Abysmal coverage by Vodafone

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ageorge

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#112983 31-Dec-2012 13:27

Hi I live at Waihi Beach where for years we have had seriously bad 2g/3g from Vodafone. I sell phones and have used several different models all with lack of signal over most of the local main area. Vodafone customers are unique as they stand in the street with phones raised in elevated positions trying to get a sniff of r/f.
Recently, 2Degrees who was piggybacking off the same Vodafone local site responded to the request for better reception by placing 2 new towers in strategic positions, making 2degrees coverage here fine. Compare this; about 20 years of Vodafone non-action; and how long has 2Degrees been in? 2-3 years?

Christmas time and we have had several guests both in our holiday home and visitors. All with Vodafone had major problems; not only poor reception, but once the traffic increases congestion occurs so they cant use their phones anyway.
IMHO pathetic response to customer demand by a company that provides little to no customer support.
Cheers,
Alistair.
PS I was talking to my cousin who lives in Devonport about this and they experience similar issues with Vodafone as do many others there. This from a company that recently purchased TelstraClear

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#738873 31-Dec-2012 13:42

What type of device are you trying it with?
Vodafone's coverage map indicates good 900mhz 3G over Waihi Beach

ajw

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#738902 31-Dec-2012 14:39

I believe they have also been upgrading a lot of sites around auckland.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/vodafone-nz-loses-50k-customers-second-quarter-ck-132368

johnr

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#738908 31-Dec-2012 14:49

ageorge I have seen you mention this a number of times about Waihi, Customer service reps can not deploy new cell sites just off a email, You make it sound like changes / upgrades can happen just off a email,

Dear Vodafone please improve coverage in ' XYZ ' location, It does not happen like that, The bucket of cash to spend on new coverage / coverage improvements / speed upgrades is not bottom less and lots is getting spent on rural coverage under RBI

I have used my mobile in Waihi plenty of times with no issues, I was only in Waihi the other day on the way back from Tauranga and was getting 25Mbps DL on 3G using my Samsung S3 i9305

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/about/rural-broadband-initiative/

Now Devonport I know very well as I have lived on the North Shore almost all my life, Bell South / Vodafone I reckon have spent in excess of 6 figures trying to improve coverage in this area but every time they tried to improve coverage same story ' Not in my Back yard ' I remember the articles in the North Shore times advertiser very well, So in the end 2 new cells were built but they had to be very low down so of course the coverage Foot print is much smaller than what was wanted, They wanted to put a cell on King Edward Parade (now Bayswater Avenue) just down from McDonald's in Bays Water but no only one was allowed down the end by the Marina away from 90% of the houses,

Also I have no idea why you keep bringing up the purchase of TCL cause of low coverage in Waihi the relationship of coverage in Waihi and TCL is Zero,

John

johnr

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#738910 31-Dec-2012 15:01

I suggest your cousin does a Google search pages in New Zealand " Vodafone new cell site Devonport "

Many articles found here is a quote from just one of the many

" Title
Cellphone tower plan axed.
Source of Article North Shore Times Advertiser, 22 April 2003; p. 4
Description
Vodafone New Zealand's proposed cellphone tower on land at 161-167 Bayswater Avenue has been rejected by North Shore City Council "

johnr

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#738912 31-Dec-2012 15:10

I have just checked out Waihi on the Vodafone RBI coverage map I linked to above and the area already has planned coverage improvements on the way, Looks like it's not too far off either, I reckon it will be this summer

FYI you mention about congestion as well, The Waihi cell went dual carrier about 4 weeks ago and is performing very well

Only one carrier in NZ offers Sure Signal and Community Cell Site Request Scheme

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/smart-network/community-cell-site/

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/services/femtocell/

New mobile coverage is posted on the Vodafone NZ forum by me (approx last 4 months)

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz/topic/140-new-mobile-coverage/

John

ageorge

626 posts

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#738919 31-Dec-2012 15:37

DjShadow: What type of device are you trying it with?
Vodafone's coverage map indicates good 900mhz 3G over Waihi Beach

Hi Ive lived here for over 30 years. Never make a statement such as my OP unless its covering all bases, which means all types of phones from cheap Chinese through to top of the line smartphones such as Nokia and Iphone.

There are parts of the Beach where VF reception is average but much of it is sporadic.

johnr

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#738921 31-Dec-2012 15:40

ageorge:
DjShadow: What type of device are you trying it with?
Vodafone's coverage map indicates good 900mhz 3G over Waihi Beach

Hi Ive lived here for over 30 years. Never make a statement such as my OP unless its covering all bases, which means all types of phones from cheap Chinese through to top of the line smartphones such as Nokia and Iphone.

There are parts of the Beach where VF reception is average but much of it is sporadic.

What happens if the cheap Chinese handsets don't support the bands our mobile network operate on?

Many beaches around NZ don't have mobile coverage from any carrier!

