Glastonbury 2024 Mobile Network Performance (2024)

Glitchinthesystem said:

I did, until early last year when I decided to retire. I was the South West area Field Services Manager, so it is more than likely members of my old team of Field Engineers who are maintaining the CoW's at Glasto. They live on site too so it's a nice gig to do for those into their music.

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Thanks, so why does Vodafone work but O2 does not?

ThomasTheTankEngine said:

Thanks, so why does Vodafone work but O2 does not?

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It looks like they don't deploy any COWs at Glasto, so the local mast gets completely saturated...

WilliamGrimsley said:

It looks like they don't deploy any COWs at Glasto, so the local mast gets completely saturated...

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That's kind of surprising, both O2+VF had CoWs up here earlier this year but O2 couldn't be bothered for Glastonbury?

All the other networks have a setup...

The old O2/VF host divide probably doesn't help either.

insertfloppydiskhere said:

That's kind of surprising, both O2+VF had CoWs up here earlier this year but O2 couldn't be bothered for Glastonbury?

All the other networks have a setup...

The old O2/VF host divide probably doesn't help either.

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When I checked on Cellmapper there weren't any shown so I guess not?

I just had a look on Cellmapper and it shows many points for O2?

Edit:

Excuse me, they aren't showing up anymore, they were there yesterday when I looked, perhaps a glitch on my side.

Glitchinthesystem said:

The CoW's deployed (anywhere) sit out side of the VF/O2 shared infrastructure agreement and are deployed by the individual companies not the shared services company. So as has already been correctly surmised by others if O2 don't deploy their own CoW's then there local permanent cells will quickly become over subscribed and there will be a lot of unhappy O2 customers. Considering VF have a dedicated marketing campaign/plans aimed at a younger demographic I e. VOXI you would hope that they would continue to deploy CoW's at this type of events. I know they used to cover the vast majority of large festivals.

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Thanks, so perhaps it comes down to money?

Is there any way the permanent sites could ever support enough people or they always need more sites? I had read 5G should allow anyone to use the phone indeed Vodafone's site says "lots of people online in a busy stadium even when busy".

Also based on comments I read here Vodafone doesn't have very many customers compared to EE or O2 right so O2 is failing them all.

ThomasTheTankEngine said:

Thanks, so perhaps it comes down to money?

Is there any way the permanent sites could ever support enough people or they always need more sites? I had read 5G should allow anyone to use the phone indeed Vodafone's site says "lots of people online in a busy stadium even when busy".

Also based on comments I read here Vodafone doesn't have very many customers compared to EE or O2 right so O2 is failing them all.

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I think it's just to do with the partnerships that these networks have with events. Vodafone is working great at Glasto as they're the official partner.

I remember when I went to RIAT last year, the O2 network died as soon as I got there, EE chugged along and Vodafone was working better than expected as I think there was a COW on site. The problem is when you have such big numbers of people on a site, the local mast and local people struggle to get connected.

ThomasTheTankEngine said:

Is there any way the permanent sites could ever support enough people

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At permanent location like big stadiums and concert halls then mobile network should be able to handle it via permanent masts if they deploy enough spectrum.

In rural location like where Glastonbury festivals is, it's not going to be financially viable upgrading the local cell sites to handle the load when other 360 days so the year the load will be low

Glitchinthesystem said:

The CoW's deployed (anywhere) sit out side of the VF/O2 shared infrastructure agreement and are deployed by the individual companies not the shared services company. So as has already been correctly surmised by others if O2 don't deploy their own CoW's then there local permanent cells will quickly become over subscribed and there will be a lot of unhappy O2 customers. Considering VF have a dedicated marketing campaign/plans aimed at a younger demographic I e. VOXI you would hope that they would continue to deploy CoW's at this type of events. I know they used to cover the vast majority of large festivals.

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I should mention I wasn't referring to the CoWs with Cornerstone, rather the local masts they're using

O2's investment strategy makes no sense at times...

insertfloppydiskhere said:

I should mention I wasn't referring to the CoWs with Cornerstone, rather the local masts they're using

O2's investment strategy makes no sense at times...

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See Also

5G Cell Towers Near Me - 4G & 5G Locator

Vodafone

8, 20
1, 20

O2

1, 8, 20
20

EE
3, 7

I'm not an expert but having spent the last day studying @th_442's post, I think I understand it a little better now.

Vodafone, at Glastonbury it says 10MHz on 8, 10MHz on 20, 15 MHz on 1, 10MHz on 20. So the total by my maths is 45MHz.

O2, at Glastonbury it says 10MHz on 1, 10MHz on 8, 10MHz on 20 and 10MHz on 20. So the total by my maths is 40MHz.

EE, at Glastonbury it says 20MHz on 3, 20MHz on 7. So by maths the total is 40MHz.

So Vodafone has a bit more, EE and O2 have the same. So on a normal day they'd all be quite similar no? The issue seems to be that O2 haven't got any of these temporary "CoWs" deployed, perhaps they couldn't afford it? Hopefully somebody from O2 can tell us!

