EE really need to have a network status page, seems they are focusing on rolling out 4G to much, not good when customers have to go to the BBC to try and get it fixed
EE really need to have a network status page, seems they are focusing on rolling out 4G to much, not good when customers have to go to the BBC to try and get it fixed
I had another email from Olaf Swantee's office tonight, still no mention of compensation or rebate of fees just more of the same
Quote:
Your comments and intentions are duly noted. It is not in the interests of the network to allow matters of coverage to continue for any longer than necessary and, although it may take longer than would be preferable, I can assure you that the issue you are experiencing will be resolved as soon as possible.
Our Public Affairs Team have already engaged with our Network Engineers since I last wrote to you, to ensure that the accurage corrective action is taken as soon as possible. I have also provided them with a copy of your latest email so that they have visibility of your comments about the impact being felt in the area'
Not good enough NOTHING NOWHERE ......Everything Everywhere I don't think!:mad:
EE really need to have a network status page, seems they are focusing on rolling out 4G to much, not good when customers have to go to the BBC to try and get it fixed
I wouldn't say they are focusing too much on 4g rollout, 2g equipment is all being replaced and the orange masts that remain are being upgraded to the latest 3G equipment and back haul and integrated into MBNL. So huge work on all technologies at the minute.
Where they do have a problem is communication, a live network status page would improve this so much.
Another suggestion would be to text people in advance to say 'due to network maintenance / improvements you may have an intermittent service in your area next week'
It seems the lack of information it's what's annoying most customers
When I complained to EE about lack of signal they did eventually agree that there was a problem with one of their transmitters. What surprised me was how far away the transmitter was. The problem was fixed after a few days.
You do realise "Nothing Nowhere" is a double negative, don't you?
:rolleyes:
Indeed
You can understand her frustration though, although she has certainly overused the phrase
In other news - the signal was "on air" again today, but still giving the "No Access" response when trying to connect. It's "off air" again now.
It would appear they're trying to do something I must admit...
However, still no joy.
Tbh, given their lack of response to what the problem actually was after they promised the BBC an answer before going to press this evening, I rather think they don't know what the problem is themselves!
Time to start handing out Femtocells to all who ask or allowing people in the post code area to leave free of penalty if you ask me.
Their complete lack of communication on the matter is inexcusable.
Yes sorry about the repetative use of the phrase NOTHING NOWHERE, it is becoming a bit of a mantra and it is a phrase I hope it will embarass EE Orange enough to do something positive!!
The news today is that strangely my phone seems to have switched to UMA so ocassionally I get enough signal to receive a text. My son however and some of my neighbours who have Iphones cannot access UMA so still their handsets are dead.
If I could get hold of Orange EE for long enough to cancel my contract I would, sadly the signal keeps giving out and I can't access them!
I get so angry when you see messages on websites assuring you of great customer service and that 'your call matters to us' when quite clearly it doesn't!!
The local paper are running a story on it and hopefully the nationals will pick it up too. Well done Wales for making the BBC...everyone else should follow the same avenue as Wales did in order to get anyone to do anything.
A status page on their website would help....a little!!! No communication, no information - no service and no rebate. DISGUSTING EE
Can you share why? Are we expecting some upgrade work? 3G? ... What's supposed to be happening "by the end of the week"?
Thanks
Wether it stays on track i do not know.
Wales is seeing a huge increase activity engineering wise to raise the coverage % and improve speeds to those outside of the cities. At a roll out a good bit faster than other parts of the country. For Ph1 the date mentioned to me was BY the 19th.
This might explain the increase in the number of Welsh folk having issues but your specific issue is different (a failure and a difficult fix) but it is included in the upgrades. I doubt i can say anymore.
Thank you for your reply to my rather specific questions Lord Lucan.
It all sounds promising - I will certainly be watching this space.
***********
For what it's worth, here at ground zero, a run down of what's been happening so far:
One day around 8 weeks ago, the mast dropped "off-air", not transmitting any Cell ID etc (not returned in network search).