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ageorge

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#738923 31-Dec-2012 15:51

johnr: Also I have no idea why you keep bringing up the purchase of TCL cause of low coverage in Waihi the relationship of coverage in Waihi and TCL is Zero,

John

a) My OP said Waihi Beach, not Waihi; two different areas with different coverage.
b) TCL has nothing to do with reception issues, its just my disappointment that your company has taken over what was a great company to deal with.

I am a father of 3, each have had cellphones starting with Vodafone, but giving up and either moving to 2degrees or Telecom due to VF poor reception and support: one of my daughters had major problems with Vodafone billing which was wrong. She could not get Vodafone to credit what was in fact an error, and each time she tried to contact, it was like swimming upstream. We eventually had to go to Tauranga to a Vodafone shop to get it sorted. The Vodafone shop couldnt sort it for ages, because they could not raise the support staff due to nobody answering the Vodafone support line. They said this inability to contact Vodafone issue was common.

Batman

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#738924 31-Dec-2012 15:53

I find that vf is poor in lots of non city town areas due to lots of black spots .... Thats due to 2100mhz

Surprisingly proper rural is a yes no ... Yes being quite good, that's due to the 900mhz

Jaxson

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#738925 31-Dec-2012 15:55

ageorge:
DjShadow: What type of device are you trying it with?
Vodafone's coverage map indicates good 900mhz 3G over Waihi Beach

all types of phones from cheap Chinese through to top of the line smartphones such as Nokia and Iphone.

Interesting discussion where the provider does provide coverage, but via bands your device doesn't support. Switching to say a Nokia C2-01 will provide Vodafone 900mhz extended reception for $79. Problem solved?

www.noelleeming.co.nz - Vodafone Cellphones

Just thinking about this, it's a bit like complaining your cheap Chinese devices doesn't get analogue TV reception any more after the digital switch-over...

ageorge

626 posts

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#738927 31-Dec-2012 16:09

johnr: What happens if the cheap Chinese handsets don't support the bands our mobile network operate on?

Many beaches around NZ don't have mobile coverage from any carrier!

It helps if you read the posts properly - I said various phones. Some of the Chinese phones worked better than top end phones.
Al.

johnr

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#738936 31-Dec-2012 16:25

ageorge:
johnr: What happens if the cheap Chinese handsets don't support the bands our mobile network operate on?

Many beaches around NZ don't have mobile coverage from any carrier!

It helps if you read the posts properly - I said various phones. Some of the Chinese phones worked better than top end phones.
Al.

Well then you should be checking out the bands these top end phones support

johnr

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#738939 31-Dec-2012 16:31

ageorge:
johnr: Also I have no idea why you keep bringing up the purchase of TCL cause of low coverage in Waihi the relationship of coverage in Waihi and TCL is Zero,

John

a) My OP said Waihi Beach, not Waihi; two different areas with different coverage.
b) TCL has nothing to do with reception issues, its just my disappointment that your company has taken over what was a great company to deal with.

I am a father of 3, each have had cellphones starting with Vodafone, but giving up and either moving to 2degrees or Telecom due to VF poor reception and support: one of my daughters had major problems with Vodafone billing which was wrong. She could not get Vodafone to credit what was in fact an error, and each time she tried to contact, it was like swimming upstream. We eventually had to go to Tauranga to a Vodafone shop to get it sorted. The Vodafone shop couldnt sort it for ages, because they could not raise the support staff due to nobody answering the Vodafone support line. They said this inability to contact Vodafone issue was common.

Ok so if they have changed providers and now got the coverage they want from another provider what was the reason for starting this thread?

sbiddle

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#738941 31-Dec-2012 16:38

ageorge: ]

It helps if you read the posts properly - I said various phones. Some of the Chinese phones worked better than top end phones.
Al.

The price isn't really the issue. - it's what bands the device supports.

Out of curiosity are the new 2d sites on existing infrastructure (ie power poles) or freestanding monopoles?

2d have been taking advantage of the new(ish) NES regulations to get masts built with non notifiable consent which means they can avoid the whole RMA consent process. This is both a good thing and a bad thing - it's getting sites built, but when people find out they've got a cellsite in their back yard they have a tendency to get pi**ed off and complain to the media, which has resulted in a large number of 2d sites having to be moved. It's also resulting in some very poorly placed sites which are delivering less than optimal coverage.

At the end of the day no network can offer ubiquitous coverage - and NZ's RMA requirements have caused chaos for all 3 networks. I could give you plenty of classic examples in Wellington, including a very costly site for 2degrees on top of Waterloo Railway Station that was held up for months by locals protesting who used the "our property values will drop" line continually (more info here in a blog post I wrote at the time) and made idiots of themselves because they weren't even aware both Telecom and Vodafone already had gear there.

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#738947 31-Dec-2012 17:00

well to solve this entire issue why don't you get all who visits your place switching to other providers where possible? looks like VF is not going change something that's been around for decades in non city areas in a hurry?

edit; added "in a hurry" (who knows about next few years)

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