5G rollout seems to have wrecked 4G

[EastAnglian]

I live in a fairly rural area but 4G coverage was by and large OK. Now 5G has appeared, it's patchy so my phone is often flicking from 5G to 4G and back again. This causes almost all apps I'm trying to use to freeze, particularly anything that uses my location.. Turning 5G off ought to work but the 4G signal in those areas that have had a 5G rollout has become almost useless. Not sure what to try next

[Christopher_G]

Hi @EastAnglian 

Welcome to the community.

Your phone should switch between 4G and 5G automatically, depending on signal strength. Have you checked your postcode on our network status checker to see if we're aware of any issues/maintenance work in your area? If nothing shows up, it will give you an option to report a problem to our network team who will look into the performance of the network there.

Chris

[bristolian]

In the same way as when 3G & 4G were first launched, the reselection criteria are set for phones to prefer the newer techs whenever the RX is deemed sufficient. Thus a 5G phone will prefer that over 4G whenever the criteria is met.

If you're on the edge of 5G coverage, or NR-5G is being carried from a site further away and closer 4G coverage is available, then phones can easily flip-flop between the 2 layers.

This can also be complicated by which frequency band your phone is being covered by. Low-band 5G-NR (on 700Mhz) or 4G (800Mhz) will have a greater coverage footprint, but is a lower-priority than high-band coverage.

Ultimately, if your voice/data/text service is unreliable as a result of any local issues, those should be reported.

[EastAnglian]

Thanks for your reply. I spent some time last night in a village I visit twice weekly. The 4G there was always poor but it mostly worked if you tried all the usual tricks. Now it is broadly divided in two: 5G on the Western side of the road, 4G on the Eastern side. Unfortunately the boundary seems to wobble a bit so the flip-flopping is constant. Turning 5G off no longer works as the 4G seems to have been degraded. There are no reported issues/maintenance works for that area. Out of interest, is there a difference in the way 4G and 5G decide your location? My particular interest is a mobile game called Ingress which requires an accurate location at all times. The flip-flopping seems to freeze the game, as if it can't find out where I am. 

[bristolian]

I have no idea what you refer to as "all the usual tricks"!!

Neither 4G or 5G, or any "G" for that matter, is responsible for location-finding. Depending on the accuracy required, it's either a function of your phone's GPS (reported over the mobile network), or an IP-lookup on EE's core network.

Either way, the "G" you're using is pretty well irrelevant. It sounds like you're on the edge-of-cell for 5G, it would be interesting to know which frequency bands are in use across both 4G & 5G techs. I could surmise at what's causing this, but it would be guesswork without some local knowledge.

[EastAnglian]

OK thanks, that's interesting. Tonight, another village I visit regularly and I was greeted with 0G which was a surprise, it's normally fine there. Usual tricks: get out of the car, toggle airplane mode on and off, reset location, walk around, swear etc. Eventually found a hint of 4G then a touch of 5G then nothing again. Eventually settled on very poor 4G. I've been an EE customer forever, an Orange customer before that and honestly the coverage around here is as bad as I've known it. Not sure where to take that, another network perhaps?

[bristolian]

The coverage patterns aren't dictated by the "G" you're using, as much as the frequency bands in use. The phone you're using can often impact fringe-RF-performance too - in extreme cases, one phone can be usable when another isn't.

It may be worth comparing notes locally with other users, to see if your experiences are unique to yourself. If you're happy to say on a public forum, then - out of interest - where (roughly) are you?