EE's degraded service and coverage - time to leave after 15 years?

NFH

After 15 years as a happy Orange customer, recent deterioration of the network is making the service unusable much of the time.

After Orange UK and T-Mobile UK merged and introduced free roaming between the two networks in late 2010, customers of both networks enjoyed improved coverage, i.e. two networks instead of one previously. However, soon after the rebranding to EE in late 2012 along with closer integration of the two legacy networks, the following new problems have arisen:

• EE has been decommissioning transmitters, supposedly where it has duplicate coverage from the two legacy networks. However, not only has it removed duplicate coverage but it has also removed coverage that existed before the merger, creating new coverage blackspots which never existed previously. Examples of places where I experience this are at home, the platform at my local train station and several parts of the City of London - not exactly a backwater.
• In order to remedy some of these new coverage blackspots for existing customers, EE has been sending out free "Signal Boxes", a femtocell similar to Vodafone's SureSignal. However, these Signal Boxes are unreliable and often display a red light, indicating no service, until they are rebooted. I have two Signal Boxes at home, and both suffer these symptoms independently of each other at different times.
• Since early 2013, EE appears to have been degrading 3G coverage in London so that only 2G (GPRS/EDGE) is available in some areas where there was previously 3G coverage. One could guess that this is deliberate in order to encourage Orange and T-Mobile customers to upgrade to EE's unreasonably surcharged 4G services.
• It is often impossible to make and receive calls, even where there is a strong signal. In such circumstances, customers with 4G can use data but not make and receive calls, because 4G does not support voice calls. This was covered by BBC Watchdog on Wednesday 18th September.
• 3G data speeds are often unusable, particularly in central London, caused by network congestion and insufficient capacity as a result of a reduced density of transmitters.

Posts by many others in this and other forums demonstrate that these problems are widespread. EE call centre staff appear to be well aware, because some of them volunteer to issue PAC codes. My friends in other parts of London experience the same problems, particularly in central London.

I currently pay £7.18+VAT for an Orange business tariff with 325 minutes, 150 texts, 800MB and unlimited calls to a choice of Orange numbers or landlines. Although I can leave at any time with a month's notice, this tariff is no longer offered, so if I leave EE, I can't go back to this excellent tariff. However, it seems unlikely that Orange will ever offer 4G on this tariff so at some point I'll end up losing it anyway.

EE's service is now a total shambles. Is EE's quality of service likely to improve soon or is it definitely time to switch networks?

Im_just_careful

"Hear hear !"

Entirely agree with you.

I entered into a 2 year contract after a good experience with T-Mobile PAYG 3G network for a couple of years.

Since the merger the network has been unusable in London. I'm counting the days to the date when my contract runs out and I have my cancellation date in large letters on the calendar.

I'll be taking out the T-Mobile SIM and putting a "3" SIM ins.

NFH

Im_just_careful wrote: »

I'll be taking out the T-Mobile SIM and putting a "3" SIM ins.

Yes, I am considering Three as well, particularly as they have indicated that they won't be surcharging for 4G.

The main thing putting me off is that Three's coverage blackspots are almost as numerous as EE's new coverage blackspots. However, the upside of Three in this respect is that their coverage should in theory be (slowly) improving as they invest in their network, unlike EE's coverage which continues to deteriorate.

vixmony

Have used Vodafone, three orange before, then switched to tmobile when theymmerged with orange. Based on my own experience I think the coverage has improved significantly. I work in the health service, so basically work all over UK, and I have found particularly the 3g coverage of tmobile to be brilliant. I must admit te sspeed never goes over 5mb per second but it remains good for YouTube and browsing. Perhaps for me the best part is the unlimited data whichiIhhammer constantly.

baby_frogmella

Generally speaking I find Vodafone's 3G London coverage pretty good and you can get around £130 cashback via topcashback on a 12 month sim only 4g red plan so works out ~ £15 pm after cashback. (Normal price £26pm)

Earthworm

I've seen others state they are now in the process of upgrading their remaining 2G/3G masts (ZHugeX I believe). I wonder if this will fill the current blackspots created by the removal of masts. It is a shame they didn't upgrade the masts they planned on keeping prior to removal of the masts they saw as un-needed. I don't think Vodafone/O2 are much better tbh. They seem to get slated on Twitter for poor 3G/2G in London on a daily basis.

NFH

Earthworm wrote: »

I don't think Vodafone/O2 are much better tbh. They seem to get slated on Twitter for poor 3G/2G in London on a daily basis.

I understood that Vodafone and O2 have fantastic 2G coverage at 900MHz which penetrates buildings better than EE's 2G coverage at 1800MHz, but that their 3G coverage was the problem. However, given that both Vodafone and O2 have 4G spectrum at 800MHz, this should allow data to penetrate buildings much better than 3G spectrum at 2100MHz.

Zebrdee

Just to say that O2 and Vodafone are site sharing now and decommissioning thousands of sites, still different networks, shared mast sites.

I just left T-Mobile/EE because after checking my renewal they took off my loyalty discount, making it a poor deal. Seems they want higher paying customers, wouldn't offer me a better deal, either pay 10% more or leave.

patman99

One of the main issues with EE's 4G upgrading is that they are cutting-back on the number of 3G masts to accommodate 4G.
The main problem with this is that 4G cannot carry voice calls (yet), so the phones need to drop back to 2/3G for voice calling. With fewer masts in place, the number of phones trying to connect in certain areas is greater than the available number of 'slots' on the mast. Hence people are now suffering call drop-offs, no service or poor connections.

Watchdog covered this a few weeks back.

I'm on '3' and live/work in a rural area and receive a superb service. I do have a 'blackspot' in my living room & another inside my inlaws house, but then I've had Orange, T-mobile & O2 & they don't work in either location either (despite O2 having a mast less than 500metres away.

NFH

patman99 wrote: »

One of the main issues with EE's 4G upgrading is that they are cutting-back on the number of 3G masts to accommodate 4G.

EE's spectrum is as follows:

• 800MHz - 4G
• 1800MHz - 2G, which EE has partially refarmed to 4G
• 2100MHz - 3G
• 2600MHz - 4G

Therefore how does cutting back on 3G masts allow EE to accommodate 4G? They use different frequencies.

Buzby

If you have 2 femtocells on the same network at home, there is every chance they are knocking each other out (AIUI these small devices are not intelligent enough to be self-aware). Try turning one off.

As to the network - try telling Kevin a Bacon the network is naff - other than that, it remains a work in progress with good news for some and bad for others. Vote with your wallet, it is the only thing networks understand.

I found 3UK to be more reliable and have been with them now since the initial T-Mob merger which knocked out my local site.