iPhone on O2 - poor signal & 3G - can I get refund ?

nobby24

I have trouble getting an O2 signal for my iPhone at work and so I went to the Orange shop and bought a nice little Samsung E1120 on PAYG for £9!! I just use it for receiving calls at work now, Orange gets full signal here.

movilogo

It seems that its only when inside the building at work that I can barely get a signal.

I have exactly same problem with T-mobile. At my office, I don't get a signal yet outside office, perfect signal. And funnily enough, T-mobile is company's official mobile partner. None of my colleagues can use their company T-mobile phones unless they are just in front of windows!

Although other networks inside office have a good signal.

The logic was given that the particular building uses some metal constructions (or whatever) to reflect heat. This reduces the signal strength of the network.

Carriers who have masts nearby are unaffected but those who do not, are severely affected.

So, hard luck I suppose.

You can at least get iPhone unlocked for free from O2 and put a different SIM while inside the office. Moreover, at office, you are not supposed to use your personal mobile

sky_rat

You can at least get iPhone unlocked for free from O2 and put a different SIM while inside the office

I shouldnt have to do this though, not when im paying £35 per month line rental !

Getting another sim on a different network means paying out more money, so my phone bill will be more than £35 per month.

Also, swapping the sim card every working day will soon damage the phone.

You have to pull out a little tray with a paper clip and after repeated use this would soon break.

Its not designed to have the sim card repeatadly removed.

Im going to try putting my O2 sim card in my old Vodafone phone (Nokia N73).

I dont know whether this will work though ?

Maybe I will have to unlock the Nokia N73 or maybe the O2 sim card will only work in the iPhone (are all sim cards exactly the same no matter which network or phone) ?

Anyway, I've just rang O2 to ask about the signal.

They said that where I work is on the edge of the 3G network coverage but that there is a 2G mast which has a stronger singal.

They said that the iPhone doesnt automatically switch to the stronger 2G signal and that you have to turn off 3G on the iphone to force it to use the stronger 2G signal.

Ive done this and ive got 3 out of 5 bars and the round circle symbol to show GPRS (instead of the 3G symbol).

Im sure it did this anyway, because one minute it would show 3G and then it would show the GPRS symbol.

Its hard to tell whether this has fixed the problem yet.

Because the signal always changed when it was set to 3G anyway, as I said in my first post.

Moreover, at office, you are not supposed to use your personal mobile

I know... spoil sport ! But when you're bored, have nothing to do and works internet is monitored and blocked... what else can I say !

sky_rat

Just tried to use iphone again to make call and got NO SERVICE even when switched to 2G.

Then after a while I got 1 bar.

This is really going to irritate me.

My old nokia N73 on vodafone (which had a full signal) has stopped working today because the number was ported to O2 on my iPhone.

Just hope no one wants to contact me at work in future...

DarkConvict

Your signal will always be reduced inside, i live in Stafford so not far from yourself and signal is slightly reduced inside, but office buildings are much worse due to there steel construction they tend to block the signal and i often see people on the roof of the building with there mobile phone.

Coverage maps show coverage outside, not inside buildings and they are also only estimates usually based on saying we have a transmitter 'here' operating at this power, with roughly a 'dense urban area/open area etc' and produce a coverage made based on that, rather than a man in a van driving around picking up coverage.

Im not sure what time distance seller regulations give you, but if you are within that period you have a legal right to return any product without giving a reason.

This is another reason for getting a sim card on a network on PAYG first, before agreeing a contract in case there is not a good enough signal.

sky_rat

This is interesting....

I put my O2 sim card in my old Nokia N73 and guess what, the signal was 5 out of 6 bars.

I put the O2 sim card back in the iphone and the signal varies from NO SERVICE to 3 out of 5 bars.

So it seems the iPhone does not receive a signal as well as my 4 year old Nokia N73.

Maybe its the iPhone at fault here and not O2 ?

Or maybe the O2 signal is weak but my Nokia picks it up better than the iPhone ?

This is another reason for getting a sim card on a network on PAYG first, before agreeing a contract in case there is not a good enough signal.

I have literally just done this by using my O2 sim card in my Nokia N73 and it worked fine.

So really you need to try the sim card and phone you intend to buy, because the combination of both can produce big differences.

nomoneytoday

I would send it back under the Distance Selling Regs, or the 14 day mobile return plan - asap !!!

watcherman

I sold my iPhone in the end for similar reasons to yours, great phone, but the only time I had strong enough signal to use the web was on wi-fi at home! Otherwise I was always watching the little spinning round icon while Safari was trying to resolve websites.

I don't know if an Orange iPhone would be any better, or if it is just rubbish at holding a signal.

adj30

Hi you can also use this website from ofcom that provides up to date locations of mobile masts.Just enter the postcode and then a map pops up and the masts show as blue triangles on the map just click them and they tell you what network they service. So the closer the mast to your location the better the service and i have found this info very accurate.

Thanks Andy

Can't post links but if you search google for sitefinder ofcom it should be top!

newidea

I live in the M4 corrdior and the O2 signal for my iPhone 3GS is shocking...it is too late for me to take it back now but I would recommend you always check the signal if you can. Only saviour is thta I cann connect to my home wireless as without it, the phone would be unusable.