BT phone has to be signed in to EE when I'm out

[fernman]

This has been bugging me for some time. I have a BT home hub 2 and my  phone connects without any problem.

Before the merger with EE I could be away from home and my phone would automatically connect to any BT wifi, where it was available.

It no longer does. Every time I go out I have to open my phone's Network & Settings, select EE and sign in.

Why is this necessary when it always used to connect before, without me having to do anything, while BT and EE are now supposedly one company? 

I've done the reset the hub bit. If the phone (and my wife's) wasn't tied in with BT broadband I'd have changed provider long ago.

[imjolly]

BT and EE are not now one company but 2 separate companies within the BT GROUP just as Plusnet is a BT GROUP company 

The BTWIFI app is no longer available now need to use EE app with same login

[fernman]

What you say, imjolly, sounds a backward step to me, not progress.

My phone simply connected to BT wifi before, without the need for an app, and I'm not exactly overjoyed at having to install one now. Furthermore, I did not see mention in the lengthy blurb on Playstore that it keeps you connected to wifi.

Nevertheless, if it does do that I will grudgingly keep it. I can always keep it hidden in the Tray.

[David500]

@imjolly  What EE app? On iPhone I can only find 2:

• EE - Manage EE account
• EE : Home - Setup smart router and kit

[fernman]

Looks like it's only on Android in that case.  99.66 MB btw.

But I just installed the app on my phone so I could see if was effective when I go out later, and it didn't recognise my BT username and password. So no use then. Uninstalled now.

I also feel that for the app to connect my phone to wifi when I'm out of range of my BT hub - IF it does that - then I've got to have the app running all the time, and draining my battery.

Still no solution then. To recap on my OP, my phone used to automatically connect to BT Wifi before it became EE, without any app or logging in, it doesn't any more and therefore I'm rather peed off about it.

[fernman]

Finally sorted it. I didn't have my Mobile Data enabled. When I went out this morning my network connection was made to BT Wifi (which I thought didn't exist any more???) and everything worked just like at home.

Maybe obvious to most of you, but it wasn't to this 82 y.o. 🙄

[fernman]

Just come back to say that having mobile data enabled didn't solve the problem. If I wanted wifi while I was out and  about I was still expected to log in to EE. A bit of a faff when all you want is to quickly look up information about a product in a shop.

So I finally got around to going to the BT / EE shop in the town centre, where an assistant spent half an hour fiddling with my phone before handing it back and telling me to log in. "There", they said, " you should be logged in all the time now."

I left the shop and sat on a bench 20m away, where I checked my wifi. Not Connected, it said. Well, they had their chance and now they've lost a phone customer, I've moved to O2 network.