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Moving to an area with little to no mobile signal

Hi,

I'm soon moving to an area that has essentially zero signal on every network and have absolutely no idea how to solve it.

I am currently on Plusnet who use the EE network, but EE don't give signal boosters to non customers, and also don't give them out if your area is known to have poor signal.

Obviously signal boosters are illegal in the UK, and the EE boxes that people sell on eBay aren't supported, so how can I solve it?

Thanks.
 
Look up Wi-Fi calling. It enables your phone to make and receive calls over your home broadband Wi-Fi. You have to have a compatible phone (lots of smartphones are), and a mobile network that supports the technology. (I believe EE, O2, Vodafone and Three all do - but don't take my word for it.)
It was a real lifesaver for my business when I moved to a farmhouse with solid walls and no mobile signal unless you went up the hill to the next field!
Cheers,
George
 
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Switch the mobile plan to Vodafone and request one of their SureSignal Routers maybe, which plugs into your fixed broadband service (I don't think it matters which ISP, so long as your home broadband is capable enough) and use that to boost the local mobile signal?
 
I mean the networks we currently use are MVNO of the main networks, namely 3 and EE. Can't really change to Vodafone unless we want to be stuck with GPRS and EDGE pretty much everywhere.

Edit: Apparently the rep I spoke to didn't know what he was on about, another person I spoke to seemed happy to send out a box as long as I actually became an EE customer.
 
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I mean the networks we currently use are MVNO of the main networks, namely 3 and EE. Can't really change to Vodafone unless we want to be stuck with GPRS and EDGE pretty much everywhere.

Edit: Apparently the rep I spoke to didn't know what he was on about, another person I spoke to seemed happy to send out a box as long as I actually became an EE customer.

In our area 3 and EE have the stongest signals, but in the house they are practically non existant.

I did find a solution to getting both 4G broadband and the ability to answer send mobile calls in the house - but it needed me to locate one point in the house where there was a signal - which in my case is the attic.

Do you have any reception anywhere which is covered or protected from the elements?
 
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Where we are - we have a 5-bar EE 4G signal on our modem (admittedly we have a roof antenna, although even without it the modem will show a 3-bar signal with only a small drop in downstream speed) and no mobile voice at all in the house.

O2 is the only network that works for voice. Upstairs, and then only sometimes. About 1 in 5 calls will drop. In school holidays, almost calls will drop within seconds. It is, basically, nearly useless.

Despite that strong 4G signal with EE - EE voice doesn't work at all in the house.

I've simply got used to not using the mobile.

The irony is that our "landline" is a VOIP service over EE 4G. And that works flawlessly.

What happened to that 4G voice-data calling thing?
 
VoLTE/4G Calling has been out for a while as long as you have a supported device, which is seemingly random.
 
Where we are - we have a 5-bar EE 4G signal on our modem (admittedly we have a roof antenna, although even without it the modem will show a 3-bar signal with only a small drop in downstream speed) and no mobile voice at all in the house.

O2 is the only network that works for voice. Upstairs, and then only sometimes. About 1 in 5 calls will drop. In school holidays, almost calls will drop within seconds. It is, basically, nearly useless.

Despite that strong 4G signal with EE - EE voice doesn't work at all in the house.

I've simply got used to not using the mobile.

The irony is that our "landline" is a VOIP service over EE 4G. And that works flawlessly.

What happened to that 4G voice-data calling thing?

From this response I am guessing (but may be wrong) that you are getting a good signal on a 4G modem - not your phone, and that in the house you are not getting reception for voice calls on your phone.

I have a problem with reception on the phone in the house - so I use a phone in the attic which is connected via a bluetooth device to a network of standard dect phones around the house to pick up and make calls.
This device allows me to leave a mobile in a static spot in the attic where the signal works.

So if there is one spot in your house where you can pick up a phone (voice) signal that could be a solution for you too.
 
From this response I am guessing (but may be wrong) that you are getting a good signal on a 4G modem - not your phone, and that in the house you are not getting reception for voice calls on your phone.

I have a problem with reception on the phone in the house - so I use a phone in the attic which is connected via a bluetooth device to a network of standard dect phones around the house to pick up and make calls.
This device allows me to leave a mobile in a static spot in the attic where the signal works.

So if there is one spot in your house where you can pick up a phone (voice) signal that could be a solution for you too.

That sounds like a good tip - thanks for the response. Pleased you found a solution.

Phones will actually pick up all the networks in the house, all with a 1 bar signal.

However O2 is the only network that will make or hold any calls at all and often, not even then.

They will all send and receive text messages. Eventually. With EE and Three, when trying those, I had to take the phone upstairs with me and give it time and it would receive them. Sat downstairs with it, nothing would come through even though the phone showed as "on network". Same for my iPhone and Windows phones.

It's because the walls of the house are 14" thick stone. It will work outside the house. It might work if I left the mobile near the 4G modem on an upstairs window-sill, just about. But that's not really practical.

We'll be moving home in the next few months. Priority is data not voice. I'm not really that bothered about whether we get a mobile voice signal at home. Mind you the place we lived before this was urban but we happened to have contracts with Orange, and that place had no Orange signal at all, so I've got used to mobiles being basically useless for home use ;)
 
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Our house has 15" stone walls - that's why I put the 4G router in the attic - then the devices (computer/phones) pick up the broadband over wifi quite well.
At a front window we get about 4Mb/s on 3G, but in the attic it is as much as 23Mb/s on 4G.

For broadband I use the 3 40GB 12 month contract package at £20 per month - I believe that this service is also available on a 30 day contract as well as the 12 month one, the difference is that you have to buy the router (unlocked) at £75 ( which is about £30 cheaper than buying it elsewhere).

You could try that taking advantage of the 14 day cooling off period as a 'trial'.
 
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I've been living in a house with very poor copper broadband 2-3 mb/s and the fibre was years away. The broadband is so bad I've even looked at satellite, but the house I live in is owned by a housing association and the disk is communal. I've found you can do catch TV on a broadband dish by fitting a multi Head LMB. Luckily Vodafone has rolled out 4G so now I can get a better speed connection with 4G, a router and an aerial high up and pointed at the transmission tower
 
Please please avoid satellite like the plague. I had a tooway system. It was totally oversold. Satellites just don't have the bandwidth.
The first 3 months were great. Then they introduced a so called fair usage policy. The unlimited 20mb connection was suddenly restricted to 30gb a month. That is 3 high def films these days. Once you go over the data limit they throttle you back to as low as 256k! Yes really. Can't even use facebook. I was paying £90 a month for that!
I have now moved hous and my 4mb line is far better.
 
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