About 3 years ago we decide to buy a static caravan in a rural area. I am in the IT profession for my sins so when w ebought it I bought a data sim of all the main mobile suppliers and hooke dthem up to me Archer MR600 router that was connected to a Bluespot LTE directional antenna. All suppliers, except EE, were coming back with 2-4mbps but EE were showing 40-60mbps with only very occasional speeds of 15mbps. Reason, I understood, was that the mast I point the aerial at is dedicated to EE and also very close to our location (you get a survey when you buy the aerial).
Anyway things were great for over a year which meant I could work from the caravan (those dreaded Teams meeting etc). But in the past 4-6 months the signal has deteriorated so we regulalry get 1-2mbps and if we are lukcy 4-6mbps. Had several excuses from EE, the usual - weather, more people using the service in the area etc etc. Oh and a neighbour was told by EE that the mast in the area (HU18 1EL Atwick Road) had experienced power issues that had damaged the infrastructure but they were struggling to sort it. That has come 2nd hand so I cant clarify it.
Anyway the upshot is that I now cant work from the caravan as it impacts on things like Teams. And the most frustrating thing is the apathy from EE. Another neighbour was also told from EE that they are investing in 5G in the town about 15 miles away. The last email I got from EE was that they had just checked it and it seemed ok. really!
By the way my signal strength with my setup varies from 75-100% ALL the time, I get an RSRP reading of -69dBm, a RSRQ reading of -15dB and a SNR of 14.8dB. Those figures are pretty good to be honest and should result in better speeds.
My educated 'guess'. The local EE dedicated tower is not functioning so the signal is being picked up from the next nearest which is about 3 miles away and not in direct vision.
I pat £30pm for thi service. Really.
Thing is as I have stated the other suppliers are no better (and EE are now down to their level) and also I dont have the 'luxury' of landline broadband.
Yes I can work from my main home where I have 1 Gig Virgin but I wonder how widespread such a scenrio is in rural areas.
IF the speed from ALL supplers had been poor then I could have a general grumble about service but when you experience a brilliant 40-60mbps for 12 months plus then suddenly 4-6mbps if you are lucky something has changed. And excuses such as weather dont come into it given the excellent service in the past and yes usage wil go up but that would take 100's of new customers to impact and anyway you shoul dbe ensuring your service is maintained
So come on EE, for the foreseeable future, large areas of teh UK will NOT be eceving 5G so ensure your 4G network is maintained.
