topic Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ? in Pay as you go

Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

minorman — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:47:22 GMT

Back in the mists of time when the world was Orange (remember them ?) and phones were analogue before 2G started I got an Orange SIM card and all was well. I do PAYG as quite honestly if I make 2 calls a month, receive 6 and send 10 texts I am doing well so a contract is ridiculous in spite of the best efforts of so called salesmen. When 2G started I went over to this and then I found the service was (and always was) patchy outdoors and almost impossible indoors. We roll forward through 2G, 3G and now I am on 4G on a Samsung smart phone. I don't want data so don't pay for it. I live on the edge of Braintree and can see 1 mobile phone mast out of my windows and am only 1.5 miles away from another but the signal service is c**p. Especially indoors. I am forever getting "EMERGENCY CALLS ONLY" messages on the screen and the 4G indicator and the 4G signal bars are up and down or non existent, I presume I default to a virtually impossibly poor 2G system for calls in this circumstance but even then a couple of calls I have been waiting for today could not get through. So, as per the title, Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

James_B — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:25:22 GMT

Hi @minorman,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

What does the coverage checker report for your location?

Are any problems reported if you select the check status option?

Do you have WiFi at home? If you do, is WiFi Calling activated in your phone's settings?

James

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

bristolian — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:56:50 GMT

Older phones certainly get a poorer service compared with current models, yes.

A 4G-calling/VoLTE enabled device unlocks access to low-band "extended range" 800Mhz service which, where available, provides coverage improvements over the high-band layers which 2G operates on. Your reference to the 4G service noticeably varying leads me to suspect this may be available in your locality.

VoLTE also provides seamless handover with the VoWiFi layer allowing for continuity of calls between "indoor no coverage" & outdoor mobile network calling.

The codecs employed on the VoLTE & VoWiFi layers are also more advanced, meaning much better audio quality.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

minorman — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 13:25:42 GMT

It would appear that my phone is 4 G but may not be 4G-calling/VoLTE etc but it works fine when I am in a major town. I do not pay for data so VoLTE would not work for me as far as I can work out but my wife has the same phone with data and her calls / signals are just as bad ! I have finally cracked it I think. Emergency calls only means that EE signal is definitely c**p or non existant where I live on the edge of Braintree so my phone locks on to any network provider it can find to still allow 999 calls only. This rather worries me as well with the impending cessation of the good old wired landline phone going and being replaced with a digital channel on the home broadband which will be mains powered. No mains means no 999 calls as my mobile might not work !

I found a coverage map facility on the Ofcom website and this confirms that signals for EE at my location are limited or none , particularly indoors. The other three providers have a similar set of problems with signals so there is not much hope is there !

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

bristolian — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 14:53:34 GMT

The Emergency-calls message means your home network doesn't have coverage, but alternatives do.

I'm fairly sure the Ofcom website doesn't allow for VoLTE devices.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

minorman — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:41:22 GMT

Going on from my initial question, I think I may have inadvertently unlocked an answer. My wife and I have identical phones so I swapped over sim cards and her phone (she uses vodafone) works just as badly on EE as mine does. SO, I thought, what is different and the answer is possibly simple . On both phones there is a little icon at the top of the screen that shows when 4G is available. She has data and her data option is switched on. The 4G icon is nearly always on. On my EE PAYG I do not pay for data as I don't want it so my data option is normally switched off. My little 4G icon never appears and the service is lousy. Today I switched on the data option even though I don't pay for it and VOILA ! the 4G icon appears, the signal strength icon gets more bars and my ability to make calls improves. SO, I can only conclude I must be being shunted off on to 3G ore even 2G if I dont switch on the data option.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

Chris_B — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 19:11:21 GMT

@minorman There is no 3G as that’s been switched off. The G icon is the type of network connection you’re using, it’s not about data usage it’s a network connection type and in theory the higher the G rating the faster network speeds can be achieved “when” using data. but calls can still be made via 4G or 2G depending on your network connection type

If you don’t have a data allowance you can not use data and any credit on the account can not be deducted for data usage.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

bristolian — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 19:26:52 GMT

@minorman wrote:

Today I switched on the data option even though I don't pay for it and VOILA ! the 4G icon appears, the signal strength icon gets more bars and my ability to make calls improves. SO, I can only conclude I must be being shunted off on to 3G ore even 2G if I dont switch on the data option.

