topic Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please? in Mobile Network discussions

Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 19:49:37 GMT

Is it possible for someone from EE on here to check a mast is functioning properly? I put a status check in for PR3 2YB (not my postcode but right next to the mast) because I know one of the cells on a tower isn't working but the check has just come back saying there no problem with the mast in that area. I know it's not working as I can't connect on the 2100mhz on that tower and that's the fastest one for me and gives me max signal. It's cell I'd 4514835 it's 2100mhz band 1 and tower I d. 17636. The others on 1800, 800 and 2600 on the same tower are working but don't give as fast an aggregated speed. Cheers. Paul

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

bristolian — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 21:32:22 GMT

I would recommend using the status check but mentioning specifically that you feel there's an issue with the B1 L2100 service on that cell, and explaining why - it's not something can be checked from here.

Having said that, I'm unsure why L2100 should be the quickest carrier - there's a combined total of 65Mhz of bandwidth available across B3 & B7, only 15Mhz on B1. Are you able to identify your primary & secondary carriers under CA?

I would expect the strongest service to be on B20, but that will only be a secondary carrier out of choice due to the limited bandwidth.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 06:43:59 GMT

Hi Bristolian, thanks for your reply. Yes I did give those specifics on the status checker. If I unselect all other bands and just have 2100mhz selected it now connects to another mast which is really weak. Which is how I've determined this one is offline. You seem more knowledgeable on this than I for sure but Re why 2100mhz as the primary with others aggregated is the fastest from this mast I can only assume its because of the direction it's facing and the signal strength from it (it's much stronger than the 2600mhz for example). I cant get a breakdown of the other aggregated ones. Usually with 2100mhz as primary I get 60 -100mb. Currently getting 30 to 40mb and upload has dropped also.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

James_B — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 07:32:50 GMT

Hi @Drpau,

Our Technical Support Team will be happy to take a look at this if you get in touch.

Thanks

James

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 21:06:33 GMT

Hi James, can you not just direct them to this post? I tried that link and there is no messaging service currently working, phone call only and I can't be doing with spending 30 mins in a queue to try and explain what is above . Thanks.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

bristolian — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 21:48:52 GMT

You could try using webchat, I've done similar recently.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 11:54:51 GMT

Thanks. I will try and have a look for the webchat. Had zero joy from adding it as anothrr status check on the mast and just get the default answer that there is no issue when there clearly is.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 22:00:52 GMT

Wow. Just done the webchat. That was over an hour of my life I will never get back. "It's not a known problem". Ok so I'm telling you about it now, we both know about it,..can it now be a known problem so someone checks the mast...? Gave lots of information on mast, cell i.d. but was told we need to follow the "designated path". Very much a "computer says no" scenario. I said a few choice words in my head when he typed "move closer to the router, move obstacles in the way, problem resolved" and now it seems like he's just copy and pasting random stuff about resetting my router to get rid of me.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 11:59:25 GMT

Following on from this and my second webchat I've done some reading. The lady on the 2nd webchat (level 2?) had said we can still see traffic on 2100mhz and mentioned 5g. I now know from doing some reading that EE are changing some 2100mhz bands from 4g to 5g. Is there anyway of telling if this is what has happened with this mast?

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

bristolian — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 12:18:34 GMT

EE used to have 40Mhz of bandwidth at 2100Mhz entirely for 3G. That has now been reduced to 5Mhz in most (if not all) areas in preparation for 3G switchoff, and the remaining 35Mhz is used for both 4G & 5G services, depending on individual site configs.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 13:05:41 GMT

You are a font of knowledge Bristolian. So 4g should still be running alongside 5g if it's been implemented. For this cell it does say 5G ENDC is available. I just can't understand why the 4g has disappeared from 2100mhz on this cell/tower. I have ended up buying a 4x4 mimo router which has boosted my speed when I keep it on 2600mhz primary. Ive got less redundancy if that goes wrong (1800mhz is much slower) though now that there is no 2100mhz. I've seen that for some sites EE have documented the changeover for 2100mhz to 5g. Are they doing that for all sites?

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

bristolian — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 18:24:20 GMT

Not sure what you mean by documenting a changeover, but there are different blocks of spectrum within 2100Mhz that are used for different technologies, where it's used. So it just depends which blocks are being used by active equipment.

It's entirely possible to have 4G2100 both with & without 5G2100, and vice versa - it all depends on the individual site config and what equipment is deployed on the tower & ground-level. In many cases the two are deployed together, but it's not a requirement.

5G-ENDC being available is encouraging.

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

Drpau — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 21:06:28 GMT

By documenting it I mean actually telling people they have done it, such as this https://twitter.com/EE/status/1567467468666376199?t=pn9NrT9_nDDn0QVtc3gBog&s=19

Also what was interesting when I cited the cell I'd 4514835 and tower I.d 17636 she said she had no idea where I had got those from and they didn't use them?

Re: Cell on tower not working. Can EE check it please?

bristolian — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 22:10:47 GMT

There's many 4G & 5G frequency adds activated most days, social media is only ever used to promote the highlights.

You're quoting eNB ID's there, the agent you were speaking to was probably looking at site-IDs. Both serve different purposes.