Nothing happened until...
Sunday 11th Aug: It was broadcasting it's ID, sporadically, it'd be on air one minute, off air the next, but any attempt to connect resulted in a "No Access" reply. First noticed it "transmitting" at around mid-day if I recall correctly - it then completely went off air some time early evening.
Monday 12th Aug: Pretty much the same story as above, although didn't seem to come up until later in the day, and went off 'for the evening' a bit earlier.
Tuesday 13th Aug: It appeared to be "on air" AND accessible, and working fine for about 3 hours today, between roughly 11am-2pm - I made several test calls during this period and they connected - all seemed fixed, only for it to completely disappear off-air again. Tests used all kinds of sims, home network, mvno, national roaming and international roaming. Site was still identifying as 'Orange' and 'GPRS' when it was 'connectable'.
It's been off-air completely since 2pm again, and as of 5.30pm still no sign of anything happening, i.e. it's not transmitting it's Cell ID even.
Really bugs me that it appeared to be fixed, and 'almost' stable for 'almost' 3 hours before going completely dark on us again, very confused...
Difficult fix? I can believe it. From monitoring what's been happening, my technical opinion tells me something about the whole site is "very dodgy", and as a speculation, I'm thinking that EE are scrambling to get it online because of the media attention, when in reality what the mast needs is stripping out and replacing because it's unserviceable, i.e. beyond repair.
That mast has been down so often in the last couple of years, they must have done dozens of "patch it up" jobs.
I've got this cartoon image in my head of a Radio Access Engineer on site looking into a mangled cabinet of wires, blue-tak and sticky tape holding it all together, and shouting, "Jesus Christ!, no wonder it's nackered!" And there's some corporate guy behind prodding him with a stick saying "fix it ya bugger, fix it now" :D
Wales is seeing a huge increase activity engineering wise to raise the coverage % and improve speeds to those outside of the cities. At a roll out a good bit faster than other parts of the country. For Ph1 the date mentioned to me was BY the 19th.
This might explain the increase in the number of Welsh folk having issues but your specific issue is different (a failure and a difficult fix) but it is included in the upgrades. I doubt i can say anymore.
i can say in Llangollen for instance the 3G coverage on EE is now better than the 2G coverage , pretty much blanket 3-5 bars indoors in almost all buildings. Im impressed seeing as O2 can only provide 2G outside and Voda has no signal whatsoever here!
However there are some places with 2G and only 1 bar and very patchy and im surprised, for instance; Rhostyllen, Rhosllanerugog, Pen y cae, Chirk and Coedpoeth (all just outside Wrexham) these places are quite highly populated and covered with full 2G and 3G with voda and O2.. So I hope some improvements will come to these areas, as there are big holes in coverage, the checker says 2G outdoors only, but thats not the case, its 1 bar if that with a constant flicking to emergency calls only, so completely unuasble, dont know if masts have been removed from these areas or what.
For Chirk the coverage checker says good 2G and 3G, but it isnt, by a long way
We have no 2G or 3G and have now been advised that if we have lost signal we probably wont get it back ever! We are still waiting for a reply to our last email. My phone will just work sometimes on UMA but people who have Iphones can't receive UMA so have no service at all.
Wales appear to have done brilliantly to raise awareness with loads of press coverage, I just hope someone somewhere hears that parts of Cornwall is experiencing problems and NO signal too, right in the middle of the busiest holiday season!!
We have no 2G or 3G and have now been advised that if we have lost signal we probably wont get it back ever! We are still waiting for a reply to our last email. My phone will just work sometimes on UMA but people who have Iphones can't receive UMA so have no service at all.
Wales appear to have done brilliantly to raise awareness with loads of press coverage, I just hope someone somewhere hears that parts of Cornwall is experiencing problems and NO signal too, right in the middle of the busiest holiday season!!
Thank you for the message Lord Lucan, I have sent you a pm.
