Vodafone to launch 4G services by year-end

[swatkats]

Vodafone India will start trials for fourth-generation (4G) services later this year, though the country's No. 2 mobile phone operator continues to focus on expanding its 3G coverage amid surging data growth, its chief technology officer said.

The Indian unit of UK's Vodafone Group has yet to decide on the location for starting trials, Vishant Vora said in Pune Wednesday. It will ready itself to launch 4G in the five circles where it won 5 Mhz or more of airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band in the February auctions, but will start operations only when 4G-enabled cheaper mobile devices are readily available. The five circles are Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata and Mumbai.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

First their top official says its too early to launch 4G in India right now and because Reliance Jio has made its final call on 4G launch date.. Meanwhile Vodafone just wants to be in news for no reason

 

[6pack]

Their 2g & 3g sucks a lot. 3g maxes out at 350KBps nowadays compared to 630-650 a year back. 2g just looses connection every half hour or so. They should first improve their current services before looking at 4g or 5g.

 

[vyral_143]

They are real morons. As @6pack rightly said they first need to improve on their current offerings. Currently I have given up all hopes from them. During my daily commute 80% of the time I do not get any data connection.

 

[ayanavish]

Their 2g & 3g sucks a lot. 3g maxes out at 350KBps nowadays compared to 630-650 a year back. 2g just looses connection every half hour or so. They should first improve their current services before looking at 4g or 5g.

Their 3G connection is a joke

 

[swatkats]

I recently ported out of vodafone because of no 3G services. From last month they've started offering 3g via ICRA, a few days back i got a call from their offer department to shift to postpaid. Poor fellow didn't knew i already ported out and asked me why i did so..
Told him Idea has good 3G connectivity and speeds are pretty much satisfactory, he goes on convincing even Voda has 3G services now, i asked him about speed and questioned him back If Idea offer better speed for same money why i should i use Vodafone, poor fellow couldn't do anything but to agree with my point. Vodafone data speeds are really bad comparable to Docomo.

Regarding the topic, Why is vodafone so concerned about 4G when they feel India is still an un-matured market for 4G services?
Seriously first of all Airtel-Vodafone-Idea (AVOID) have formed an CARTEL and did not try to promote 3G anyday by offering affordable packs until a year back? (They probably felt they're not going to get the invested money back) and vodafone sucking badly with decent speed and plans. They talk about 4G now. LOL

 

[blr_p]

Their 2g & 3g sucks a lot. 3g maxes out at 350KBps nowadays compared to 630-650 a year back. 2g just looses connection every half hour or so. They should first improve their current services before looking at 4g or 5g.

4g handles congestion better.

This thread is one factor that makes me wait for a phone that can actually support 4g in the future. Course when it will be ready pan india is anyone's guess.

This Diwali ?

Seriously first of all Airtel-Vodafone-Idea (AVOID) have formed an CARTEL and did not try to promote 3G anyday by offering affordable packs until a year back? (They probably felt they're not going to get the invested money back) and vodafone sucking badly with decent speed and plans. They talk about 4G now. LOL

I blame the lack of quality service (to date) on govt policy that did not encourage it or offer sufficient incentives. Companies can only operate under what the existing regime allows (or rather prevents) and they are in business to make a profit.

i still don't know why the govt decided to screw Vodafone a couple of years ago over taxes. it was ridiculous.

 

[Fenix]

I totally agree with 6pack. Everyone wants to jump into the new tech without perfecting out the old one. Atleast improve the old tech, we really get dismal internet speeds be it 2g or 3g,even 4g wont do wonders .

 

[swatkats]

This Diwali ?

It looks like May 2015, when 4G services get a pan India launch.
In March, Videocon and aircel may launch.. (Going by their recent press releases.)

 

[swatkats]

Vodafone to launch 4G services by year-end
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Kochi will be part of the first wave of the roll-out, the company said

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/dH...odafone-to-launch-4G-services-by-yearend.html

 

[drkrack]

Experiencing horrible connection issues with recently launched Airtel 4G in Hyderabad , This picture explains everything.

Probably that's why, they're offering 4G at same tariff as 3G.

 

[swatkats]

Airtel

 

[technofast]

Airtel 4G is good in Chennai. I had horrible time with Vodafone 3G until I ported out to Airtel just for the 4G. It is much much better than Vodafone. The speed is consistent.

 

[pauldmps]

Yeah. My friend just shifted to Chennai. He got a new Airtel 4G sim which had 1GB 4G pre-activated. I asked him to do a speedtest. It was 2.76 mbps. LOL!
I get 1mBps+ on Airtel 3g here as it is a rural location and there are not much 3g users out here. BTW, I only use the 1GB/49@night plan. I cannot afford paying 300 for 1GB data

 

[vivek.krishnan]

https://goo.gl/photos/tXUsYRPrAHoxeqKw9

https://goo.gl/photos/1k1E8rZ5gUhb7133A

I think the above two screenshots can show how bad Airtel 4G is when transitioning between E/3G/H+/LTE, since Mumbai is not fully 4G enabled. This was the biggest deal breaker for me, barring the OKish speeds. Oh, and this was taken at night, when there is not much congestion. After this, I switched off 4G

 

[technofast]

Yes, but I used to get around less than 200kbps speed in Vodafone 3G. Atleast it is better now with Airtel though I think it looks like 3G network and they claim it to 4G but how do we check if it is real 4G?

 

[swatkats]

Here they put up boards all over town claiming to be the fastest 4G network.

I must admit initially the speeds were good, but have been hearing people whining about poor speeds from past month. May be infrastructure overloading?

 

[swatkats]

Vodafone announces 4G services roll-out

The services will be commercially available from 14 December, making Vodafone the first to offer 2G, 3G and 4G services in Kerala. The telco is offering the FD (frequency duplex) standard of Long Term Evolution (LTE) for 4G technology, using 1800MHz spectrum in the state. The other 4G standard—Time duplex or TD-LTE—needs 2300Mhz spectrum.


http://www.livemint.com/Industry/ucqZ81Z9pXAI812o9bDj4N/Vodafone-announces-4G-services-rollout.html

Prices, as expected, are on the higher side. 20 GB has been priced at Rs 2,499.

Reliance Jio will also launch its services here by the end of this month and will reportedly price its 20 GB pack at less than Rs 1000, which is well below what Vodafone is pricing its offering at.

http://rtn.asia/n-m/16079/vodafone-starts-4g-rollout-in-india-with-kochi#