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Question

Emergency calls only in certain areas


Andycox6321
Active Contributor

Hi All,

I travel around the country for work. Noticed in the last few weeks that if I go to the west midlands or the north east my Samsung S21 completely loses signal and displays emergency calls only. Tried the suggested troubleshooting tips and reset network settings which didn't resolve. If I switch on airplane mode and switch it off again it connects with good signal and 5g for a minute or so and then drops off again. It stays like this until I've travelled out of the area and either restarted the phone or used the airplane mode toggled off and on. 

Does anyone have any experience of this? It was working fine before. 

Many thanks. 

13 replies

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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 2297 replies
  • July 4, 2025

Hello ​@Andycox6321 

 

Thank you for getting in touch. 

We are sorry to hear of the issues you have been facing with the service. 

Can you please confirm the full postcode for the area where you experience the issues?

 

Natalie 


Andycox6321
Active Contributor
  • Author
  • Active Contributor
  • 6 replies
  • July 4, 2025

Hi Natalie,

Thank-you for your response. It seems to be the whole area. I'm a field service engineer visiting multiple hospitals in these areas. I travel from Nottingham to the north east, it cuts out about an hour prior to reaching newcastle. 

For the west midlands it seems to cut out shortly after reaching the M6 off the M42. It stays like that for the duration of my visit. Tried all of the troubleshooting tips provided by your chatbot and online articles. If I restart the phone or toggle the flight mode whilst I'm there it briefly connects to the ID mobile network with a good signal and then drops off again around a minute later. It's becoming very inconvenient and if we can't find a solution soon I will have to find another provider. 

Many thanks,

Andy


Tyler C
iD Mobile Employee
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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 4822 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hey there ​@Andycox6321, sorry to hear this. Can you please provide some full postcodes you have the issues in mainly?

 

Thanks,

Tyler


Andycox6321
Active Contributor
  • Author
  • Active Contributor
  • 6 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hi Tyler

As I said above, it seems to be the whole of these regions, however please see a few of the postcodes I have visited the last couple of weeks and experienced the issue. NE298NH, NE14LP, B187QH, NE81AS, DY12HQ, WS29PS. 

I visit these sites regularly and the problem has only been occurring for the last few weeks. On e I restart my phone back in nottingham it works fine. I don't think the issue is with coverage, i think the issue might be a setting on my account or a sim issue. Phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21. 

 

Many thanks, 

Andrew Cox


Tyler C
iD Mobile Employee
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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 4822 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Thank you ​@Andycox6321. Taking a look at these areas, they’re all weak/no 5G areas, so we’d expect weaker 5G signal here. Have you tried manually changing to 4G only to see if this helps at all?

 

Thanks,

Tyler


Andycox6321
Active Contributor
  • Author
  • Active Contributor
  • 6 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hi Tyler,

Yes, tried this already. Although when I nottingham my phone would automatically switch to the appropriate signal in any case. Also, this is not just a data problem, no calls or texts either. It goes to emergency calls only. 

Many thanks,

Andrew Cox


Tyler C
iD Mobile Employee
Forum|alt.badge.img+24
  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 4822 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hey there ​@Andycox6321, very sorry to hear that. And to clarify, this issue is only when you go here/via this route, it doesn’t happen everywhere and it’s not all the time?

 

Thanks,

Tyler


Andycox6321
Active Contributor
  • Author
  • Active Contributor
  • 6 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hi Tyler,

Yes that's correct. Only appears to be the north east and west midlands so far. If I travel to Leeds, Manchester, Cambridge etc it's fine and it's okay at home in nottingham. Problem is I spen a lot of time in these places so it's becoming a real pain. Hopefully we can find a solution ASAP.

Many thanks,

Andrew Cox


Tyler C
iD Mobile Employee
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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 4822 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hey there ​@Andycox6321, no problem, sorry to hear that. If the issue is only happening when you go here, then it is likely to be a coverage issue in the area or with a mast, so we can only really advise that we hope Three UK can resolve them ASAP. 

 

If you don’t have issues elsewhere, and the device and SIM works as it should normally other than here, then that would suggest that it’s not an issue with the device or SIM, or our coverage in most places.

 

Thanks,

Tyler


Andycox6321
Active Contributor
  • Author
  • Active Contributor
  • 6 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hi Tyler,

If that's the case then why has this only just occurred within the last few weeks? I would also argue that all of your other customers would have the same issue if it was a coverage problem? Is there really nothing more that can be done to investigate this? It seems ridiculous that i have to change network just to achieve the service I'm paying for. 

Many thanks,

Andrew Cox

 


Tyler C
iD Mobile Employee
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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 4822 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hi there ​@Andycox6321, I obviously can’t advise on other customers, as I can’t say what’s been reported to us or not from other customers, although you’d expect that to be the case, yes. However, as your phone works fine everywhere else, then that does indicate more of a coverage issue in the area, opposed to a device or SIM issue. Of course, we can drop you a PM and investigate further if you’d like, and raise to our technical team?

 

Thanks,

Tyler


Andycox6321
Active Contributor
  • Author
  • Active Contributor
  • 6 replies
  • July 5, 2025

Hi Tyler,

Yes, please raise with your technical team to investigate.

Many thanks,

Andrew Cox


Tyler C
iD Mobile Employee
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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 4822 replies
  • July 6, 2025

Hey there ​@Andycox6321, we’ll shortly send you a Private Message to your Community account so we can discuss your issue further.

 

To access your messages, click your profile picture in the top right hand corner and then click ‘Private Messages’.

 

Alternatively, if you are currently logged in, you can use the following link:

 

https://community.idmobile.co.uk/inbox/overview

 

Please note, this isn’t an instant messaging service, and we’ll get back to you ASAP. Please contact our live-chat if you require instantaneous responses.

 

Thanks,

Tyler