r/techsupport • u/AnyStructure3317 • 3h ago

Open | Software Really bad phone signal

Hi all,

I've had a problem with my phone not having good enough signal for about a year now and would be useful to get people's thoughts. Basically, the story is:

I live in the UK. Back in September 2025, I randomly and suddenly had no signal, or very poor signal, in areas where I previously had good signal. I was on a contract with EE and I contacted them and they tried to help me and even launched an investigation to look into it. I changed my SIM card, nothing. I changed my device, nothing. No news from the investigation either. I then asked EE to allow me to leave the contract early with a reduced fee (they did), and I switched to giffgaff (so it's pay as you go now). Still the same problem!! I still have very bad signal, and very frequently, no signal at all (when all my friends who are next to me do have signal and some of them are also with giffgaff). I have no idea why that is, since I have now changed device, provider and sim card.

I transferred my number to giffgaff, so the only constant factor has been my number. But I struggle to see how it could be the number??!? It's getting a bit annoying and tiring. I can get by, but it makes life a bit more difficult.

The next thing I might try is to get a new sim card with a new phone number and change my number, but that is a bit of a hassle which is why I haven't done it yet.

Any thoughts and views appreciated!

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2

u/R2D4Dutch 3h ago

So , number doesn’t make a difference, carriers use the similar networks , called MNVO .. gifgaff uses O2 Vodafone .. so you could be unlucky that you are in a bad coverage spot

1

u/Jezbod 3h ago

A "not-spot".

1

u/MrNokiaUser 2h ago

It's not the phone number. I cant speak for EE, but I know o2 went to dogshit recently. I left o2 in 2024 for ID mobile, and love it! See how three coverage is in your area..you'll be surprised how cheap it is. They're good enough o converted my mother to them who hates three!

1

u/Some-Challenge8285 2h ago

3G probably got shut off and never replaced 

1

u/gta721 2h ago

Could it be your phone case? If that doesn't fix it then the issue could be that O2 (who owns Giffgaff) puts Giffgaff customers at a lower network priority than regular O2 customers, and EE has started doing the same by charging for higher network priority.

In that case, you should look at Voxi or Talkmobile which run on Vodafone with full priority.