Move to BT Mobile. Poor signal!

[pwwhitehead]

I was with EE who are obviously owned by BT and provide BT Mobile network. Before joining EE I did the obviously coverage check. Although it stated low 4G coverage the 2G coverage was shown as good. This obviously was not the case nil coverage.

EE brag about their fast download speeds which it major urban/city areas is good, but in rural locations the coverage is awful. I went with another provider who are rapidly expanding 4G cover in my area. Lord knows how the Emergency Services Network will work. At the moment the coverage is not fit for purpose.

[Dean007]

I also suffer from poor reception but to say it’s not fit for purpose is a little over the top. EE and all the other networks that run on it have many many thousands of happy customers who use the service daily and without issue.

Is the network perfect no, is any network perfect no. EE/BT are guilty of not offering its customers a solution to help ease reception issues but that hardly makes it for the worst company. Network coverage maps are a guideline and should be used as that, it is impossible for all operators to know what obstructions lay between you and your home, or what ever people’s homes are made from. This is not an excuse for a lack of coverage but if you are not happy with a service move to another, yes this forum has many who complain about coverage but clearly those who have a decent service don’t come here to praise it.

As for the emergency service I’m sure they have a service agreement in place that will be monitored.

[chrissheppy69]

Has anyone come over from O2 ? I managed to get a pay sim card from them and the 2 main areas I go to the coverage seems much better.

Does anyone have any input with experience from O2 ?

Thanks.

[Dean007]

I was with o2 from the first iPhone. They have a consistent network but their network speeds are not as fast as others. They have a decent 3G in most areas including places like Cornwall BUt again I left because where I was living had poor indoor coverage and was paying paying almost double BT.

[pwwhitehead]

I accept you view THAT EE provide a very good fast service in built up areas, however in rural areas espically North Norfolk it's terrible. Regarding fit for purpose my meaning was that their network in rural areas is not for for purpose. That is a fact look at the vast areas with little or weak 4G signal in my area. And EE state their customers will also benefit from this pubically funded network coverage. Well in my part of the country there is no development by way of new masts. 

Strange how other providers are building masts in this area. I liked EE and their customer service, but they fail on the main part of their service....coverage

[pwwhitehead]

I recently left EE Togo to O2 better coverage in my area with 4G downloads of about 40mg. Example of difference in coverage. I was with a colleague both 1-2 miles from Coroner both providers provide blanket 4G coverage at this location. From our location I got 4G at full bars, colleague had one bar at 2G.

[MrBelter]

Swings and rounabouts, i am currently moving to BT Mobile after first trying out an EE SIM in my phone to see if there was a usable signal as i live in the sticks and in the shadow of a hill.

In my house O2 has a poor signal with an Edge connection only, Three has a very patchy signal and if it holds long enough about 4Mbit on 3G (but walk 20 yards away and its a 60Mbit+ 4G connection), EE medium signal indicated all over the house with a 30Mbit+ 4G data connection.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Just because you are getting a good signal on EE, that does not mean you will get the same on BT Mobile, its not as simple as that.

Reasons for poor mobile signal

[MrBelter]

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@Keith_Beddoe wrote:

Just because you are getting a good signal on EE, that does not mean you will get the same on BT Mobile, its not as simple as that.

Reasons for poor mobile signal

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Are you implying BT actively reduce the signal because they are MVNO?

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@MrBelter wrote:

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@Keith_Beddoe wrote:

Just because you are getting a good signal on EE, that does not mean you will get the same on BT Mobile, its not as simple as that.

Reasons for poor mobile signal

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Are you implying BT actively reduce the signal because they are MVNO?

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No, its nothing to do with reducing the signal level, its simply the allocation of slots to each provider. As I explained, a drop in signal level could mean that your connection has been handed over the the next cell site with spare slots.

This is more likely to happen during peak times when there are a lot of calls in progress.

If you can use a utility to see which site you are connected to, then that is a good guide.

There are slightly different arrangements for 3G mobile data, which was explained by an o2 maintenance engineer while I was working on a cell site link.

To avoid too many connections being made, the power level is reduced as more connections are made, this has the effect of reducing the download speed for people further away from the cell site.

As connections reduce, the power level is increased. The engineer said this was commonly called "breathing"

The 2G and 3G equipment at the cell site are totally separate, but the 2G has to come online first before the 3G transmitter can be activated. This was related to the Private Circuit fault I was working on at the time, so it was all very interesting.

The 3G transmitter would not work because the link to the 2G one was down.