Mobile Data Not Working at Home, But Works 10m Down The Road

[KateBeeAy]

Hello.  I've been with O2 for 15 years, 12 of which are at the same address where I live now. My partner is also on O2. I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, he has a Google Pixel 7.

A few weeks ago both of our phones stopped connecting to mobile data, 5g or 4g, inside our home yet if we walk 10 meters down the road, it connects just fine. 

We have both tried airplan mode on/off, resetting the APN, resetting mobile data, switching off/on auto network but nothing works.  O2 even sent engineers out to check the local mast but found no problems at all. 

I downloaded a network checker app to monitor the connection and found that both 4g & 5g drop out intermittently. It seems that the connection will stick mainly to 'Band 3' but when it switches itself to 'Band 8' or 'Band 20' both 4g and 5g work perfectly......but only for a few minutes before switching back to 'Band 3' and having no connection again. 

I don't know if it is worth noting that 1. we are in a block of 8 floors, other people in the building who are on O2 are also having issues and 2. around the same time that the mobile data dropped we had wireless fire alarms installed but all the research I have done point to them being on different frequencies so shouldn't affect mobile data. 

Firstly, does anyone have any idea what might be causing the mobile data issues and secondly, is there a way I can force the network to stay on Band 8 or Band 20 as they work perfectly. 

I REALLY don't want to have to switch from O2 but i rely on mobile data as our broadband is terrible, we can't get fibre here, so use mobile data often. If this doesn't get resolved I'm going to have to leave O2 😞

Thanks all.

[madasaf1sh]

@KateBeeAy 

The Wireless Fire Alarms, are they on a LPWAN as it could be they are using licensed spectrum rather than the unlicensed spectrum?  or are they connected directly to a WiFi network / use m2m sims?

If o2 have checked the local infrastructure, then as anything else changed? 

Most phones dont allow you to connect to a single band, as if you are out and that band isnt available your phone wont work..

[Enlli]

Those Band 8 and Band 20 readings show that you are connected to 4G cell towers linked to a 5G tower. It's a system known as None Stand Alone. 

If you have an Android phone 5G might appear in a transparent box. When it connects to the 5G tower it becomes a solid black box.

Seems to me that you are on the edge of a 5G signal at home and the phone is desperately trying to pick it up

I've seen this in our local supermarket car park

You could do two things.

1. Turn 5G off and see if this improves the situation

2. Get O2 to Enable WiFi Calling 

[KateBeeAy]

Thanks for coming back to me

I'm honestly not sure how they're all connected, our building owner sorted out the installation in all the flats. I know that they didn't ask me for any WiFi details. They just said that all 3 installed are connected wirelessly. 

As for anything else, nothing that I can tell, obviously I don't know what goes on in all the other flats but I would imagine something that would cause this disruption would probably be noticeable?! I'm not sure!

[KateBeeAy]

Hi, thanks for coming back to me

See I could understand that if I hadn't been able to connect with a solid 5g box for the last 2 years minimum. The local mast is literally across the road, probably 30 meters away. I've tried using battery saver which disables 5g, but its the same issue. 

I'm just so confused as to why this would suddenly happen when everything has been fine for years with 4g and the last 2 years with 5g. 

[KateBeeAy]

@O2nath_ci Is there any chance you could help? i did try calling but I don't think the assistant really understood my issue.