Vodafone to Switch on UK's First 5G Network on July 3, 2019

[Steve121178]

The upgrade doesn’t seem easy, nor vastly more efficient. What data are you aware of that makes you say it will be easy? I’m reading that they’ll even need to put up more towers to get the same coverage because 5G frequencies won’t travel as far. Your finger-snap to 5G everywhere idea doesn’t seem to align with reality

I used to work for EE, so I know a thing or two about this kind of stuff, but I am not claiming to be a telecoms expert.

I previously stated that more base stations will be needed & a large number of existing 4G base stations can be easily upgraded to support 5G. It's not like the dark days of the 3G>4G infrastructure upgrade!

Most large cities in the UK should see a relatively fast roll-out of 5G. Of course the roll-out to smaller towns will take longer, but thanks to existing decent 4G infrastructure the roll-out will be be quick rather than gradual.

 

[kingpushup]

Grammar Police: “to Switch On” (caps)

“On” is a noun/adjective here because we are switching to the On position.

;-) Keep up the great news flow, thanks!

 

[Newjackboy]

Looking forward to this!

As an aside, I have an EE max plan on the XS Max- and always get crap speeds in central london. Currently have a spare tesco mobile sim in the physical slot- and get speeds x4!

Any chance I am being throttled?

all over london, train stations etc i have a very poor data connection. Hope 5G fixes all of this down the line

 

[StevieD100]

Brings to mind an article I read last week at Bloomberg news, “Vodafone Found Hidden Backdoors in Huawei Equipment.” And yet, Vodafone’s CEO publicly opposes bans on Huawei 5G equipment, warning of “higher costs and delays.” We know where their priorities lie.

That so called backdoor was from years ago, nothing to with 5g and was a 'Telnet' connection which was used for diagnostics.
As the Bard wrote, 'Much Ado About Nothing'...

 

[vkd]

Get ready for the spike in mental health anomalies.

 

[B4U]

Huawei & Xiaomi?
Thanks, and no thanks.

 

[bgraham]

Sad for you. Not sad for the rest of the country outside your city and the few other cities where it’s rolling out.

And even then we’ll see how well 5G works indoors. mm waves don’t do that well even blocked by wood.

And what’s with “years”? Apple will have QC’s 5G integrated modem next year.

I mean for the years I would own the phone. If I have an iPhone 11 in 2021, which I would expect, it'll be miles behind everyone else on 5G.

And these are like the 10 biggest cities in the UK, in a couple of years 5G coverage could be really good.

 

[joueboy]

That's not Apple who did that, it was carriers. Do your reserach.

Ha! I didn't know carriers like AT&T is capable of changing the mobile internet signal indicator on iPhones.

 

[BvizioN]

Ha! I didn't know carriers like AT&T is capable of changing the mobile internet signal indicator on iPhones.

That's fine, but at least you know now. Carriers do choose themselves how their service and their name appears on the phone. It happens soon as you insert the sim card! It has been the case since mobile phones were invented. I thought you have been following the news on this site.
Besides, it was AT&T only and it happened on Android as well.

 

[MacBH928]

Since the official 5G spec is not being released until September of next year, what 5G are they using?

This is what I don't understand. Spec is not out yet, but Verizon already has 5G routers for home use. How is this possible?

 

[deaglecat]

My city, Brighton,will probably be the last to get it as usual!

Is Brighton even a city ?

EDIT: ok - yes, apparently it is.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

That so called backdoor was from years ago, nothing to with 5g and was a 'Telnet' connection which was used for diagnostics.
As the Bard wrote, 'Much Ado About Nothing'...

Well there you have it. US Cybercommand apparently has no idea what they’re talking about.
[doublepost=1557851913][/doublepost]Not for Chris Hughton.

Is Brighton even a city ?

EDIT: ok - yes, apparently it is.

 

[fatboyslick]

Vodafone UK ahead of the game for once, although the Huawei 5G controversy won’t go away anytime soon.

Huawei 5G issue impacts all networks, not exclusively Vodafone
[doublepost=1557853210][/doublepost]

Pointless... the same old story of ignoring pushing 3G or 4G coverage to all the country. And instead just making it faster for the select few...

And before people say well the cities will always get better coverage, go and compare the physical size of the UK to the US.... and then remember we are the fifth biggest global economy...

It’s sad really.

1. It's not cost effective to install and run masts in areas where they wont break even, so if people live in remote areas, no network operator will do anything.

2. You'll be surprised by how many times networks do try and build masts in less built up areas but local councillors and inhabitants deny them the planning permission thinking it will "distrupt the environment"
[doublepost=1557853355][/doublepost]

2 issues with 5G,

One, how much more power will it need to service the whole nation compared to 4G.

Current 4G (for me at least) can download at 75Mbs, do I really need anymore? And will it work better in those hard to reach places like current systems.

the benefit of 5G isnt speeds - it's capacity
So with 4G when you download, imagine you're on a dual carrigeway. Upload has some traffic.
With 5G you're on a 5,6,7+ lane motorway with no traffic....in both directions.
It's main benefit will be connecting devices and machines, IOT etc

 

[IRockThat828pScreen]

Get ready for the spike in mental health anomalies.

5G conspiracy theorists are the new anti-vaxxers

 

[fatboyslick]

Those votes mean nothing. Doesn't EE win the best network award every year but still doesn't offer anywhere near nationwide coverage?

