N4 - Finsbury Park Station

[alliekitty]

Post Title: N4 - Finsbury Park Station

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

Yes, it happens only in the Finsbury Park area, depending on crowding, walking several blocks is usally sufficient.

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

N4 3JU

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

Yes, and for other Vodafone subscribers I know as well.

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

No service inside the station (at ground level, not underground), and poor data performance outside when the area is busy.

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

No network coverage inside the station even at ground level, data performance issue is on 4G.

6) When did you first notice this issue?

Always, but only bad when area is busy.

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

The coverage in the station is a permanant issue, but the poor network performance is limited to when the area is congested, especially during rush hour and on Arsenal match days.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hello @alliekitty

The local masts are not reporting any known issues but the surrounding masts are showing this " We've fixed an issue in this area recently. Sorry if you noticed any disruption - things should have been back to normal since 5.11pm 07 Sep 2017 "

That said I've read a few posts and experienced the same at my own Strain Station where Signal is fringe or non existent due to I assume footfall of people latching onto the network which I would appreciate is pretty heavy usage and maybe the building materials have a factor. Match Days resulting in much heavy footfall would have a further impact on Service I would assume. 

[alliekitty]

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@BandOfBrothers wrote:

Hello @alliekitty

The local masts are not reporting any known issues but the surrounding masts are showing this " We've fixed an issue in this area recently. Sorry if you noticed any disruption - things should have been back to normal since 5.11pm 07 Sep 2017 "

That said I've read a few posts and experienced the same at my own Strain Station where Signal is fringe or non existent due to I assume footfall of people latching onto the network which I would appreciate is pretty heavy usage and maybe the building materials have a factor. Match Days resulting in much heavy footfall would have a further impact on Service I would assume. 

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This is very obviously a capacity issue, though a closer site would help. At the station there is good B20 coverage (outdoors), which gives a 10x10 slice of spectrum, and another 10x10 of B1 is close but doesn't reach the station (but does reduce load on that site as it reaches close).

If Vodafone added a new site near the station, they could handle the capacity issues as B7 (which offers a 20x20 channel on Vodafone) would reach, as well as the coverage issues (as B20 could easily reach inside at least the National Rail part from a nearby site).

Ideally for this type of high-capacity need situation would be a rooftop small cell across from the station, and Vodafone did announce ( https://mediacentre.vodafone.co.uk/pressrelease/vodafone-uk-calls-for-access-to-1000-new-sites-in-lo... ) they're looking for places in London to site exactly that type of equipment. This would be a perfect one.