Wrexham103, our local community group told us that they had been informed not to expect a signal back!!! I know it sounds mad but honestly it's true! That was apparently the word from EE:eek:
Thank you for the message Lord Lucan, I have sent you a pm.
Wrexham103, our local community group told us that they had been informed not to expect a signal back!!! I know it sounds mad but honestly it's true! That was apparently the word from EE:eek:
oh dear that doesnt sound good :eek:, wonder why they would just switch it off, looks like o2 and vodafone have masts in your town too, wonder if they all share one mast?
oh dear that doesnt sound good :eek:, wonder why they would just switch it off, looks like o2 and vodafone have masts in your town too, wonder if they all share one mast?
All we keep hearing is that there were 2 masts and now 1 has been switched off! I reckon it is because Tmobile and Orange perhaps had a mast each and they have merged? Whatever has happened has switched a whole town off! :mad: Thanks for your reply
Going by the coverage checker on Three there has never been a MBNL (Three/T-Mobile) presence in Blaenau Ffestiniog just Orange, Vodafone and O2. This Orange site looks a prime candidate for integrating into the MBNL network so that a big coverage hole for Three users would be filled. The nearest MBNL base stations appear to be at Ffestiniog and Dolwyddelan.
Debi: Thanks. I will ask about what seems to be going on. First of all that area alone there are a few masts in a small area so it is unlikely that the signal will stay like it is even if they have decided to switch off one mast permanently.
Can you still get Three 3G in that area (network search)?
Debi: Thanks. I will ask about what seems to be going on. First of all that area alone there are a few masts in a small area so it is unlikely that the signal will stay like it is even if they have decided to switch off one mast permanently.
Can you still get Three 3G in that area (network search)?
No thank YOU Lord Lucan. Most of our area is low lying coastal and it is that area that is affected most. We can't get 3G even on a network search, I always seem to end up with Vodaphone!
Going by the coverage checker on Three there has never been a MBNL (Three/T-Mobile) presence in Blaenau Ffestiniog just Orange, Vodafone and O2. This Orange site looks a prime candidate for integrating into the MBNL network so that a big coverage hole for Three users would be filled. The nearest MBNL base stations appear to be at Ffestiniog and Dolwyddelan.
You're spot on the money there. Also, the Orange, Vodafone, and o2 masts are all 2G only. Any network to provide 3G here would have an effective monopoly. That particular site as you say is in a prime position, and one wonders why MBNL have not upgraded the site long ago.
As you have observed there is quite literally a 'hole' in the coverage as far as Three is concerned.
The result is, with no MBNL mast here, and the 2G Orange mast down, there is and has been no coverage for 2 months for customers of EE, T-Mobile, Orange or THREE (because here, three customers rely on Orange 2G backup still as the only source of coverage) - and the village does have a population of around 5,000 - it's rural, but not end of the world rural.
The reason Dolwyddelan and Llan Ffestiniog have MBNL masts is because it seems (in North Wales at least) that they upgraded all the old T-Mobile 2G sites. Blaenau Ffestiniog having never had a T-Mobile 2G site missed out on 3G altogether - even though our village is more than twice the size of the aforementioned villages that surround us.
The MBNL mast upgrades were not planned in my opinion by experts looking at the lay of the land and population sizes and expertly determining where best to place masts for coverage etc, in my head it went something a bit more like this...
"What we'll do Trev, is now that we're managing the joint 3G infrastructure for Three and T-Mobile, we have access to T-Mobiles old 2G sites - let's just whack 3G transmitters on the side of them, no matter where they are, and Bob's your mother's brother".
Comments
Thanks
http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-23667194
EE really need to have a network status page, seems they are focusing on rolling out 4G to much, not good when customers have to go to the BBC to try and get it fixed
I had another email from Olaf Swantee's office tonight, still no mention of compensation or rebate of fees just more of the same
Quote:
Your comments and intentions are duly noted. It is not in the interests of the network to allow matters of coverage to continue for any longer than necessary and, although it may take longer than would be preferable, I can assure you that the issue you are experiencing will be resolved as soon as possible.
