Virgin/Vodafone vs EE (an update)

[archercj]

So on a wet weekend I decide to have a play and prove the drop in speed since the switchover to Virgin/Vodafone.

Scenario:

I have a static caravan in a rural location next to the North Sea. I wanted decent 4G coverage so I could ‘work from home’ when I am there. This meant a good connection for things like remote connection and Teams meetings. Sadly the 4G coverage was poor with the Virgin/EE SIM – around 4-6Mbs. So I invested in an Archer MR600 router that could take a SIM so I could tether. With its own aerials the speed increased to around 10-14Mbs. Still I reckoned I could do better so I invested in a directional 4G aerial. What a difference – the Virgin/EE SIM gave me 40-65Mbs. More than happy.

So then the new SIM arrived. The result - Virgin/Vodafone dropped to speeds of 4-8Mbs with the exact same setup.

Testing:

Firstly I know that speeds can vary due to factors such as weather, location, equipment used, time of day and the actual test mechanism. All these were standard in the tests I tried. Also when I bought the 4G aerial it comes with a site survey so I know exactly where the mast is to point it at (and that it provides Vodafone and EE coverage)

I bought an EE SIM and stuck a little data on it. The test I used was the inbuilt one on the Archer MR600. Result – speeds between 60-75Mbs,

Switched to the Virgin/Vodafone SIM. Results – speeds of around 8-14Mbs.

I cannot improve on those speeds and often it’s around 4-6Mbs BUT if I switch to the EE SIM I get speeds of 60-75Mbs when all factors (time of day, weather etc) are the same

I also tried moving the aerial as the site survey had shown two other Vodafone aerials (although further away). I wondered if they might be less congested. Sadly I couldn’t get anything above 7Mbs.

Conclusions:

I know testing isn’t an exact science but I also know several people nearby that are with either Virgin or Vodafone and are experiencing the same speed issues and also several EE subscribers that don’t have issues with streaming etc.

Very frustrating when I had a service with the Virgin/EE setup that EXCEEDED all expectations yet now am struggling to be able to work from that location

[Akua_A]

Thank you for letting me know @archercj

I have double-checked your postcode and I can confirm there is limited Vodaphone coverage in that area at this time. There are indeed plans to expand our coverage however we are unable to confirm when the changes will take place.

We can only apologise for this inconvenience on behalf of our team. 

Thanks, 

[cje85]

Just looking at the postcode mentioned on cell mapping sites, Vodafone and O2 only have Band 20 deployed around HU18 1EL. This provides long range coverage but limited speeds. EE have Band 1, 3, and 20, plus two additional masts in the area compared to O2/VF, so the speed will be considerably better as they have much more capacity deployed (and customer load split between multiple masts).

[archercj]

Thanks cje85, your feedback is appreciated. The site survey that came with the 4g aerial showed that (and if I delve into the Archer MR600 settings when I have an EE SIM installed it shows the extra bands as well. Indeed, and as you have kindly pointed out,  when I had the Virgin/EE SIM I changed to Band 3 which gave me the best performance).

Looks like there is only one option which is to move to EE but as I have stated in other posts that will mean an additional monthly outlay of £35 as the Virgin SIM is included within my Ooomph bundle.

Putting things into perspective given the things going on in the world this is merely an annoyance and inconvenience to me but I reckon there will be a fair number of Virgin customers who are impacted by this with regards to their reliance on the service or indeed their jobs and who chose Virgin (maybe unbeknown that it was EE) because of the superior performance in their area.

I would like to tell Virgin where they can shove their SIM card by cancelling my full Ooomph package and going back to Sky or BT but I do need their fast fibre broadband speeds for my line of work (I work in cyber security) and the next best thing where I live are speeds of around 60Mbs for broadband.

So I am stuck.

[ZXT]

Really sorry to hear about your conundrum.  Did you ever get anything fixed?  I just joined Virgin today (September 2022) and was astonished to find that it was still using EE.  I'd read a lot about the change to Vodafone, and then the other change to o2.  It seems a real mess!