Poor mobile reception at home - an answer!

[chesters1]

On a similar vein you used to be able to use a phone via your broadband and bt gave you a second number for it but ofcourse it wasnt a mobile just wireless .only appeared to work with the v2 hub since then its gone ,to be truthful i always forgot to use it .

[big_cod]

Been a so called loyal vodaphone customer for many years now but of late have had just about had enough quite few years ago in the villlage where i live there was a mast in the field opposite great 5 bars on the moblie then one day 1 bar or no service they had switched the mast off i had just renewed my contract i give them what for and they gave me a free sure signal box this was about 8-10 years ago had to purchase one last christmas for £100 as my old gave up not very pleased but with my buisness phone calls are a vital part of it .

 

Over the years i must admit it runs into 100ss of pounds in compensation i have received for there cockups a couple of years ago went to spain purchased euro traveller got to spain no service could receive calls or make them not happy infact fuming rang them, on 191 from spain they said all ok you are on euro traveller which it wasnt i said i will sort it out when i get home the first day home phoned them and the guy admited who ever had put me on euro traveller in the first place hadnt put the roaming on no service abroad got £100 compensation for that but there has been quite a few more i wont go into detail .

 

But over the last 2 months vodaphone coverage in whitby has been truelly shocking 3G is rubbish trying to ring out long delay in connecting not connecting customers cant contact me its being crazy i i phone them 3 weeks ago about the poor signal and 3G being rubbish they admitted the mast wasnt working right and it would be up and running in couple of days so as to yesterday stll rubbish my wife was stood next to me in the boat yard in whitby she tryed ringing me both of us with 5 bars on our moblies couldnt connect i said thats it i rang them not happy and they gave me 2 months free line rental for both of my phones on my account and promised the mast would be sorted today it did seem better but i wont hold my breath the main issue is i cant get a signal out in the sticks where i live so i have had to stay with vodaphone on sure signal but things are changing the funnny thing once over they were the best these days they seem to be the worst.

 

paul.

Edited August 23, 2014 by big_cod

[big_cod]

Spoke to vodaphone again this morning issue of rubbish 3G and poor signal still not resolved told it will be another week before its full operational how do they get away with it chargeing people for something they arent getting told to switch to 2G till everything back up and running.

 

paul.

Edited August 25, 2014 by big_cod

[Steve Burke]

The following is all from "The Register".

 

It may be third time lucky for EE with an attempt to route voice calls over Wi-Fi, as the company has announced it is working on another service which reduces the often prohibitive cost of rolling out coverage to places with few people and difficult terrain.

 

The new service will allow customers to use an unmodified handset with existing Wi-Fi connections to make calls and texts when there is no cellular coverage available.

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EE has a service called Signal Boost which is a femtocell, a small mobile phone base station which provides cellular coverage and connects on customers’ Wi-Fi to get the call back to EE. There also used to be a service called Orange Unique, launched in 2006 . This used special handsets which worked with the UMA service to route calls over domestic Wi-Fi.

 

Orange bullied handset manufacturers into producing suitable devices by threatening not to buy other non-UMA handsets if the company did not also make UMA compliant ones. Unfortunately the results were the Motorola A910, Nokia 6136 and the Samsung P200 – which were unloved by the manufacturers and consumers alike.

 

BT had a similar service called BT Fusion, which used both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and offered a modified version of the outrageously popular Motorola Razr, but even that failed to get traction, with many of the customers buying it for the loss-leader pricing and never using the hand-off between cellular and Wi-Fi.

 

The new service aims to be different in that it uses the IMS (IP Multimedia System) which uses SIP and which is built into an increasing number of newer handsets and doesn’t require specialised end-user equipment, so will work over any open Wi-Fi connection. A few devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, already support IMS and more are expected.

 

Unlike using Viber or Skype on your handset over Wi-Fi, you will pay for the calls as they come out of bundled minutes, although EE points out that on many tariffs these are unlimited. EE also claims the service will be more reliable than using an “unmanaged VoIP” service (by which it means Skype), because the call will be prioritised. Voice always takes priority over data, which is a “best efforts” service. Calls are also encrypted using robust mobile protocols.

 

There is, however, no support for roaming. You won’t be able to use the service to make Wi-Fi based calls when overseas to save on roaming costs – although, of course, you could hide your location with a VPN. EE explains that this is because of 112/999 emergency services considerations.

 

The Wi-Fi calling service is set to launch in autumn 2014 on the latest handsets capable of supporting the service.

 

Fotis Karonis, CTO at EE, said:

Our WiFi calling capability will let customers make calls where they have access to WiFi but not to the mobile network. The customer experience is seamless because it’s the same as making a network call and uses the normal call interface of the handset. This is a major part of our strategy to invest in giving customers the ability to make a call wherever they are, and we’re confident that this service can make a big difference to people in homes and large offices across the country, especially in the most rural areas, that don’t have mobile coverage.

[Steve Burke]

I said that I'd feed back about BT Smart Talk. Unlike other aps it's supposed to work on any network but doesn't accept incoming calls. It doesn't work on PCs but reception has been excellent on Peggy's Android phone - better than o2's TuGo.

 

I'd add that whilst TuGo is supposed to work on a PC I couldn't get those I called to hear me properly although I could hear them. This is despite using full volume both on my PC and the ap itself. It may be that it works only on Windows 7 after all (I've got 8.1). Alternatively, it might work if I re-install the ap as was suggested on the TuGo forum. I'll do this later and report back.

 

Peggy's contract with o2 is almost up, whilst I'm out of contract. Who we go with is going to very much depend on how well and reliably we can connect to wi-fi, plus in my case who's got 3G round my lakes at Wingham.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Steve Burke

[Steve Burke]

Tu-Go seems fine on Peggy's Android phone. It's my Windows 8 computer that has the problem.

 

One limitation I've found with BT Smart Talk is that you're limited to 1000 minutes and 150 calls per month then there's extra charges. You don't need BT Broadband but you do need a BT landline.

 

Has anyone else used these or similar products, either software or hardware? If so what did you think of them?

[Steve Burke]

O2 has just launched a beta version of TuGo for Windows Phone 8 (the current generation). Hopefully the other networks will follow, but at present o2 is the only option for those with Windows Phones.

[dave k]

Tu-Go seems fine on Peggy's Android phone. It's my Windows 8 computer that has the problem.

 

One limitation I've found with BT Smart Talk is that you're limited to 1000 minutes and 150 calls per month then there's extra charges. You don't need BT Broadband but you do need a BT landline.

 

Has anyone else used these or similar products, either software or hardware? If so what did you think of them?

ive had bt smart talk for several months now. only used it a couple of times but when i did it worked ok. what it does is let you use your home call plan via your mobile phone. so if your like me and your home calls are free it costs nothing to use it. i have only used it when out and wanted to call an 0800 number and had no problems. my wifes phone is also registered to the service as well via our home line.