SO23 - Winchester

[highpriest]

Anyone else in SO22/SO23 Winchester experiencing extremely poor 4G speeds? I've been struggling for months with poor 4G speeds in Winchester (in the city centre mainly). Contacted Vodafone via Twitter - no help at all. Contacted CS and I've gone through every single troubleshooting technique (reset network settings, change APN, re-register sim with network, etc. etc.) in the book and nothing has helped.

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

SO22 (home) less affected, SO23 (work) is particularly bad. If I move outside of Winchester City Centre (even just a few miles), 4G data speeds can jump to as much as 50 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up.

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

SO23 8US

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?

Phone shows full 4G signal. Calls are unaffected but data speeds are extremely poor. There's quite a bit of variation, but speeds could be as low as 250 Kbps and sometimes between 1-2 Mbps. Upload speeds are not affected to the same degree. Speed tests show 4 or 5 Mbps upload.

Sometimes it is so bad that the speed test app will fail to even locate a server to run a speed test against and just give up.

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

Not tried 2G or 3G (and don't ask me to). Problem is with 4G.

6) When did you first notice this issue?

A few months ago (Q3 2017).

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

Permanent. Data speeds range from non-existent to ultra-slow. Everything buffers constantly or just times out and gives up.

I use an iPhone 8 Plus.

[TJ]

I've just popped back to you myself @sappercaptain - I'll get the details you've provided sent to our Network team ASAP. That way they can start investigating and even if there is an issue, as you mentioned; we might be able to at least get a time scale. 

[sappercaptain]

Thanks for stepping up

[highpriest]

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@PedroC1999 wrote:

The South Vendor Swap will cause a major uplift when they do that area...massive improvements where they've done it already.

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What is the South Vendor Swap?

[PedroC1999]

Major Vodafone rebuilt project swapping sites from Nokia to Ericsson RAN. Broadly Vendor Swap sites have been getting upgraded to a high capacity build with L21, L26, 4x4 etc so several hundred mbps speeds possible.

[highpriest]

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@PedroC1999 wrote:

Major Vodafone rebuilt project swapping sites from Nokia to Ericsson RAN. Broadly Vendor Swap sites have been getting upgraded to a high capacity build with L21, L26, 4x4 etc so several hundred mbps speeds possible.

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Interesting, cheers for that. Is there a rollout schedule published anywhere?

[Alex]

@highpriest Our Network engineers have now completed their investigation under INC3557108. 

They've identified the issues with 4G speeds and have advised that future upgrade is planned which will improve the coverage. There's an estimated date of 10 August for this work, but this may be subject to change. 

[Strowger]

As it's now August 20th, can you please confirm whether the work was carried out?

I also live in SO23 (central Winchester), and my 4G speeds are very poor. For example, I did three Speedtests today - in Newbury on LTE, I got 108Mbps down and 40.9Mbps up. At home in SO23, on my home broadband, I get 40.9Mbps down and 20.1Mbps up. When I switch off wi-fi at home and do a speedtest on LTE, I get (at best) 9.29Mbps down and 0.64Mbps up.

So it looks as if there are still major problems in SO23, which would be understandable if the work has not been carried out yet, but is very worrying if it has been.

[Alex]

@Strowger I can see it looks like work has been started in Winchester. Although it's in progress, changes of this nature won't be immediate as they'll be completed on different masts throughout the area at different times. 

The best way to say up to date with any changes in your specific location, will be to look our on network coverage checker, under the planned maintenance tab. There's nothing currently showing, but this is where it'll be added 🙂

[sappercaptain]

I have this issue too in Winchester City Centre. When I step out of my front door and out of WiFi coverage I have to stop using the internet...can’t even do a speed check!  By the Cathedral is the worst spot.

This seems to be worse in the last week.

please confirm if this incident is ongoing and when the good Burgers of Winchester can expect to receive acceptable service.

[Alex]

@sappercaptain I can see we're currently aware of an unexpected issue in the SO23 area. If you'd like to stay up to date on it's progress, you can register for updates on our network coverage checker.