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Three's 3G Switch-Off

Came across a peculiar site today, U21 and NR21 without L21! Anyone else found similar (I'm sure they're virtually nonexistent)?

not that unusual, you wouldn't have all three RATs on 2100, it was usually UMTS+10MHz LTE or UMTS+10MHz NR, although in many cases without the UTMS (newer setups, and most PoWs). the UMTS you're seeing might not be coming from the same site as NR on 2100.

What BW was the NR on 2100? we're seeing many go to 15Megas now, but this is unlikely if you have 3G still present from the same or nearby mast.
 
not that unusual, you wouldn't have all three RATs on 2100, it was usually UMTS+10MHz LTE or UMTS+10MHz NR, although in many cases without the UTMS (newer setups, and most PoWs). the UMTS you're seeing might not be coming from the same site as NR on 2100.

What BW was the NR on 2100? we're seeing many go to 15Megas now, but this is unlikely if you have 3G still present from the same or nearby mast.
It was still in a DSS config until yesterday so certainly a unique case. U21 was coming from the same site, it's in zone 2 in London where 3G sites are very hard to come by. n1 bandwidth was still 10MHz thankfully given the cosited U21.
 
It was still in a DSS config until yesterday so certainly a unique case. U21 was coming from the same site, it's in zone 2 in London where 3G sites are very hard to come by. n1 bandwidth was still 10MHz thankfully given the cosited U21.

Ah that’s true if it’s DSS, it will show like both RATs available. It’s actually just one carrier with LTE and NR frames interleaved.

Not that uncommon though. I picked this up last week (iOS shows n1 and b1 with the same cell ID)
 

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Ah that’s true if it’s DSS, it will show like both RATs available. It’s actually just one carrier with LTE and NR frames interleaved.

Not that uncommon though. I picked this up last week (iOS shows n1 and b1 with the same cell ID)
My surprise was more U21 on a 4/5G site, with DSS/n1 to top it off.

It's not a great 3G switch off if they're still leaving on sites for no apparent reason! Keeping sites on to avoid coverage holes is one thing, that isn't applicable here
 
My surprise was more U21 on a 4/5G site, with DSS/n1 to top it off.

yeh the ones I’ve seen with DSS n1, also had 3G. I haven’t been to those areas to see if the 3G is still on though.

But my general observation is I’ve still seen a lot of 3G this week (where I wouldn’t expect it), so doesn’t look like the sprint is finished yet.
 
EE offers Band 3 with 20Mhz each on two Cells covering my postcode, Three only offers 5Mhz on a single cell with Band 20 covering my post code with nothing from O2 or Vodafone according to Cell Mapper.

Three really ought to provide more than 5Mhz after all they have a rep to keep and they're not O2...

Less than 4 weeks to go before POW contractors arrive, so hopefully that make a difference.
I have the same, EE are band 3 20 MHZ, with its SA+NSA service which I can get near 200mbps on in some spots!

But with Three I get band 28 10 MHZ LTE, is that better then your band 20 at 5 MHz?
 
3 have updated their 3G map a bit so it looks more reduced

Also by now, 3 have switched off 3G from all 4G masts (unless your one of the lucky ones that are somehow not switched off yet) so you can set your android phone 3G only and explore 3G only mast coverage. There are a surprising amount of 4G areas with 3G only coverage.
 
I have the same, EE are band 3 20 MHZ, with its SA+NSA service which I can get near 200mbps on in some spots!

But with Three I get band 28 10 MHZ LTE, is that better then your band 20 at 5 MHz?
With EE, I get quite fast speeds outside (over 100Mbps easily) while inside it varies between 5 and 15Mbps if that, you can tell EE isn't great with speeds inside but it's the fastest of the 4 operators here.

As to your Band 28 at 10Mhz, very likely as you've got double the thoughout as Three struggle so much with congestion both inside and outside, it's should be classed as 3G even though it's actually 4G and with the mast being some distance away that won't actually have helped which is why I'm counting down the days until Three and their contractors do the next set of street works with a mast application to see if that improves Three here.

In places where I've checked the 5G speeds offered by Vodafone, Three and O2 in the past, Three has always outperformed their rivals hence why I'm looking forward to their POW.

As to the coverage checker, I'm checking that every few days to see if it's been updated and so far no change.
 
3 have updated their 3G map a bit so it looks more reduced

Also by now, 3 have switched off 3G from all 4G masts (unless your one of the lucky ones that are somehow not switched off yet) so you can set your android phone 3G only and explore 3G only mast coverage. There are a surprising amount of 4G areas with 3G only coverage.
Shows exactly the same still and still says they're turning off a 3G mast at that same location on the 23rd of sept (nothing for the PoW here)
 
Noticed Smarty sim signal in Woolston non exciting on 4G or 3G just said emergency calls while on other hand Three sim had 4G in same phone.
 
3G still living and thriving in my area since 11 days than the expected switch off. On android I can get full bars like I always do. Way better than overcapacity band 20 and 3 🫣
 
Had an older customer come in today who was affected by the 3G switch off. He had an iD Mobile SIM and an old Nokia 2 smartphone that supported 4G but not VoLTE/WiFi Calling.

He complained that he couldn't make any calls over the past few days. The only network available was 4G and that didn't allow calls. I tried locking to 3G although there was none broadcasting in our area (East London). This confirmed it was definitely 4G Calling related.

In the end, he purchased a Nokia 110 4G and we moved the SIM over. As expected, calls worked straightaway over the 4G network.
 
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Had an older customer come in today who was affected by the 3G switch off. He had an iD Mobile SIM and an old Sony smartphone that supported 4G but not VoLTE/WiFi Calling.

He complained that he couldn't make any calls over the past few days. The only network available was 4G and that didn't allow calls. I tried locking to 3G although there was none broadcasting in our area (East London). This confirmed it was definitely 4G Calling related.

In the end, he purchased a Nokia 110 4G and we moved the SIM over. As expected, calls worked straightaway over the 4G network.
Huge respect for the fact you help guys on different networks.
Lord knows that would be a different story if it was an EE shop.
 
Had an older customer come in today who was affected by the 3G switch off. He had an iD Mobile SIM and an old Sony smartphone that supported 4G but not VoLTE/WiFi Calling.

He complained that he couldn't make any calls over the past few days. The only network available was 4G and that didn't allow calls. I tried locking to 3G although there was none broadcasting in our area (East London). This confirmed it was definitely 4G Calling related.

In the end, he purchased a Nokia 110 4G and we moved the SIM over. As expected, calls worked straightaway over the 4G network.
I don't suppose you asked/they mentioned about receiving prior communications relating to having a VoLTE-incompatible device?
 
Huge respect for the fact you help guys on different networks.
Lord knows that would be a different story if it was an EE shop.
I'm not going to let an older customer walk out potentially vulnerable and unable to make/receive calls. At the same time, I still have to do my job and find out if I could cut a better deal. It's a balancing act. I always try and help if possible and then go from there.

I don't suppose you asked/they mentioned about receiving prior communications relating to having a VoLTE-incompatible device?
I dug through the messages from iD and couldn't find anything. If there were comms regarding VoLTE, I would've remembered showing it to the customer.

They don't even tell you the bill amount in their SMS reminders. For an older customer, do you really expect them to go online just to see how much their bill is?

I tried generating PAC/INFO but the DOB provided was incorrect, despite the customer stating otherwise. I questioned whether the account was in someone else's name. He said he pays the bills so it's most certainly not. Was an error made when he signed up in-store? Was the SIM registered in someone else's name? Unfortunately I have no idea and had to leave it as-is.
 
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