No Meteor coverage inside apartment - any options other than changing network?

Echani

Hi - I moved into a new apartment in Blanchardstown a couple of months ago to be near the hospital I'm studying in this year, but there's little to no coverage anywhere inside unless the phone is left beside the windows. I can receive calls when it's left there, but have to go outside to get more than 1 bar reception. My housemate's also on Meteor and has the same problem; people who've been in the house on different networks get reduced coverage, but not to the same extent - they can still generally receive texts/calls wherever they are inside.

My 12 month contract with Meteor has expired, and I was considering changing to O2 / Vodafone, but none of the other provider's packages really appeal to me. Changing would also cost me quite a bit more per month, since the people I call most are all on Meteor.

Is there anything that can be done to boost the signal? I contacted Meteor about it, but the reply just gave me advice about manually selecting the Vodafone network if I'm in the west of Ireland..

Solair

There's no way of boosting the signal locally yourself, short of moving house.

Change networks, but consider which has the strongest signal in your apartment first. You might want to borrow some friends phones and test it out.

drunkmonkey

I was using 3 in Blanc for a year or so, didn't have any problems with reception inside the apartment....Surprised with meteor...have you meteor 3G signal in the apartment?

DavidLive

Echani wrote: »

Hi - I moved into a new apartment in Blanchardstown a couple of months ago to be near the hospital I'm studying in this year, but there's little to no coverage anywhere inside unless the phone is left beside the windows. I can receive calls when it's left there, but have to go outside to get more than 1 bar reception. My housemate's also on Meteor and has the same problem; people who've been in the house on different networks get reduced coverage, but not to the same extent - they can still generally receive texts/calls wherever they are inside.

My 12 month contract with Meteor has expired, and I was considering changing to O2 / Vodafone, but none of the other provider's packages really appeal to me. Changing would also cost me quite a bit more per month, since the people I call most are all on Meteor.

Is there anything that can be done to boost the signal? I contacted Meteor about it, but the reply just gave me advice about manually selecting the Vodafone network if I'm in the west of Ireland..

Did you tell Meteor about this?

They could give you an update on network upgrading in the area. I get updates via SMS from O2 about their work, especially with 3G. You could contact Meteor to see if improvements are to be made.

Echani

I'm going to contact them again this week and hopefully get someone a bit more useful (i.e. doesn't think Blanch is on the West coast) on the other side.

DavidLive

Good Idea. Please post what they say on the site. I'd love to hear it.

Icdb

simple.. set your meteor phone to roam on vodafone... in network selection you can choose to roam onto vodafone...

the_brain

Icdb wrote: »

simple.. set your meteor phone to roam on vodafone... in network selection you can choose to roam onto vodafone...

only in the west of ireland that is. theres not a huge amount of 2g upgrades since there trying to roll out there 3g

definitely worth contacting them anyway.... im sure theres many like you

digiman

This is quite surprising as Meteor have a site on the Blanch garda station which sounds close to where you live, within a km on line of sight anyway. I presume you live near Waterville somewhere.

7.Ronaldo

digiman wrote: »

This is quite surprising as Meteor have a site on the Blanch garda station which sounds close to where you live, within a km on line of sight anyway. I presume you live near Waterville somewhere.

It's unlikely the sites. No network can really gaurantee indoor coverage. It depends what the building of made of and what can possibly block the signal.

It's unlikley that there would be a complete coverage black spot in a populated area such a Blanchardstown. All 3 networks seem to have problems transmitting to his apartment, some more than others.

Nothing that can be done really other than switching networks. I have heard that you can contact COMREG and they can install a signal booster but if you don't own the building it's probably and unlikely option.

chanianaus

Happened to me in artane was using samsung 390 phone,had a old nokia 3310i eating dust,changes the sim to old nokia and it shows full coverage,mostly it happens bcz of phone rather then network

towel401

You can buy GSM repeaters. kind of expensive but look for "gsm repeater" on ebay

get one that does the 1800mhz band. plug it in the apartment somewhere. Most come with an external antenna that you hang outside on the wall or something

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Jonathan

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I was using 3 in Blanc for a year or so, didn't have any problems with reception inside the apartment....Surprised with meteor...have you meteor 3G signal in the apartment?

If you cant get 2g, you most likely wont be able to get 3g either. The 2100MHz band is less penetrating.

