BT mobile - says 4g but Been told it's not

samtaylor1986

Hi there I have a Bt mobile sim only deal (uses EE NETWORK) my phone regularly says 4G but been informed by EE. Advisory today that BT doesn't actually PROVIDE 4g as they're not able to?!

Anyone else heard of this?

Buzby

BT Mobile are not a network. They used to be when they owned Cellnet, but they sold that off to Telefonica (as O2). Subsequently they purchased EE. As a Virtual Mobile Network, they rent space on real physical network - EE, 4G is a Data Only Service - no voice calls are carried on it, so your call to CS was correct, it wouldn’ t be using 4G. As to 4G bring available for their use - that’s dependent on the agreement between the virtual operator and the actual network used.

samtaylor1986

Hi buzby thanks for your reply. That's what the EE advisor told me that BT uses the networks/masts but when my
Phone says I'm on '4g' I'm actually not? No wonder I thought my phone was 'slow'. Ive actually terminated my contract early as I didn't think the network was that 'great' - so with this being said should my phone be displaying '4g' if I'm not actually getting it? Is this a fault of BT or my phone? Does it even matter? I'm trying o find out if I should have been informed of this when I took out the contract? I understand 4g allows you to use the internet quicker etc

I'm not tech savvy so apologies if I sound like I'm making no sense!

DCFC79

samtaylor1986 wrote: »

Hi buzby thanks for your reply. That's what the EE advisor told me that BT uses the networks/masts but when my
Phone says I'm on '4g' I'm actually not? No wonder I thought my phone was 'slow'. Ive actually terminated my contract early as I didn't think the network was that 'great' - so with this being said should my phone be displaying '4g' if I'm not actually getting it? Is this a fault of BT or my phone? Does it even matter? I'm trying o find out if I should have been informed of this when I took out the contract? I understand 4g allows you to use the internet quicker etc

I'm not tech savvy so apologies if I sound like I'm making no sense!

What phone is it you have ?

The phone being slow is just that, nothing to do with 4G.

4G is the standard that allows pages to load quicker etc.

samtaylor1986

I had an I phone 6 (subsequently broken!) it was three years old and I'd had the sim only deal with BT as the contract sim was up.

So all along the time that I have had the Bt sim my phone regularly said '4g' in the corner? Despite me now learning I wouldn't have been getting 4g? I feel a bit cheated but don't know if I have a leg to stand on if I complain to BT about this?

J_B

Maybe EE was being 'economical with the truth' and bad-mouthing another provider in the hope that he could get a sale from you????

My phone shows 4G often, when at home on Three, but when roaming in Cyprus (4G is available, but Three don't support it there) it never shows 4G.

Sparx

You've been told rubbish, or misinterpreted the information you were given. BT's network does still use EE 4G and offer the same level of coverage.

The only difference is direct EE customers have a slightly higher priority on the network and can achieve higher 4G speeds if on a 4GEE Max tariff. However BT 4G is still your usual 4G access and it's likely you are just in a weak 4G signal covered area.

DCFC79

OP I agree you have either misunderstood or maybe the rep gave you wrong info.
BT is 4G, your phone supports it as you can get it.

What made you think you werent getting a 4G signal ?

samtaylor1986

Well this is whats confused me?! Admittedly I was looking for a new phone in the EE shop.......

He said even though it says '4g' it will never be able to get 4g as the BT network can't/unable to access the 4g masts?

Sounds like he spun me a line.....

DCFC79

samtaylor1986 wrote: »

Well this is whats confused me?! Admittedly I was looking for a new phone in the EE shop.......

He said even though it says '4g' it will never be able to get 4g as the BT network can't/unable to access the 4g masts?

Sounds like he spun me a line.....

Maybe he was trying to explain what Sparx has explained, sounds like he was trying to get a sale out of you. Its the same with Virgin as they use the EE network but have a slighlty lower priority than those on the EE network.

samtaylor1986

Yes sounds very much like it! Thanks all