Mobile phone contract/ lack of service

MattMattMattUK

boobyd said:

Again thanks for comments suggestions.
Have done a full factory reset,same issue appeared.
At home using Home broadband fine.
Turn Home wi fi off, phone does work,can see 4g and the "data arrows" and pages load etc.
Go away from home ,15 -200 miles doesn't work,when driving get loads of pings.Sometimes a WhatsApp/ message might get through,sometimes might get phone calls,most times get no network  message 
Same message, No internet connection,Sky network unavailable.
Tried wife's phone SIM get same issue(Virgin/EE) ,I'm Sky/EE
Airplane mode off.
Mobile data on
Latest update from Sky is the local tower isn't working and further update on 22 Dec.
Doing most of chat through X as phone/ chat is painful trying to get some understanding.
Sky forum not much different to help on here.

The local tower might impact you at home, but it will not impact you away from home. If you get the same issue with a different SIM then it would indicate the issue is with the phone.

boobyd

Gone to daughter's house 5 miles away have put her SIM in (Vodafone) and it is fine,
Wi fi off,everything loads,make calls on mobile data etc.
Not sure why the Mrs phone shows the same issue though?
Must be the bl..dy phone.
Again thanks for all the suggestions/help

Ayr_Rage

Sky uses the O2 mobile network.

Have you refreshed the Access Point Names (APN) settings?

savergrant

"Tried wife's phone SIM get same issue(Virgin/EE) ,I'm Sky/EE
Airplane mode off.
Mobile data on"

Neither virgin nor sky use ee.
Sky use o2 and virgin have recently moved customers from Vodafone to o2.

RefluentBeans

boobyd said:

Gone to daughter's house 5 miles away have put her SIM in (Vodafone) and it is fine,
Wi fi off,everything loads,make calls on mobile data etc.
Not sure why the Mrs phone shows the same issue though?
Must be the bl..dy phone.
Again thanks for all the suggestions/help

To confirm - the phone works off Wi-Fi when at home? If so then there is a clear issue with your phone or sim and I don’t see how one mast being down is going to change that. 

Speak to the customer services and get them to help you. The mast being faulty appears to be a red herring. 

oldernonethewiser

boobyd said:

Again thanks for comments suggestions.
Have done a full factory reset,same issue appeared.
At home using Home broadband fine.
Turn Home wi fi off, phone does work,can see 4g and the "data arrows" and pages load etc.
Go away from home ,15 -200 miles doesn't work,when driving get loads of pings.Sometimes a WhatsApp/ message might get through,sometimes might get phone calls,most times get no network  message 
Same message, No internet connection,Sky network unavailable.
Tried wife's phone SIM get same issue(Virgin/EE) ,I'm Sky/EE
Airplane mode off.
Mobile data on
Latest update from Sky is the local tower isn't working and further update on 22 Dec.
Doing most of chat through X as phone/ chat is painful trying to get some understanding.
Sky forum not much different to help on here.

Which means the phone is connecting to the nearest cell tower to your home successfully.

Alderbank

Well the phone is certainly connecting exactly as it should, though not necessarily to the nearest mast.

It is not like tuning in a radio. The phone doesn't get to choose. All decisions are made by the network. In built-up areas each phone is in range of several masts. The network uses algorithms to instruct phones which mast to pair with using not just distance but signal strength and quality as well as contention (the number of phones already allocated to a particular mast) and is constantly updating allocations.

You say 'Go away from home ,15 -200 miles doesn't work'.

Whereabouts is 'home'? The networks like to boast that 91% of users are in range but this conceals the fact that most people are in towns and cities while coverage in rural areas, where there are few people, is extremely sparse. Much of Wales, huge swathes of Scotland and many areas in England are still 'not spots'. Your description of patchy sporadic coverage sounds very much like driving in mountainous or hilly countryside.