02 Data Tarbet/Portavardie

[davidpbo]

I am not getting any data on 02 mobile, anyone else around on 02, are you getting any data?

My wife's iPhone was showing GPRS only yesterday (Tarbet) but seems to be getting 4g today (Portavardie)

My phone has been fine on data until a few days ago.

 

[dutyhog]

I’m using this iPhone on O2 (Giffgaff) not all that far away in Kintyre.

 

[davidpbo]

Thanks, beginning to think it might be my phone. Can't find any thing turned off that shouldn't be. First noticed it in Inchmarnock Sound and didn't think anything of it because of location. It was fine up around the Kyles. Lot of people around so wonder whethere network is at full stretch around here.

 

[ctva]

Have you tried the age old IT trick of switching it off and back on?

 

[davidpbo]

St

Have you tried the age old IT trick of switching it off and back on?

Yes, repeatedly.

I have my first indication of any sort of data connection @6.30 this morning: H+

 

[DJE]

I'm on O2 and I find that in lots of places which technically have 4G coverage it gets very slow when there are lots of people around. I think they put in the minimum bandwidth to allow the marketing people to claim 4G coverage.
Currently in a popular anchorage in Poole Harbour and it is fine on a Monday morning but during the day over the weekend it was useless.

 

[penfold]

Tarbert Loch Fyne is rubbish for phones.

 

[davidpbo]

Tarbert Loch Fyne is rubbish for phones.

Not been aware of an issue around there before. In the harbour we are on WiFi but walk the surrounds up over the hill above the castle without issue. I suspect they are fairly large cells in these areas and struggle to cope with the summer influx of people.

 

[scottie]

Do the phones not rely on line of sight which unfortunately get disturbed by the local terrain which is a little bit higher than down south

 

[Caraway]

We have good 4G here (30Mbps on EE, 21 Mbps on Vodaphone) a friend 1.25 KM away has no phone signal, at all. He is in a bit of a dip. Entirely to do with line of sight. He is 700 metres from the A66 which has excellent phone signals.
The infrastructure is supplied by four companies EE, Vodafone, 3 and 02.
Everyone else piggybacks on their systems. And they piggyback on each others. It would be madness to duplicate the coverage that someone else already supplies.

 

[awol]

We did try to warn you many times that venturing north was fraught with discomforts. I do hope you have taken note of the CG warnings for vessels entering ENGLISH ports and the threats of £10,000 fines for not complying.

 

[Caraway]

This is Ofcoms coverage checker.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

This is Ofcoms coverage checker.

Wrong Tarbert! It's a very common placename on the west coast - it basically means a place where there's a portage between water bodies, but the i=one meant here is the one on the west coast of Loch Fyne, not the one at the head of Loch Long

 

[Caraway]

Scotland is all Greek to me.

This one?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Scotland is all Greek to me.

This one?

But not so good for the OP - it shows NO O2 coverage at Portavadie, and poor coverage anywhere else!

 

[davidpbo]

Do the phones not rely on line of sight which unfortunately get disturbed by the local terrain which is a little bit higher than down south

Yes they do, I live on the edge of the Peak District they tend to try and put masts up as high as they can as well. Currently up above Portavardie and have some 4g blowing in from somewhere, so probably not my phone which was the reason for the original post on Scuttlebut. I wanted to find whether anyone else sailing in the area was experiencing similar problems.

 

[davidpbo]

02 came back to me via Facebook messenger, and admitted there was no data coverage in Tarbet. I'm a little bit surprised at that given it is a notable large village and popular tourist and boating destination.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

02 came back to me via Facebook messenger, and admitted there was no data coverage in Tarbet. I'm a little bit surprised at that given it is a notable large village and popular tourist and boating destination.

It probably only adds up to a thousand or so phones, even with boating and tourism. Also, in that area, dead spots caused by the terrain are difficult to avoid. They can't put masts on hilltops because they need power, and lower down there are all sorts of things that get in the way. I wouldn't be surprised if the best location for a mast serving Tarbert was near Portavadie.

Even on the relatively populated east coast of the Clyde, there are dead spots caused by the topography. Kip marina used to have lousy mobile phone coverage, but it was fine once you got out on the Clyde!

 

[dunedin]

For boating in Scotland carrying two phones, one on EE network and one on Vodafone, would be my recommendation - and practice (or a foreign phone on free roaming even better).
Phone networks chosen for cheapest city calls may not be ideal.

 

[Sgeir]

Mobile coverage in the The West is patchy to say the least. The emergency services use EE which provides the best data coverage.