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O2 & MVNO Related Posts

We can live in hope!

Just go for it like Three, O2!

Throwing everything + the kitchen sink at every site.
Absolutely that is the key. Also noticed Three have a DAS that covers the whole of Leeds, if only it went inside trinity 🙄
 
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I think I've only mapped in about 4 cities (I registered an account on Cellmapper on October 12th, and I've been in my hometown, Bristol (well technically just the 3 train stations), London and Bath) and London was the only one that had small cell deployments iirc

Go to CellMapper's website and click on menu > statistics > check "Only show my contributions". This will only display the sites you've contributed.

O2 + London boosts your numbers quickly. Take a bus and you may connect to 20 or 30 small cells along the way. On some roads you'll find one every 100 meters or so.
 
Go to CellMapper's website and click on menu > statistics > check "Only show my contributions". This will only display the sites you've contributed.

O2 + London boosts your numbers quickly. Take a bus and you may connect to 20 or 30 small cells along the way. On some roads you'll find one every 100 meters or so.
Thanks! From quick analysis: 1 micro cell / 9 CoWs.

Yeah looks like my quick analysis are probably my total figures, didn't connect to any other micro cells in London.
Screenshot_2023-12-16-22-32-55-949_com.microsoft.emmx.jpg
 
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I am afraid you will be disappointed in the network then as that isn't our strategy unless needed for capacity reasons. Sorry to disappoint you.

N28 everywhere yes + SA
Seems pretty pointless putting N78 in the middle of nowhere, especially if there's no buildings nearby, I assume adding that band probably uses a lot of power.

Ideally, we need to see some more 5G bands, O2 is the only network iirc that has just two bands used for 5G (apparently Wikipedia says N1 is a thing on O2 which I didn't realise, having that sorta ties it with Vodafone's amount of 5G bands, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Europe).
 
Seems pretty pointless putting N78 in the middle of nowhere, especially if there's no buildings nearby, I assume adding that band probably uses a lot of power.

Ideally, we need to see some more 5G bands, O2 is the only network iirc that has just two bands used for 5G (apparently Wikipedia says N1 is a thing on O2 which I didn't realise, having that sorta ties it with Vodafone's amount of 5G bands).

I am not sure people understand how expensive it is to run N78 to a mast, it isn't a case of just plopping some settings on a computer, it requires bandwidth and many other things which are even harder in rural settings.

I do not want to make this into a "O2 is brilliant" post but Three's ROI is terrible and unsustainable, so whilst I am very happy to find random N78 in a field somewhere I am afraid it is not sustainable for us to operate in this way.
 
I am not sure people understand how expensive it is to run N78 to a mast, it isn't a case of just plopping some settings on a computer, it requires bandwidth and many other things which are even harder in rural settings.

I do not want to make this into a "O2 is brilliant" post but Three's ROI is terrible and unsustainable, so whilst I am very happy to find random N78 in a field somewhere I am afraid it is not sustainable for us to operate in this way.
Completely agree.

A bit off topic, but to be completely honest, when I do eventually upgrade to a 5G device, I'm probably going to turn it off on O2 because of the poor 5G coverage locally (I imagine both N28 and N78 are both crowded as well). Vodafone has about the best 5G coverage in my area, followed by Three.
 
I am not sure people understand how expensive it is to run N78 to a mast, it isn't a case of just plopping some settings on a computer, it requires bandwidth and many other things which are even harder in rural settings.

I do not want to make this into a "O2 is brilliant" post but Three's ROI is terrible and unsustainable, so whilst I am very happy to find random N78 in a field somewhere I am afraid it is not sustainable for us to operate in this way.
Perhaps not N78, but at least more 4G, B20 is not it these days.
 
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Perhaps not N78, but at least more 4G, B20 is not it these days.
To be honest, I think B8 would be pretty good to add, which we all know is coming soon anyways.

B28 makes more logical sense to add in my opinion on 4G and B8 on 5G instead but that won't happen.
 
Perhaps not N78, but at least more 4G, B20 is not it these days.

