have not had any problems since I reinstalled it but then that is not my question or the reason for this message NO.
The reason for this message then is this (and this I hope you can answer this for me) is it has happened before so what would I have to do if it happens again as I do not want to have to go through the process of uninstalling and then reinstalling it again as I should not have to do that at all?

[Retired-James]

Hi James lowry,

This error message generally means that the modem is unable to make a connection to the network/server.

As you say, by uninstalling and reinstalling the modem it will usually resolve this issue, however there are a few things you can try before doing this including;

Try Closing down any other applications that are trying to use the connection.
Try removing the modem, rebooting and placing the modem back in.
Remove the SIM from the modem, place it into a phone and connect to the internet, place SIM back in the Modem and try again.

If this continues to happen please elt us know.

James
eForum Team

[james.lowry]

Hi James lowry,

This error message generally means that the modem is unable to make a connection to the network/server.

As you say, by uninstalling and reinstalling the modem it will usually resolve this issue, however there are a few things you can try before doing this including;

Try Closing down any other applications that are trying to use the connection.
Try removing the modem, rebooting and placing the modem back in.
Remove the SIM from the modem, place it into a phone and connect to the internet, place SIM back in the Modem and try again.

If this continues to happen please elt us know.

James
eForum Team

Thanks I will try to remember all that you have told me and will refer back to this site if I need to but so far I have had no problems apart from having to refresh the page a few times which would be almost normal no matter what you are using to get an interrnet connection at least that is from what I know about computers and internet conections and how often I have been using them.

James Lowry