Vodafone Networks

[alanw]

Are there any plans to upgrade femtocell/Sure Signal to 4G?   Currently I have to choose between a weak 4G signal or our 3G Sure Signal.

[coffeebaron]

As soon as you make a call it will go to 3G

[alanw]

I'm not clear what you are saying.  The phone elects to prefer a weak 4G signal rather than the strong 3G one from the Sure Signal.  It will use this for both data and voice as far as I can see unless the phone settings are changed to ignore 4G.  

Just to be sure I made a call while allowing auto select 4g/3g/2g and the call did not go through the Sure Signal.

[sebastianbd]

There is no VoLTE on the VodafoneNZ network, so a call will never happen on 4G. The handset will 100% always fall back to 3G for any Voice Call. Now if that's on Macro or Femto is another question.

Not sure what benefit having a 4G sure signal would offer you (as Voice does not go via 4G).

And if there is a Sure Signal, there must be a fixed line connection, so I don't see why you wouldn't just use the wifi connection from the fixed line connection (instead of using LTE mobile data..)

[alanw]

The problem is the phone locking onto the weak 4G tower rather than the strong Sure Signal connection for voice calls and consequential loss of quality and reliability unless 4g is turned off on the phone while at home. That means changing settings whenever you go out and come in if you want 4g service elsewhere.

[MikeHales]

@alanw

Your phone will always use 3G for calls, so use the Sure Signal, would only use 4G for data - apps, email etc. No need to change any settings.

[sebastianbd]

@alanw I think you’ll be out of luck unless you do end up adjusting your handset settings. I am aware of no plans for a 4G Sure Signal. (It doesn’t make sense to have 4G Sure Signal anyway).

For checkings sake, id like to trace and see what happened when you made a call.

Can you please Private Message me your mobile number, the number you made a call to, and the date and time of the call.

Cheers,
Sebastian

[alanw]

PM sent.

[alanw]

@MikeHales the point is that it uses 3g to a -104dB cell tower instead of to a -60dB SureSignal.

[sebastianbd]

I've traced this and found some interesting behaviour. When you made the outgoing call, the CSFallback was to 2G, NOT 3G, on the Russell/Paihia cell site.

Checking further, I found you have not made or recieved a single call at all on a Sure Signal since 01/01...

Has the Sure Signal ever worked for you? Have you ever made a call via it?

What handset do you have (Model Number) and was it purchased from Vodafone NZ?

I'm wondering if your handset may not support U2100..?