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Three's 3G Switch-Off

They need to reuse former 3G spectrum for 4G coverage improvements as they've got more than enough spectrum for their 5G rollout they don't need to reuse the former 3G spectrum.

After all, some masts locally have 5Mhz on a number of bands which isn't enough those days, adding 15Mhz would improve coverage so much.
They do, but they have customers who rely on 3G only sites. What are they going to do with them? Turn them off? Upgrade them? Keep them running until Vodafone?

I have not seen any evidence of them upgrading any of the 3G sites around here.

Turning them off will leave some communities without service.
 
They do, but they have customers who rely on 3G only sites. What are they going to do with them? Turn them off? Upgrade them? Keep them running until Vodafone?

I have not seen any evidence of them upgrading any of the 3G sites around here.

Turning them off will leave some communities without service.
With this wording on the checker, they are either banking on the merger, or are switching the 3G sites off regardless of coverage gaps:

"We're phasing out our 3G network and will switch it off completely by the end of 2024. So, while you can use 3G for calls, texts, and mobile internet at the moment, in the future, there will be no 3G coverage available. This will affect your service if 4G and 5G aren’t available in your area."

The addition of "completely" seems new.

How they expect customers to be okay with a big coverage loss could be interesting. It's a PR disaster waiting to happen if entire towns suddenly lose all coverage.
 
With this wording on the checker, they are either banking on the merger, or are switching the 3G sites off regardless of coverage gaps:

"We're phasing out our 3G network and will switch it off completely by the end of 2024. So, while you can use 3G for calls, texts, and mobile internet at the moment, in the future, there will be no 3G coverage available. This will affect your service if 4G and 5G aren’t available in your area."

The addition of "completely" seems new.

How they expect customers to be okay with a big coverage loss could be interesting. It's a PR disaster waiting to happen if entire towns suddenly lose all coverage.
They have already made configuration changes to the network to ignore these sites.

I think they’re probably sitting back analysing data seeing if the sites are actually needed. How many times sims connect to the 3G mast.

What I have found is the distant B20/28 is painfully slow. You go indoors and there is a brief period of No Service and then you are handed over to 3G. 3G which is a lot stronger and generally outperforms B20/28.
 
They do, but they have customers who rely on 3G only sites. What are they going to do with them? Turn them off? Upgrade them? Keep them running until Vodafone?

I have not seen any evidence of them upgrading any of the 3G sites around here.

Turning them off will leave some communities without service.
Common sense says they ought to upgrade them however any remaining 3G sites are only outperforming existing 4G sites due to the low number of connections using the 3G infrastructure.

With common sense, it would have been better for all sites to have been upgraded to 4G or even 5G than shut down the 3G sites but that thought didn't occur to anyone.
 
Common sense says they ought to upgrade them however any remaining 3G sites are only outperforming existing 4G sites due to the low number of connections using the 3G infrastructure.

With common sense, it would have been better for all sites to have been upgraded to 4G or even 5G than shut down the 3G sites but that thought didn't occur to anyone.
The network with the smallest cell density by a country mile wasn’t really in a position to shut more down.

I haven’t seen any evidence of them turning them off yet. They’re still broadcasting like the map shows. Sims are ignoring them though.
 
The network with the smallest cell density by a country mile wasn’t really in a position to shut more down.

I haven’t seen any evidence of them turning them off yet. They’re still broadcasting like the map shows. Sims are ignoring them though.
They switched off a 3G only monopole here with no 4G upgrade/new site, although the other 3G monopoles around here are still broadcasting so Three probably didnt think this site was important enough. Still lost a good bit of indoor coverage though, no signal at all in the ASDA nearby.

Funnily enough they installed a pagona cabinet for their B3 4G back in 2016ish, but I guess they never got round to doing a pole swap lol.

1729257593137.webp

1729257694576.webp
 
Spotted my first 'localish' 3G to 4G upgrade on Three.

Brown Clee Hill in Shropshire has been 3G only on Three for donkeys years. All the other networks have 4G.

It seems since September it is now B1,B3,B20,B28.
 
