Terrible coverage in central Windsor

[_anon]

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Hi,

Is anyone else getting terrible data coverage in their town centre? In central Windsor (Berkshire) I regularly have no data connection, just an exclamation mark next to the signal icon on my Google Pixel 5. Is this due to buildings (a castle?), proximity to a railway or anything else? Or too many people connecting to too few masts? It's a real problem given that paying for parking on RingGo needs an internet connection.

Ultimately would a different network be better, or are they sharing the same kit?

Thanks

[bristolian]

Is this a recent problem? Do you have any issues with making/receiving calls? Does VoLTE/4G-calling show on your phone's screen when you have these problems?

The network question is not easily answered, the only reliable test is real-world - using different networks in the locations you want to use your phone. There is extensive site-sharing, but radio equipment is separate to each network. Some antennas are shared between EE & 3-UK, as part of MBNL.

[Northerner]

Hi @_anon 

I bet if you change your connection to to 4g it will improve considerably.

Thanks 

[_anon]

I'm on 4G when the exclamation mark next to the signal icon shows and I lose internet, but I'm still able to make calls. I tried rebooting the phone a couple of times but the issue persisted. I've had this problem in this particular area (maybe 1 square km) of the town regularly over the last year or so and as more things like food pickup and parking need internet it gets more frustrating.

Thanks for the info on site and antenna sharing, if it comes to it I will borrow phones on other networks to check they work better before looking to switch.

[LWH]

Hi,

My wife uses Vodafone and doesn’t seem to have the issue. But certainly data connection is really bad with EE. 
I have spent a considerable amount of time with EE customer services talking about this issue, I live in Windsor and am constantly having to use WiFi hotspots to get a data connection. 
The technical team at EE say that there is a limited service mast in the area which is causing the issue. Apparently this is being looked at but there is no timescale for a fix unfortunately. 

[bristolian]

I suspect the serving sites in Windsor High Street have only a limited L1800-single carrier deployment, and this may provide limited data speeds when traffic & usage is high.

[Jm1416]

The service in Windsor is horrendous for mobile phones on EE and has been for some time. I am seriously considering changing my network when my contract is up. It never used to be this bad and I am a long term customer from the orange days. 

The ultimate slap in the face irony is if you load the game Pokémon go in town there is an EE sponsored gym.. that of course you can't use because the data service is so so bad. You would think in what is one of the largest visited towns in the country they would sort it out and not just put a sponsored Pokémon gym to taunt us! Lol 

[Jon_K]

Hi @Jm1416.

Welcome to the community.

Have you checked our Network Status Checker to see if there are any ongoing issues in your area?

Jon

[SW2007]

Most phone cell coverage is blocked/jammed as a security measure to protect Windsor Castle. 

[bristolian]

Blocking network signals to protect the castle is a lovely conspiracy theory, but security guards & the police use mobile phones too.