No reception in office in central London

[Anonymous]

I have been an O2 customer for a few year. A couple of months ago my employer moved to a new office in central London, EC2A.

Since then, I get no reception on my phone in the office. Either I get 1 bar of signal, and I cannot make calls as they always break up and drop within a minute, or I get no bars at all and my phone is not even on the network.  The O2 map lists good coverage throughout that area, and indeed the signal is fine when I am out on the street.

Is there way to fix this? If I can't use my phone for 8 or more hours per day there's no point in remaining an O2 customer. 

[perksie]

It could well be that the new building is metal framed, creating a Faraday cage effect where wireless signals cannot penetrate.

You could try sims from other providers but if I'm right none of them will work any better.

[Anonymous]

You may be right, but this poses other questions:

How does this situation arise? I don't know how old the building is, but if it's new who would be stupid enough to build a structure impervious to mobile phones? And if it's old, why would the mobile phone network not be designed with buildings in mind? The building has been refurbished and has glass on all sides.

Regardless of the how, what can we do about it? 

[adamtemp64]

if it is glass with a metal coating that is the issue.

It is nothing the mobile networks can do apart (the way radio waves work) from actually putting a mini cell inside the building.

If you are an o2 business customer a boostbox is available but needs access to broadband talk to either 8002 or o2 account manager.

[Anonymous]

"glass with a metal coating" may well be the issue, but seriously? Who allowed that to be put in without thinking about it.

My employer is not an O2 business customer; do they really need to be one in order for O2 customers to make and recieve calls in thier office? How else can a boostbox or other variety of fetmocell get installed, and for how much?

[perksie]

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Anthony_S wrote: I don't know how old the building is, but if it's new who would be stupid enough to build a structure impervious to mobile phones? And if it's old, why would the mobile phone network not be designed with buildings in mind?

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Wireless signals have been the same since invention and cannot be made to perform tricks unfortunately.

Some bulidings work better than others and the builders/designers are responsible.

Mobile phones only became popular in the last 20 years and have to cope with thousands of buildings of varying construction.

[adamtemp64]

as it is your phone that is affected
What model is it
do you have access to wifi in the office?

Can you use tugo on your phone.

But the options of installing a boostbox only apply to business customers and cost £150 but for full cell install your company would need to contaact o2 and I do not think it will be cheap.

No network has to provide in building coverage untill the 4g auction and then your building will be excluded due to its construction.

The same applies in a lot of new build timber framed homes with foil backed insulation / plasterboard.

[Anonymous]

My handset is a galaxy S4 and yes, the office wifi works fine (the base station for that is inside the building).

If I read you right, then nobody is responsible for making this work, and without my employer already being an O2 business customer O2 won't do anything? Consider that my employer would have to do the same with every other mobile network also, in order to get them working as well.

How can it be that a building can be "excluded due to its construction" when that aspect of the construction is only a year or two old? Are there no standards for that either with the mobile phone siugnal or on the building materials?

You also seem to be saying that 4g won't change things, is that right?

[perksie]

There is nothing O2 can do if the building is the problem.

4G may be better as the 2G and 3G coverage will improve too, but it still may not work in your building.

O2 can do nothing to improve the wireless signal it is governed by the laws of science.

[adamtemp64]

the way radio waves propagate a faraday cage will block all radio waves of any frequency.

You have a phone that can use tugo http://www.o2.co.uk/tugo/want-it that will use the office wifi to get you call and sms when no cell signal. O2 is the only network to offer this solution.

Building regs are concerned with energy effecency and not radio waves. these metal coatings reflect sunlight so help keep buildings cool and keep heat in.