Mobile phone reception and connecting to masts

[Infobleep]

Apolgoies if this has been recently asked. I also wasn't certain which fourm to use. I couldn't find one for mobile phone reception. I think that would be a useful fourm.

I have a Nexus 5 running 4G. I live in Surrey and regularly travel through South London and Sussex. Is it my imagination or has the mobile data coverage got worse? I've only had my Nexus 5 for just over a year so if I am experiencing issues, is it likely to be due to my Nexus 5 jot picking up the mobile data signal that well?

Also how does the Nexus 5 decide which mast to lock on to for data. When passing through Surbiton the quality varies from non existent; E; occasionally G; H or 4G. It appears as if it's random as it never seems to be the same each time I pass through but their will be a reason for it.

Some days I can hold a conversation all the way from Kingston to Surbiton and other days it keeps cutting out once I reach Surbiton.

Also Guildford and Woking have 4G but when I arrive by train, I seem to end up on H or E and it can't always connect to anything.

Is there away of forcing it to use a certain mast or refreshing it so it picks a better one?

An O2 guru once suggested going into mobile networks, selecting one I cannot connect to and then switching back to automatic as that will clear it down. Is that the best or only way to sort out the mobile data issues? I'd rather not restart the phone everytime but I guess that might be another option. Last night however my mobile just seemed to hang on the searching for mobile phone networks so I ended up restarting the phone.

I use some apps that make use of my location but although I've not noticed any problems with my GPS, they only work if I have mobile data coverage in addition to GPS coverage. Hence why I am trying to see what I can do to improve things. When I'm in Kingston upon Thames town centre I get 4G and never any problems so this issue doesn't occur everywhere.

Thanks for reading.

[Bambino]

Your phone will always try to seek out the strongest signal.

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/Self-help-guide-Is-the-network-down-for-me-or-ev...

[Cleoriff]

I can't answer all of your queries (I will leave that to others) What I can tell you is there is a lot of work going on across the country to improve the network infrastructure and 4G....

We have a good help guide here (Credit to Adam Temperton)

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/Self-help-guide-Is-the-network-down-for-me-or-ev...

Queries about your devices and signal I will leave to the experts...:smileywink:

[MI5]

Sounds like your phone isn't refreshing the network connection very often. The usual scan rate used to be around 5 secs, but one of the changes in Lollipop appears to have extended this seek time (I guess to help save battery). It's not user adjustable unless you root the phone.

[Infobleep]

Thank you for your replies. Whenever I check the service status page I alwayus find there is a good single for 4G when outside.

However that is not my experience, especially in Surbiton. Here it ranges from being good outside to non-existant. It's never the same. If I'm on Surbiton Crescent the single is mostly nothing for voice or data calls.

I did log the issues in Suribton last year via Twitter and it improvded but it is far from what the status page says. Incidentally I decided to log the issues again.

Again when at Clapham Junction sometimes I get 4G, othertimes E and I can't connet. Even resetting the phone doesn't help at Clapham Junction when I get E. I just logged that one.

It could be a combination of Google's Nexus 5; Lollipop and O2. I know my mum's very cheap Samsung phone gets a stronger singal at my parents house than my Nexus 5 but because they are in a dip, it's still not great either way.

Perhaps Lillipop has reduced the ability to pick up the singal compared to KitKat.

[Infobleep]

I was I Chamonix last week and I felt the reception for voice calls and texts, in terms of umber of bars it shows, was better than I get in the UK at times. It's only anecdotal evidence and I don't k ow if France generally had better mobile coverage than the UK.

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Infobleep Not sure about that but @MI5 is currently in France and has been there for 10 days or so..He may have a comment on your post?....

[jonsie]

You would have been roaming on a French network who probably have better coverage than O2 have here. Having said that we are supposed to have HD voice now in the UK .

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Welcome-News/HD-Voice-is-rolling-out-on-O2/m-p/879709/highlight/true#M1...

[MI5]

SFR everywhere here, no problems at all.

[Infobleep]

France or at least the provider I used there must definitely have better coverage.

Incidentally, my old Huawei Ascend G300 which is only 3G has better voice and data reception at my parents house than my Nexus 5 and my new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

Are newer phones not as good for mobile reception or is it just that Huawei is far superior, despite being only 3G. May be it's Google that have made things worse. I was sing a custom modifies ICS (Android 4.1) from memory but my beer phones are Marshmallow and Lollipop.

Also I was in a second hand record shop in Guilford. My Samsung was only picking up edge and not connecting at all. I went outside ans stood by the window of the show next door. Suddenly I had 4G and it worked.

I went back inside to the record shop and the 4G continued to work towards the back where I had been. Shortly though it reconnected to the edge mast and I had no connectivity again. Can anyone explain what this occurs?