I have personal contacts with EE & Vodafone. I find Vodafone to be consistently excellent. I personally get great coverage wherever I go & Vodafone Global Roaming is a godsend and saved me £1000's.

Vodafone's UK 3G network was patchy but they spent billions of buying up large amounts of the 4G & 5G spectrum so I have no doubt Vodafone 5G will be decent.

They use different Research organisations. EE use Root Metrics currently from memory and Vodafone used them 8 years ago but chose a different organisation with a different metric.
[doublepost=1557853726][/doublepost]

I used to work for EE, so I know a thing or two about this kind of stuff, but I am not claiming to be a telecoms expert.

I previously stated that more base stations will be needed & a large number of existing 4G base stations can be easily upgraded to support 5G. It's not like the dark days of the 3G>4G infrastructure upgrade!

Most large cities in the UK should see a relatively fast roll-out of 5G. Of course the roll-out to smaller towns will take longer, but thanks to existing decent 4G infrastructure the roll-out will be be quick rather than gradual.

this is correct - it can be done in hours.
[doublepost=1557853811][/doublepost]

Looking forward to this!

As an aside, I have an EE max plan on the XS Max- and always get crap speeds in central london. Currently have a spare tesco mobile sim in the physical slot- and get speeds x4!

Any chance I am being throttled?

all over london, train stations etc i have a very poor data connection. Hope 5G fixes all of this down the line

Tesco MVNO is ran by O2, so you're on two different networks. Chances are either you're closer to an O2 mast or the EE mast is running at high capacity

 

[joueboy]

That's fine, but at least you know now. Carriers do choose themselves how their service and their name appears on the phone. It happens soon as you insert the sim card! It has been the case since mobile phones were invented. I thought you have been following the news on this site.
Besides, it was AT&T only and it happened on Android as well.

It's funny how serious you are about my statement of course I'm not agreeing with you. Unless you're one of those people who believes that AT&T 5GE is actually a 5G. SMH!

 

[179202]

Ah, Vodafone. First and worst, almost every time.

 

[apolloa]

Huawei 5G issue impacts all networks, not exclusively Vodafone
[doublepost=1557853210][/doublepost]

1. It's not cost effective to install and run masts in areas where they wont break even, so if people live in remote areas, no network operator will do anything.

2. You'll be surprised by how many times networks do try and build masts in less built up areas but local councillors and inhabitants deny them the planning permission thinking it will "distrupt the environment"
[doublepost=1557853355][/doublepost]

the benefit of 5G isnt speeds - it's capacity
So with 4G when you download, imagine you're on a dual carrigeway. Upload has some traffic.
With 5G you're on a 5,6,7+ lane motorway with no traffic....in both directions.
It's main benefit will be connecting devices and machines, IOT etc

1: Not true, more then 10 people live outside the cities and the majority of the population have mobile phones. Plus people drive on motorways and main A roads and the need coverage. That excuse of economics hasn’t been used by the carriers themselves for years.

2: Yeap, thanks to backwards thinking idiots, the sort that claim a wind turbine gives you cancer, just so they can block it being built. The government keeps claiming it has a plan to push more coverage, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

This was posted today and is an interesting read:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/05/mobile-operators-strike-uk-network-sharing-deal-for-rural-coverage.html

As said though, believe it when I see it.

 

[Veinticinco]

Huawei 5G issue impacts all networks, not exclusively Vodafone

Vodafone have a "special relationship" with Huawei.

 

[SoSickSadNslOw]

The most unreliable network in the U.K.

 

[Pupi]

That lame version isn't the current Vodafone logo and hasn't been for many years. Triple logo nonsense.

 

[nickgovier]

.

 

[laurieballard]

Same price is a massive surprise. Great news!

Initially it will be but they will just incorporate a price increase in the price of new contracts, ultimately we will be paying for it.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

Get ready for the spike in mental health anomalies.

With what mechanism? Cancer is simply damage to the DNA. Photons can cause cancer by breaking bonds of DNA, this is X-rays and Gamma rays. But that very same science says that says this is true for X-rays and Gamma rays, also says the energy of a photon in the 5G network is not going to cause damage to cancer.

I have seen so much pseudoscience about the health effects of 5G its crazy. To do damage to DNA which is what causes cancer, the wavelength needs to be on the same order as the width of DNA (~2 nm), and more importantly carry enough energy to break a bond (~0.1 eV). 5G at 100 Ghz has a wavelength of only ~3mm not 2 nm, which is 1.5 million times smaller! Using E(eV)= hf the energy of a single photo is 0.0004 eV, which is a far cry from the ~0.1 eV required to break a covalent bond. The photon needs to be carrying at least 250x more energy thats two orders of magnitude more! Its just not possible at those energies. It's like throwing peas at a tank and expecting it to explode.

 

[McScooby]

On the press release it says 5G to be charged same as 4G. It then follows that prices will be released next week/soon. Voda are (in my experience) on a par with O2, the highest priced network in the UK & as it didn’t state just handset prices, I expect a price bump across their tarrifs to align 4G at a higher price the same as impending 5G or you’ll be in a position that you get a super fast service with 5G (or at least what 4G speeds should be) with ‘low’ capped usage. I of course could be wrong, but seriously who believes Carriers?