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How bad is your mobile phone signal?

Terrible signal here on all networks. It's like a big black hole of mobile nothingness.
Half a mile up the road it's fine🙄
 
Just to confuse matters. Just because your phone indicates 5G doesn't mean you are actually on 5G, it just means it's available somewhere in the area you are in.

I can only speak for Android using a Samsung phone, when you are really connected to 5G the indicator is infilled:

Screenshot_20240821-130733_One UI Home~2.jpg


Example of being on 4G but 5G is available somewhere in your vicinity, just to cause confusion:

Screenshot_20240821-143919_One UI Home~2.jpg

The story behind this mess.


 
Just to confuse matters. Just because your phone indicates 5G doesn't mean you are actually on 5G, it just means it's available somewhere in the area you are in.

I can only speak for Android using a Samsung phone, when you are really connected to 5G the indicator is infilled:

View attachment 441090


Example of being on 4G but 5G is available somewhere in your vicinity, just to cause confusion:

View attachment 441091

The story behind this mess.


Looks like that is talking about the US, not the UK.
 
The fundamental idea applies though. Different UK carriers also adopt different policies towards what 5G indication a handset might present to the end user. But ultimately it's all a curate's egg. Performance really is a function of (all of): your location, the materials around you in your immediate environs, your handset, the frequency bands in use, the available technologies/modes supported by masts providing your cell, subscriber demand in those cells, EMI, local atmospheric conditions, range, other carrier policies/agreements, etc. There are circumstances where you are better off with a 4G signal rather than 5G.
 
It just seems to be deteriorating by the day. On my commute, I know the bits where there are no signal. And I know I will rarely get anything to load once I'm getting close to Leeds station. But this last couple of weeks I can barely use my phone at all on the journey - there's a signal, but just nothing data-wise except for a few brief bursts. I would bite the bullet and switch from Smarty to a proper contract with EE but I feel a lack of confidence that the extra cost will actually achieve the results I want....
 
I really couldn't give a fuck if i'm on a 3, 4 or 5G connection as long as it can load a webpage / email / app, the problem is it frequently can't even do that, even with 2 networks on the go.
almost never had these problems before the 5G rollout.
 
Footnote (of sorts): on the northern line the other day, I noticed that the 4/5G signal was consistently good throughout the journey (far better, more consistent than on the walk to and from the zones 2 and 4 stations at either end). I suspect that the nature of the tech required, and indeed the fact that it is a more recent investment, brings a more equitable signal to all subscribers than above ground (well, until the segment of the network you are on gets saturated, but then it perhaps degrades in a different manner).
 
A few times in the last couple of months I've just not been able to get through on a phone call at all, or someone has tried to call me and it hasn't worked. Where both ends of the call are within zone 2 London, and made in places where there's not previously been any issue with signal.

It's not just data but regular mobile calls that are becoming unreliable.
 
4G and 5G networks are packet switched, not circuit switched (in essence, they are just about data). So if your provider has switched off (or almost entirely switched off) their 3G radio kit (EE and Vodafone have, Three is about to, O2 completes this next year), and your handset no longer supports 2G, then your phone calls are, essentially, 'data'.

I guess you could dig out an old 2G only handset and stubbornly use that (O2 will start turning their 2G radio kit off next year, EE and Vodafone haven't announced a timeline for that yet, but they should terminate 2G service no later than 2033).
 
Just noticed my phone reported it was using WiFi for giffgaff calls.. Down to one bar in my back bedroom.
Dawned on me that the foil backing on the wall insulation might be an issue.. Wifi is looking strong maybe 14 feet from the router...
 
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