I have really poor network coverage despite iD coverage checker saying I should have 'excellent' service

Hi there ​@AdamJW93 

Take what the coverage checker states with a rather large pinch of salt and also check what it states for indoors too by referring to the different shades on their map. But does their network status show of any known faults/issues/upgrades at your postcode?

Hi there. 

Thanks for the response. 

The coverage checker says that I should receive excellent coverage both indoors and outdoors where I live. 

There's no known network issues in the area according to the checker. I'm lucky if I can even get one bar in the house. Mobile data is pretty much unusable. Phone calls cut out unless I'm using WiFi calling. 

No problem.

Okay, does that tally with the Ofcom one - https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage?

The iD/3UK one states mine is excellent here too (both indoors and outdoors), but in reality its not good here at all indoors (and outdoors is questionable from around 7am until around 2am). The Ofcom one does give a more truthful answer for my address - mine shows as limited indoors.

Well at least we know there’s no reported faults then.

I get 1 bar indoors and 1-2 bars outdoors in the day and in the early hours I can see 1-2 bars indoors and 3 bars outdoors. Rarely outdoors it can flash up to 4 bars.

Download speeds in the day can be 0.58Mbps or less (tested at 16:30) and in the early hours (04:30) it has, of late, reached over 53Mbps.

And yes my calls have been cutting out too - I was trying a Force LTE app which worked well until the 4G signal drops too low and thus the calls continue to be an issue - but by forcing LTE is proves its not my phone at fault.

Maybe, if your phone permits, try setting it to 4G only and see if you see any improvement.

Could be the phone or the construction of the building you are in which affects signal strength. 

I've just checked that coverage checker you sent me from Ocfom and it does in fact show their is no signal indoors where I live. 

Hey there ​@AdamJW93, sorry to hear about your coverage issues.

How long have you had issues for please?

What phone do you have?

Are you connected to 3G, 4G or 5G here when having issues?

Thanks,

Tyler

Hi Tyler. 

I've been having these issues pretty much since I've been with iD (nearly 2 years). My partner is with Three as well and has the same issues as me. 

I'm connected to 4G as I can rarely get 5G in my area. 3G isn't available anymore. 

Thanks. 

So you're another one with an estimated “excellent coverage” for your area when in reality it isn’t. I can honestly say I totally understand just how frustrating this is now that you have found what Ofcom state.

IMHO Ofcom should start looking at 3UK’s coverage checker to force them to start showing real world results, though I did notice 3UK changed their wording below their coverage map as it now states this:

Our coverage map meets Ofcom's High Confidence standard for 5G coverage. However, although these coverage results are accurate, the information is only a guide and doesn't guarantee service availability in a particular location. Coverage may vary depending on your device and whether you're indoors. We are continuously improving our network to ensure our 5G service reaches even more customers.

(I highlighted the words in bold)

Maybe 3UK should concentrate on their current 4G debacle first. But I must point out these signal coverage issues can’t be everywhere as many others have not reported signal issues.

FWIW 3UK used to state this below their coverage map results:

Although we try to make these coverage results as accurate as possible, the information is only a guide, it doesn’t guarantee availability in a particular location. The roll out plans are updated regularly and may change over time.

Makes you wonder why they changed the wording and why they elected to not mention 4G on their updated wording.

But I can probably answer why yours, mine and many others on iDM or Three (or any other MVNO using 3UK’s infrastructure) are now having issues with their signal. The problem stems from 3UK switching off their 3G. Now that in itself isn’t the problem, the problem is for those of us (myself included) without 5G available and are now all cramming onto 4G and currently it can’t cope. I have spent months looking into this and have carefully monitored the state of the 4G signal here (even though 3UK have confirmed the 3G has gone here my phone will still drop to 3G during a call, for the 4G to return immediately after the call ends). I have to give credit to an iDM manager as he has really tried to help with this - I’ve been doing my bit on this too and if a temporary solution was found I’d be the first one to share it. Either setting the phone to 4G only or if this isn’t an option on the phone (like mine) then using an app to force 4G/LTE actually ‘forces’ the network to remain on 4G which is good, yet the downside is when the 4G is under stress even using 4G only it still causes the calls to fail.

Also now that officially 3G has gone (it hasn’t) 3UK will be modifying these now redundant (but they’re still on) 3G antennae and will become 4G antennae (which then builds a bigger 4G) and thus only time will tell if these 4G issues will be fully resolved. As I need a working phone here (but don’t we all) I may have to leave iDM to continue getting acceptable coverage and it may be something you may also want/need to look into too.

I was planning on jumping ship to Vodafone but they and Three have been given the green light to merge so I’m not confident Vodafone won’t be dragged down to 3UK’s level. So I’m kinda having to wait and see if 3UK sort theirs or indeed once ‘Three Vodafone’ go live if Vodafone’s side is better then I really have no other option.

Anyway, sorry for waffling on, I really do hope now that iDM staff have responded they can get yours working as you’d expect 🤞. - As an aside other customers have tried a replacement SIM (you can pick one up from Currys for free) and once activated their signal issues were resolved, so again maybe give this a thought - if it works great - if it doesn’t at least you can say you tried.

