Coverage issues

[Adamsale]

My experience since switching from 02 is that the 4g service from EE in many uk locations has been extremely disappointing. Not at all what I was expecting when I signed up. I would go back to 02 tomorrow for a vastly superior service.

[bristolian]

Out of interest, how is the service disappointing?

Are you comparing, for example, perceived (indicated) coverage? Data speeds? Voice call performance?

Local variations aside, I would certainly expect a comparison between EE & O2 to favour EE for the most part.

[Adamsale]

Based near Bournemouth I’ve travelled  East West North of the country and Scotland since changing from 02 to EE in early June this year. Never had any issues with 02 on 4g service during my travels. On the other hand EE shows  3/4 bars signal but often is unable to provide 4g data services or is so slow it makes using the internet a waste of time. As I said not what I was sold on via their advertising

[bristolian]

What you report is highly unusual on many levels. I've experienced first-hand similar issues that - for many months - had all the symptoms of a network with config issues, but turned out to be a device fault (off the back of a botched repair, as it happens).

There'll always be local issues & variations, but I am genuinely surprised by your experience - it doesn't fit either with general reported experience, or with the broad thrust of national benchmarking. Are there any specific locations around  the north of the UK &/or Scotland that you can highlight? I've travelled around both in recent months - and found EE service to be consistently reliable.

Have you compared with other EE users in the same areas at all? Are you using the same device as you had when on O2 - if so, is it Apple or Android?

[Adamsale]

I use an Apple iPhone XR and it is in perfect working order. All settings have been checked and no issues found.

So since switching from 02 to EE this is what I have found. After showing a fair 4g phone signal slower or not responding in some locations such as Ringwood Bournemouth Sidmouth Chiseldon Henley Hertford Cambridge Ely Stafford Edinburgh Dundee as well as some other locations. My wife uses Vodafone and daughter 02 and only experienced similar connection issues in Chiseldon and Dundee.

I use dedicated EE PAYG sim in an Avtex mobile router and this has worked fine for the most part. That was what persuaded to switch my mobile contract from 02 to EE but unfortunately not the same experience so far.

[bristolian]

Please forgive some scepticism on my part, but a few comments in your last post ring major alarm bells.

"All settings have been checked" - a faulty device will rarely exhibit through a setting being wrong, and there's no setting on either Android or Apple for "make my coverage poor". People have posted on this forum saying their phones have been "confirmed fine" by some unknown Apple tests, which turn out to be pretty questionable. Unless that diagnostic is physical RF testing, I would treat them similarly to any other first-line-CS test.

You mention an EE PAYG SIM working fine, but of not getting the same experience so far. The same as what? If you have 2 EE devices performing differently, this should - by itself - ring alarm bells.

I may turn out to be wrong, but I think you've plenty yet before a device issue can be ruled out here. A 2way SIM-swap with a known working device would be one possibility, comparisons with EE users in problem areas another. If the EE network was genunely as poor as you're experiencing, across such wide areas, there would be far more evidence of it - in performance stats, fault reports, forum posts.

[Adamsale]

Sent from my iPhone

[Adamsale]

You express doubt where no doubt exists I have had a patchy 4g mobile service from EE since changing service provider from 02. It’s not the phone it’s the service.

If you look at the original post on this forum  they have had a similar experience to me. 

By the way I haven’t used the Avtex router since early April so I will see how it performs next time we use it on our travels. However I think something may have changed and not for the better.

This will be my last post on the subject unless I see an improvement in 4g coverage.

[bristolian]

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@Adamsale wrote:

If you look at the original post on this forum  they have had a similar experience to me. 

This will be my last post on the subject unless I see an improvement in 4g coverage.

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Alas not - your posts are in a thread of their own where yours is the first post.

You are confident in your issues being the network rather than phone, but I don't see any evidence of this in your comments thus far. At the very least, I don't see what you've done to rule it out.

You're quite welcome to not engage any further if you're not seeking assistance - most genuine posts on support fora want help, it's offered to anyone who wants it.

[cje85]

It would be highly unusual for O2 to outperform EE.There may be a few specific areas where that is the case but on a national level O2 constantly emerges in last place - especially for data speeds, with EE, Vodafone and even Three well ahead.