Been away a while… have things moved along with 5G?

[donnyguy]

Hi All, 

I left Vodafone some time ago and have been considering coming back.

What’s done it for me with EE is the fact the coverage checker says I have perfect coverage at home, I don’t. Works perfectly well with WiFi calling but when I step out of the door, I sound robotic and calls drop. They just promise all will be great when 3G is turned off and re-farmed.

So I decide to re-visit to see what Vodafone can offer. I google Vodafone 5G and the below appears. Reads great but it’s factually incorrect. However clicking in it, they’re clear that’s the view of the world in 2021. So my question is, have things moved on since then? Are Vodafone expanding the 5G build? I popped my postal code into the checker and there’s no 5G or planned 5G in my area. In fact my entire town has little spots here and there. 

Is it a case of we have to wait for the Vodafone / 3 merger to see any improvements? 

I should add that my current carrier is perfect when it comes to 5G roaming. I’ve not yet visited a country where it’s not worked. That’s quite a few in Europe, South Africa and The States. The only difference in the States these days is they don’t seem to roam with AT&T anymore. You get 4G on T-Mobile or 5G on Verizon.

Anyway, long post short, my question for all you guys currently on Vodafone. Are you seeing improvements (e.g. the 5G coverage expand) or does it feel like things are on pause?

[simax]

I’ve found coverage on 5G certainly in the south west to have not improved whatsoever - so many planned sites that were due to be built a few years ago never materialised. I last tried a Three sim in 2020 and the coverage on 5G was terrible then however I tried it again a few days ago out and about and it absolutely trounced Vodafone all over. I was getting 5G in the middle of nowhere on the Three sim with my Vodafone sim on EDGE (2G).

The reason I joined Vodafone a few years back was the plans for upgrading the mast in my street to 5G (I still have the application copies stored on my PC)… permission was granted - and then nothing happened. It’s been 3 years since permission was granted and even now nothing is planned. 

So… at the end of my contract in a few months, I’m off. It could be that I end up back on Vodafone by default in a year or so due to the proposed merger, but at least then they’d have decent 5G infrastructure.

[simax]

Plus, 5G ULTRA is apparently in my area - probably down to the 3G frequencies being repurposed for standalone 5G but even though I have a capable handset (iPhone 14 Pro), Vodafone won’t allow iPhones to use 5G ULTRA. Another reason I’m off.

[Leah620]

I'm based in the northfleet on the network signal checker it shows that I can get 5g in and out the house but nothing I have a gigcube 5g said that I was able to get 5g so it's stuck on 4g+ the signal checker is wrong. 

[japitts]

---

@donnyguy wrote:

Works perfectly well with WiFi calling but when I step out of the door, I sound robotic and calls drop. They just promise all will be great when 3G is turned off and re-farmed

---

An interesting interpretation.

It's not the technology (2G, 3G, or whatever G) that dictates coverage, it's the frequency band and site placement..

4G is far more efficient at spectrum usage than 3G, and there's nothing 3G does that is not equalled or bettered on 2G or 4G. That's the oversimplified reason for industry-wide 3G switchoff.

There is full handover between VoWiFi & VoLTE, so if calls are regularly dropping when you leave WiFi coverage then you either have no 4G coverage or a service fault. The former is not going to be solved by 3G switchoff.

5G-NSA also requires 4G as a base layer, one of many reasons why 5G is currently being rolled out as an additional coverage later over & above 4G.