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.

[Alex]

@highpriest Just to let you know, an investigation has now been raised with our Network engineers. 

They'll be looking into your query under INC3557108 and we'll provide any updates on this thread 🙂

[highpriest]

Thanks, I will keep an eye on this thread.

[highpriest]

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@Alex wrote:

@highpriest Just to let you know, an investigation has now been raised with our Network engineers. 

They'll be looking into your query under INC3557108 and we'll provide any updates on this thread 🙂

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Is there an update on this case? Data speeds are still diabolical in Winchester.

[Alex]

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@highpriest wrote:
Is there an update on this case? Data speeds are still diabolical in Winchester.

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Investigation on INC3557108 is still ongoing and we're continuing to monitor it for you. There's recently been visits to the physical site and we've also been talking with some third party partners to try and identify any potential issues. 

Slow speeds are present in the location and we're currently seeing what can be done to improve these. 

[highpriest]

Is there an ETA on this? I would like to use the internet on my phone, you know, since it is 2018 and all.

Just let me leave penalty free so I can move to a better carrier?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doUK8Sx97UY

This is me, on the phone to Vodafone every week begging them to let me leave so I can actually use the internet on my phone.

[Colleen]

@highpriest I understand how frustrating this must be - we know it's important to stay connected. 
I've taken a look at INC3557108 and can see that one of the teams investigating this have completed their work and it's been sent for review. 
There's due to be an update around 9 July, so as soon as we know more, we'll be back in touch with you.

[sappercaptain]

Surely you would entitled to leave your contract if the product provided is not “fit for purpose”??

[Gemma]

@sappercaptain - I’ve checked and it looks like the work that was taking place has now completed.

Please turn your phone off and on to update it on the network. If you’re then facing issues still, please let us know the following:

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

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.

3) Does the issue occur if you try your SIM card in a different phone?

4) What errors are seen or heard when the issue occurs?

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

 6) When did you first notice this issue?

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

We'll then take a closer look at what's happenig. 

[highpriest]

Have there been any improvements with Vodafone's 4G coverage and data speeds in the SO23/SO22 areas? I switched to a different carrier because I got completely fed up with not being able to use data effectively in these postcodes.

However, I'd like to move back to Vodafone because they offer better international roaming deals. Also, indoor coverage with Vodafone is slighty better than most other carriers. But if the data situation is just as bad as it was previously, I'm not going to switch back.

[Mark]

We're always trying to improve the network @highpriest.  You can view your local coverage using our Network Status Checker and you can use this to check for any scheduled updates too. You also have the piece of mind of our 30 Day Network Satisfaction gaurantee.