EE 3g data drop off

paulkerpaulker Posts: 927
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My wife is on T-Mobile (EE) and she finds that the 3G connection drops off regularly. She has to reset her phone to get it back.

On the other hand I have EE4G and data doesnt drop off.

My mum has T-Mobile 3g and she has the same issue.

Anyone else suffer from this and can anybody (Lucan) shine some light on this annoying problem?
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Comments

  • jon41jon41 Posts: 1,427
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    Been happening to us on Orange for the past few nights, it seems to disconnect from the data network around 1 am and only way to get back online is a restart.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 16
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    Yes me too, and my 3G signal is terrible - 1 bar at best in my home when it used to be 5. I'm in the East Mids, wonder if any major work is being done, because it's damn annoying
  • SkipTracerSkipTracer Posts: 2,959
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    I was doing some speed and signal comparisons in my local area (south Bristol) yesterday using 3G only and was surprise to see EE down in the dumps along with the 3 network.

    Were as 3 and EE have always been max five bars here while o2 and Vodafone have been about 1 to 2 bars but now it seems there all about 1 to 2 bars with the 3 network being about the fastest on average at about 1.5Mb/s download were EE and 3 were up around 5 Mb/s down up until the past few months.

    While I use Vodafone on day to day use I have sims for all the UK networks but my Grandson who is on 3 All You Can Eat has also had issues with signal and download speeds of late and 3 have told him (although they say there’s no problems on the network) it will be back to normal within 3 months, that was 2 months ago.

    I just can’t help feeling that all the network are throttling their 3G network in the hope of getting us to upgrade to 4G but then not all the network have got 4G yet but something’s not right here.

    I was reading today about networks in Germany and France (I think the item was on The Register) throttling some services and giving priory to others. May not be linked but me thinks something like this is going on here in the UK too.:cry:
  • HelixHelix Posts: 1,485
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    Used to happen all the time for me, I thought maybe I just had a faulty iPhone 5. However since switching to 3 I haven't had any problems.
  • HelixHelix Posts: 1,485
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    SkipTracer wrote: »

    While I use Vodafone on day to day use I have sims for all the UK networks but my Grandson who is on 3 All You Can Eat has also had issues with signal and download speeds of late and 3 have told him (although they say there’s no problems on the network) it will be back to normal within 3 months, that was 2 months ago.

    I just can’t help feeling that all the network are throttling their 3G network in the hope of getting us to upgrade to 4G but then not all the network have got 4G yet but something’s not right here.

    I was reading today about networks in Germany and France (I think the item was on The Register) throttling some services and giving priory to others. May not be linked but me thinks something like this is going on here in the UK too.:cry:

    3 have already announced they won't be charging extra for 4G. So it makes no sense for them to slow down 3G.
  • SkipTracerSkipTracer Posts: 2,959
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    Helix wrote: »
    3 have already announced they won't be charging extra for 4G. So it makes no sense for them to slow down 3G.

    True and because of that and their 3-2-1 sim I think they are begin to be overwhelmed by their own success, not sure what EE’s problem might be though.
  • enapaceenapace Posts: 4,303
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    SkipTracer wrote: »
    True and because of that and their 3-2-1 sim I think they are begin to be overwhelmed by their own success, not sure what EE’s problem might be though.

    That still couldn't be the cause they have a lot of 2100MHz spectrum and not a massive ton of customers think around 10 million mark. I know on average that Three customers likely use more data but they shouldn't be overwhelmed at this point.
  • MinardiMinardi Posts: 503
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    Been struggling with EE 3G for about a month here. They are looking into it, and have come back and told me there are issues in my area, and they are qued for a fix, however at the moment I'm down to 2G!
  • Chris1973Chris1973 Posts: 670
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    I have the same problem on Virgin Mobile (which uses T-Mobile and Orange masts), when left on T-Mobile it will inevitably fallback to 2G every few hours, no such problem when manually switched to Orange (although the Orange 3G speeds are crap).

    No problem with "3" here either.

    Could it be something to do with T-Mobile & Orange decommissioning masts in areas where their coverage overlaps from more than one mast?. I believe a similar complaint was covered on BBC Watchdog some months back.

    There is a facebook group set up by others with a similar issue, so I guess its happening in more than one area

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Poor-EE-signal-orange-and-T-mobile-merge-/146700492139139
  • exterraexterra Posts: 159
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    the EE service is London is a complete joke - on the legacy networks (orange and T-mob customers) my experience has been constantly failed calls, messages not sending and 3g data service that grinds to a halt. In exactly the same locations, ee4g sim cards work fine (with the LTE turned off to kick the phone into 3g mode for data).

    In my local area EE have had a couple of base stations off line for data since last november - I've long since stopped being charitable and my view now is that EE know full well the service for Orange and T-Mob customers is severely degraded but they simply don't care.

    For all the puff about a better network the last 10 months have been of constant poor data service not just for myself but for friends and family as well. I've had enough and will be moving to Three at the next renewal.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 449
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    Minardi wrote: »
    Been struggling with EE 3G for about a month here. They are looking into it, and have come back and told me there are issues in my area, and they are qued for a fix, however at the moment I'm down to 2G!

    That seems to be the standard response from EE for the whole country, 3G connection has been very unreliable for the past few months in my area.
  • MinardiMinardi Posts: 503
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    CarrieNYC wrote: »
    That seems to be the standard response from EE for the whole country, 3G connection has been very unreliable for the past few months in my area.

    I'd move, but my only option is back to O2 (no Voda coverage whatsoever here, 3 fine here, but disappears as soon as you drive anywhere) and that would involve unlocking my Lumia 920. Maybe just get a 1020 on O2!
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    exterra wrote: »
    the EE service is London is a complete joke - on the legacy networks (orange and T-mob customers).

