Lebara via MSE deals warning.

Skivesey

I have been having bad signal problems with my current provider, so looked on MSE for deals to change to.
Saw the great 8G data Lebara sim 3 months half price, so I ordered one.
Sim arrived yesterday and unfortunately was not getting as good a signal as my original and another payg from another provider. Had checked Vodaphone website before purchase and it said good indoors and outdoors.
Swapped back to original as when I browsed with my VPN browser every page on the Lebara sim froze, not on the normal Samsung browser though.
Got in from work today and tried sim again, still the same issue with VPN but had 4g and not H or H+.
That's all my own problems but the next bit is everybody's.
Saw on Labara website could cancel or freeze sim for 12 months and just ask their people what to do.
10 mins on webchat and still only no5 I called them.
Guy said because I had gone through MSE I was on a third party contract and they couldn't pause sim as if I was with Lebara direct. After a few minutes of my bleeting about i should have the same rights everything I had was emblazoned with the Lebara branding and never saw a mention of it anywhere before !
I decided to just cancel and they obviously needed the money more than me, he then offered to cancel the payments and reimburse me the initial £4.
I declined the reimbursement stating I thought people should be aware of this situation before they became a third party citizen, love a deal but seems some have hidden costs .
That's what happened to me, good luck to you.
Regards Skivesey.

tafelmoneysaver

I also saw the MSE deal advertised.

I found that the nearest mobile mast to my house is a vodafone mast.

I completed my number switch today and 25MB download speed on a speedtest.

No complaints here.

Skivesey

Glad to hear works for you.
May I ask how do you find who's mast is who's, mine only tells location, distance and signal strength. 
Regards Kevin. 

JJ_Egan

Bad signal then start by getting network sims and testing before signing up to any deal is the MSE way .

tafelmoneysaver

Skivesey said:

Glad to hear works for you.
May I ask how do you find who's mast is who's, mine only tells location, distance and signal strength. 
Regards Kevin. 

One of them had a sign, with 'bt cellnet' written on it so I assumed that was an O2 mast and I'm sure there used too be a website with them all on but I can't find it at the moment.

jnm21

OFCOM used to have a site, but one of the networks started refusing to supply data. Also there are a number of mast sharing arrangements now.

I think if you go on o2's coverage checker you can ask it to show the masts.  Also (especially with 5G because the coverage is so limited) you can sometimes estimate where the mast is - in the middle of the pool of coverage.

There is a site that tells you - someone shared it with me about a year ago, but I have no idea what it was.  They also have an android app.

Try cellmapper.net

Skivesey

Thanks for all the advice , I will do a bit more homework this time !
Even read a piece saying the cell towers don't all emit at full 360 degrees and can be tuned to only cover certain areas  !!
Things you learn on the Web.
Regards Kevin. 

d123

Skivesey said:

Even read a piece saying the cell towers don't all emit at full 360 degrees and can be tuned to only cover certain areas  !!

That is true, though you can normally tell if the mast doesn’t have 360° coverage by the antenna position at the top of the mast.

Skivesey

Used a site called Mastdata and the thing I like is you can check each of the main networks or press 1st and it will tell you who's best.
Yep my sims are not the strongest ones for my area according to it, so quick tester sim as advised and maybe closer to digital harmony again.
Regards Kevin.

jnm21

Mastdata did not work for me.

This works well for me https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=234&MNC=15&type=LTE&latitude=54.59254049305261&longitude=-5.9479153280094&zoom=16&showTowers=true&showTowerLabels=true&clusterEnabled=false&tilesEnabled=true&showOrphans=false&showNoFrequencyOnly=false&showFrequencyOnly=false&showBandwidthOnly=false&DateFilterType=Last&showHex=false&showVerifiedOnly=false&showUnverifiedOnly=false&showLTECAOnly=false&showENDCOnly=false&showBand=0&showSectorColours=true&mapType=roadmap

PS Don't fall for 'best signal' promises - strongest signal does not mean best data speeds.  Also mathematical models can be loused up by a badly placed tree! 

oldagetraveller1

"Also mathematical models can be loused up by a badly placed tree!".

Or someone called Ferguson, many times!