Our Public Affairs Team have already engaged with our Network Engineers since I last wrote to you, to ensure that the accurage corrective action is taken as soon as possible. I have also provided them with a copy of your latest email so that they have visibility of your comments about the impact being felt in the area'
Not good enough NOTHING NOWHERE ......Everything Everywhere I don't think!:mad:
I wouldn't say they are focusing too much on 4g rollout, 2g equipment is all being replaced and the orange masts that remain are being upgraded to the latest 3G equipment and back haul and integrated into MBNL. So huge work on all technologies at the minute.
Where they do have a problem is communication, a live network status page would improve this so much.
Another suggestion would be to text people in advance to say 'due to network maintenance / improvements you may have an intermittent service in your area next week'
It seems the lack of information it's what's annoying most customers
:rolleyes:
Indeed
You can understand her frustration though, although she has certainly overused the phrase
In other news - the signal was "on air" again today, but still giving the "No Access" response when trying to connect. It's "off air" again now.
It would appear they're trying to do something I must admit...
However, still no joy.
Tbh, given their lack of response to what the problem actually was after they promised the BBC an answer before going to press this evening, I rather think they don't know what the problem is themselves!
Time to start handing out Femtocells to all who ask or allowing people in the post code area to leave free of penalty if you ask me.
Their complete lack of communication on the matter is inexcusable.
Bang on with your prediction :eek: - Have been able to connect since 11am this morning (Tuesday) - Hope it lasts!
Can you share why? Are we expecting some upgrade work? 3G? ... What's supposed to be happening "by the end of the week"?
Thanks
Lasted nearly 3 whole hours :rolleyes:
The news today is that strangely my phone seems to have switched to UMA so ocassionally I get enough signal to receive a text. My son however and some of my neighbours who have Iphones cannot access UMA so still their handsets are dead.
If I could get hold of Orange EE for long enough to cancel my contract I would, sadly the signal keeps giving out and I can't access them!
I get so angry when you see messages on websites assuring you of great customer service and that 'your call matters to us' when quite clearly it doesn't!!
The local paper are running a story on it and hopefully the nationals will pick it up too. Well done Wales for making the BBC...everyone else should follow the same avenue as Wales did in order to get anyone to do anything.
A status page on their website would help....a little!!! No communication, no information - no service and no rebate. DISGUSTING EE
Wether it stays on track i do not know.
Wales is seeing a huge increase activity engineering wise to raise the coverage % and improve speeds to those outside of the cities. At a roll out a good bit faster than other parts of the country. For Ph1 the date mentioned to me was BY the 19th.
This might explain the increase in the number of Welsh folk having issues but your specific issue is different (a failure and a difficult fix) but it is included in the upgrades. I doubt i can say anymore.
It all sounds promising - I will certainly be watching this space.
***********
For what it's worth, here at ground zero, a run down of what's been happening so far:
One day around 8 weeks ago, the mast dropped "off-air", not transmitting any Cell ID etc (not returned in network search).
Nothing happened until...
Sunday 11th Aug: It was broadcasting it's ID, sporadically, it'd be on air one minute, off air the next, but any attempt to connect resulted in a "No Access" reply. First noticed it "transmitting" at around mid-day if I recall correctly - it then completely went off air some time early evening.
Monday 12th Aug: Pretty much the same story as above, although didn't seem to come up until later in the day, and went off 'for the evening' a bit earlier.
Tuesday 13th Aug: It appeared to be "on air" AND accessible, and working fine for about 3 hours today, between roughly 11am-2pm - I made several test calls during this period and they connected - all seemed fixed, only for it to completely disappear off-air again. Tests used all kinds of sims, home network, mvno, national roaming and international roaming. Site was still identifying as 'Orange' and 'GPRS' when it was 'connectable'.
It's been off-air completely since 2pm again, and as of 5.30pm still no sign of anything happening, i.e. it's not transmitting it's Cell ID even.
Really bugs me that it appeared to be fixed, and 'almost' stable for 'almost' 3 hours before going completely dark on us again, very confused...
