Poor Voice Call Quality With Mobile?

SJMALBA

I'm never been a mobile user, but I resurrected an ancient Nokia 3510i (received as a present, many years ago) to use purely for receiving OTP texts with online banking, using an RWG SIM, and it has been fine.

However, with a large increase in my broadband/landline renewal price, which had previously included anytime calls, I no longer have any inclusive calls, so instead planned to try using a mobile for outgoing calls, and it seemed sensible to use the SIM that I already had (given that the credit on it was completely unused), to see if a mobile would prove a suitable replacement.
Having now made just a couple of calls, I'm struck by how poor the sound quality has been during the calls, both for me, and the person I was speaking to (who was on a landline), and wondered where the blame might lie?

The phone itself? Might a modern phone offer better voice call sound quality?
2G?
The network? It seems that EE, which RWG use, is 'borderline' for voice calls in my area, but I seemed to be at or close to full signal strength...?

For reference, I'm used to a cordless phone on the landline, and while this isn't as good as a corded phone, it's fine, and MUCH better than the quality on the mobile?

flaneurs_lobster

You need to eliminate the phone as being the problem, can you borrow a smartphone to put the RWG sim in and test again? Preferably at the same location.

ProDave

Do you still have unlimited broadband?

If so a better phone that can do wifi calling AND a mobile provider that supports it properly (RWG don't but say they will "soon")

I use 1p mobile who also use the EE network and with them wifi calling just works and fills in my weak signal at home. 

alanjones60

Think it could be the phone you are using,but it could also be rwg. Not knocking them,but i have samsung s20 with a three sim and a rwg sim in. When i make or recieve calls on the three sim,all calls show on my screen as HD+. Cyrstal clear.
Do the same on my rwg sim and no icon shows,and the calls sometimes sound “robotty“ if you know what i mean

PHK

2G will certainly give poorer quality sound compared to HD voice or VoLTE

Secondly the 3510i is well passed the design life of its components.

I think in combination with a marginal signal, one would have a poor experience.

Given that 3G is being turned off, I would recommend a good quality perhaps second hand phone (eg MOTOROLA mid-range, second hand older iPhone or Galaxy handset)

SJMALBA

flaneurs_lobster said:

You need to eliminate the phone as being the problem, can you borrow a smartphone to put the RWG sim in and test again? Preferably at the same location.

Probably not, I'm afraid, but I'll see if I can.

SJMALBA

ProDave said:

Do you still have unlimited broadband?

If so a better phone that can do wifi calling AND a mobile provider that supports it properly (RWG don't but say they will "soon")

I use 1p mobile who also use the EE network and with them wifi calling just works and fills in my weak signal at home. 

Yes, still unlimited.

SJMALBA

alanjones60 said:

Think it could be the phone you are using,but it could also be rwg. Not knocking them,but i have samsung s20 with a three sim and a rwg sim in. When i make or recieve calls on the three sim,all calls show on my screen as HD+. Cyrstal clear.
Do the same on my rwg sim and no icon shows,and the calls sometimes sound “robotty“ if you know what i mean

PHK said:

2G will certainly give poorer quality sound compared to HD voice or VoLTE

Secondly the 3510i is well passed the design life of its components.

I think in combination with a marginal signal, one would have a poor experience.

Given that 3G is being turned off, I would recommend a good quality perhaps second hand phone (eg MOTOROLA mid-range, second hand older iPhone or Galaxy handset)

Thanks.

Can you get a basic phone these days? i.e. one for calls and texts? If so, what sort of ballpark price might I be looking at?

If not, what's the (again, ballpark) lowest price for a smart phone, offering high quality voice calls? Don't need any 'smart' features, so looking for the price to be as low as possible, for HQ (or at the very least 'decent') voice call sound quality?

flaneurs_lobster

Nokia 105 4G £30 @ Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09K4CTJMJ?tag=amz-mkt-chr-uk-21&ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-org00-win10-other-nomod-uk000-pcomp-feature-scomp-feature-scomp&ref=aa_scomp

SJMALBA

Tried EE's coverage checker for 4G with the Nokia 105 4G and it says I won't get coverage; tried my existing Nokia 3510i and... no coverage for 2G. As mentioned, it seemed as though I was getting a good signal, but it looks like RWG may not work out for me for calls?

Presumably, getting a 4G phone, such as the Nokia 105 4G, would be a good idea for best voice call quality, even if I eventually have to switch to an O2 or Vodafone based SIM (both of which show good indoor and outdoor coverage in my area)?

macman

You can get a dumb phone down to about £20, or a basic smartphone down to about £60, though it's probably worth sending a little more to get a known brand.