Why is 4G coverage so bad?

[awful]

It's ironic that posting this was an exercise in patience due to the signal issues.

4G is atrocious. I travel hundreds of miles a week throughout the south and south west. All throughout, my signal drops, often for extended periods. If I had to estimate, around 10-20 times a trip.

After seeing the dozens, probably thousands, with the same issue, I just want to know whether this is being addressed, or do we all just need to switch?

These issues obviously coincide with the hilariously bad decision to drop 3G, so what is being done to address this?

[jroj1]

I completely agree. Even if you are lucky enough to get 4G sometimes, e.g., in my local town centre (ironically even right next to the Vodafone store), you can't use the internet and can barely make a call. It's atrocious, especially as it's 4G or EDGE (i.e., nothing, as it's unusable in terms of the internet nowadays). Vodafone always points to their coverage checker, which will say 4G or 5G, but it never actually works. 

It's really frustrating if you can't use the internet or make a call when out and about (when travelling or when stationery) or if it just cuts out randomly and you then have to remedy that.

[Tal]

Hi there @awful. When travelling, the network maybe unstable as your device will be switching between sites and sometimes you are in an area that is not covered, so this does affect the service you get and the coverage you're getting, however, we are more than happy to check on the area's for you if you message our team via Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or Instagram.

When reaching out to us via these channels we'll request a little information before directing you to a member of our Social Media team.

When messaging our team through any of the above platforms, please include a link to your Community post along with your Community username.

Our team will be able to see your query through the link, meaning you won’t need to repeat your question again.

If you don’t have an account with Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or Instagram you can speak with one of our advisers on Live Chat. They’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for any questions you have about your account or the phone - 0333 3040 191.

[awful]

Hi Tal, thanks for the response.

Could any of the aforementioned actions by myself actually improve my signal when travelling? Or am I just going to be given information affirming what I already know, i.e that the signal coverage is now atrocious compared to a couple of years ago, meaning I can't work or watch videos for half my journey?

Or better still, will I be told that the coverage is sublime and that it is, infact, my device? Neither of those options sound like much use.

As I can't change my journeys to go through areas with better coverage of 4G, can you direct me to the provider with the best coverage in the SW? Thanks.

[Tal]

Hi, you're welcome. The team will look into the areas reported and check each area for any known issues or maintenance first then check if the area's coverage is good and it has the required coverage capability or if it's limited coverage. They may need to run through some troubleshooting steps with you.

After the team have got all this information and completed the investigation with you, they'll let you know if a network case can be raised with the information found and what the next step is and what are your options moving forward.

[Lee_Paul]

Hi @jroj1,

You're absolutely spot on, I've left several posts on here recently listing numerous areas when I've been out and about with a signal but no data throughput. It is 1 million percent a contention ratio problem since 3G switchoff. Happens to me, my partner and also friends on vodafone network. We all have different phones so definitely not a handset issue. I've given up moaning about it as something that is such a big issue to us users is not a priority for Vodafone to fix.

All the best, 

Lee 

[donnyguy]

I concur with the comments left above. 

I was actually a long time Vodafone customer up until 2022 when an employee deal tempted me to another network. 

One of the things that bugged me before I left was the absolute lack of 5G coverage in the areas I was in. I assumed in the time I’d been away that things would have changed but to be on the safe side, I decided to come back on a ‘try before you buy’ and opted for VF PAYG+ and ported my number across. 

What seems to have changed since is the number of black spots where you either lose data or lose service completely. I don’t recall it being like this previously. 

There’s been zero improvement in the 5G coverage, the 4G is unstable and thanks to the 3G switch off, I noticed my phone jumping to ‘E’ or even ‘G’ on many occasions. That’s not for me.

I also had posted here asking other questions around whether 5G roaming had become a thing on Vodafone and had they extended it beyond the small number of Vodafone countries where they bragged about 5G in more places. The answer is no based on my recent trip.

With all this in mind, I lasted three weeks before moving back to EE again. Only signed a 12 month contract with them on a sim only so interested to see what benefits this ‘Three-Vodafone’ merger (if it gets the green light) brings. 

It’s clear Vodafone haven’t invested in the network meaning their future does lie in a merger with Three. 

[bloonard]

I've only been with Vodafone for 6 months and I've never had such atrocious data coverage in my life. Even with full bars, the data fails so very often. There's no apparent issues with their network in my area, there troubleshooting advice yields nothing. If you in anyway rely on mobile data, bin them. I've just moved to 1p mobile on EE's network and it's noticeably better - i.e. it actually works!