Full signal but poor speed

[gRoberts84]

Hi there,

I've had virgin mobile for a few years now and the service has been amazing up until the last week or so where it's consistently got worse. 

My wife, who is also on virgin is experiencing issues too. 

We both have full signal, however it takes along time to load pages or we experience constant buffering when streaming on our mobile devices. 

Seems coincidental that we cancelled our virgin broadband which stopped this week too (virgin mobile was more reliable than virgin broadband)

Any suggestions?

[Eeeps]

I thought Virgin had served notice on Vodafone because of their tie-up with O2.

In my experience there is only one mobile network worse that Vodafone and that is O2.

The problem with MVNOs is that they have to have a good relationship with the host network operator.
Virgin have not shown that with EE or Vodafone so I guess they will not be in a favourable position when it comes to bandwidth provision.

In any case, all Virgin mobile sims will eventually be migrated to Telefonica (O2) who have shown they really want to be out of the UK.

[gRoberts84]

Received my new sim card today, replaced it and set up the new settings that were sent via SMS.

0.14mbps down and 0.22mbps up. Full signal (5 bars @ 4G), same location....

My wife's connection is the same without a sim swap. 

My Three sim however is coming back with 70+mbps consistently in the same location.

I'd understand the speed being poor if the signal was poor...

[archercj]

gRoberts84 - that is what many are experiencing, myself included.

I am sure it is correct to surmise that in SOME areas the EE network has better data speeds than its rivals (not just Virgin/Vodafone). For my own testing I also have a 3 account and like you, when I was experiencing sum 5MBs speeds from the 'new' Virgin/Vodafone setup I was getting 30MBs with 3 and 75MBs with EE.

What isnt clear though if this is a Virgin/Vodafone specific issue or simply the Vodafone infrastructure in general. I would be really interested to know if anyone who has experienced the significant drop in speed when being switched from Virgin/EE to Virgin/Vodafone has tested a Vodafone only SIM in the same equipment/location and what they experienced. I ask that because several people near have seen the Virgin/Vodafone speed drop but others who are pure Vodafone SIMS are saying their speeds are fine (although not as good as EE). 

I mean look at it from Vodafones perspective. They sign a multi million pound deal with Virgin only to be told bye bye in no time. From what I hear about O2 though we will be demanding Vodafone back lol.

[gRoberts84]

I'm just confused as to why the new sim has made it considerably worse. 

Ironically, this is after I cancel Virgin Broadband on the basis that Virgin Mobile was faster and far more reliable.

[Kain_W]

Hi gRoberts84,

Thanks for your post and welcome back to the community! 

So sorry for any issues faced with your mobile SIM.

Have you been able to check the coverage for your area currently?

Also, just for clarification, are you facing the signal issue wherever you go i.e. out and about etc.

Thanks,

[enlli]

Is it me or are the team on here going round in ever decreasing circles?

[archercj]

gRoverts84 - some of the loss in data speed will be down to what Band your device connects to. Band 20 is the common one (and hence also the one where most traffic will go through and impact speed). My setup with Virgin/Vodafone only has Band 20 unlike EE which also has Band 3 which is arguable not as congested.

But I would argue that the there is more afoot than this when people are experiencing 75Mbs with one supplier and sub 5Mbs with another using the same equipment and location. I know that I can get speeds of 30Mbs from 3 using Band 20 so in my situation I would feel that speeds of 20-25Mbs should be obtainable from Virgin/Vodafone.

[gRoberts84]

Hi Kain,

Based on https://www.virginmedia.com/mobile/coverage-checker, which takes me to https://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker, I have "Good indoors & outdoors" for all apart from 5G.

Assuming I'm on Vodafone, using https://www.vodafone.co.uk/network/status-checker, it is the same, "Good indoors & outdoors" for all apart from 5G.

If if I'm on EE (getting confusing now...), using https://coverage.ee.co.uk/coverage/ee#4G, I have "excellent coverage indoors and outdoors".

Places that I used to have usable data and signal, I no longer have signal, however that may just be because the network I am on does not have a signal there.

Up until recently, my Virgin Mobile sim was perfect. I had great connection and signal almost everywhere I went and then suddenly, it's slow, despite having a full signal in most places.

[gRoberts84]

According to LTE Discovery (could be wrong) I am on LTE B20.

To be honest, since I never had an issue before hand, I couldn't be 100% certain what it was beforehand.

[Kain_W]

Thanks for the information there,

Forgive me if I've missed this part of the information but can I ask whether you are using a 5G capable phone?

Cheers,