no service in hospital

[TobyToo12]

hello all, question, why no service network whilst in hospital, but others had no problem. my phone is oppo find x5 lit. hospital was in north wales. at the time it was VERY impotant to get in touch with family. should i look at different phone ( upgrade ) or another network supplier ?.

[Cleoriff]

In hospital it depends on

1)The Wifi  they use.

or

2) Network reception.

Guide: How can I sort out my network issues? 

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

I've had a few stays in 2 hospitals and couldn't connect to their Wifi, until one of the staff, (knowing I was a retired nurse) logged me onto the staff Wifi.

Some hospitals expect you to pay for Wifi use!

[Enlli]

When I was in hospital for a hip replacement phone signal was poor (not O2 at the time) due to concrete and steel structure.

Used the hospital wifi and I was able to talk to my wife and daughter using WhatsApp 

However I had WiFi Calling enabled so I could call other numbers.

Suggest you investigate both.

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

[Enlli]

At least WiFi is free in both the NHS trusts I use. Pretty good too.

[jonsie]

Last month I spent 5 days in hospital

For three days no one knew I was there

What little charge my phone had was taken up searching for a network - dual sim phone and no network at all on EE or O2

One of the nurses kindly borrowed a charger from another patient and then I was able to log on to the hospital wifi and use wifi calling and message using Whatsapp

To be fair the hospital wifi was fairly good but no signal at all unless you were on Three

I do think all hospitals should be fully serviced by all the networks - it's a basic need and sadly poorly addressed. God, it's 2023 not 1973!

[Enlli]

@jonsie Not sure about 1973 but the UK is well down the league when it comes to good mobile telecoms.

Having poor signal helps force people onto the premium rate patient phones, so a bonus for those that make profits out of sickness.