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Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

SueF1 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 11:19:39 GMT

Is anyone else with BT Halo having problems with their mobile data?

I have 3 BT mobiles. My daughter currently has no data service. From a conversation with the technical team yesterday there seems to be a system glitch which is capping data at the standard allowance, so not allowing the use of the double data under BT Halo.

I was advised that there is no fix date yet, so my daughter is without any data until it renews on 18 December! I can't believe that there is no workaround to this problem. I did persuade BT to provide a free data boost, but that isn't working either.

Anyone else managed to find a solution to this problem? My daughter needs her data for school work, so this is an urgent problem!

Thank you

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Michael_D — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 09:07:41 GMT

Hi @SueF1

Welcome to the community.

I can understand your frustration with the data not working, especially when it is relied on so much now.

Is it just impacting your daughter's number or are all 3 numbers not able to connect?

Is the phone showing it has a data connection, such as having 4G next to the signal?

Michael

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

SueF1 — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 11:02:10 GMT

Hi Michael

Thank you for contacting me.

Yes, it was just my daughter’s phone. The other two were working fine, but were well within the standard data limit.

my daughters’s phone had the 4G signal and I performed all the recommended resets.

She has just messaged me from school to say that it’s working. Not sure whether that’s because the Halo issue has been fixed or it’s letting her access the add on provided.

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Michael_D — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 11:58:20 GMT

Thanks for the update @SueF1

I'm glad to hear it has started working. If you do find that it does stop again, I'd recommend speaking to our tech guides again so they can look at it further.

Michael

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 17:17:19 GMT

I have this problem right now. I have used my 4GB standard allowance but cannot use my remaining 4GB double data.

This is unacceptable - I literally only pay for Halo because of the double data allowance. Are you sneakily trying to get us to move to EE? Fix it or refund now!

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 18:39:00 GMT

So did a network connections reset on my iPhone and it seems to be working again. A simple restart had worked previously for about 2 minutes before stopping again.

I note carrier settings are now at BT-C 60.0.1. Maybe there is a problem with this version?

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 08:48:31 GMT

Hasn't resolved the problem. Happening again this morning 😑

Know it's not a network problem as my EE work mobile is fine (using it to type this).

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 09:41:22 GMT

So working now in Central London.

Is there some sort of prioritisation issue in Easr / North East London which would allow EE users to access data but not BT users?

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 10:05:48 GMT

And now it has stopped again 😡

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Michael_D — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:04:07 GMT

Hi @Colin_London

Thanks for coming to the community.

Are you able to try swapping the SIM from your EE phone to the BT phone and vice versa? It is just to see if the problem follows the SIM or the phone.

Michael

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:22:16 GMT

Cannot do that easily as don’t have the tool to hand at work.

So today data works for a certain amount of time then stops. Turning on airplane mode and then off again gets it working again. Then an indeterminate time later it stops again requiring a further toggle.

Have checked all my other settings and they seem OK.

Now on carrier settings 61 after iOS 18.2 update.

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Michael_D — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:29:33 GMT

Is it something you'd be able to try later? @Colin_London

I know you said the EE SIM is working, but it is still worth checking the network checker to rule out any known problems in the areas you are in.

If it does carry on, it would be best to speak to our tech guides, so they can look into it further for you.

Michael

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:35:13 GMT

I can try this evening from home but generally it has been working whilst at home in the evening outside M25. Which is why I was wondering whether it is a prioritisation issue with BT users being bumped off in favour of EE users due to network pressures.

The problems do seem to be worse during rush hour commuting and at lunchtime.

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Michael_D — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:48:31 GMT

There wouldn't be any kind of priority given to particular customer types. If it does just seem to be certain areas it would be best to speak to the tech guides so they can run a diagnostic and take a deeper dive into the network in the areas.

Michael

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 23:06:19 GMT

So tried first line technical support. But their network refresh didn't work.

During the journey home tonight the data stopped working altogether. I think what I was seeing previously with the 'intermittent' data on reset was the BT management system letting the phone work for a few kB before the block was kicking in. So it was misleading, and it didn't matter how many resets I tried on my device because the root cause was in the BT systems..

When I got home tried swapping the SIM to my work mobile. The data problem followed to my work phone thereby proving it wasn't my personal phone at fault, and putting my work SIM in my personal phone caused that to work perfectly with data.

Phoned up 150 again this evening, went through first line to second line who then confirmed it was the Halo double data issue which has not been fixed. Have now escalated to executive complaints and expecting a call back tomorrow afternoon.

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

SueF1 — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 07:53:11 GMT

@Colin_London , well done for following this up. We are based in Hertfordshire and my daughter’s phone has been working with the add on, so this is a workaround for people affected.

Given how much money I am paying BT each month, it is not acceptable to say we have to wait until they fix the problem or the data renews and in my view they should be offering the data add on proactively for people affected.

The reason I’ve stuck with BT for 20+ years is reliability, but right now we have this phone issue and I’m not getting the broadband I’m paying for either and have an engineer coming to sort that out today. Husband’s not happy as he’s missed two big football matches due to the poor speeds, making the games unwatchable!!

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:29:15 GMT

Hi Sue,

I chose to escalate this one because there are underlying issues that need to be reviewed, not least the low priority that has been given to fixing an issue where customers are not getting what they paid for and are having a vital service removed for unacceptable periods (mobile data is now the main function of a phone, not voice calls or texts).

That any change was implemented to BTs systems that could have resulted in this is, I feel, indicative of the ‘unmanaged decline’ of BT residential in favour of EE. If this was an EE Mobile mess up then there would be people all over this and it would be a P1 (it isn’t).

BT know they have to unpick the links with Halo if they want mobile customers to move to EE. Letting this sort of thing just happen though is not the way to do it.

Interestingly I was told that they couldn’t just add a data boost or turn the data cap unlimited until the issue was fixed and that I just had to put up with no data until my bill date. So different to how they dealt with you. And yes, in this situation why wouldn’t they be proactive about providing workarounds? Answering that question may be part of the answer as to how we have got here.

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 09:23:45 GMT

So on the dot at midnight (my billing date) my mobile data started working again. Whatever you may be told this problem has not been fixed and there seems to be no hurry to do so. I was assured that this is not a way of persuading people to leave to go to EE but, as I pointed out, in any other situation where people were losing a service they had paid for this wouldn’t be treated as such a low priority.

Even the £10 a month per 20GB SIM EE deal is worse for me than my current family SIM deal (and that is before the loss of roaming and TNT sport). On top of that I would still be stuck paying for a broadband Halo premium I had no use for, for over another 12 months.

So BT needs to provide the service that was offered when I chose a Halo deal. Financial restitution isn’t a long term solution to being deprived of a vital service for a proportion of each month.

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Peter_W — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:22:42 GMT

Thanks for the update here @Colin_London.

I can totally understand your frustration if this is taking longer than anticipated to resolve, but I'm confident we will be working towards getting something sorted out.

If you've been speaking with our complaints team directly with this, I'd definitely recommend mentioning any concerns you have with them, and they'll be able to make sure we've done everything we can at our end for now.
Peter

Re: Problems with mobile data with BT Halo

Colin_London — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 13:20:20 GMT

Hi @Peter_W - I imparted my thoughts on the handling of this matter to the guide at length. Fair play to him in hearing me out.

Unfortunately the exec team didn’t want to talk to me directly about this and just offered a refund for this month through the guide or else it would have to go to the ombudsman.

So I accepted this time but I don’t want to have to complain again next month. This needs to be given some impetus to be fixed but I haven’t seen evidence. It just appears indicative of how the BT residential business is treated that the link between Mobile and Halo is missed when a system change is planned.