topic Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18 in Mobile Network discussions

Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

psx_ni — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:51:36 GMT

Could EE please investigate the ongoing mobile data issues in Holywood BT18.

The phone often shows a good 4G signal with 3 out of 4 bars, but mobile data is either unusable or extremely slow. Web pages frequently fail to load and simply time out. At times I cannot even send a text message.

The issue affects the High Street and the surrounding side streets. It has been happening for years.

I previously reported this by phone and was told that checks showed everything was working correctly. However, this does not reflect the real world experience, as many people in the town regularly complain about the same problem.

The connection is extremely inconsistent. Running a speed test often fails several times in a row, then one attempt might suddenly achieve around 50 Mbps. Other times it reports only 0.1 Mbps. The results appear completely random despite the phone consistently showing a good signal.

Please could this be investigated further, as it appears to be a capacity or network quality issue rather than a signal strength issue.

If EE had someone simply walk around the town and try using the network, they would understand the frustration from users in the town. Talk to anyone and you'll quickly hear of the issues. It's especially bad indoors.

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

Schockwave — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 20:38:07 GMT

Hello .@psx_ni,

Welcome to the community,

You can check here, register and report and receive updates:

https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-coverage-checker?_gl=1*cdaute*FPAU*OTQxNTgyNzIuMTc3NTU3MjAxMg..*_ga*NzExODc3MTIwLjE3Njc3MTA5NjE.*_ga_YEXV92BLZ6*czE3ODE4NjM4MjUkbzIzNyRnMSR0MTc4MTg2ODQ4MyRqNDkkbDAkaDEwNDQwNDU5MjYkZFN4TEdrV1pyb1g0TThvdUcwTkJVZ1FqR3ZqWFo3ZHlkOWc.*_fplc*V29nMzV0V1hSSTJlaXBxM0V4JTJGUUhlMXRKVU1LOXhqY0lkQ2NGZnFSVFFLcVV2TlVYaXZKeHc2Y2cyQngxJTJCVGd2ZWp4WDR6YWdWdUxpaW84c3pjdkF6SGV6T1hEV3dvNEp1TE1YUGdkcERNWWRBYmVzY1NtYTNtOXppWnA4QSUzRCUzRA..

This is a public forum and most of us are customers like you, so no we cannot do this. Unfortunately, indoors can be bad, as depending on buildings and surrounding area, can cause signal problems, so nothing EE can do, this can happen with any network, this is why there is wifi calling on phones nowadays, that when set up and you have fixed broadband, will enable it to work.

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

bristolian — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:18:31 GMT

Your reference to inconsistency is what strikes me - the most.

Good indicated coverage with slow data speeds (which I would personally describe anything below ~5Mbps) would be associated with capacity issues. Speed tests suddenly jumping between ~50Mbps & 0.1Mbps would tend to indicate more a device issue, it would be extremely unusual for network loads to vary so suddenly. Also text messages & voice calls should still succeed even in extreme cases of congestion, this is by design.

What is your level of familiarity with the radio interface? I'm referring to radio frequency bands and carrier-IDs mostly.

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

psx_ni — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:27:35 GMT

Hi,

I understand this is a public forum and most of the users are customers, but I have a little hope some helpful member of staff sees this and can understand the complete frustration and look into it.

This has been reported multiple times to EE via the link you suggested. No good ever comes of it.

I have located the EE transmitter that is responsible for the high street. Interestingly, there is a bunch of trees in-between it's line of sight of the high street. They blow quite a lot in the wind as they are on top of a hill at this costal location. I would suggest this would go somewhat to explain the sporadic mobile data transmissions.

Again, trying to get someone at EE to understand and listen to this is impossible.

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

psx_ni — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:29:22 GMT

Hello,

Definitely not a device issue as my wife and everyone I talk to in the town are loudly complaining about the same issue.

As I just said in an answer to another poster, I believe I have found the transmitter responsible for the high street and there are trees in the line of sight between it and the high street. Costal area, with the transmitter+trees on top of a hill, with the trees moving in the strong winds may explain the issues we are all having. But nobody listens or cares!

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

psx_ni — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:31:54 GMT

Sorry, didn't answer the rest of your post :-

Calls /text messages are just as difficult to make with 4 out of 5 bars of signal. Again, not just me.

Quite technically minded, so can understand the radio bands/carrier IDs - have also been in the test menu of the phone and can see the band information. Happy to provide this to an engineer if it would help.

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

bristolian — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:43:34 GMT

There's 3 sites that I can see provide some coverage to Holywood High Street, I would imagine the strongest server in any given spot depends on local geography,

Vegetation & tree growth would cause a general degradation in coverage from the affected TX antenna, it would not be data-specific. Voice calls & mobile data use the exact same network signal, slow data speeds are usually a capacity issue.

To respond to "Sorry, didn't answer the rest of your post " - I've edited my post to add that this forum has an edit function, so as to put all the detail you need in one single post.

If you can identify the eNB, PCI & EARFCN you're connected to, when you have call or data issues, that would be useful - to identify a specific frequency band on a specific sector.

Re: Persistent mobile data issues in Holywood BT18

psx_ni — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:50:06 GMT

Thanks - will get the requested details next time I'm out and experience issues