Poor coverage NW12 area

[Derek_H]

According to the network maps we should be in an area with excellent 4G and strong 5G, yet we barely get 1 bar signal in the house - it's a new-build so hardly a signal blocker. Even in the garden the signal is week and data isn't good enough for a Teams or zoom call. Ordinarily that wouldn't be an issue as I'd use the broad band in the house, but as it's still not been connected since the engineer failed to visit on the 10th when they were supposed to I'm reliant on the mobile for data connection.
There should be 3rd party validation on claims for signal coverage and strength because they're obviously BS.

[Effie]

Hey @Derek_H I hope you're doing well. You can check for any issues, outages or maintenance as well as the expected signal coverage and speeds in your area here. If there are no issues or works being carried out in the area and your speeds are below the expected range, please fill in the Network Issues template and post it on this thread so we can look into this issue further. 

[Derek_H]

We've filled in the forms spoken with agents multiple times and eventually last week we had a confirmation on 12th December that there was indeed a problem with a local mast that would be resolved within 12hrs. Here we are a full week later with no improvement in signal/service.

[Gemma]

@Derek_H - I've replied to your other post. 

[indieben]

Good Morning, 

I'm in the similarly densely populated city of Manchester, a stone's throw from the Manchester City Stadium. I also used to work for a competitor network and so I do have a good understanding of 4G, but I had left before the roll out of 5G. I've not heard a huge amount of positive comments about 5G and I have myself wondered whether 5G has actually led to a degradation of 4G, even if not due to the technology, by the way it has been rolled out. 

I remember when Vodafone used to have 0467 numbers or similar and not the 07 of today and when a friend's Father (who was a farmer) used to rely on Vodafone mobile in the middle of nowhere and it worked well! 

About 2 weeks ago, I had an emergency that warranted calling 999 in the village of Gayton in Northamptonshire, we had been threatened with a shotgun (after taking a wrong turning and being trapped on a Farmer's drive who tried to refuse to let us back out in the pitch black). Vodafone signal was on "H" I believe and 999 could hardly hear me. 

I also remember about 15 years ago, there was an offer where, if you topped up so much, you got free calls at the weekend. You could rarely get a connection in Manchester and, when you did, there was an echo on the line that made it difficult to have a decent conversation during those weekends. It miraculously went back to normal during the week. I ended up leaving and coming back a few times. 

I lived in Forest Hill, London, SE23 for about 6 months at one point whilst being with Vodafone and in Coventry with Vodafone and both times the signal wasn't too shabby. 

Where I live now, signal is generally 2 bars 4G. I have a Samsung Galaxy S9+ not too old and still operates very well. The other day, in Manchester City Centre, heaving due to Christmas shopping and Christmas markets, I could not be made out by my friend who said I sounded robotic and the call repeatedly dropped. 

Whilst Manchester City are playing and the crowds haven't yet dispersed, good luck getting a signal at all. 

I've got a pay as you sim card, popped it in an alternative 4G handset and replicated the issues both at home and more widely in Manchester- isolating handset and SIM from being the cause of poor signal. 

I have spoken to an array of different Customer Service Representatives from Customer Support, Technical Support, Complaints Line and Director's Office (they don't seem to be particularly passionate about dealing with issues and why would the Director's Office be in Stoke on Trent when head office is in Newbury, Berkshire but anyway. 

None of these Advisors understood basic network architecture and everyone simply looked at the most local cell site to my home postcode. 

In order to keep calls connected as we move, there needs to be a network of overlapping cell sites that your handset connects to as you are on the move. If you are at home or at work, all being well, you'll just stay connected to one. 

However, each of these cell sites has a maximum bandwidth allocation available that is split like pieces of a pie between customers. If one cell site goes down, your handset will try and connect to the next nearest. Problems arise when there is not enough cell sites to allocate bandwidth to all customers with surplus for one or even two going down. 

In the short term, customers that find their mobile network are quick to sort out the issues will put up with poor signal for a while. In my area, a cell site, outside of my postcode but within my reception area (remember the need for them to overlap from earlier?) Has been down for over 12 months. Vodafone continuously promise that they are doing everything to fix the issue, when the subject comes up, and yet, when I ask for information on why it has taken so long, no-one is able to get any information from the Engineers. 

To complicated matters further, many cell site hosts (mobile network cell site owners) rent out bandwidth to other mobile networks. If enough isn't rented, the same problems transpire with poor quality calls, poor mobile data speeds and loss of call connection. 

I think Vodafone need to get to grips with capacity. Something as one of the oldest mobile networks in the UK, they should already know better than to be so tight on. 

You are not the only one with issues and I suspect this is the reason why EE have been able to claim to be the best provider for coverage now- a sorry state of affairs for Vodafone. (I did not previously work for EE nor do I have any affiliation). 

The culture at Vodafone has demonstrated sadly that there is no such thing as customer care, calls outsourced abroad after exceptionally long waiting times, historically, in the UK, a total lack of ability for advisors to know who to contact to get information back to customers and customers being fobbed off.

Advisors relying far to heavily on webforms that seem to go nowhere useful internally and there being too much reliance on internal resolution without meaningful customer feedback. 

Believe it or not, I'm a massive fan of Vodafone - they are like a hobby to me and not just my provider (I keep trying them in the hope that they will sort things out) and I loved what used to be their energy.

Vodafone has lost its way. It seems that most feedback on this forum ends up as "off topic" which is pretty damning. Feedback from customers should be valued and placed at the heart of the company - and I don't mean telephone/text surveys that provide such limited ability to provide feedback. Vodafone should be able to provide in depth feedback and the disconnect between back office teams with knowledge, needs to be reconnected to the front line customer facing operations. In a communication company, internal communication to secure customer satisfaction is key. 

It seems to be down to pot luck as to how many subscribers are in an area at one time as to how much bandwidth is available and also as to whether you are a satisfied Vodafone customer or not. There should be sufficient surplus for outages of cell sites, tied to a realistic expectancy of how long it takes cell sites to be fixed, and to accommodate large congregations of network subscribers (mobile phone network customers) in an area at one time. 

As regards Vodafone Broadband, I have not heard or read many happy stories and I now hear more complaints about Vodafone broadband than I do TalkTalk (or, as some people used to call them: "notalk".

The amount of Vodafone customers using the Facebook adverts for Vodafone, as a way of complaining, within the comments, is staggering and is further evidence of the disconnect between customer facing teams and back office departments with knowledge and the ability to fix issues. 

I would suggest it is not unfair to say that, if customers can't get proper information from back office departments, that the complaints from customers are not getting back to the right place either. For Customers to use the adverts to kick off, tells me that they are not satisfied with the complaints experience. 

I agree with you about there needing to be neutral, independent third party validation of claims about great service. The problem is that most of them that purport to be, actually require the business to pay to be reviewed.