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.

===========

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]

@colleen @highpriest, this is so frustrating, it’s like dealing with British Rail (you are probably not old enough to remember!!).

If not for my sake and for @please just talk to your own staff in your own shop in Winchester (there is only one) who re experiencing the same problems in the same exact location.

It really isn’t the job of your customers to troubleshoot your network, you should have software, drive by testing and use Intelligence from your own people to identify issues.  If you need to rope in your customers please don’t turn it into some sort of bureaucratic purgatory!

[sappercaptain]

For completeness see below speed test result from outside the Vodafone shop completed on Thursday 22 Nov 2018 at 15:53hrs

[Colleen]

@sappercaptain Thanks for providing us with a recent screen shot of your speedtest results. Would you be happy for us to raise a new case with your details? If so, we really would need you to please confirm the following: 

1) Does the issue happen in just one location? If so, how far do you have to travel to regain service and what’s the full postcode?

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

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

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

5) When did you first notice this issue?

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

I appreciate how frustrating this is for you all. Our case would be rejected by the Engineers without this information. I can see there are multiple users on this thread and that would mean multiple postcodes to investigate.

If you're able to complete this, we'll then be able to contact you via private message with information about further contact details. Once we have this, we'll be able to proceed with our Engineers. 

Could anyone else on this thread who are also experiencing these issues, please also complete the questions above? The more information we can provide, the more this can be looked into. 

[sappercaptain]

Hi @Colleen,

I can see that you (Vodafone, not you personally) aren’t prepared to use your initiative so I will slavishly follow the process. Responses below:

1. It is one location, probably one or two small cells in the centre of town.  The postcode of the epicentre is the Vodafone shop SO23 9AS.  I need to travel most of the way home (SO239SJ) to get decent service again.

2. Yes, everyone on Vodafone has this problem, including staff in your store!

3. The error is as described...very slow data service on 4G, unable to use most apps (because of slow service)

4. Don’t know, I’ve only ever tried it on 4G

5. I first noticed the issue in 2016...pretty much the same as everyone else on this thread

6. The issue is present throughout the day, I can’t tell you if it happens at night as I’m not often in town at night.  There have been some times in the 2 years of issues that have been marginally better, but I couldn’t tell you when.

Happy for you to contact me by PM.

[Colleen]

@sappercaptain Thanks for your answers regarding this, we really appreciate it. I've popped a private message over to you, with details on how to get in touch with us. The message includes all of the information our Network Engineers will need. We'll do everything we can to get this raised as quickly as possible. 

[PedroC1999]

The main serving site for Winchester centre has been upgraded to have a second LTE carrier and aggregation.

@sappercaptain, @highpriest what are things like now?

[sappercaptain]

Hi Pedro,

I’m really glad you asked as I was about to post a rant anyway.... I finally gave in and slavishly followed Gemma’s request to complete the details for “Engineering” to review a couple of weeks ago.  I have heard nothing since..nothing has changed since either, except that O2 customers now have something to complain about too!

Latest speed test posted below (not enough even to connect). This was conducted at SO239SJ at around 13:30hrs today.

I will be escalating and seeking a refund of my charges for the last 3 months and suspension of future charges until it is resolved as this service and the resolution process for it is entirely unacceptable.  The service is not as sold and not fit for purpose.

[Neil_no_4G]

Hello,

I am so pleased to find a thread discussing the lack of 4G data speed, I thought it was only me. I have been having horrific problems with the 4G in Winchester for months and months now. I assumed it was my iPhone 6 playing up, in September I upgraded to the iPhone XS Max and I still have this problem - sadly I have a new 12 month Vodafone SIM only deal, I am now considering buying myself out and going back to EE as this is unbearable!

I usually have wifi at work in Winchster, but recently this has been playing up so I have been forced to use 4G so now I am taking more notice of this problem. Sadly I cant use my 4G for anything, even though it says I have 3 out of 4 bars. The data speeds are so poor that I cant even run a speed test!! After a 5th attempt of the day I managed to get a download speed of 0.11 MBit/s and upload of 0.32 MBit/s with a 3651 ping. I can't load a webpage, check a listing in ebay, or do anything involving an internet connection. I just had well still have my Nokia 5110 when the 4G doesn't work.

Enough about the problem, Vodafone please sort this problem out, I have been a loyal customer for nearly 9 years, but I can only take so much!

I look forward to this being fixed.

Kind regards,

Neil

For what it is worth, here is my answers to your questionnaire:

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

It happens throughout the SO22 and SO23 post codes 

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

SO23 7DU, SO23 9AP, SO22 5AL

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

Yes, I have tried two phones

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

No errors, I get no internet, not even enough to run a speed test using the Vodafone app or Speedtest.net

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

My phone always says I have 4G and good strength, no bandwidth seems available.

6) When did you first notice this issue?

Late 2017 I think, I usually have my phone connected to wifi in Winchester.

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

Permanent

I couldn't carry out a speed testEventually I was able to carry out a speed test on the Vodafone app. The speeds prove there is a problem with the 4G!

[Mark]

I'm sory this issue is still affecting you all. If you've emailed us using the link @Colleen provided @sappercaptain, please let us know the case ref (looks like [#11234567]) from the auto response you received. If you've not received an automated response, we've not received your email. Please check your junk/spam inbox for this.

[sappercaptain]

I can confirm that I have had no response and that I have checked my spam folder.  I do not intend to go through the submission process again, you have all the information you require from the thread on this site.