Orange - Poor/non existant signal at home

vein
vein Posts: 88
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My wife took out a contract with Orange at the beginning of August through Phones4u. When she got the contract she asked the guy in the shop about the signal strength in our house as at the time I was with O2 and the signal was really poor. He done the check and it came back saying the signal would be fine so she signed up.

Fast forward to current time and she is totally fed up. She has next to no signal avaliable when she is in the house. Text messages are taking up to 2 hours to arrive and calls are going straight through to answerphone. When she is not in the house her signal is fine and she can receive texts/calls as normal.

I took out a T mobile contract last month and my signal is fine in the house. As mentioned before my last contact was O2 and the signal was similar to her Orange one.

Today she went into the Orange shop to see if they could do anything (forgetting it was phones4u she bought from :o). Anyway they ran the signal test again and again it came back fine. She took it along to phones4u and all they could suggest was sending the phone off to see if it was a problem with the phone itself.

Is there anything that she can do? Preferably she would like to leave Orange and move to T-Mobile as she knows the signal will be fine in the house. As she is only 2 months into a 24 month contract I'm thinking she may struggle!

Thanks in advance!
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Comments

  • It some cases the operator may cancel a contract, it has been known to happen if there is no signal. Although this is usually when there was signal but there is not a signal anymore (i.e. mast taken down).

    You can continue to ask orange what they can do and see if they will reduce or cancel the contract, but legally i do not believe there is anything they have to do. As your contract is with your operator, not who you brought it from (but correct me if I'm wrong if this differs with shop based contract seller)

    I take it she gets signal outside of the house OK?

    With regards to you having poor signal on O2 doesn't matter as orange have their own masts. I do not believe these two share their network.
    Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

    There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies
  • Try Orange Unique Phone
  • Hey

    I don't think that you will be able to cancel as you have had it for 2 months. If you had gone back after a couple of days and explained then I have heard of it being cancelled due to the coverage checker being incorrect but you have had the contract for 2 months so doubt they will be able to do anything.

    Sorry to be the bearer of bad news..
  • Sheepster
    Sheepster Posts: 120
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    I believe the four "proper" mobile companies have their own individual masts, or certainly transmitting equipment. Just as an example, my mother in law can get T-mobile in her flat, and O2 is a really strong signal, but Vodafone and Orange are no-go's. It's a localised blackspot for some weird reason (My pet theory is that the flats have extra reinforcement in the building materials as they're sheltered, and this plays havoc with radio signals).

    I'm sure I also read that Orange for one example has to use a different frequency to for example Vodafone, and Voda's frequency in theory penetrates buildings better.
  • DarkConvict
    DarkConvict Posts: 6,338
    Combo Breaker First Post
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    Sheepster wrote: »
    I believe the four "proper" mobile companies have their own individual masts, or certainly transmitting equipment. Just as an example, my mother in law can get T-mobile in her flat, and O2 is a really strong signal, but Vodafone and Orange are no-go's. It's a localised blackspot for some weird reason (My pet theory is that the flats have extra reinforcement in the building materials as they're sheltered, and this plays havoc with radio signals).

    I'm sure I also read that Orange for one example has to use a different frequency to for example Vodafone, and Voda's frequency in theory penetrates buildings better.

    Are there mobile masts on the roof of the flat (if its a big tower flat that is), I believe if the masts are on the top then underneath (the flats themselves) would be a blackspot, ironic isn't it.
    Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

    There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies
  • Does your house have a steel frame or is it of 'unusual' construction - thick stone cottage-style walls, etc?

    My friend's house is like a signal blackhole - you just can't get any inside but full signal outside and it has a steel frame.

    Just a thought...
  • Hello.

    Why not try Orange 'Unique Phone'?

    With this service, your mobile phone will automatically route calls via your broadband line whenever you have a good wi-fi signal. For those of you out there who like making assumptions without reading points of detail, I shall just change font colour and put the following text into bold so that you can't miss it. It is however not like Skype. It simply uses the wi-fi signal like a sort of local phone mast so that you get perfect reception and data is seamlessly routed to your phone via Orange's servers on the Internet.

    It is a clever service that gives you perfect reception at home without messing up your tariff. It doesn't even cost anything! All you need is a handset that supports 'UMA'. There are plenty of them around.

    Thanks for listening, everyone, and I hope you benefitted from this important message. I for one wish I had known about it years ago. I am nothing to do with Orange, other than a now very happy customer. :T
  • gjchester
    gjchester Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    Mr_Thrifty wrote: »
    Hello.

    Why not try Orange 'Unique Phone'?

    With this service, your mobile phone will automatically route calls via your broadband line whenever you have a good wi-fi signal.

    However it ony works in range of your ORANGE broadband signal.

    No use to anyone who's not on Orange for their BB
  • drbesty
    drbesty Posts: 967 Forumite
    You don't need Orange broadband to use UMA, it'll work with any broadband provider, all you need is a wireless router.

    Orange also don't guarantee indoor coverage, no mobile operator does
  • gjchester
    gjchester Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    drbesty wrote: »
    You don't need Orange broadband to use UMA, it'll work with any broadband provider, all you need is a wireless router.

    Taken from the Orange Unique T&C.

    3. The Unique Phone service offers you the ability to:
    a. Make and receive voice calls over the Orange Wireless Broadband Network when in range of the Livebox in your home

    4. You need to have an activated Orange Wireless Broadband service in order to make and receive calls over the Orange Wireless Broadband Network.

    Seems pretty clear to me you need to have Orange Broadband and the Orange Livebox router to use it.

    Is it technically possible on other routers and broadband services, probably, but thats not how Orange sell it.
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