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.

[sappercaptain]

Yes @highpriest , I had the same issue in Pret a Manger (right next to the Vodafone store) where I try to work for an hour or so over lunchtimes.... usually I just switch off 4G (on the 4G capable phone I spend all that money on every month) and limp through on 3G, but even that was dog slow today.

I feel like a mug, every time we get an answer here it just kicks the van down the road again and we have no recourse for the thousands of £ we have spent on high end handsets that are rendered useless as soon as we leave home/WiFi coverage in a major town.

Please Vodafone tell us how you plan to reflect the lack of promised service in our bills or some other way....it's been nearly 2 years now!

[sappercaptain]

*can...not van, that would be really hard to kick down the road!!

[Tash]

@sappercaptain I can see the 4G site (22065) is being investigated by our Engineers under INC4020883.

They've also requested for more information on the upgrades scheduled for later this month.

[sappercaptain]

Thanks Natasha.  I really do appreciate your help.  
It would be great to get the issues resolved, it would be even better if Vodafone were to provide a credit to reflect the service not being fit for purpose for Winchester users...

Looking forward to your update.

[sappercaptain]

Today's results attached (outside the Vodafone shop again).

[TJ]

If you'd like to have a chat about compensation @sappercaptain, we'll be happy to look into something for any complete loss of service you're had; once everything's back up and running as it should be. 

Please contact us via Facebook at Vodafone UK, or get in touch on Twitter using the handle @VodafoneUK.

Make sure to pop your username and link to this thread in your message too, this will save you having to explain again and we can help you quicker. 

[sappercaptain]

Thanks TJ

[sappercaptain]

Hi @TJ,  messaged Vodafone using your link on Thursday....quite surprised not to have had any response at all, not even a holding reply 

[Andy]

Hi @sappercaptain, we have been busier than normal recently. We do work through the messages on a queue based system and one of the team will be in touch as soon as we can. 

[sappercaptain]

Just in case anyone here is labouring under the misapprehension that @TJ has managed to resolve my/our issues by referring me to the direct messaging link, they haven't!

I have instead had days of answering all the same questions....a few times over... plus some really patronising stuff about settings on my phone maybe being the issue (how would that affect anything in one location only).

There just seems to be a refusal to admit there is an issue.  Meanwhile Vodafone's own shop staff in Winchester are climbing the walls because it is affecting their sales figures and causing lots of walk in complaints. They have raised this case with Engineering many times over many months.  Surely Vodafone can't sustain the position that either there is nothing wrong or that it's user error any more.

C'mon guys, you're better than this, you're a Global top brand, a leading UK company that underpins all our pensions, you have to do better, even if that is to say "soz, there's a capacity/software/hardware issue with x site, but it's going to take y months to fix, so here's £50 credit on your account to make up for the loss of promised service"! For your own professional pride please for the love of all that is good just take ownership and communicate with some disappointed customers....