Very poor signal

[AandT]

We live at LE12 5LH and there are 4 households who are all O2 customers in a small group of houses where O2 reception is less than 1bar and often nonef and we loose connections often in the middle of conversations.  We are all on Volt packages.

I am a vulnerable person as I have Stage 3 heart failure and may need to call 999 at any time ...I have an Emergency phone installed which in the event of the broadband not being available should switch to using O2 mobile calling .

Recently we were without any broadband for several days and the the only way to call 999 would be using this phone or a mobile phone from our house. As we have little and often no mobile signal which is unreliable as we know what can be done to improve the O2 signal to our houses at this post code?

We are worried as our emergency phone may not connect and our mobile phones are all iffy at best in these curcumstances!

Our mobile phones are not the issue it's the lack of signal at our addresses.

We were safe with our old cabled connection but now feel very exposed by this recent failure.

Help please...

[MI5]

@AandT 

Have you checked what level of signal you get from other networks?

You can check with free PAYG sim cards and keep the best as an emergency backup.

Some guides here but in general, if the area is a blackspot, there's nothing you can do to improve it.

Guide: How can I sort out my network issues? 

Guide: Is the network down for me or everyone? 

Guide: Do you have poor coverage / signal Indoors? This may help Explain / resolve it 

[Enlli]

Regretfully there will always be areas where reception will be poor. That can be down to a number of factors like topography, building etc. These are all outside a networks control. I live in one such area. A walk 200 yards in any direction gives me a strong connection

For making calls at home I use WiFi Calling

https://www.o2.co.uk/connectivity/wifi-and-4g-calling#more

I would suggest you and your neighbours try PAYG SIM cards running on the other 3 main networks to see which is best for you and then change to that provider

[madasaf1sh · Accepted solution]

@AandT 

Just to set your mind at ease if you ring 999 it will automatically connect to the strongest signal in the area, so if you have no o2 signal it will connect on Vodafone , EE or 3 

Other than that follow the advice given, as there will be nothing you can do to resolve a blackspot issue

[japitts]

If 24x7x365 connectivity is vital to you, then you would be strongly recommended to have multiple means of contact.

The use of alternative networks should work in emergency scenarios, but there would be issues with incoming calls and having a phone on a working network is always preferable.

Relying on a single network which you know to be poor, is likely to cause issues sooner or later. All operators have good & bad coverage areas, 100% indoor coverage is near impossible to achieve.

[madasaf1sh]

To add onto @japitts post

Have a look at anywhere sim that will use any of the UK networks, it isnt cheap but is a good service 

https://www.anywheresim.com/home

[Bambino]

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@japitts wrote:

If 24x7x365 connectivity is vital to you, then you would be strongly recommended to have multiple means of contact.

The use of alternative networks should work in emergency scenarios, but there would be issues with incoming calls and having a phone on a working network is always preferable.

Relying on a single network which you know to be poor, is likely to cause issues sooner or later. All operators have good & bad coverage areas, 100% indoor coverage is near impossible to achieve.

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@AandT To add to the above post: BT Landline | Get a BT Home Phone | BT

[MI5]

Customer has been moved over to voip services so won't be any use.