    Legacy networks in London??

    You've had your phone checked out right?
  • lost boylost boy Posts: 1,982
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    exterra wrote: »
    In my local area EE have had a couple of base stations off line for data since last november - I've long since stopped being charitable and my view now is that EE know full well the service for Orange and T-Mob customers is severely degraded but they simply don't care.

    Frankly - I agree. It would explain the (to put it delicately) low quality responses from customer service when reporting it for one thing.
    exterra wrote: »
    For all the puff about a better network the last 10 months have been of constant poor data service not just for myself but for friends and family as well. I've had enough and will be moving to Three at the next renewal.

    Well... to be fair, in theory all the puff (as you put it) does make sense - if all goes to plan, by the end of 2014(iirc) the EE network will be fully upgraded and working as it should, with 2G 3G and 4G signals radiating out from all the masts that EE use.

    The problem is in practice it's not going so well, and things end up in the sort of situation where Orange CSRs will cheerfully argue the toss (as they did with me) about how a 2G signal is better than a 3G signal for data use :confused: hmm... or similar situations of that nature.
  • exterraexterra Posts: 159
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    "Legacy networks in London??"

    meaning... EE customers who are contracted to T-mobile / Orange and have SIM cards provisioned as such.

    If there's no different between the ability of any EE customer (whether on Orange, EE or T-mob) to use 3G successfully, why is it that in many places it's impossible to use 3G when you are contracted to T-Mob or Orange, yet in the same place on the same 3G network, the experience for customers contracted to EE4G and using the same 3G service is completely different?
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    Because even if you had say.. two Orange sims (both contract or both PAYG) there would be differences between them even in the same model of phone.. sitting right next to each other.

    Then there is a separate issue. EE4G customers generally have better phones so comparing say an Orange customer with a iPhone 4S and an EE4G customer using a iPhone 5 (both on 3G) will show huge differences simply because of the phone.

    When on an MBNL 3G mast (ie all of inner London) there will be no priority differences between contract customers.
  • paulkerpaulker Posts: 927
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    Because even if you had say.. two Orange sims (both contract or both PAYG) there would be differences between them even in the same model of phone.

    Then there is a separate issue. EE4G customers generally have better phones so comparing say an Orange customer with a iPhone 4S and an EE4G customer using a iPhone 5 (both on 3G) will show huge differences simply because of the phone.

    When on an MBNL 3G mast (ie all of inner London) there will be no priority differences between contract customers.

    Lucan,
    BCak to the original question. Why does 3g data drop off until the phone is reset.
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    Paul: Which phone do you have (and firmware version) and which phone does the wife & mother have?
    All on monthly contract?
  • paulkerpaulker Posts: 927
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    Paul: Which phone do you have (and firmware version) and which phone does the wife & mother have?
    All on monthly contract?

    All business monthly contracts

    Wife iphone 5 ios 6 (newest version) T-Mobile
    Mum iphone 4s ios 6 (newest) T-Mobile
    Moi iphone 5 (ios7) but was fine on ios 6 as well (4GEE)

    My phone doesnt have the issue.
    It used to happen to my friends iphones when they were on t-mobile as well.
  • exterraexterra Posts: 159
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    It’s not a phone issue – the same phone worked fine for me using 3G with an EE4G sim card but in exactly the same place with a T-Mob Sim there’s no usable data service. It only ever seems to work one way – usable 3G everywhere as an EE4G customer, but in the same places as a T-Mob customer it’s either full signal but no data on 3G, or no 3G and just Edge / 2G data service.

    In the same locations where I have used EE4G (with LTE turned off so using 3G), other handsets with a T-Mob /orange sim card get full 3G signal but no data throughput. I was at a big event over the weekend and overheard a number of people who like me on T-Mobile had for the whole day / evening a full signal but couldn’t make calls or use data – this was central London so not exactly the wilds of Scotland.

    I would hazard a guess that EE have deployed something on their network that prioritises traffic based on the price points of their brands i.e. in the event of constrained capacity, data service is prioritised for EE4G customers, then Orange customers then T-Mob. The problem is too consistent / predictable to be a handset issue and is clearly network related.
  • AdamukAdamuk Posts: 130
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    My t-mobile iPhone 4 loses data almost every day. The calls now also disconnect more often as the phone doesn't seem to hand over between cells properly.

    This is all I now seem to see on my phone - http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30mmkr8&s=5

    I posted the same problem on this forum on 07/05 and it's still ongoing for me since then. I've just about had enough with it.
  • paulkerpaulker Posts: 927
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    Adamuk wrote: »
    My t-mobile iPhone 4 loses data almost every day. The calls now also disconnect more often as the phone doesn't seem to hand over between cells properly.

    This is all I now seem to see on my phone - http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30mmkr8&s=5

    I posted the same problem on this forum on 07/05 and it's still ongoing for me since then. I've just about had enough with it.

    That's what happens here too (T-Mobile phones). Very very annoying. I wouldnt waste my time calling cs. Its like banging your head against a brick wall.
  • AdamukAdamuk Posts: 130
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    Yep, I've had no success from calling customer services. I personally think they know there's a problem and they're ignoring it. I 'think' I lose data when moving between orange and t-mobile. Not every time, though.
  • daveyfsdaveyfs Posts: 1,466
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    Lucan, do you happen to know if there's any work ongoing in south Wales?

    I've noticed the past week or so the data reliability has dropped off quite significantly on my Swansea Cardiff commute - slow speeds and pages taking ages to load. It had gone through a period of being really good. iPhone 5 on a pre-tethering ban FM contract.
  • paulkerpaulker Posts: 927
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    Just noticed that even on holby city the doctors phone had 5 bars of EE signal and no data. LOL
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