orange service coverage

japitts

matrix999 wrote: »

A an ex Emergency Services 999 Operator I can tell you that if your mobile phone is not within its own network coverage your phone will lock onto another available network should you require to call 999/112 although as has been said the other network may not accept the call... Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.

When the call is answered by the 999 operator it may appear on their computer screen as 4 ???? in the CLI field if the call has been routed over a different network from the the one the customer normally uses.

The first thing the 999 operator will ask is " Emergency Which Service" followed by your mobile telephone number and the area your calling from. The 999 system can pin point where the mobile is within a few 100 meters or so of the mobile phone mast.

All phones will attempt to connect to a network other than their own, but none of the UK networks will accept it. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on there being any "sometimes" about it, although there has been the odd claim on some internet forums that it has worked.

japitts

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

I've been on contract with orange for 15 years or so, but recently I can't help noticing that wherever I am in the country the service is pretty patchy, is my phone useless and I am just imagining it?

Are you on 2G or 3G?

DonnyDave

matrix999 wrote: »

A an ex Emergency Services 999 Operator I can tell you that if your mobile phone is not within its own network coverage your phone will lock onto another available network should you require to call 999/112 although as has been said the other network may not accept the call... Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.

When I went into the Peak District I found that Orange was the only network available in the Hope Valley area. I could get a signal and make calls and my friends on other networks couldn't. Up on the hills, you'd expect to get a better reception. Doing a network scan every so often revealed other networks were patchy.

When high up I remember having "Orange" shown on the screen with a red '!' next to it. I believe this indicates 'restricted service' which presumably means emergency calls only. I wonder whether this is a sign that the Orange network would allow SOS calls from any network subscriber in this particular location. The kind of location I am talking are isolated. Usually just walkers.

japitts

DonnyDave wrote: »

When I went into the Peak District I found that Orange was the only network available in the Hope Valley area. I could get a signal and make calls and my friends on other networks couldn't. Up on the hills, you'd expect to get a better reception. Doing a network scan every so often revealed other networks were patchy.

When high up I remember having "Orange" shown on the screen with a red '!' next to it. I believe this indicates 'restricted service' which presumably means emergency calls only. I wonder whether this is a sign that the Orange network would allow SOS calls from any network subscriber in this particular location. The kind of location I am talking are isolated. Usually just walkers.

Dave,

I won't ask you to describe where this was because I know it could be a needle in a haystack job, but....

I certainly wouldn't want to rely on ever being able to make emergency calls if my home network didn't have coverage. I'd be curious as to what this symbol means though - what model of phone have you got?

Regards

Jon.

DonnyDave

japitts wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't want to rely on ever being able to make emergency calls if my home network didn't have coverage. I'd be curious as to what this symbol means though - what model of phone have you got?

Siemens CX65. This was bought SIM free and has therefore never been locked to any particular network.