The ambition for O2's network over the next two years is:

B8/B20/N28 on every site (within reason, based on capacity need which in practice is most except the most rural)
Above + B40 + N78 for urban settings + small cells + other bands where needed/available based on device support and capacity need
SA rollout to mostly all sites starting next year and ramping up towards middle end of that year and into 2025

I think this will provide a sustainable and reliable experience for all who use our network, with SA in particular providing capacity add for busy stadiums etc where we still struggle.

This will not cater for all needs I am sure. But our ambition is to have a minimum of 5-10Mbps per customer at all times whatever the condition + ability to make and receive a call indoors.
 
Completely agree.

A bit off topic, but to be completely honest, when I do eventually upgrade to a 5G device, I'm probably going to turn it off on O2 because of the poor 5G coverage locally (I imagine both N28 and N78 are both crowded as well). Vodafone has about the best 5G coverage in my area, followed by Three.

N78 where available should provide a good experience for you? N28 is for urban indoor coverage + quick capacity add as it has fewer constraints than N78.

There is some work to do on balancing re-selection to B40 as this is still on 4G-only in a lot of places and so the device will choose band 1 over it, as this is moved onto 5G this will naturally improve
 
It might make more sense for Three to have n78 in random places than other networks because they also compete with fixed providers. When a PoW goes live, their "home broadband" service also becomes available. It's not just for phones.

Their return on investment is bad, but I have to ask if they're not intentionally keeping it low. No one goes on a spending spree and expects to make a lot of money while selling unlimited business plans for £6 a month.

They've been preparing for the merger for a while and it's in their interest to make their numbers look as bad as possible. They (and Vodafone) even went to the business and trade committee and told everyone how sh*t their network is compared to EE and O2, something that no network wants to admit... all this helps them with the merger.
 
It might make more sense for Three to have n78 in random places than other networks because they also compete with fixed providers. When a PoW goes live, their "home broadband" service also becomes available. It's not just for phones.

Their return on investment is bad, but I have to ask if they're not intentionally keeping it low. No one goes on a spending spree and expects to make a lot of money while selling unlimited business plans for £6 a month.

They've been preparing for the merger for a while and it's in their interest to make their numbers look as bad as possible. They (and Vodafone) even went to the business and trade committee and told everyone how sh*t their network is compared to EE and O2, something that no network wants to admit... all this helps them with the merger.
Doesn't Three and Vodafone both offer mobile broadband services?

I don't think EE really bothers iirc, they just have 4G routers as backup if the internet goes down and I'm pretty sure VMO2 doesn't actually care at all about mobile broadband (they don't even offer unlimited data mobile broadband plans right??? (nvm they do, £34 SIMO seems a bit expensive)
 
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Doesn't Three and Vodafone both offer mobile broadband services?

I don't think EE really bothers iirc, they just have 4G routers as backup if the internet goes down and I'm pretty sure VMO2 doesn't actually care at all about mobile broadband (they don't even offer unlimited data mobile broadband plans right??? (nvm they do, £34 SIMO seems a bit expensive)

All 4 networks offer "mobile broadband", even O2. For example, on their site, under "dongles", a Nighthawk M6 5G router and unlimited data:

to3FvJE.png


Three has a different product called Home Broadband. It's only available in some areas and there's a 100Mbps minimum speed guarantee. The website only lets you order it if the address is in a area with a lot of capacity (there's a way around the check, but that's a different question :p ):

cq2WVB9.png


I believe this is the same product "UK Broadband" used to offer. Three bought UK Broadband back in 2017 (and a huge chunk of n77 and n78 with it).

Vodafone... I don't know. They have "Gigacube"... seems similar but I'm not sure if it's closer to EE/O2's "mobile broadband" or to Three's "home broadband".
 
It might make more sense for Three to have n78 in random places than other networks because they also compete with fixed providers. When a PoW goes live, their "home broadband" service also becomes available. It's not just for phones.
This is 100% what they capitalise on here. Openreach VDSL is the best my village is gonna get, and for people who want to go quicker than that Three is the only other option. And it shows. So many people use it now to the point it’s actually started to slow down a little lol. Hopefully their 10gig to every mast by 2025 goal will help.
 
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