I can't see why EE couldn't offer an app like inTouch for older phones. On the basis that if you run it, you get access to 800. If you don't, you don't.

Quite simple and effective really. It means EE can offer 800 to virtually everyone.

Three still seems to support phones at random, but now it seems all Sony phones are covered (right back to my old Z1 Compact) and maybe the plan will be to have all phones working soon.

Trouble is that with the rate of change of stuff now, they don't want people hanging on to older devices. Especially not with a solution like inTouch that often doesn't work properly (my experience at least). They'd rather people get newer devices that support it natively with VoLTE.

Yes, but they're not going to. At least not as quick as they'd like.

It would be easier than trying to get the manufacturers to do updates for even relatively new phones that aren't VoLTE activated.

inTouch seems very stable now, at least running on my Xperia Z3 on Android N (beta).

Given the app isn't exclusive to Three (just rebranded) there's no reason the very same app can't be skinned for EE.

I think EE would gain more by offering 800 to all, than offering 800 and encouraging people to upgrade because of it. We already know that EE is trying not to confuse people with specs and buzzwords.

Perhaps the app could do a basic check to see if the phone it is installed on is already natively compatible, and then tell the user that it isn't needed. Simple.

inTouch (as in "VoLTE") worked pretty well for me on my N5. I had to switch back to the stock ROM to get proper integration (like automatically putting outgoing calls through inTouch, from the Google Dialer), but it wasn't bad. The difference that 800MHz made where I live was just amazing. I could actually dump my Home Signal box

The VoLTE side of inTouch only works on specific phones anyway - presumably ones that they've managed to test.

O2 uses the exact same app, though I don't think they do VoLTE over it yet (do they do VoLTE even natively? They seem very slow with new stuff?)

A question about VoLTE for our more techie members... overall it works really well on EE, seamless handover to 3G etc etc. but...

I've noticed is that when I lock the phone to LTE only in the service menu, VoLTE won't work - it needs to have GSM/LTE enabled before I'm able to make or receive calls over 4G. This seems a bit counter-intuitive to me. Can some one explain why?

I'm vaguely guessing it's got something to do with using the 2G/3G circuit switched network as a pilot channel for the call notification coming through (or something like that)?

How would that be though? EE 2G is never going to reach as far as LTE800. So there would be no point in requiring an active 2G signal to kick off something. I can't for a second imagine that 3G has anything to do with it. Unless there is some form of 2G broadcast on 800 as well.

Probably a bug in the phone software. If its a feature only in a hidden service menu its unlikely to have been fully tested. No phone manufacturer would bother testing this scenario where 2G/3G is disabled and you want to make phone calls.

I suspect it will work if you leave it as normal and end up in a situation with 800mhz only signal, that calls (and SMS) will work over LTE / VoLTE.

Well I never! Guess you learn something new everyday every day.

Just done a trial past the Orange telegraph pole near Chelveston, and believe it or not, it's still alive and kicking out good old GPRS, at likely a few kilobits per second. (didn't test the speed, this was a coverage exercise)

Assuming that all Orange masts will be integrated into EE/234-30, this will be one awesome mast when upgraded to 2/3/4G. It covers quite a large area and seems to cover Chelveston better than the Higham Ferrers MBNL mast.

Edit: the Orange masts at the top of the hill at Kimbolton is also still pumping out GPRS. That's good because it is in an optimal location to serve Kimbolton and the surrounding area, unlike the MBNL mast. When that gets upgraded, it'll be another good mast!

Here's a speed test of EE 4G @ 800Mhz on my local mast:

Speed Test: https://s8.postimg.org/sjr8luued/Scr...7_11_50_27.png

Samsung Service Mode: https://s8.postimg.org/yeuzff6vp/Scr...7_11_50_42.png

I took up the 16GB EE SIMO contract after having used various EE PAYG SIMs for the past year or so. There's EE 08+18 CA nearby which produces speeds of about 80mbps and L26+18 CA in Guildford so pretty good generally. Also a few live Orange 2G masts lurking in the shadows.


New EE Contract Vid

Glad the EE CS experience was good. Now try going from a very old Orange business pay monthly contract to EE PAYG. Reason for this is to stop paying pay monthly for data not needed for a while, evaluate SE vs the new iPhone and then probably go for a sim only EE deal with a couple SEs / iphone 7 or whatevers bought outright.

No. Several hours on the phone and nobody can do it. In the end had to hang up. So, PAYG sim ordered and apparently £35 is on it? Or on something? Or where has that gone? Old pay monthly sim still works but nobody know's why. New PAYG sim doesn't and has new random number.

Apparently, EE are unable to transfer an Orange pay monthly account to an EE PAYG SIM. They just can't do it. Brilliant huh? I shall contact my local IT expert and hope he can pull some strings.

FKing useless.

What? You mean exponential growth don't you?
I wouldn't listen to anyone who goes on about that stuff, they're probably drunk!

That sounds like a load of crap from EE as I've just gone from Orange PAYG to an EE contract so see no reason why they can't do Orange contract to EE PAYG...

agreed - sounds like a newbie on the CS desk - call back and try again?

I think Orange to EE is more complicated that T-mobile to EE - but its an "internal port" essentially - maybe the CS agent didn't know how to do this.

I wouldn't have thought it mattered the type of source service (contract or PAYG) its the destination that matters, you're going to an EE PAYG service.

Can anyone confirm that if I was to buy a second hand or brand new LG G5 locked to EE and stuck a sim only contract sim in it, that it Would work support VoLTE, WiFi calling and eventually 800mhz support?
Looking to possibly jump ship from Vodafone early as despite a strong start to the year, no real coverage upgrades have taken place anywhere in my area since march/April and they've pretty much just cancelled all the future planned 4g upgrades virtually everywhere I go on top of this..

WiFi calling and 800 yes, only android devices doing VoLTE so far are the blackberry priv and some Sony's. If 800 is locked down to volte devices it might stop being allowed on it until VoLTE is supported.

http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/4g-calling

What if we ask for a PAK and go to 3 PAYG who can actually be arsed?

After all this time it should not be difficult.

I think going to 3 and then back to EE will be easier than negotiating the turd fest that is Orange to EE.

What a frikkkking joke.Hah.

All you have to do is ask for a PAC from Orange. Then call EE CS and give it to them. Simple.

Shame they didn't just tell us that on the phone. It wasn't just one person either. We were handed around to several from both Orange and EE, none of whom seemed to know how to process it. I assumed it would be a simple internal process, no need for PAC codes. So, thanks, we'll request a PAC.

I think because Orange is a separate system to EE (previously the t-mobile system) so I guess it sees it as an external transfer or something along those lines

Exactly the above. Orange PACs begin ORG and T-Mobile and EE PACs begin ONE (Harping back from the old One2One days)

Thanks for confirming, I did wonder what the ONE was for... shows how old the system is!

Strange as one2one's rebrand to T-Mobile predates mobile number porting... guess it was in development for a few years!

Number porting started in 1999. One2One rebranded in 2002...

Oh, my mistake... I thought porting was a more recent invention.