Happy to be corrected, as I said I am still learning this all!

ThomasTheTankEngine said:

Thanks, so perhaps it comes down to money?

Is there any way the permanent sites could ever support enough people or they always need more sites? I had read 5G should allow anyone to use the phone indeed Vodafone's site says "lots of people online in a busy stadium even when busy".

Also based on comments I read here Vodafone doesn't have very many customers compared to EE or O2 right so O2 is failing them all.

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A permanent site would need more physical equipment and antennas so the local sites would need to be physical upgraded and that would be cost prohibitive I would guess. Also the connectivity to the sites would need to be upgraded to provide extra bandwidth again it wouldn't be cost effective to increase the backhaul capacity and be tied to a minimum 12 month contract with for a single annual event.

Thing about VF is as they took over Cable & Wireless ten+ years ago they have access to the skills, knowledge and manpower to deploy their own "fixed" network (or ramp it up temporarily) as and when needed so can be more responsive.

Stadiums tend to use DAS ( Distributed Antenna Systems) technology for coverage and that's a completely different kettle of fish.

Glitchinthesystem said:

A permanent site would need more physical equipment and antennas so the local sites would need to be physical upgraded and that would be cost prohibitive I would guess. Also the connectivity to the sites would need to be upgraded to provide extra bandwidth again it wouldn't be cost effective to increase the backhaul capacity and be tied to a minimum 12 month contract with for a single annual event.

Thing about VF is as they took over Cable & Wireless ten+ years ago they have access to the skills, knowledge and manpower to deploy their own "fixed" network (or ramp it up temporarily) as and when needed so can be more responsive.

Stadiums tend to use DAS ( Distributed Antenna Systems) technology for coverage and that's a completely different kettle of fish.

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Thanks, I get the cost thing, I guess my question was more theoretically, I mean if they did all the upgrades they could do the two sites it says on Cellmapper would they need the CoWs or it would never be enough?

Can you explain why I seem to always have issues with O2 at the Oval and last week my friend with Vodafone had the same problem? But Three worked fine on my work number.

ThomasTheTankEngine said:

O2, at Glastonbury it says 10MHz on 1, 10MHz on 8, 10MHz on 20 and 10MHz on 20. So the total by my maths is 40MHz.

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Almost right, although O2 only hold 10MHz of Band 20, so it's impossible for them to deploy two carriers. It may be your phone misreporting it.

Without that error, the addition is correct. You just add the bandwidth of each carrier (frequency) to find the total bandwidth deployed. It would be 1+8+20, so 30MHz.

You can view what spectrum is held by who on the Mast Database website.

signalsearcher said:

Almost right, although O2 only hold 10MHz of Band 20, so it's impossible for them to deploy two carriers. It may be your phone misreporting it.

Without that error, the addition is correct. You just add the bandwidth of each carrier (frequency) to find the total bandwidth deployed. It would be 1+8+20, so 30MHz.

You can view what spectrum is held by who on the Mast Database website.

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I originally replied exactly the same, they're talking about the permanent sites covering the area

insertfloppydiskhere said:

I originally replied exactly the same, they're talking about the permanent sites covering the area

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Oh, right, that makes sense.

signalsearcher said:

Almost right, although O2 only hold 10MHz of Band 20, so it's impossible for them to deploy two carriers. It may be your phone misreporting it.

Without that error, the addition is correct. You just add the bandwidth of each carrier (frequency) to find the total bandwidth deployed. It would be 1+8+20, so 30MHz.

You can view what spectrum is held by who on the Mast Database website.

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I think I am right? I was talking about the total over both sites, O2 has two. I'm not sure if your phone can use both at the same time?

My other point was that this seemed to match EE. So I was contesting the idea hasn't invested in the area, albeit it looks like for the festival they've not done anything!

ThomasTheTankEngine said:

Thanks, I get the cost thing, I guess my question was more theoretically, I mean if they did all the upgrades they could do the two sites it says on Cellmapper would they need the CoWs or it would never be enough?

Can you explain why I seem to always have issues with O2 at the Oval and last week my friend with Vodafone had the same problem? But Three worked fine on my work number.

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Theoretically yes if they increased the size of the masts by many fold to accommodate the large number of sector antennas that would be needed.

The Oval issue could be down to the fact that shared O2/VF infrastructure at the local sites was basically oversubscribed. Although a lot of London (especially central London) isn't part of the shared services agreement and both operators provide thier own infrastructure. Three's local infrastructure was not as subscribed as O2/VF at the time hence no issues.

Glitchinthesystem said:

Theoretically yes if they increased the size of the masts by many fold to accommodate the large number of sector antennas that would be needed.

The Oval issue could be down to the fact that shared O2/VF infrastructure at the local sites was basically oversubscribed. Although a lot of London (especially central London) isn't part of the shared services agreement and both operators provide thier own infrastructure. Three's local infrastructure was not as subscribed as O2/VF at the time hence no issues.

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Okay thanks. What does shared services agreement mean? Does this show up on CellMapper?