Vodafone

[RandomMusings]

Anyone on vodafone still in St Andrews? Both my girlfriend and I are, and we've not had any network signal since about 10pm last night. Aspects of the vodafone website are also down.

Is anyone else having these problems at the moment?

[ajg75]

Yeah, I got the same problem too, didn't notice it last night though but my phones been pretty useless all day.

[Thalia]

I rang them today - apparently upgrades are happening and our service will be oh-so-much better now. Not much of a consolation if you wanted to use your phone today.

[Me too]

Thank you for posting this!!! I had been wondering! This happened last year a couple of times too.

[orudge]

That might explain why my friend's phone apparently stopped working last night, then!

[ojk6]

Had a similar problem with Virgin Mobile -- do they "piggy back" on Vodafone?

Thanks for posting.
ojk6

[orudge]

Vodafone provides a network for ASDA, BT and Dot Mobile, according to Wikipedia - Virgin uses T-Mobile though (and my own T-Mobile phone has been fine).

[Paul Carey]

We have 2 vodafone transmitters at the cinema, it has become a right mobile phone mast hotspot of late. Anyway, engineers from Nokia have been working in the vodafone TX cabinets this afternoon.

[RandomMusings]

Thanks for that Paul & Thalia.
I've had a few seconds of sporadic signal now throughout the day, but it would've been nice to know that I was going to be out of contact for the day, especially at £35 a month! Hopefully we'll notice this vastly superior service!

[Me too]

I live near the cinema and mine's pitiful at the mo despite the 2 masts!

[RandomMusings]

Is this still a problem for others? Still got no/limited sporadic signal..... damn

[ajg75]

Still no service for me either. This kinda makes a mockery of the £25 a month I pay for their service. I don't mind the loss of connection and appreciate that upgrades do need to happen and for this to occur then service will be affected. I just wish they'd have informed us, an email is hardly out of the question since they can manage to send me information about new phones and offers once a month. Even if it has unexpectedly gone down, it's been nearly 2 days now, an apology and estimated time of service to resume could have been sent.

[meow]

I rang them today - apparently upgrades are happening and our service will be oh-so-much better now. Not much of a consolation if you wanted to use your phone today.

Yep, especially if it was your last day in the country trying to get in contact with most people... *grumble*
I haven't been happy with Vodafone the day they took over DotMobile.
I still hate them.

[Freaker]

This is interesting. My friend's phone also went completely dead and we had wondered why.

In Germany, a few weeks ago T-Mobile lost its entire German network for a few hours in the afternoon and it became a huge thing. Granted, many million people were affected by that, but there was talk of missed contracts and business deals etc, and in the end, to make up for it, all T-Mobile customers could send free texts all of the following Sunday. Bit of a rubbish compensation, really, but at least something.

Make sure you complain to vodaphone. More or less shutting down the service for two days is not really acceptable, and I would think you'd be on very good grounds to demand compensation!

[ajg75]

Reading papers and articles got boring so I decided to fire off a quick email to Vodafone to see if I could get any response. I'll post a reply if they get back to me. The free text day from T-Mobile sounds interesting although since I have 600mins and unlimited texts anyway it would be a bit of a useless exercise.


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a PhD student at the University of St Andrews and like many others on Vodafone I have experienced a complete loss of signal since approximately 10pm Saturday the 30th of May. I was wondering what is the cause of this signal loss, how long will it be until normal service is resumed, why were we not informed of a potentiol loss of service if it was known that service would be lost and are there any plans to compensate those of us who have been unable to use their phones for the duration? I have already missed an important meeting because I could not be contacted to be informed of a change in location.

Regards

Andrew Goodall


Which was quickly followed up by

Thanks for contacting Vodafone customer care.

We’ve received your Email and will be contacting you within 5 working days.

The following links will answer the majority of questions you may have;
(insert lots of SPAM and blatent attempts to sell more products here)

[ajg75]

A prompt reply, but sadly nothing of use and a hard reset and the changing operator trick were already tried on sunday evening.

Good morning Andrew,

I've read your email and can understand that you're unable to use your mobile phone due to loss of coverage.

Andrew, I apologise for any inconvenience you feel may have been caused. Let me see if I can help.

I have checked the network coverage in your area and can confirm that there is a good to variable signal coverage in your area.

To improve the signal on your phone you will need to perform a hard reset of the phone.

You can perform a hard reset as follows:

-Switch the phone off
-Remove the battery and then the SIM card
-Clean the SIM card with a clean cloth and keep it out for about two minutes
-Insert the SIM card and the battery in the phone
-Switch the phone on.

You may manually roam your phone to find a stronger signal. This is easy to do though depending on the make and model of your phone, some of the menu options might be different.

Andrew, you need to go to your settings menu then phone settings. Select network or operator settings then choose ‘manual’. When you see a list of networks, choose a different one to Vodafone. Once you’ve done this, repeat and choose Vodafone.

I trust the above information helps.

Kind regards,

Amit Chowdhary
Vodafone Customer Services

[Freaker]

I trust the above information helps.

Kind regards,

Amit Chowdhary
Vodafone Customer Services

Cheeky, those vodafone people! Maybe if enough people write to them so they are aware that it is not just "good to variable" signal coverage, but no coverage at all for a long time for many people?!

[ajg75]

After numerous emails enquiring about the loss of signal in St Andrews Vodafone still seem to think I'm in Leeds..........

Good evening Andrew,

Hope you are doing well.

Andrew, I've looked at our system and see that the network coverage in your area (post code LS28 9EF) is excellent.

The services might be adversely affected by too many people trying to use the network at the same time, physical features such as buildings and under passes and by atmospheric conditions or other causes of interference that may fail or require maintenance without notice.

Having checked our system I see that there's no reported network issue in your area and you should be able to use your phone services.

Please follow the steps given below to do manual roam to find stronger signal on your phone:

Enter your phone ‘Menu’

Scroll to ‘Settings’

Enter ‘Settings’

Scroll to ‘Phone Settings’

Enter ‘Phone Settings’

Scroll to ‘Network/Operator Settings’

Select Manual

Select ‘Vodafone’

If it doesn't work, then remove the battery and SIM from your phone, clean the SIM card with cotton, wait for 5-7 minutes and then put the SIM and battery into the phone and switch it on.

Alternatively, you can visit any of your nearest Vodafone Retail Stores with your phone and our staff will be happy to help you. To know your nearest Vodafone Retail Store, please click here.

I’m sure the above information is helpful.

Kind regards,

Sudhir Kamble
Vodafone Customer Services

[Domi]

I've just spoken to Vodafone they said they are aware that there is a problem in the KY16 postcode area. Their engineers should have the problem fixed within 24 to 48 hours.....

[ajg75]

I finally managed to get an answer from them too. I especially like this bit "You can call our customer service on 191 free from your phone to check the status of the fault"

Hi Andrew,
Hope you are doing well,
I understand that it is really very frustrating when there is poor network coverage where you live. I would've felt the same if I had to be in your position.
Andrew, I'm sorry to let you know that we are facing difficulties with the network coverage in the post code KY16 8BX. Our online service and our technical team is working to resolve the issue. I'll not able to commit when the issue will be resolved as we don't have the information.
The reference number for this fault is 577617312. You can call our customer service on 191 free from your phone to check the status of the fault.
I trust the above information helps.
Kind regards,
Sanjay Sharma
Vodafone Customer Services