Really Poor Signal and Failed calls

[Jay0232]

Ive been with EE for as long as I can remember, and generally speaking I’ve always been very happy. However over the last 12 to 18 Months, the signal in the SN11 area has been really bad, sometimes taking a dozen attempts to make a call. The signal jumps between 5G/4G/3G, mostly displaying anywhere from 2 to 4 bars of signal. I don’t think it’s isolated to my postcode as I’ve experienced this in other areas. Ironically enough I travel all over Europe and rarely have any issues, just in the UK and mostly in the area where I live/work. It’s getting to the point where I feel I need to change providers, which is a pain with 4 accounts. I’m suspecting that there are too many people utilising the woefully inadequate network. 

[bristolian]

The on-screen bars are only a rough guide and there's many occasions when fewer bars can be better if, for example, it means you're using a higher-band carrier. Call reliability should not be an issue anytime VoLTE (Android) or 4G-call (Apple) is displayed - is it?

I have experienced some similar symptoms to yourself over time, which turned out to be a device fault - but in your case, comparing with other EE users would be the next test. If you were to consider changing networks, do make sure of testing all the alternatives in every area you'll be using your phone, to ensure voice & data service meets your expectations. EE are as prone to local issues as any network, but on a national basis the grass is not always greener!

If you can ID a specific scenario or locality where you have issues, those should be reported.