I’ve just ordered a GlobalLink 520 for remote monitoring of my boat solar but can find a difinitive map coverage for the uk. Mainly Gloucestershire.
Has anyone got one in the uk?
asked
GlobalLink 520 Uk coverage
Try the following article https://community.victronenergy.com/content/kbentry/119936/globallink-520-lte-m-coverage.html
Thanks I’ve read that and don’t really give great info. It says it’s Telefónica which I believe is O2 their website says it don’t cover my area for LTE-m but another independent site/ checker says different.
The SIM card supplied is a 1nce card who don’t do a detailed area coverage map but says it covers the uk but can’t find who they use.
Officially they only suppory O2 in the UK. Recently we also noticed some units on the Vodafone Network.
So if the devices are only officially O2 only, how do they roam to Vodafone LTE-M, or don't they care what LTE-M network they connect to (Unlike Mobile Phones)?
Victron uses 1nce as a service provider they have contracts with many operators. So it can work with both O2 and Vodafone. But it is possible that neither o2 and Vodafone has rolled out LTE-M over their 4G network. It's just a software update that they need to activate on all cell towers. In the UK this has not been done everywhere.
Simple answer to iOS that no it don’t work.
I tried at home in a big town and on the boat with an external Ariel still won’t connect.
I May have to go down the cerbo gx route.
I also have a GlobalLink 520, with no LTE-M coverage in my city.
How can Victron sell a product in the UK that can only cater for 50% of the UK population?
O2 only has 50% UK coverage for LTE-M, some of the larger cities are not even covered at this time even though O2 stated the roll-out will be complete by 2021.
The selected operator in this case is 1nce and they have a contract with O2 in the UK. Unfortunately O2 does not have good LTE-M coverage where it seems to be best in the east of the UK. It does seem to be improving and recently we also saw a couple of GlobalLinks in the UK that have used the Vodafone network.
I actually sent mine back saying that it didn’t work and got a cerbo gx and ran a Ethernet lead to the router at the front of the boat works great. I can remotely monitor it all now.
Just a quick follow up question. If the GlobalLink would have had wifi support would that have also solved your problem?
I had some feedback from a friend in the UK Telecoms industry. His initial feedback to me when I showed him the O2 coverage was that Vodafone and O2 have a sharing agreement for 4G split east west, so he suspected that we were only seeing the O2 coverage and Vodafone have the other half covered. I should be able to get some more concrete information to share soon. It's very relavent, as most people won't bother buying a GlobalLink 520 if they see the map that was shared on the O2 website.....
