Vodafone 4G/5G issue?

cw girl

I’ve been having issues with cellular data on my iPhone 13 since late Feb. It started initially when i was away in Waterford & I lost coverage when trying to make a zoom call, I assumed it was a bad coverage area & cellular returned again once I switched phone on and off. However on my way home I lost cellular coverage again & google maps/whatsapp (amongst other apps that I tried) wouldn’t work, despite being through a few counties so there should have been good coverage in some of those areas I’d have thought.

I went into Vodafone store & they advised my SIM was quite old, changed it. I had coverage intermittently after that so I went back to the shop, again another new SIM. The coverage was fine in the Vodafone shop (Nutgrove) each time, not sure if it’s a hotspot or something so I felt like a bit of an eejit saying my phone didn’t work!

In the last couple of weeks it seems worse, iMessages come through ok most of the time but whatsapp/FaceTime generally don’t work on cellular, I can’t use various apps to book stuff (MINDBODY, Wunderbook) or order food when I’m not on WiFi.

Last week I was considering buying a new SIM free phone as I need to be contactable for various reasons with my parents etc.

I mentioned to to my friend she suggested it could be the phone & she had a previous iPhone XR that she had upgraded from but that was working fine, so I could use that until upgrade was due. When I set that up it was probably worse, even less coverage that the iPhone 13, couldn’t use banking app etc so I reverted to my iPhone 13 that works sometimes.

My work phone is also Vodafone & that’s working fine, I don’t have all the same apps but it works fine in most areas with an occasional signal drop on M50 that seems to be a black spot.

I have rang 1907, they did some checks and refreshes, advised me to use WiFi calling in poor areas! I went into the shop again last night and they advised me to ring 1907, again phone seemed ok, I was checking WhatsApp as I went into Nutgrove, was hanging until I went to front door of the centre but then picked up signal perfectly.

I have 3 months left on my contract, am paying ~65/month, feel like I’m going to have been paying for 6 months when I’m not getting the service I expect.

Any other suggestions please on what issue might be, I’m not very tech minded so I’m wondering if there’s something very obvious I’m missing.

Thanks for your help & sorry for long winded post

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058351076/vodafone-4g-5g-issue

I've found myself if you're on iOS 17 that there is no end of issues with mobile data and the latest 17.4.1 update is by far the worst. This is across all 3 of the main networks and an iPhone 11 and iPhone 15 Pro Max (the 15 is significantly worse).

I don't outright lose coverage, but the phone will occasionally show as connected to 3G/4G/5G etc. but absolutely nothing data-wise will work. Could be as frequent as every 2-3 days or not occur for several weeks on end.

From what I can correlate, it does seem passing through an area of weak coverage is the trigger but it's like once it's lost the data connection it won't come back by itself even if you later move into an area of full coverage.

Toggling airplane mode will bring data back for a few minutes to a few hours but a full reboot is the only thing that will restore it for more than 24 hours.

I've a dual SIM (eSIM and physical) and when the data drops, switching the active data SIM over to the other doesn't bring the data connectivity back either, so it's not down to an individual issue with the network or with the SIM.

cw girl

Thanks @KildareP - I’ll do the airplane toggle and reboot. Have rebooted dozens of times (at least).

I’ll be upgrading during summer, I had been thinking iPhone 15 but any suggestions appreciated.

Alun

Interesting. I'm on Vodafone too with a PAYG 5G plan on a Google Pixel 7 Pro and have lots of problems when switching between 3G, 4G and 5G. I notice it mainly when in the car using Android Auto to stream music. I'll be driving along with a solid 5G signal and all of a sudden it disappears altogether showing no signal on the status bar, and takes ages to come back to 4G. It happens regularly just outside my house as I'm leaving in the car and as I return too.

It was a big problem when I first switched plans, and then went away for a good while but returned in the last few weeks which makes me think that it's not a phone issue but a network one.

cw girl

@Alun i have separately had issues as I leave house too but I put that down to switching between WiFi & cellular

Klopp

Out of interest what mobile data tech is selected on your iPhone under Settings > Celluar data/

cw girl

@Klopp “

5G on…I have had it on 5G auto also

Vodafone IE

is this the setting you’re asking on? Thanks

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119968#Comment_122119968

In my case I have a wireless AA adapter in the car and my phone disconnects from my home WiFi and connects to the adapter's WiFi as soon as I get into the car and switches to cellular for data. So I don't think that's the issue.

Klopp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122120152#Comment_122120152

that is the correct setting. The only other option would be to try an alternative phone for a day or two and see if any improvement.

cw girl

I tried another iPhone - Xr. Didn’t work. Vodafone have since told me to try an android phone but don’t have an endless supply of phones 🙄

cw girl

So Vodafone called me last Wednesday evening to offer me an early upgrade (with a discount) & on review of plan agreed that there was a cheaper plan that I could move to.

I got a text from them on Thursday with an address to email when handset arrived so that they could flip plan. On Friday I got a message saying I was eligible for an upgrade.

I did get a twitter DM on Friday to say that they hadn’t heard from me in a while & I was a valuable customer etc. I responded to say that their colleague had called me on Wed evening. I asked them to check if my phone had been despatched, they advised that I would be notified. I said I hadn’t got a message & there were some messages from them with reassurances etc & that they would give me feedback.

I am off work today so I messaged them to see if I could collect a phone in a store. They said I could but to notify the store that the contract end date had been pulled in (would have thought that this would be on their system). I did ask them to check if my phone had been despatched so I wouldn’t end up with 2. This advised to ‘hold if I wish’ as they had emailed the “customer experience team”.

I popped into the store anyway, turns out they couldn’t give me the discount that was agreed over the phone. I rang 1907 on my way home. They said they had sent a mail on Thrs telling me to go to store to get a phone, but I haven’t received this mail. They didn’t have a phone in stock to post out to me. I asked if I could go to the store now to get a phone, and would I get the discount. They couldn’t answer this for me as it’s a different group. They told me to call back in 14 days to see if the phone was in stock.

At this stage I’m fed up of sending twitter DMs, trekking into the Vodafone store & having had to do without coverage.

Can anyone recommend a good provider with decent coverage in rural areas? I’d like to stick with an iPhone.

I’ll log a complaint with Comreg as others must be having this awful experience. I’m with Vodafone years, pay my bill on time etc.

thanks

biebiebie

Rural coverage really depends on your exact location, and then the strength/quality of signal to the cell tower.

You could use some apps to see where the nearest cell towers are located, and use that to narrow your choices (search/download free ones from Apple store).

However if it were me, I'd just go and orders some Sims from different providers and do a "suck it and see" approach i.e. just try them out and rate each one for data/voice etc.

You could try 48.ie (uses Three network), €12.99 for 5g calls and texts (200GB data) represents very good value IMHO.

Eir/GoMo have really improved their network over the last few years, so worth trying those also (same network, so you only have to try one).

Some say Eir network is better than Vodafone nowadays, and VF has fallen behind with it's investments in newer tech e.g. 5G.

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122190512#Comment_122190512

Rural coverage does depend on exact location, and the fabric of your house. If your house is A-rated, you may struggle to get good indoor coverage, even if outdoor coverage is good. Eir is showing better coverage than Vodafone in many areas now on the Comreg maps. Also, Eir have full WiFi calling, including text messaging, so you can create your own indoor coverage using WiFi, so you are no longer at the mercy of mobile coverage.

cw girl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122190410#Comment_122190410

hello - just wondering if your service has improved? I’m noticing an improvement over last couple of days - fingers crossed