Poor signal for a good few weeks my phone is breaking up all the time

[Spuggiehawk]

My wife and I both use EE and we have been suffering from call break up for a couple of months.  It is completely unacceptable.  The "network status" page just keeps saying:

"Service problem in PH33 7DT

We're on it. We expect good service within 16 hours, but some fixes take a little longer."

This problem is continuous and happens on every call.  The status is a lie.  It should either be fixed within 16 hours or an honest explanation and timescale provided.

Also, there is no option to send a message to customer support.  They want a phone call.  Well how is that supposed to happen!?

Absolutely pathetic service and a disgusting way to treat customers.

[bristolian]

The status updates on the tool are a best estimate, and it's unfortunate when any fault fix is delayed. When this happens, it's often due to a third party dependency.

Do you get the same issues if you alter the network mode in your phone to 2G? Or disable 4G?

[Spuggiehawk]

I'm using a Nokia 6310i, so that's 2.5G.  My wife has exactly the same issue on her Samsung E590.  The best estimate seems to be 16 hours every time I check and we first noticed this issue approximately 2 months ago.  We have been putting up with just texting, but over the past week I've had a couple of very difficult and embarrassing calls because of this issue.

At the end of last year we we getting a stream of "your service may be interrupted because of network upgrade" messages from EE.  Clearly the upgrade hasn't gone very smoothly, but we're not being told about that quite as readily.

[bristolian]

The Nokia 6310i was a classic in its day, but has long since been superceded now - and you'd definitely get some benefit from a VoLTE-compatible device in rural Scotland!

There's not much scope for diagnostic with a 2G-only device, and the upgrade references are likely to be 4G-related with limited impact on 2G.

I would certainly recommend looking at a newer phone - having VoLTE/4G-calling access does enable access to the low-band 4G800 layer which is used across the Highlands & Islands to extend 4G-only coverage beyond that which 2G reaches. Although it's likely cold comfort, the fact a fault is recognised is encouraging.