Poor signal since 3g switch off

[JAMESORCHARD]

Any one else got poor service/signal since 3g switch off? Think vodafone 3g switch off is a step backwards. My s22 ultra is always warm from always searching for signal since 3g switch off! Before I could get a steady 8mbps now I'm either getting nothing or  rarely 150mbps when 5g appears I've got to put my phone on silent at night to stop all the no service notifications 😑 poor show vodafone I'd rather have a reliable signal than this occasionally 1bar 4g or 1bar 5g

[Flyboyz]

There's a big 4/5g hole around Junction 13 on M4/A34 near Newbury, where my car's vodafone sim dips to 'E'dge (2g) and no data, same on my own mobile connected to my Android Auto.

Ironic considering Newbury is Vodafone's HQ

[Racal-Yodafone]

I'll be a pedant, as well as a peasant, for a moment and point out that Edge is 2.75 G 😉

2G = GSM, no data

2.5G = GSM with GPRS data

2.75G = GSM with Edge data

Ah... Edge, it was the excitement just before 3G arrived. I remember the first time my phone said 'E' and I was like, "Yessss!!! Edge!!!" 😄

[Racal-Yodafone]

I've been with Vodafone, this time around, since late 2015. I currently have the following with them:

1) Personal mobile phone.

2) Work mobile phone.

3) Mi-Fi device for when I work away from home though this is about to be cancelled due to personal financial limitations at this time.

4) My wife's mobile phone.

5) Home broadband.

6) Home landline phone.

I am, I believe, qualified to state that both the Vodafone customer service and overall Vodafone mobile signal that I experienced when I rejoined in 2015 was very good to excellent. In the nine years since then, the human customer service interface has moved from a locally sourced model to a distant outsourced model and, since the 3G switch-off and then again, since something happened in July, I suspect antenna reallocation for 5G NSA, the overall mobile network coverage has become second rate. Overall, I'd offer that Vodafone provides around only two thirds as good a service and two thirds as good value for money as they did nine years ago.

[Danno196]

Many thanks for all of these updates. As you can see in the chain I also suffered from the change in coverage when 3G was switched off. I have moved to Three and now have no problems. I went with SMARTY as recommended by Martin Lewis. A really good deal so I am paying less, and 4g works reliably across the UK!!!

[Racal-Yodafone]

Ah, good luck, matey! 🙂

Unfortunately Three won't entertain me because I took them to the Ombudsman twice, once for intentional fraud and deception. O2 won't entertain me either as I'm on a blacklist because, in 2002, they mistakenly sent me the handset I ordered with my new contract twice. I told them to come and collect one of the handsets which was unopened. They, obviously unaware of Scottish law, refused, saying I had to send it back to them. After six months, I gave the second handset to my girlfriend because, in Scottish law, it became my property. Still unaware of Scottish law, O2 blocked my girlfriend's handset after a couple of months and blacklisted me. Any time in the ensuing 22 years since then that I've tried to sign up for either O2 or GiffGaff, my bank account details are refused! 😮

[mr-xan11]

I’ve also noticed significant network degradation since the 3G shutoff. I rely on patchy signal during my rail commute in SE London from Orpington to London Charing Cross to get work done. Since the switch, I’ve had significantly less coverage on my personal and work phones (Android and iPhone) and this has stopped me from working effectively. I’ve now ported both phones over to EE (via MVNOs) and found the performance much better there for my commute. If this is how Voda is handling the transition, I’m opposed to the merger with Three

[Gemma]

Hi @mr-xan11 - it's not good to hear this has now resulted in you leaving us. I hope we get to turn this experience around for you, one day in the future. Please keep a look out via our Network Status Checker for any future updates. @spen68 - thanks for your advise to other users, of forcing any areas facing issues with 4G/5G, onto the 2G network. If anyone is facing an issue, to see what the expected coverage is like in the impacted area, please ask them to enter the postcode onto our Network Status Checker. Down the left-hand side, they'll then see the option to select 4G and 5G. This will show  the predicted coverage and if they then click the ‘Data speed info’ option, it shows the expected speeds there. If it's showing different than what they're getting, I'd advise them to please message us on Social Media. We can then take a closer look. 

[james238190]

Completely agree the signal commuting from SE London has become so bad, music constantly stops now but never used to have any issues. Especially areas around Ladywell and Lewisham only get E despite the map saying good indoor/outdoor coverage for 4G/5G.

[Racal-Yodafone]

Ah, good sir, a man of Orpington. I salute you. Please give my regards and my thanks to the town. I owe it everything ❤️

[spen68]

Hi, I manage several 100 mobiles on the Vodafone network and I've had lots of complaints recently about poor signal . I can share some specific examples if you like but it's nationwide. Basically, where previously 3G signal was good they wouldn't have noticed if 4G or 5G signal was poor. Now that 3G signal is gone it has revealed thousands of 45/5G coverage black-spots all around the country. I've gone through all the network settings with my staff and some have found forcing the connection back to 2G only helps in some areas but obviously that's no good if you want to use data. After lots of digging, I can see there's hope that eventually the old 3G frequencies will be recycled and used to improve coverage and Ultra 5G could really help. But for sure, it would appear they have switched off 3G prematurely because 4G/5G coverage simply isn't as good. I would hope Vodafone and the other networks would acknowledge this and hurry up and deliver improvements to 4G and/or 5G ASAP.