NO 4G OR 5G around large parts of lancashire. Anyone else? Where abouts are you?

[carguy143]

Hi everyone,

I'm in Skelmersdale, Lancs and have not had a usable 4G or 5G signal in various places across the northwest since maybe Wednesday or Thursday. Here are places I have observed this out and about where previously I always had full signal. 

Skelmersdale, the entire town. 

The M58 towards Wigan and junction 26 of the M6.

The M6 up to junction 28A has a very weak signal in most places and things like maps, YouTube music, or other streamed radio services won't load, or constantly buffer. Places with signal are 4G only instead of the usual 5G. 

The M65 eastbound towards Darwen: as above. 

I have reported the issues using the EE app but it doesn't give any updates or inclination as to what the issue is. My local Facebook group is full of complaints. 

What is going on to cause such widespread disruption? Has anyone else in or around the northwest seen this? If so, please report it to EE and also advise where you're located as this is very unusual. 

I'm confident it isn't a phone or user issue as I borrowed an o2 SIM and it still works as expected. 

[bristolian]

I suspect your issues are not lack of 4G coverage, but some kind of selection issue,

In other words, your phone has somehow got wedged on the 2G layer and is not reselecting 4G/5G as it should. Try toggling flight mode - see if 4G/5G is regained.

The services you mention, do not need 5G to work, 4G should be perfectly sufficient.

[carguy143]

Sadly rebooting hasn't done anything to fix the issue, nor has flight mode, or manual network scanning. 

[bristolian]

Manual network scanning won't do anything in this scenario, it doesn't differentiate between RATs (Radio Access Technologies), just between operators.

If toggling flight mode doesn't restore the correct RAT, that's unusual. Must be something specific to the reselection criteria in your area. Are you using Android or iOS? Does your phone have an option to disable 5G/force 4G-only?

[carguy143]

Thanks. I'm using an S23 Ultra. The phone does give me the option to toggle 5g. It used to let me force networks to 4g, 3g, 2g, but EE disabled that with a SIM update. 

[Peter_W]

Thanks for confirming that @carguy143.

Have you checked that your phone is fully up to date at the moment?

Also if you haven't already it can be worth trying a network settings reset; this won't affect any personal data like photos or contacts, but you will need to manually reconnect to any saved WiFi networks you have.

Peter

[bristolian]

IMHO, although the network settings reset is part of the CS Q+A, I don't think it'll make any difference.

The "setting" to decide which RAT/technology layer to connect to, is not part of device firmware but is is network-specific. Historically, EE's RAN was set to be very proactive with forcing users back to 4G - reflected in the "network type" menus increasingly being hidden via SIM-update. Other networks have had different setups here - which wouldn't work if device firmware drove this.

If a lack of 4G/5G coverage drove the behaviour being reported here, the complaint volumes would be through-the-roof.. I have my suspicions as to what might be going on, but am still a little surprised at the flight mode toggle not working. Affected users definitely need to be reporting to CS, and - once the CS boxes are ticked which won't necessarily be easy - insisting on fault cases being raised.

[carguy143 · Accepted solution]

Thanks everyone. I have tried a network setting reset earlier in the day and it made no difference. However, a few hours later, something has changed as my phone is now reportedly connected to my usual EE base station 15759 whereas previously it was reported as connected to one of the two by the motorway.

Fingers crossed it's fixed. Nothing official yet received yet.

 

[carguy143]

Thanks for your input. What do you think was going on? Things seem to be working again now, with no further input from myself.