What are my rights if network performance plummets?

mrochester · 26 June 2017 at 1:25PM

Hello

I joined Vodafone in Feb 2017 because of their strong network performance in my office, which is where I predominant use my mobile data. In the past week, my previously strong 4G signal has now started to become a weak 4G signal which drops to 3G frequently.

When I joined Vodafone, I could get 25mb down and about 20mb up. Running some speed tests this morning, I am now getting wildly different figures, from 8mb down to 0.5mb down. My upload speed is equally variable.

I have tried all the usual things such as restarting phone and resetting all network settings (iPhone 7 Plus) with no success. This leads me to believe it is a Vodafone network issue.

I have spoken to Vodafone and advised them of the issue. They have told me their network engineer team are on the case, but I am not wholly confident they are going to do anything.

If they don't, what are my rights as far as network performance dropping significantly? I joined Vodafone from Three precisely because of the network performance in the areas I am in.

Best wishes.

Michael.

System · 26 June 2017 at 7:00PM

Over the short term, probably just goodwill credit.

Have you tried switching off 4G until the issue resolves?
25mb isn't that fast for 4G.

Frozen_up_north · 26 June 2017 at 7:50PM

Mobile phone networks are at best mediocre in terms of engineering. It could be a local site issue, they might even have turned a site off.

If you don't get anywhere with Vodafone support, post a complaint on the dedicated Voda complaints thread on here.

I've found Three to be very helpful with engineering issues, no experience of Voda, except their coverage in my part of Yorkshire is lousy.

pmduk · 27 June 2017 at 7:49AM

A network can never guarantee how many people are going to be using the network in any period of time in any area. These factors affect the performace your receive. Some networks offer a site status map so you can see whether your local cell sites are performing properly, It's worth checking these to see if there is a known fault.
If a network is reconfiguring its cells and your performance suffers accordingly you may have a case to ask them to cancel your contract but this is decided on a case by case basis and networks vary on how receptive they are to this. It's more likely to apply if qa local cell site has been decommissioned.

[Deleted User] · 27 June 2017 at 8:46AM

mrochester wrote: »

Hello

I joined Vodafone in Feb 2017 because of their strong network performance in my office, which is where I predominant use my mobile data. In the past week, my previously strong 4G signal has now started to become a weak 4G signal which drops to 3G frequently.

When I joined Vodafone, I could get 25mb down and about 20mb up. Running some speed tests this morning, I am now getting wildly different figures, from 8mb down to 0.5mb down. My upload speed is equally variable.

I have tried all the usual things such as restarting phone and resetting all network settings (iPhone 7 Plus) with no success. This leads me to believe it is a Vodafone network issue.

I have spoken to Vodafone and advised them of the issue. They have told me their network engineer team are on the case, but I am not wholly confident they are going to do anything.

If they don't, what are my rights as far as network performance dropping significantly? I joined Vodafone from Three precisely because of the network performance in the areas I am in.

Best wishes.

Michael.

Don't know about rights but I'd check their issues tracker at:

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/network/uk-coverage-map/index.htm

The iPhones have a app/folder installed for Vodafone at least, you could try taking out the sim and deleting the app/folder, shutting down and restarting with the sim back in.

Heng_Leng wrote: »

25mb isn't that fast for 4G.

That's decent for normal 4G, Vodafone don't have a high speed 4G signal like EE (that I'm aware of).

pmduk · 27 June 2017 at 2:28PM

Withe an iphone it is always worth turning off automatic network selection and making a manual network selection. Your phone may not be connecting to the best cell.

mrochester · 27 June 2017 at 2:57PM

There is only one Vodafone network option during manual selection and I presume that's the one my phone is connecting too.

d123 · 27 June 2017 at 3:46PM

pmduk wrote: »

Withe an iphone it is always worth turning off automatic network selection and making a manual network selection. Your phone may not be connecting to the best cell.

You can't manually choose which cell you connect to, you only choose the network and the handset will then log onto the most appropriate cell.

I've been using an iPhone since the original iPhone 2G and have never turned off auto network selection. Do you have a link to explain why manual network selection is better?

pmduk · 28 June 2017 at 7:49AM

d123 wrote: »

I've been using an iPhone since the original iPhone 2G and have never turned off auto network selection. Do you have a link to explain why manual network selection is better?

Just my experience working in technical support for a mobile network, it seems some handsets are poor at choosing the strongest cell, particularly when moving from one cell's coverage to another. It's particularly noticeable when returning from roaming which generated a large number of calls to us.

Vodafone · 28 June 2017 at 9:52AM

Hi Michael,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

If you're still experiencing difficulties, I'd recommend following the troubleshooting steps here.

Kind regards,

Lee

Vodafone Social Media

mrochester · 3 July 2017 at 9:17AM

So Monday morning in exactly the same location and I'm now getting 42mb down and 17mb up so something is (hopefully!) fixed now.

What are my rights if network performance plummets?

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