Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

[minorman]

Back in the mists of time when the world was Orange (remember them ?)  and phones were analogue before 2G started I got an Orange SIM card and all was well.  I do PAYG as quite honestly if I make 2 calls a month, receive 6 and send 10 texts I am doing well so a contract is ridiculous in spite of the best efforts of so called salesmen.  When 2G started I went over to this and then I found the service was (and always was) patchy outdoors and almost impossible indoors. We roll forward through 2G, 3G and now I am on 4G on a Samsung smart phone. I don't want data so don't pay for it.  I live on the edge of Braintree and can see 1 mobile phone mast out of my windows and am only 1.5 miles away from another but the signal service is c**p.  Especially indoors.  I am forever getting "EMERGENCY CALLS ONLY" messages on the screen and the 4G indicator and the 4G signal bars are up and down or non existent,  I presume I default to a virtually impossibly poor 2G system for calls in this circumstance but even then a couple of calls I have been waiting for today could not get through.  So, as per the title, Are EE PAYG phones now given a poorer service ?

[James_B]

Hi @minorman,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

What does the coverage checker report for your location?

Are any problems reported if you select the check status option?

Do you have WiFi at home? If you do, is WiFi Calling activated in your phone's settings?

James

[bristolian]

Older phones certainly get a poorer service compared with current models, yes.

A 4G-calling/VoLTE enabled device unlocks access to low-band "extended range" 800Mhz service which, where available, provides coverage improvements over the high-band layers which 2G operates on. Your reference to the 4G service noticeably varying leads me to suspect this may be available in your locality.

VoLTE also provides seamless handover with the VoWiFi layer allowing for continuity of calls between "indoor no coverage" & outdoor mobile network calling.

The codecs employed on the VoLTE & VoWiFi layers are also more advanced, meaning much better audio quality.

[minorman]

It would appear that my phone is 4 G but may not be 4G-calling/VoLTE etc but it works fine when I am in a major town.  I do not pay for data so VoLTE would not work for me as far as I can work out  but my wife has the same phone with data and her calls / signals are just as bad !  I have finally cracked it I think. Emergency calls only means that EE signal is definitely c**p or non existant where I live on the edge of Braintree so my phone locks on to any network provider it can find to still allow 999 calls only.  This rather worries me as well with the impending cessation of the good old wired landline phone going and being replaced with a digital channel on the home broadband which will be mains powered.  No mains means no 999 calls as my mobile might not work !

I found a coverage map facility on the Ofcom website and this confirms that signals for EE at my location are limited or none , particularly indoors.  The other three providers have a similar set of problems with signals so there is not much hope is there !  

[bristolian]

The Emergency-calls message means your home network doesn't have coverage, but alternatives do.

I'm fairly sure the Ofcom website doesn't allow for VoLTE devices.

[minorman]

Going on from my initial question, I think I may have inadvertently unlocked an answer.  My wife and I have identical phones so I swapped over sim cards and her phone (she uses vodafone) works just as badly on EE as mine does.  SO, I thought, what is different and the answer is possibly simple .  On both phones there is a little icon at the top of the screen that shows when 4G is available.  She has data and her data option is switched on. The 4G icon is nearly always on.  On my EE PAYG I do not pay for data as I don't want it so my data option is normally switched off. My little 4G icon never appears and the service is lousy.  Today I switched on the data option even though I don't pay for it and VOILA !  the 4G icon appears, the signal strength icon gets more bars and my ability to make calls improves.  SO, I can only conclude I must be being shunted off on to 3G ore even 2G if I dont switch on the data option.  

[Chris_B]

@minorman  There is no 3G as that’s been switched off.   The G icon is the type of network connection you’re using,  it’s not about data usage it’s a network connection type and in theory the higher the G rating the faster network speeds can be achieved “when” using data.  but calls can still be made via 4G or 2G depending on your network connection type 

If you don’t have a data allowance you can not use data and any credit on the account can not be deducted for data usage.    

[bristolian]

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@minorman wrote:

Today I switched on the data option even though I don't pay for it and VOILA !  the 4G icon appears, the signal strength icon gets more bars and my ability to make calls improves.  SO, I can only conclude I must be being shunted off on to 3G ore even 2G if I dont switch on the data option.  

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This is just an issue of the on-screen symbols, toggling mobile data has no impact on RAT (radio-access-technology) selection.

As mentioned, 3G has been switched off since January 2024 and 2G-data capabilities are - at best - extremely limited. The reselection criteria actively encourages phones onto the highest-spec RAT available, in most cases 4G. If mobile data or voice menu options prevent use of individual services, they just won't work - in the case of voice, CSFB will drop to 2G to prevent calls failing.

[Chucklesuk]

Orange was always digital like Mercury one-to-one at the time.

People do not get worse coverage being on non pay monthly plans.

I run EE & Three on my phone same time EE is better but not by much.  I moved from another country a year ago and coverage was much better. Thing here is the cell towers and so low off the ground and not enough of them. It’s hard here with planning permissions is part of the issue though. It is annoying even in London coverage is not what it should be.  Coverage has got worse over the last 10 years and I swear The networks I’ve turned down the output power, a lot of towers to save money, I swear. 
Anyways, good luck

[minorman]

Going back to this question.  Depends whose coverage checker you look at.  The EE one says excellent indoors and outdoors whereas the ofcom one says calls at my postcode (CM7 5NY) are at the best "iffy" outdoors and probably unlikely indoors.  The ofcom one seems more accurate based on me testing 2 phones !

I do have wifi but our phones dont have wifi calling .