Thanks for the reply. 

I was guessing it could be something to do with that (too many people on the network). I've also tried a new SIM card but I had no luck with this either. Apparently a lot of people around this area (even who are on different networks), have issues with network coverage. I do genuinely believe it is what you've said where there's too many people subscribed to the local mast. 

My phone is always on 4G anyway unless I'm in a 5G area where it tends to be a lot better speeds. 

I also didn't know about the merger between Vodafone and Three. 

Hey there ​@AdamJW93, we’re very sorry to hear that.

Does the issue affect calls, texts and data always?

How many bars of signal do you usually have?

Thanks,

Tyler

Hi Tyler. I can text fine. Calls do go through but always cut out. WiFi calling is the only way I can get reliable calls. Data is pretty much unusable. At home I'm lucky if I get 1 bar. 

Thanks.

Hey there ​@AdamJW93, thank you for confirming.

Just to confirm also (and sorry if I’ve missed it above), but just like to make sure, have you tried a replacement SIM card with us?

Also, if you try your SIM in another device in the area, does the same issues persist?

Finally, what phone do you have please?

Thanks,

Tyler

It does give me that impression based on what you’ve described, hence that rather long reply - hope you didn’t get too bored reading it🙄. My area also has significant network issues and I too tried a replacement SIM (which corrects the phone number changing from 07 to +447 due to roaming) and networks O2, EE, Three and MVNO’s iD Mobile, GiffGaff, Smarty and Tesco all have issues here - hence my waiting game on Vodafone.

If you didn’t know the main 4 mobile networks are EE, O2, Three (aka 3UK) and Vodafone (down to three after the merger) and any other provider would use one of their infrastructures - iDM use 3UK and your partner is direct with 3UK - this kinda crudely confirms 3UK more than likely isn’t the best network to be on currently for your area. You could ask neighbours in your area what networks they use and if any don’t have any known signal issues maybe consider moving. Having said that eventually I hope all providers will have a perfectly working 4G signal - my issue is mine doesn’t look like its going to be ‘fixed’ until December when I assumed it would have been the December in 2024

(and yes I too have dropped calls - had another one this morning!)

Hi there. 

I did try a replacement SIM a while back and no improvements were made. My partner is on Three and her network coverage is awful as well. 

Thanks. 

Hi there. 

No not at all. I appreciate the time out of your day you're taking to help. It's quite interesting actually. 

Yes I'm aware that there's only the 4 main networks in the UK and that others piggyback off them. 

I asked the question on the school WhatsApp group and a lot of the parents live near us and they've all said they have issues regardless of network. 

I know we did have some issues a while back with the network but apparently that's been resolved but network coverage is just as bad if not worse. 

Thanks. 

Don’t say that, I could talk for hours about phones and routers and cars and electricity and mechanical things and most other things in between!

👍

This happens more than we’ll ever fully know. For our area we’ve had signal issues for many years now. For the most part it was the lack of investment (although we still paid the same prices as those without issues). In recent years our area had boomed with developments (shame as we had some cracking countryside) which only made these signal issues worse.

I fully expect issues from time to time, nothing is perfect. We were with Tesco for many years and in the beginning they were absolutely fine. Then as Tesco got bigger our signal started to become worse to the point it was just too bad (we had 6 SIMs with them). I was told our area needed upgrades to the phone masts but the big 4 didn’t want to invest the money as we didn’t have enough people living in our town. I couldn’t believe it!

So over time as our contracts came up for renewal (thus far) 5 of those numbers have gone to other providers - mine to iDM in February 2024 and due to the signal being great (actually better than what Tesco ever was for years) my wife joined iDM in March. But in April we started to notice the same slow degradation in our signal - due to life in general I did nothing about it until October.

But our town has grown massively in size in the last 5 years and without the investment and now with the loss of 3G (it hasn’t fully gone yet although Three stated it has) we’re currently not having a decent signal. Vodafone seems to be the best network for quality here.

So over time as our contracts came up for renewal (thus far) 5 of those numbers have gone to other providers - mine to iDM in February 2024 and due to the signal being great (actually better than what Tesco ever was for years here) my wife joined iDM in March. But in April we started to get the same slow degradation in our signal - due to life in general I did nothing about it until October. I was hoping it would be sorted without my intervention.

But the problem is, was this caused by iDM getting too big (they added over 500k new subscribers in the last 6 months taking their customer count to over 2 million) like Tesco did, or is it part that and part due to the fact 3UK knocked off their 3G throughout last year, or is of this all down to 3UK?

I can only suggest you either obtain free PAYG SIMs from the current big 4 or any MVNOs, then test the signal strength for each one. Then if iDM contact you about your account see what they say about any known congestion and look into the options for either working with them to fix this or move to another - do the same for your partner. I must admit I was not surprised to see that when my wife and I were in Europe last year we had a full strength roaming signal.