Mobile Data was awful this year - Your Experiences ?

[ukcobra]

I have been attending Le Mans for 10 years, and have been using Data on the Phones / MiFi for many years.

This year was the worst so far for Roaming on the French networks. And it was not just my 'Three' contract, as others with 'EE' and 'Vodafone' had the same issues.

At race start none of us were able to stream Radio Le Mans, as we did last year, so we had to do a quick run to find some FM Radios just before the start.
Most of Saturday and a good part of Sunday we had very patchy service.

Anyone else notice the same issue ?

Next year we are going to try a French PAY Sim and test, as I suspect it will be better. I have experience in other countries whereby Local Sims are prioritised over those who are roaming.
This situation makes me glad I did not pay for the Eurosport Live or WEC Video content, as it would have been hamstrung by the lack of bandwidth.

We stuck to German Eurosport and Radio Le Mans on FM for time back at the campsite.

[Been]

Have to be honest, I’m with O2 and it was dreadful. My only thought is that this would have been the first that us brits can use our data abroad free of charge so there would’ve been far more people trying to use it this year?

[C70R]

I'm with Three, and my data connection was the best I've ever experienced at Le Mans. We were live streaming highlights at trackside in the first hour of the race.

[ukcobra]

I was in Tribune 12 and I could not get any Data, let alone a video stream. I was not the only one affected, and it was across multiple networks.

[jazzdevil]

Been said:

Have to be honest, I’m with O2 and it was dreadful. My only thought is that this would have been the first that us brits can use our data abroad free of charge so there would’ve been far more people trying to use it this year?

Yeah, I had an O2 and Vodafone phone with me and both were rubbish. I switched networks a few times, but nothing made any difference.
I had intermittently good signal early in morning or very late, but largely it was worse than when you paid for it before.

[joema]

At the start and end I couldn’t get anyway. As the crowds dispersed it returned so maybe it was just too many? Similar to going to football matches.

[Gregmitchell]

Yeah it was terrible, at the JK gig you couldn't do anything, just pure volume of people trying to use the data slowed it all down.

[delta0]

It was really bad for me too. I’m using three.

[Truckosaurus]

I couldn't get any data whilst at the trackside area during the race. Was ok during the week and back at the campsite later on Saturday night.

[t1grm]

I'm 02 and it was crap all weekend

[tankplanker]

In the early morning I had a slow speed connection, during the day it was completely unusable.

Since EU roaming went free the operators have admitted that they now throttle it:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/26/o2_fesses...

Three sent me a text saying I could pay £5 a day to derestrict my connection. So intentional throttling is the reason it is slow early morning.

During the day it was unusable due to the amount of people, Le Mans needs to put in extra capacity just for the event.

[ukcobra]

I am with Three, and did not get any message offering to De-restrict anything. The issue here, is that by offering such a service, they are effectively making you pay more to get the service you already pay for, and are entitled to.

[tankplanker]

This is what they sent me:

three said:

From Three: Want to use more data than your inclusive allowance? Or stream or tether to your hearts content? With the Data Passport you get unlimited unrestricted data for just £5 a day. To find out more & to get it now click: http://mobile.three.co.uk/datapassport

The link only works properly on my phone and when not using WiFi, offending bit in bold below:

three said:

Enjoy unlimited gloating, browsing and photo uploading with the Data Passport for £5 a day.

Just select Continue below and then select Buy now to use the internet as much as you like. If you use a lot of data, the Data Passport was designed for you. It provides additional unlimited allowance to be used in the UK and in 89 destinations around the world. The Data Passport allows you to use your device as a Personal Hotspot, stream video or audio at unrestricted speeds, and connect to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

The implication is that without the passport you can't do that.

The issue is that the EU legislation didn't mandate that the performance couldn't be throttled, so as a source of profit was turned into an overhead it is no wonder the Mobile Networks have reacted in this way.

[RL17]

Off to get a new phone - overloaded storage so apps etc and no music or Waze for most of journey and even messed up old plug Ipod as Iphone 5s rubbish.

Ran through allowance and had to buy a load more data when got to Calais - still had problems (Tesco - Vodafone network?)

Phone ran out of charge daily and uploaded about 10 to 20 photos to forums or WhatsApp all event and took about 5 mins or more to load a picture.

Le Mans app never worked etc - about half of phone stotage for updates etc to make phone slower!!!!

[delta0]

ukcobra said:

I am with Three, and did not get any message offering to De-restrict anything. The issue here, is that by offering such a service, they are effectively making you pay more to get the service you already pay for, and are entitled to.

The reason I’m with three is because of feel at home. It is effectively a passport to use your phone in a lot of countries across the world at no extra cost. This issue seems to the something unique to the EU and perhaps is not the network throttling but rather just not enough bandwidth available at the site or some other throttling. If it is the network then that would be unacceptable. Throttling it so much that it doesn’t work is not right.

[//j17]

Have to say it was about the same as I remember it in previous years.

The combination of a slashed ACO budget and the fact half the apps on people's phones are sending a constant stream of tracking messages back to their masters (on Android for the love of god install NoRoot Firewall) probably meant increased usage with no increase in on-site micro cells.

[krisdelta]

Coverage was awful - was a nightmare just to pick up emails, almost impossible to make calls near the circuit (even in Beausjour camp). Once you walked out someway (e.g. on Mulsanne or towards Arnage) it came back somewhat - but still patchy. I am on 02 and my phone skipped between Orange FR and some other French network.

[lindrup119]

Yup, crap with O2 all weekend.

[StevieBee]

It was mentioned to me that ACO have been experimenting with GeoFencing with the aim of trying to channel data through a bespoke, temporary service as the data requirement through local providers is placing increasing pressure on those services affecting the locals.

I have no idea what this means or if it has any impact on the subject in hand.

[JohnnyFive]

Bandwidth was pretty bad. Found the best solution was to manually select the "Free" network as opposed to allowing the phone to automatically select a network. Frequently restarting the phone seemed to also help. Was able to stream some video during the race from track-side.