texting issues and coverage

[#1]

I must say I'm slowly losing confidence in PN's mobile service. In addition to not being able to send texts a couple of weeks ago, recently a few more instances when texts couldn't send. And this morning my partner (who is also on PN) couldn't send me a text. She followed it by another text, which I then received 40 (!) times in a row.

Also recently I seem to consistently have very poor reception. At my address according to coverage checker, I should have excellent 4G. Most of the time though I'm lucky if it hits 2 bars.

[#2]

Which coverage checker are you using to get excellent 4G service at your address? I only ask because the EE checker includes certain 4G bands (namely 800Mhz) which aren't available to other resellers, which can make a difference to coverage inside buildings and in remote areas. There is a (totally independent) webpage that lets you check for this, but I'm a tad reluctant to post it on open forum here. I'll PM it to you.

[#3]

Thanks @japitts.

I am using the coverage checker at PNs own website:

https://www.plus.net/mobile/coverage-checker

Are you saying that it is showing misleading results?

PN adverises that "Plusnet Mobile is proud to use the EE network. Providing 80% geographic and 99% population coverage across the UK, you’ll rarely struggle to fill those signal bars." I would say it can be a bit misleading if you don't know what a MVNO is and that it is not really equivalent to EE's in terms of coverage. Certainly for me, when I signed up to PN mobile, that's what I assumed. The same, I think, can be said about missing features such as lack of support for short code texts etc.

edit: the coverage checker link you sent me also shows excellent signal.  I will pop the sim in my old phone to rule out device issue

[#4]

No, I'm not passing comment on the PN checker, it seems accurate for a few awkward locations I've just checked. I have known though (personally as well as a few online tales), people to sign up with an EE reseller on the basis of the EE coverage being xyz in a particular location - only to find it is because of 4G800 which they have either lost access to in some cases, or not had access to in others. By that point of course, it's too late to do much about it other than hope you have a returns policy.

I happen to personally think a comparison needs to be readily available industry-wide, of all MVNOs and what services of their parent network they do and don't have access to. But understanding what some of these services do can take a level of technical understanding that most people don't have and probably (in the vast majority of cases) simply don't need. As long as the reseller in question is open about such things when it comes to light, from what I've seen on here PN are better than many.

Edit: I've just re-read your original post and you mention about only having 2bars of signal. That should still be plenty to use for calls and texts, but I perhaps won't go there...

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Full quote of preceding post removed as per Forum rules.

[#5]

Hello @pkw,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

I am sorry to hear you are having trouble with the reception on your Plusnet sim and I apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Can you let us know if you have tried the sim in another device as mentioned in your previous post? If this does not work we will need to raise this to our operations team. So we can access your account please can you provide:

- Your full name

- Your full address with postcode

- Your Plusnet mobile number

Via PM.

Thank you.

[#6]

Thanks @Mads.

I couldn't test with my old phone as I've realised it doesn't take micro sim and I don't have the adapter.

But, if it helps, my partner is also on PN and has exactly the same phone model and is having the same reception as me.

So I think it is unlikely to be caused by the phone(s).

Just checked outside of my house and I get 3 bars.

[#7]

Thanks for getting back to us.

If you can PM us the details we'll look into this further

[#8]

Sent PM to @Mads