TheAlmightyZeus

Yeah, thats one of the downsides to Meteor. There seems to be small spots that you just cant get decent coverage in while other networks have no problem. You won't get a network that guarantees you coverage wherever you are and you seem to have been unfortunate enough to live where you live.

I presume that other people who use Meteor are the same when they are in your place. You live in an apartment block? Wouldn't be a bad idea asking around and seeing if people in your building have the same problem and if they have a solution.

skywalker

Just moved into a place in Dunboyne & have similar problems. Have to leave the phone near a window to recieve sms/calls. In our case all the networks seem to be the same.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

drunkmonkey

jmccrohan wrote: »

If you cant get 2g, you most likely wont be able to get 3g either. The 2100MHz band is less penetrating.

I mean 3 the phone company not meteor 3G signal....3 worked fine in 12X Waterville...

Jonathan

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I mean 3 the phone company not meteor 3G signal....3 worked fine in 12X Waterville...

You said have your meteor 3g in your apartment..

Solair

Is this because meteor's largely using 1800mhz GSM rather than 900Mhz?
Poorer indoor reception?

towel401

Solair wrote: »

Is this because meteor's largely using 1800mhz GSM rather than 900Mhz?
Poorer indoor reception?

probably

Jonathan

Solair wrote: »

Is this because meteor's largely using 1800mhz GSM rather than 900Mhz?
Poorer indoor reception?

If this is true, then yes it would. 900MHz penetrates further than 1800Mhz, but I under the assumption that they all had the same bandwidth since 088 was shutdown.


Edit: just found this link.

congo_90

Solitaryman666 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

got their ahead of me...
I live in that estate and recently got an old blokia because my other phone broke now i have 2/3 bars but why should i have to downgrade? I'm on bill pay and have been complaining to all networks (been on all but tesco) since i was on prepay!!!

I wouldnt mind but i was promised an engineer would contact me pfft like thats ever gonna happen also if i go approx 700eters towards the village I can get 3G coverage but what use is 3G for an SMS?

oneweb

I called Meteor, they said a 3G phone would probably get better reception. They have no plans to improve network coverage in my area for now :-/

barnicles

Have you tried roaming on Vodafone?

Jonathan

barnicles wrote: »

Have you tried roaming on Vodafone?

That is only permitted in certain cells.

samhail

since this is back from the dead
check out http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055448552

barnicles

jmccrohan wrote: »

That is only permitted in certain cells.

Might be in OP's though..

JTMan

Echani wrote: »

My 12 month contract with Meteor has expired, and I was considering changing to O2 / Vodafone, but none of the other provider's packages really appeal to me. Changing would also cost me quite a bit more per month, since the people I call most are all on Meteor.

Check what percentage of your calls are to Meteor? You might be suprised - most people calls are over 75% Xnetwork.

If it is value and reception that you are after consider Tesco Mobile with 20 cent calls to Meteor customers with 2 for one top ups meaning calls work out about half that (10 cent).

rebel.ranter

barnicles wrote: »

Might be in OP's though..

Meteor & 3 Mobile have national roaming agreements with Vodafone for certain cells, mainly in poor revenue generating areas like the west of Ireland (also where there is ridiculous resistance to the rollout of any modern infastructure!).

Both Meteor & 3 would be very keen to keep as much traffic as possible on their own networks. They would have to pay for every minute that Vodafone carry for them. Hence they would avoid at all costs allowing roaming onto Vodafone in urban areas where they have coverage of some description.

towel401

rebel.ranter wrote: »

Meteor & 3 Mobile have national roaming agreements with Vodafone for certain cells, mainly in poor revenue generating areas like the west of Ireland (also where there is ridiculous resistance to the rollout of any modern infastructure!).

Both Meteor & 3 would be very keen to keep as much traffic as possible on their own networks. They would have to pay for every minute that Vodafone carry for them. Hence they would avoid at all costs allowing roaming onto Vodafone in urban areas where they have coverage of some description.

do any of these masts operate at a loss?

rebel.ranter

towel401 wrote: »

do any of these masts operate at a loss?

Yes they do. The pay back on some of the more remote sites would not make financial sense on their own.
The other problem too is that they are generally the most expensive sites to build with access tracks & power supplies costing an absolute fortune. Also a lot of these remote sites are more exposed to the elements (particularly near the coast) & require more maintenance than a "normal site".