Vodafone coverage maps and actual reception

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hairy1

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#67946 11-Sep-2010 10:58

Hi all,

We are in Pukekohe and have problems with vodafone reception in the Valley area in particlular.

The coverage map shows full 2g coverage. I have a 3g extended device as does my wife but we have issues with drop outs of calls and texts.

Is the Vodafone coverage map very accurate? There are no holes in the coverage map at all but this doesn't appear to be the case on a real use basis.

Cheers,

Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

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#378753 11-Sep-2010 11:08

Matt is completely correct!

While the Vodafone coverage map shows full "calling" coverage in our area of Pukekohe, reality is somewhat different.

I only have coverage in certain parts of my home and battle with missed calls and unsent texts. A friend has actually moved from his rented home to another part of town as he needed good Vodafone coverage for his job, which did not exist at his home in Valley Fields.

This effects a significant number of Vidafone users in our area.

scottjpalmer

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#378755 11-Sep-2010 11:31

The other side of Pukekohe is also really bad - Pak n Save, lower Wellington Street area. Has been crap for years.

The town has 3 cell sites (behind the race track, Mad Butcher car park and just west of the town on the hill with the glasshouses) but there are still these 2 substantial areas of really really poor coverage.

ardmore

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#379090 12-Sep-2010 18:51

The vodafone coverage

in the Valley at Pukekohe was so bad that I had to move out to the hill area.

The hill is better but I can still only use my vodafone cell in two rooms in the current place.

Still better than the 2 square meters that worked in the valley, I remember having a very important call that I needed to make and had to stand in the road at 10PM one night to get reception.

Great in a major town.

old3eyes

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#379099 12-Sep-2010 19:23

Sounds a bit like Pyes Pa , Tauranga. No Voda 2G at all but I believe 3G is OK..

Regards,

Old3eyes

hairy1

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#379101 12-Sep-2010 19:28

Hey Scott, I completely agree about the coverage up by pak n save. Numerous times I have been trying to text wifey to buy more Lion Red while she has been at the big yella and the message has not made it, yet on the coverage map it shows full 2g.

Can anyone from Vodafone who hangs around here let us know how we report errors on the coverage map, or better still give some indication on when the reception around Pukekohe will match the coverage map?

Cheers, Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

andrewcnz

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#379106 12-Sep-2010 19:37

old3eyes: Sounds a bit like Pyes Pa , Tauranga. No Voda 2G at all but I believe 3G is OK..

If you have a 2G handset in Tauranga you will have issues with in-building coverage in may areas of the city. You will need a 3G handset to improve things. Still some bad areas like matua and bellevue where it don't matter what handset you have it's just crap coverage.

woody99

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#380196 15-Sep-2010 15:35

Following an email to Vodafone Support, I received a call today from a technician who simply advised me that yes, VF are aware of coverage issues in Pukekohe but there are no current plans to do anything about it. I asked if there was further recourse to keep this moving, but the tech simply kept repeating that there were no plans to improve things in Pukekohe.

No point in shooting the messenger.

So, who's next up the food/coverage chain at Vodafone? I intend to keep moving upwards..

Quic Broadband

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Blindspot

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#380210 15-Sep-2010 15:49

Femtocell.. assuming you have reasonable broadband.

hairy1

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#380217 15-Sep-2010 15:55

Is Femtocell available? I thought it wasn't on general release. Broadband is good in Pukekohe, except vodafone naked dsl not available :-(

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Blindspot

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#380226 15-Sep-2010 16:06

Femtocell will be available in NZ in both residential and enterprise packages, no idea on the official lauch date as yet.

hairy1

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#380227 15-Sep-2010 16:18

Thanks Blindspot. Glad to see some input here. Can you point the Pukekohe Vodafone Users Group (PVUG) in the right direction on how to get some action or at least provide some official feedback to Vodafone on the reception issues in their area?

I realise this might be the case for other parts of the country also but perhaps the ability for the users to provide some feedback may be positive for both Vodafone and the users. As they say, bottling things up is no good for anyone!

Cheers, Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

VFNZPaulBrislen

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#380236 15-Sep-2010 16:57

Few points to make here...

1: We don't test coverage inside buildings, only outside.
2: We build the network where we can - it takes anywhere from a year to five years (yes, five years) to get consent to put up a tower. 18 months is the average.
3: I'm always delighted to hear from customers who want coverage but be aware that we can't build everywhere and need to form a business case for any/all site builds.
4: Femto-cells will fix a lot of in-house issues but we aren't announcing any dates/availability here just at the moment.

If you want to send me an email with the views of the Puk group, I'm happy to take it to the right team.

Cheers

Paul

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

hairy1

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#380237 15-Sep-2010 17:02

Thanks very much Paul,

Thanks for shedding a bit of light on the subject and responding.

I will consult with the Media VP who will take feedback from the technical VP to provide you with a proposal document ;-)

Cheers, Matt.
PVUG President (self appointed)

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nzfatmatt

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#380843 16-Sep-2010 19:49

Vodafones Coverage map doesn't look anything like the actual coverage you get.

Using Sensorly on my Nexus One is very interesting.
http://www.sensorly.com/

I have done some mapping of 2Degrees around Wellington and since I have put my main sim in (Vodafone) I am continuing to map Vodafones Coverage. It's interesting to see the black spots occur. These areas according to the Vodafone maps should have coverage.

Moral of the story don't trust coverage maps. They are only a guide.

I acknowledge it takes: Time, Money, and Placement (Especially with NIMBY attitude to cell towers) to get coverage over areas.

If only we could have Cell Blimps that give good coverage to areas, eliminating some of the hill shadows etc. Don't think people would like to see those either. I also wouldn't like to be flying round in a chopper or small plane etc if they are anywhere near 500ft AGL

Blindspot

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#381053 17-Sep-2010 09:03

The Vodafone coverage maps are not a reflection of actual coverage but rather a prediction of coverage. There are many extrernal factors that impact coverage and these factors are not always built into the prediction.

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