Difficult fix? I can believe it. From monitoring what's been happening, my technical opinion tells me something about the whole site is "very dodgy", and as a speculation, I'm thinking that EE are scrambling to get it online because of the media attention, when in reality what the mast needs is stripping out and replacing because it's unserviceable, i.e. beyond repair.
That mast has been down so often in the last couple of years, they must have done dozens of "patch it up" jobs.
I've got this cartoon image in my head of a Radio Access Engineer on site looking into a mangled cabinet of wires, blue-tak and sticky tape holding it all together, and shouting, "Jesus Christ!, no wonder it's nackered!"
i can say in Llangollen for instance the 3G coverage on EE is now better than the 2G coverage , pretty much blanket 3-5 bars indoors in almost all buildings. Im impressed seeing as O2 can only provide 2G outside and Voda has no signal whatsoever here!
However there are some places with 2G and only 1 bar and very patchy and im surprised, for instance; Rhostyllen, Rhosllanerugog, Pen y cae, Chirk and Coedpoeth (all just outside Wrexham) these places are quite highly populated and covered with full 2G and 3G with voda and O2.. So I hope some improvements will come to these areas, as there are big holes in coverage, the checker says 2G outdoors only, but thats not the case, its 1 bar if that with a constant flicking to emergency calls only, so completely unuasble, dont know if masts have been removed from these areas or what.
For Chirk the coverage checker says good 2G and 3G, but it isnt, by a long way
Wales appear to have done brilliantly to raise awareness with loads of press coverage, I just hope someone somewhere hears that parts of Cornwall is experiencing problems and NO signal too, right in the middle of the busiest holiday season!!
by whom?
Thank you for the message Lord Lucan, I have sent you a pm.
Wrexham103, our local community group told us that they had been informed not to expect a signal back!!! I know it sounds mad but honestly it's true! That was apparently the word from EE:eek:
oh dear that doesnt sound good :eek:, wonder why they would just switch it off, looks like o2 and vodafone have masts in your town too, wonder if they all share one mast?
All we keep hearing is that there were 2 masts and now 1 has been switched off! I reckon it is because Tmobile and Orange perhaps had a mast each and they have merged? Whatever has happened has switched a whole town off! :mad: Thanks for your reply
Can you still get Three 3G in that area (network search)?
No thank YOU Lord Lucan. Most of our area is low lying coastal and it is that area that is affected most. We can't get 3G even on a network search, I always seem to end up with Vodaphone!
Thanks again
You're spot on the money there. Also, the Orange, Vodafone, and o2 masts are all 2G only. Any network to provide 3G here would have an effective monopoly. That particular site as you say is in a prime position, and one wonders why MBNL have not upgraded the site long ago.
As you have observed there is quite literally a 'hole' in the coverage as far as Three is concerned.
The result is, with no MBNL mast here, and the 2G Orange mast down, there is and has been no coverage for 2 months for customers of EE, T-Mobile, Orange or THREE (because here, three customers rely on Orange 2G backup still as the only source of coverage) - and the village does have a population of around 5,000 - it's rural, but not end of the world rural.
The reason Dolwyddelan and Llan Ffestiniog have MBNL masts is because it seems (in North Wales at least) that they upgraded all the old T-Mobile 2G sites. Blaenau Ffestiniog having never had a T-Mobile 2G site missed out on 3G altogether - even though our village is more than twice the size of the aforementioned villages that surround us.
The MBNL mast upgrades were not planned in my opinion by experts looking at the lay of the land and population sizes and expertly determining where best to place masts for coverage etc, in my head it went something a bit more like this...
"What we'll do Trev, is now that we're managing the joint 3G infrastructure for Three and T-Mobile, we have access to T-Mobiles old 2G sites - let's just whack 3G transmitters on the side of them, no matter where they are, and Bob's your mother's brother".
To which he replied, "Geddon, ansum' plan that"
Woaaah, okay i''m starting to rattle on a bit...