5G Network down - W8, West Kensington, London

[jomigoco]

Hello All

We have been using 5G locally for the past two years, and apart from the odd maintenance issue, the service has been reliable and fast (400Mbps in the evenings, 200Mbps during work days). We have two iPhones 13s and a Huawei 5G Router that feeds the other house devices. Our phones always indicate 5G connections when at home. The network status checked webpage for the past two years has shown our property to be well within the 5G coverage area with "Good indoors and outdoors" status.

On May 27th I received an SMS notification reporting that there was an issue in my area (I am signed up to local service interruption notifications). However we didn't notice any speed degredation so all was good.

On May 31st I received a second SMS notifiying that the issue had been fixed. Again, no problems for us.

On June 1st, at about 11am, our router speed dropped down to approx. 30Mbps. Our iphones showed only 4G connections and the 5G service indicator on the router was off. I restarted the router and the phones and removed the SIM cards but still our data speed remained at 30Mbps with no 5G service. I figured that there was a another (or the same previously reported) service issue in the area so I checked the network status checker webpage only to find that the 5G coverage now no longer included our property, with only 4G coverage available. Quite a change from the day before! Again I figured this was down to the local service issue and reported the outage on the webpage.

The next day there was no change, and as I continued to work from home during the long Jubilee bank holiday, I contacted Vodafone support but was told that as my property fell outside the 5G coverage area I could not expect 5G speeds. I tried to explain that we had enjoyed 5G coverage for the past two years but was just told to restart my devices and remove and replace the SIM cards. At no point during the weekend did the network status checker web page indicate a reported service issue (warning triangle) in my area, just no 5G coverage at all.

This brings us to today Monday 6th June, and the issue continues, no 5G coverage since 1st June, network status checker web page still shows no 5G coverage. Mbps data speeds in the low 30s, climbing to 50 or so in the evenings.

So, I'm not sure what my options are right now. We need 5G speeds as we work from home almost every day, but I can't report a problem for an issue that Vodafone says isn't an issue as we apparently no longer fall within 5G coverage. Surely if a 5G transmitter was offline or if it had been removed then Vodafone could tell me, right?

Can anyone from Vodafone comment please, or someone with experience with something similar?

Here is the network issue report template:

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

Yes, the issue is local, travelling outside the area results in 5G reception on our phones.

2) What is the full postcode (e.g. ST1 1AA) of where the issue occurs? If you don't want this showing on the Community, add it to your profile here.

Postcode is W8 XXX (pls check profile for full postcode).

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?

No errors, just no 5G data speeds or 5G service indicators on router and phones.

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

Only 5G service is affected, 4G is working.

6) When did you first notice this issue?

1st June 2022, morning.

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

Since 1st June it has been permanent, 24 hours a day.

Many thanks

Mike

[Gemma]

@jomigoco - thanks for reaching out to us. I can understand your frustration with you saying the expected 5G coverage has changed on our Network Status Checker.

When you’re using our Network Status Checker, you’ll see down the left-hand side, the option of ‘Data Speed info’ – this will show you the estimated speeds expected for your area.

It’s not showing that anything’s changed. I can see that this was raised to our Network Engineers on 6 June, under ref INC000004661425. They’ve taken an in depth look and advised the range for 5G services is to far out for your location. I’m sorry that this might not be the answer you were looking for.

We’ll update our Network Status Checker when we’re aware of any planned updates.

[jomigoco]

Hi Gemma

Thanks for your reply.

You can see from my long explanation above that for the last two years we have been in 5G coverage area... our speeds have been up to 400Mbps (200Mbps consistently not just random peaks) and today (since last week) they have dropped to at most 30Mbps.  Are you saying we've imagined these speeds? That my router and multiple handsets in our property when they said they were connected to a 5G signal were wrong? Something has obviously changed since last week, either the transmitter is faulty (happened right just before the speed drop but was reported fixed) or it has been removed/disabled. Either way there has been a change, we're not going mad! Take a look at the graph from my router below, you can see the change from the 1st June and the speeds before hand (the reported work on the transmitter began on the 27th May). Current download speed is now 26.9Mbps!

Here's the notification SMS from Vodafone on the 27th May followed by the second on 31st May saying its fixed:

Has there been a change, you tell me?

thanks,

Mike

[jomigoco]

Hi,

I have not received a reply to my last reply where I posted the graphics showing that my 5G signal has disappeared an my data speeds reduced after having worked fine for two years.

Today I checked the network coverage map and now again my property is showing INSIDE the 5G coverage area (as it was two weeks ago and for two years before that - can you please check the coverage map again and confirm this? I have restarted all my devices again and removed and re-inserted the SIM cards again this morning but still only a 4G signal is being received. I have now been without a 5G signal for 21 days.

Please advise.

regards

Mike

[Gemma]

@jomigoco - I’m sorry that we missed your other post. Thanks for sharing this information. After checking our Network Status Checker today, I can see that it’s now showing different than when I looked into this for you on 9 June.

We’re looking into this with our Network team and we’ll be back in touch if we need any further information from you.

[jomigoco]

Hi Gemma,

Is there an update on this? I am still not able to connect to 5G. Has a network incident been logged? I don’t see an incident indicated on the coverage map.

Please advise?

Thanks,

Mike

[Gemma]

@jomigoco - please don’t think that we’ve forgotten about you. The incident under reference INC000004661425 was closed, when the Network team looked at the 5G issue you’d raised previously.

At the time the Network Status Checker was showing limited 5G coverage and their further checks confirmed 5G wasn’t within range of where you are.

From what you’ve pointed out to us, the 5G signal at your postcode is now displaying a good indoor and outdoor coverage (on the Network Status Checker).

I’ve raised the question to our Network team, as to why the Network Status Checker has changed the expected coverage back to being available, due to this not being the case when they investigated it on 6 June.

We’re waiting for a reply and we’ll let you know as soon as we hear back. To meet your expectations, I’m sorry that we can’t guarantee 5G will be available now, due to it showing from our side that it’s patchy/limited where you are.

[jomigoco]

Thanks for the update.

And of course we need to wait to see the result of your team’s investigation.

However, you say that from your side the 5G coverage is patchy/limited at my post code,  but your own network coverage tool shows that 5G coverage at my post code is good both inside and outside. And despite not being believed when I reported the 5g outage three weeks ago I can assure you that we have been receiving a good 5G signal since May 2020. It has been the only way that both myself and my wife have been able to work at home during the pandemic and beyond. The last three weeks since our data speed has dropped from 200Mbps to 30Mbps have been a real trial as we no longer have the ability to both hold online meetings at the same time. If Vodafone can no longer provide a 5G service then we will need to switch to another provider such as EE which currently show a strong 5G signal at my address. I do not want to do this as all 3 of our SIMs are on Voda but the necessity of our situation will determine the outcome. We invested in an expensive 5G router two years ago as the Vodafone 5G signal was strong and stable so I really hope this has not changed.

thanks,

Mike

[Amanda]

I understand the points that you've raised and the conflicting information you've had about this - including the discrepancies with the online Network Status Checker and the signal level/strength that we can see. 

I also understand how important it is to have the service you expected, especially when working from home.

@Gemma has flagged this up to our Network team and I've also emailed the team to check if there's been any update - we'll let you know once we have any news. 

[Amanda]

@jomigoco the Network team have been in touch and they need us to take your mobile number, so we can continue to investigate this. 

So we can do this securely, please get in touch with my team via social media and click 'Get Started' > 'Message an adviser' - this will get you straight through to us. 

Please include your full name, mobile number, your community username and a link to your post, and if you could let us know once you've done this, we can get it picked up 🙂 Thanks.