This is just an issue of the on-screen symbols, toggling mobile data has no impact on RAT (radio-access-technology) selection.

As mentioned, 3G has been switched off since January 2024 and 2G-data capabilities are - at best - extremely limited. The reselection criteria actively encourages phones onto the highest-spec RAT available, in most cases 4G. If mobile data or voice menu options prevent use of individual services, they just won't work - in the case of voice, CSFB will drop to 2G to prevent calls failing.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

Chucklesuk — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 22:52:01 GMT

Orange was always digital like Mercury one-to-one at the time.

People do not get worse coverage being on non pay monthly plans.

I run EE & Three on my phone same time EE is better but not by much. I moved from another country a year ago and coverage was much better. Thing here is the cell towers and so low off the ground and not enough of them. It’s hard here with planning permissions is part of the issue though. It is annoying even in London coverage is not what it should be. Coverage has got worse over the last 10 years and I swear The networks I’ve turned down the output power, a lot of towers to save money, I swear.
Anyways, good luck

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

minorman — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 13:17:16 GMT

Going back to this question. Depends whose coverage checker you look at. The EE one says excellent indoors and outdoors whereas the ofcom one says calls at my postcode (CM7 5NY) are at the best "iffy" outdoors and probably unlikely indoors. The ofcom one seems more accurate based on me testing 2 phones !

I do have wifi but our phones dont have wifi calling .

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

Chucklesuk — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 13:33:42 GMT

Hiya I never use those coverage maps information from the networks as they are so misleading whenever I’ve looked at them. Sad thing is if you was to call your network moaning about coverage, they would look at that information That is completely wrong anyways all good. When I moved back here from the US I scoped out using all the networks Where I would be using my phone and then went with my choice.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

minorman — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 13:36:00 GMT

Chuclesuk I think you have cracked it and reinforced my opinion that the networks are not that good. Cell sites should interlink between cells and invisibly hand over the call seamlessly but looking at my location the braintree cell site signal strengths fizzle out just half a mile away or so down the road from me and from the other direction even worse. i.e. the cells do not appear to overlap or even touch. I realise that getting towers put up is a nightmare in terms of planning but equally well, do operators want the cost of building and setting up more sites together with all the power requirements ? No they don't ! Whatever happened to the proposals for "micro cells" that were supposed to infill any gaps ? Too expensive and too technical probably.

Its a bit like UK terrestrial TV. They went digital to expand the vast amount of c**p they could transmit and at the same time release frequencies to sell off. Transmitter powers were heavily reduced to save power so we wouldn't upset the french and were probably never turned up when they promised to . If you question the TV signal where I live the reply is "youre gonna need a better aerial" even though the aerial rigger I employed has told me that i am as good as it can be. As you might guess I live on the edge of two TV transmitter signals.

When I visit my daughter in Perth WA my 4G mobile works perfectly there and never fails. The whole of the Perth area is basically running wireless on the mobile networks on 4G and 5G.

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

minorman — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 13:39:31 GMT

Yes 3G on EE is off but not on O2 . I keep my Aussie sim card parked in an old 3G phone on O2 and it works fine. Optus in Australia is regularly on the wire checking up on me ! It either is working on 3G or 2G .

Re: Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

bristolian — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 13:51:03 GMT

@minorman wrote:

I realise that getting towers put up is a nightmare in terms of planning but equally well, do operators want the cost of building and setting up more sites together with all the power requirements ? No they don't ! Whatever happened to the proposals for "micro cells" that were supposed to infill any gaps ? Too expensive and too technical probably.

Operators do aim for contiguous coverage, I'm not sure what you're referring to by "power requirements".

What specific proposals are you referring to about microcells? There's a very active rollout of small cells in several major UK cities. In rural locations, cell-edge coverage can often be improved by low-band rollout - especially where sites were originally planned around high-band deployment.

Sorry, I don't follow a few of your other points.