Terrible signal at STANSTED AIRPORT

[Rye1]

Can anyone shed any light on the absolutely awful signal for both data and calls at Stansted Airport?

H and 4G signal shows up, as do 3 bars in the phone reception, but calls are almost impossible, and any data usage is either non-existant (usually the case) or so bad that you just have to give up.

I'm especially griped as I tested the signal last year before going full time Vodafone (using my 1 month trial period) the signal worked fine so I signed up on a contract. I also got my other half to change from EE only to find that now the signal(s) are so atrocious as to be worthless. I had been on Three with similar problems (signal showing as available but unusable data) and really liked the Vod package, but I may have to go back to EE as it is so bad and I use the airport frequently.. 

Any ideas if this is temporary (going on for 6 months now) or simply lack of bandwidth/EU travelers roaming/network blocking?

The Stansted official wifi (run by Virgin) is hellish too as browsers won't allow connection and email servers simply block everything...

Thanks if anyone has any insights as it's a massive pain!

[Shane88]

I agree with this, the reception and speed are diabolical. 

Vodafone need to add capacity and increase coverage. 

What at an embarrassing way for people who come to the U.K to start their holiday. 

I was was there recently to pick up family members, their flight was delayed and I really wanted to watch sky go but couldn’t because I either had no signal or when I did it was too slow. 

Please, please sort this out Vodafone. 

Im guessing your senior colleagues don’t use stanstead as I’m sure if they did it wouldn’t be like this. 

[Mintpenguin]

I travel trough stansted twice a month for last 6 years.... in the last 2 yrs I’ve noticed it’s just a black hole for Vodafone..... I sit there with my pint watching thousands of people enjoying the wonders of the internet and I can get no data,  most of the time I can’t even join the Stansted free WiFi,  I am switching if it’s not looked at soon.

[Rye1]

Yes, agreed, no change yet again when I was there last week.

Anyone out there?? Or just shirking..

My guess is the latter.

[dougforbes]

I have just left Vodafone because of this issue. 

If you're still with vodafone a useful work around is to disable 4g on your phone and go through 3g - it works a little better

[taylan]

I strongly agree with that. 4G or 3G doesn't work at all.

[charly_may]

It is still not working - unbelivable that this could not be resovled in 14 months! Combined with bad customer service, one of the most terrible service companies!

[Mintpenguin]

Yup....I was moaning about this ages ago....I really don't know why im still with Vodafone !  I was at stansted yesterday for first time in ages ....with a new phone.....and it was the same as ever.  The guy sitting in the bar next to me was streaming live football, so I asked him what network he was on.... he said ee.   He said "don't tell me....you are vodafone".

I was unable to do anything data-wise.  I even tried to do a speed test but it couldn't even connect for that.

Im not using Stansted so much these days thank god, but I cannot believe they have not sorted this out.  Im back through Stansted in March....if not sorted then I will end my 23year relationship with Vodafone.

[LLoydalex]

I have finally signed up to this forum after Googling 'Why does Vodafone not work at Stansted' for years and seeing thhe thread. Basically I travel every week via Stansted and my company phone is Vodafone and it is like a brick - in the sense it's useless once you get near stansted. There is definitely something strange going on as I don't think it is just (as some of the Admin have suggested) a poor signal area. It is something particular to the airport building itself.

My phone works fine when approaching Stansted Airport on the Stansted Express, but just as you get into the station (in the terminal building) it stops. It still shows 4 bars and 4G as available but if you try to do anything online you just get a spinning loading wheel indefinitely. It is a real nightmare because I have my Boarding pass and S/E ticket in apps which use data, so I often have to login to the airport wifi to get my train ticket, even though that would only be a few kilobytes for 1 image. My friend's phone on another network works perfectly.

In all areas of the airport after the station the position is the same - our phone tells you full strength (or almost) vodafone is available but it doesn't actually work. Something is scrambling the signal. When you alk out to the plane the same thing happens and on the plane too. What I have noticed however is that if I say leave something on the spinning loading wheel (say an e-mail sitting in my outbox) it does send when we are on the runway (if you forget to turn your phone to aircraft mode). So obviously the signal is fine in the area, but the airport building and say 50 metres around its perimeter have some kind of vodafone blocking going on.

Given that this is one of the main airports in the UK, I would hope Vodafone could actually establish the problem in less than 3 years, although it seems they are doing the square root of nothing about it.

[Combo]

Mines exactly the same, I flew in and out last week, at soon as we touched down it was working fine up until the plane was on stand, then didn't work until train has left the airport, exactly the same in the return.

just fascinates me Voda can't resolve 

[IanDaniels]

Yes this issue is frustratingly persistent! I've been following this thread for 2 years now and travel in and out of Stansted most Monday's / Tuesday's and have to switch my phone onto 3G data after landing and again when at bishop storford on the way back. 

I've sent tests to engineers at Vodafone and spoken with our business rep a number of times. No joy.