Mobile Phone

I have today had a very frustrating conversation with my provider complaining once again about poor reception, I was informed that the mast nearest to me was 'down for essential work' I replied that my poor signal issues was not limited to when I was at home but mostly where I was and this is what I was advised which I would like to share with you and also ask if anyone else had been given the same advice ?

" whenever you will go out of your area there in order to use the phone properly you need to restart the phone, because when you use the phone ourside your area if you won't restart the phone then it won't work. "

H

Try it - and if it works, OK. If it doesn’t work, look for a different service provider? Might be your particular phone, mind. I don’t use a mobile much, but have never needed to restart it when I’ve used it. My wife uses her phone far more than me and she never turns it off - unless the battery runs out of charge.

To paraphrase Yoda "Codswallop such never heard I have, Skywalker".

The only time I restart my phone is if it gets confused by too many bluetooth devices and starts forgetting them.

I've been from the Midlands to Scotland and Wales and back again all without a restart.

My daughter's phone went to Georgia and back via Turkey without needing a 'reset'.

That's how mobile phones are supposed to work (the clue is in the 'mobile' bit...)

Neil

A cell phone as the Americans like to call them should move seamlessly between cells which is the idea, the phone is constantly checking in to the cell network and this enables you to immediately get the phone unavailable if the system does not know where a phone is. My iPhone does occasionally get its knickers in a twist with wireless networks but I do use quite a few in pubs, coffee shops, hotels etc.

Mike

What is this 'mobile phone' of which you speak? Is it one of those dreadful oblong things that young people stare at with dead eyes? and old people tentatively prod?

No good can come of it I tell you!

Repent!

Harry:

If someone from your network provider gave you this advice, I would immediately look for another supplier: - its absolute rubbish. (I used to work for a large company providing mobile phone service).

Where I live now, out in the sticks, as we drive along the road approaching our house, the signal comes and goes - its never very strong, but at times it disappears completely: if we are on the phone, we get cut off, but as we progress along the road, it restarts with no problems.

These companies have to be highly competitive to make a profit (look at the prices they pay for licenses), so if you have a poor service, go and find another - they'll be happy to have you.

You could try the not fit for purpose angle. Most suppliers boast something like 95 % uk coverage. I am sure I have been to all the 5% places as mine is up & down like a yoyo.

Does seem odd and unlikely advice. But are you a mobile phone user like me? I happen to live in a dead spot, don't go out every day, and rarely call anyone. The combination of inactivity and no signal upset my mobile phone so much I got rid. It was reliable until I retired and stopped commuting, after that the phone lost contact with the network for days at a time.

Dave

How well a phone works depends on network coverage, radio performance of the phone, and its internal software stack. The radio performance of phones (receiver sensitivity, effective radiated power etc) depends to a large extent on its physical design, size of its internal antennas and so on. Radio performance is a constant struggle between what the phone designed wants it to look like, ever increasing complexity and number of bands etc, and there are a lot of phones around that are frankly pretty ropy just considered as radios so they may not work as well as they ought to given the available network coverage.

There are only a small number of manufacturers of the actual chipsets used in phones - about 3 now - and working on a network depends on a complicated software stack in the phone which come from the same suppliers. Because phones have evolved over 3 generations of digital mobile technology - and now a 4th coming in - and every phone has to work on at least 3 network technologies today (2G/3G/4G) there seem to be odd behaviours in chipsets from particular suppliers that persist in phones for years.

We have had at least 2 phones in the past that have exhibited an odd behaviour where, despite apparently having a good signal and showing they have service, they will neither make nor receive calls or texts. Once they get in this mode the only thing to do is to restart the phone whereupon you may get deluged with texts and voicemail alerts, and all the texts you though you had sent but were queued in the phone get sent. This seems to be characteristic of a particular software stack from one of the major chip vendors. We haven't seen it on recent phones (2 Motorolas) but my wife just got a new Samsung phone where we have had the old problem reoccur. Since the chipset supplier concerned dominates the industry it is quite probable that this could have caused your problem.

So there is a basis for what you are told though it's very garbled - if the phone and stack are working properly it should work seamlessly without restarting provided its home network or one where your home provider has a roaming agreement in place has coverage.

We live in a dead spot but it’s not too much of a problem, if I really have to use my mobile it uses web calling if necessary provided WiFi is turned on.

Hi, I used to get this problem on my old phone in my last day job at work, seems although it was showing that a signal was available. Mentioning to one of the other guys, he suggested to switch on airplane and then switch it off again and that way it should find a stronger signal and when I did that, he was right, and It always worked whenever I had a bad signal there.

Regards Nick.

Thanks for the comments I posted because I thought it amusing on one hand and hard to belive that even Tesco mobile pay someone to turn out such clap trap. I live quite close to a mast and still only get one bar they'll tell me next I live to close, this is not the first time Ive complained but today I think I drew the village idot I will be phoning them again on Monday asking to talk to someone higher up the ladder

H

My son had a similar problem with a service provider who refused to do anything about improving mobile services at our home. My phone is on a different network and has no problem.

He took his complaint to the ombudsman (a government official who hears and investigates complaints by private citizens against other officials or government agencies.) He was able to apply pressure to the service provider to cancel the contract and give a refund.

Paul.

Being close to the base station would only help if its operator is the one that Tesco use to provide the actual service (which I think is O2). We nearly have line of sight to a mast less than half a mile away but O2 don't have a base station on it so it's no use.

Yes Tesco Mobile used O2 as an airtime provider.
If you go to Google Store and have a look around, there are a number of apps which will tell you which cell site to which your phone is currently registered.

Netmonitor is one such app, but there are others, I can't recommend one over another.

Bill

You have to wonder why people lie when I was told the o2 mast nearest to me was 'down' I check the o2 website which told me there were no issues !!!

H

I live in the sticks and I can NEVER get good reception from Friday afternoon till Monday morning.

Error in connection

No network coverage

Network busy

Blah blah blah

Drive into Aldi/lidle no problem !

So, welcome to the club, you are not alone.

I only hope nothing ever happens to me on a weekend !!

Easily explained: supermarkets, hotels and other public buildings often fit repeaters. They get good reception by putting a big antenna on the roof. It's going to be at least 100x better than the antenna inside a phone. Unfortunately repeaters are strictly local, once out of range the phone gets no help.

As mobile phone towers are rarely shared by different providers standing next to the wrong one is likely to make things worse. It's because radio receivers are deafened by loud adjacent signals.

It's a miracle mobile phones work at all...

Dave

If you think phones are bad, try a Dab radio on the move. Eventually I did read somewhere that it will all be DAB only & FM redundant.