They need to reuse former 3G spectrum for 4G coverage improvements as they've got more than enough spectrum for their 5G rollout they don't need to reuse the former 3G spectrum.

After all, some masts locally have 5Mhz on a number of bands which isn't enough those days, adding 15Mhz would improve coverage so much.
Presume you are referring to capacity not coverage?
 
Presume you are referring to capacity not coverage?
Yes

The one Three cell that Cellmapper shows up that covers my flat is a single band with 5Mhz which is why Three doesn't have capacity locally, saying that they are meant to have contractors putting in a POW this week from 20:00 tonight and finishing 06:00 Friday morning.

I don't know if that means they likely only working overnight this week or if it means they be there in the day time too?

I be getting the bus past there Wednesday so be having a walk past to see if anything is new.
 
Yes

The one Three cell that Cellmapper shows up that covers my flat is a single band with 5Mhz which is why Three doesn't have capacity locally, saying that they are meant to have contractors putting in a POW this week from 20:00 tonight and finishing 06:00 Friday morning.

I don't know if that means they likely only working overnight this week or if it means they be there in the day time too?

I be getting the bus past there Wednesday so be having a walk past to see if anything is new.
Where is this L08 only site in Luton by the way? Even near Marsh Road I can only see a minimum of L08+L18
 
so just been looking at their coverage. My postcode still shows some 3g, but at my parents house it's completely gone, but now so apparently is their 5g. I've not een back there to test yet, but they had pretty good 5g there, so must be a mistake on Three's part saying the 5g is gone?
 
so just been looking at their coverage. My postcode still shows some 3g, but at my parents house it's completely gone, but now so apparently is their 5g. I've not een back there to test yet, but they had pretty good 5g there, so must be a mistake on Three's part saying the 5g is gone?
Has it actually gone or is your phone ignoring it?

It seems ‘gone’ in the 3G only town I visit but it’s still broadcasting. My iPhone doesn’t connect to it.

The only way I see it is by forcing my Android phone to 3G.
 
So I only have an iphone, so it is not connecting to 3g.
You won’t be able to force 3G on the iPhone then.

What we have seen recently is Three have appear to have adjusted the selection parameters.

If there is a 4G or 5G signal from a distant site it will hold onto it, even drop to No Service, pause and then connect to the local 3G mast.
 
Where is this L08 only site in Luton by the way? Even near Marsh Road I can only see a minimum of L08+L18
It's the blue highlighted cell on the map, according to Cell Mapper it's the only cell covering my street.
 

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It's the blue highlighted cell on the map, according to Cell Mapper it's the only cell covering my street.
Don't you have L08+L18 CA at home?
Maybe L18 is too weak, but I would be surprised considering there is no EE L08 mapped in the area
 
Don't you have L08+L18 CA at home?
Maybe L18 is too weak, but I would be surprised considering there is no EE L08 mapped in the area
That operator I've shown is actually Three, I'm a 1p Mobile user but I like to keep my options open in case a operator becomes better value for my usage.

In any case, Three struggle to provide anything above 2Mbps at home which I put down to that cell not having enough capacity.
 
Correct, 3 has changed the way users can auto conenct to 3G.

Funny thing is like 99% of 3G areas have dead weak 4G to stuck onto
On approach to the 3G only town I always used to connect to the local site.

I think it was around June I noticed it was no longer happening. It wasn't until I got my Samsung I realised it was actually still broadcasting because I forced 3G.
 
Last week's map update brought with it refreshed sunset data dates.

This is how it stands currently. The grey unlabeled areas are for dates that still exist (for some reason) from the main shutdown dates through September.

Anyone happened to noticed anything local gone since last Friday?

nKkCrI5.png
 
Last week's map update brought with it refreshed sunset data dates.

This is how it stands currently. The grey unlabeled areas are for dates that still exist (for some reason) from the main shutdown dates through September.

Anyone happened to noticed anything local gone since last Friday?

nKkCrI5.png
Kilwinning is still hanging in there Gavin, but dated the 18th of October. 🤷‍♂️
 
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