Mobile phone coverage

benjyb51

I'm just about to move into a new flat and have discovered that there is absolutely no signal there on my mobile whatsoever. I get about 1 bar outside the flat, but nothing inside. There is nothing wrong with my phone and the mobile company says that the area should have excellent coverage although they are going to look into it. I'm only 3 months into an 18 month contract. Should they not be able to fix the problem do I have any rights? I'm not really willing to pay £30 a month when I can't use the phone at home and I'm certainly not going to pay over £300 to be released from the contract. Any ideas, experiences or knowledge????

JimArnold

sorry in this situation you have very few rights

Keep on at them if they claim excellent coverage but these coverage maps are only general guidance there may be small deadspots. All mobile contracts have clauses that make it clear that they are not responsible

Which network ?

You have no right to cancel

Buzby

They do not guarantee 100% coverage, and it is you who is changing the game by moving to somewhere you have little or no coverage. Your only solution it to switch to the lowest tariff available (as the phone will still work everywhere else you've used it before). Or you can try to assign you existing contract to someone else.

The bottom line is DON'T needlessly sign up for services that are committing you when you have no requirement to do so. It may cost slightly more to be on PAYG (not always, see ASDA) but you can dump a network and change as often as you want, taking your number with you.

DarkConvict

i follow the general consensus here, if you have no signal you have no right to cancel. If you had only just started you could try it for upto 7 days and then return it, but outside that your tied into the contract.
I doubt the operator can help improve the signal as they won't build a new mast just to cover inside your flat/your area. You maybe to try and find a handset that has a better track record of getting a good signal, but i doubt the network will be willing to exchange phones so you would have to bear the brunt of the cost.

movilogo

From my experience, Vodafone has best UK coverage, followed by O2. T-mobile and 3 are worst! Never used Orange.

DarkConvict

I agree i had excellent coverage on Vodafone, but for my home town of Stafford, Orange wins for me.

greyster

Don't rely on individual preferences for mobile coverage. One person's best network, is another persons 'no signal' network.

Use this to make a slightly more informed decision. Type in your postcode and see which network masts are in your area.

http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

Then get a customer of the network you are looking at to come round and show you their signal strength, if not get a freebie sim card and test it out.

Only then purchase a contract.

If you take anyone's recommendation without properly testing, you will be fully liable for costs to the network with no option to quit your contract once your cooling off period expires. There are too many posts on this forum about people taking out contracts and then having no signal, it can be avoided.

Remember to consider other areas where you may use your phone, and check coverage there too.

There is a reason why people call network coverage a lottery, its because you never know when you move which network is the best.

robbies_gal

im afriad you'll have a tough job getting out of it

ive complained about coverage inside my house and i havent moved-they said they dont cover inside your home or place of work its in the t and c's

all u can do is downgrade until your contract ends

movilogo

There are two reasons for bad coverage
1. You are in a building which has been been (accidentally) designed in such a way that you won't get good coverage inside the building.
2. You are in open field, but won't get coverage because your mobile operator doesn't have a mast nearby!

On case 2, you can blame network providers. On case 1, you can still blame network provider if other network has got signal inside the building.