No network no service no internet

[Heather781]

This is atrocious, you won't do anything till I try new sim. There is no Vodafone signal in my area. I told them this. I lost signal in January after they changed me from ee to vodafone. So what did they do they sent me a new sim does it work no AS THERES NO VODAFONE SIGNAL IN MY AREA. So after a week of no Internet no phone calls no nothing. Sim went in and still nothing. I messaged the cluster service provider about 2 hours ago as I'm sitting in someone's else's house to just send this. I just give up. 

[stevegs]

Hi Kath,

According to Vodafone's map this part of Wordsley (DY8), and all the surrounding area, has good coverage of 2G, 3G and 4G.  And, as I said earlier, I get full Vodafone signal if I move into the area with the phone switched on, but nothing if I switch it on while within the area.  BTW, when Virgin used Orange and T-Mobile, it worked everywhere.  HTH.

The only other thing is I had to change my Virgin SIM about 4 years ago because I did buy a 'smart phone' (which promptly broke so not buying another!!!).  This was because the old red SIM (that I had since 1999) wouldn't fit, so Virgin provided a purple replacement (with the micro cutout).  I since found the purple SIM didn't work in the Isle of Man(?!?).  Then lockdown came, so I don't know if it works at all outside the UK.  The old red one worked fine in France, Spain and everywhere else (didn't go to the IoM with it so don't know about reception there).  I like Virgin's pricing structure, but if these problems persist, I'm going to have to change provider.

[Ryan_N]

I understand why you feel that way, don't worry - apart of our diagnostics is to make sure the SIM is not older than 90 days old, I know it sounds daft but this is our first check what we need to do. Just going from your post is the last time you had a new SIM the 4 years ago? 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[stevegs]

Correct - it is at least 4 years old.  Meanwhile, I braved the lousy weather and walked about 800m to the local Lidl: 120 Brettell Ln, Amblecote, DY8 4BA.  It worked fine from there and coming back I tried several points on the way.  There seems to be a cell boundary at the junction of Magnolia Way and Crystal Avenue, about 50m to the north: further away it seldom works but nearer (to Lidl) it's reasonably reliable.  I said 'reasonably' because I rang my partner from within Lidl and it conked out once, but I was able to redial.

I'm away right now: should I ring 789 to arrange a replacement SIM when I get home?

[Nathan_B]

Thank you for confirming @stevegs, 

a replacement sim may be something that could help with the issue especially as you have mentioned the sim is at least 4 years old it sounds like it needs to be migrated onto the Vodaphone platform. Are you due home within 30 days? If so I can arrange for a sim to be sent to your home address which will just need activating within 30 days.

If you do prefer to wait until you get home this is fine too, just let me know if you want this sending and I'll arrange to take some details from you.

Regards

Nathan

[stevegs]

Hi @Nathan_B

I'm going home today so would rather ring 789 tomorrow morning (it works there) instead of giving my number publicly here. So which option should I take when through to your robot answering device?

Or, if you have access to my details from my login info and would prefer to, please send the SIM to my home address and I'll take it  from there.  Either way, please let me know how you want to proceed.

[Nathan_B]

Sure I can help you with this, I'll send you a pm so I can take your details and get this ordered.

Regards

Nathan

[stevegs]

Update: Following private messaging with Nathan-B and Paulina_Z, I have done some more delving. The bottom line is that Nokia 33xx handsets are 2G only, and all 2G worldwide is scheduled to close by 2033, with some providers, including Vodafone, doing so much earlier. So this really is curtains for these archaic but very user-friendly phones. In the meantime, I bought a cheapie unlocked IMO Dash 4G from Tesco, which cost a tenner if you bought £10 or more credit for the supplied Tesco SIM. So the Tesco SIM is now in the Nokia - which works fine everywhere (including auto-updating time and date) - but see below. The Dash 4G has loads of extras, many not much use, including a camera - the less said about which the better... It is also hopelessly unintuitive and its address book suffers from amnesia. Curiously, the Tesco SIM doesn't auto-update time and date in the Dash 4G, whereas the Virgin one will! Like 'smart phones', the IMO has a photo-emissive screen, which is impossible to read in bright sunlight - unlike the 3310's backlit LCD screen that remains legible in all lighting conditions. Its few redeeming features include a very long battery life, the ability to download wallpaper and ringtones (in JPG and MP3 formats respectively) from a PC via USB, and it works on 2G, 3G and 4G, auto-switching as necessary.

According to https://hyphabit.io/2g-network-closure-uk/, Vodafone will kill 2G by end 2025 and has already started - hence the patchy coverage I've been experiencing. Moreover, Vodafone will be switching off 3G by end 2023. Utterly regrettable since 3G and 4G use higher frequencies that cannot penetrate buildings as easily as the 2G 900/1800MHz bands - hence lousier coverage.

O2, on whose towers Tesco's service runs, is currently planning to keep 2G alive until 2033. So the old Nokia should have another 10 years life with them. I haven't decided yet whether to kick Virgin into touch and migrate to the big T...

[cje85]

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@stevegs wrote:

According to https://hyphabit.io/2g-network-closure-uk/, Vodafone will kill 2G by end 2025 and has already started - hence the patchy coverage I've been experiencing. Moreover, Vodafone will be switching off 3G by end 2023. Utterly regrettable since 3G and 4G use higher frequencies that cannot penetrate buildings as easily as the 2G 900/1800MHz bands - hence lousier coverage.

---

This isn't correct. All four networks (O2/Voda/EE/Three) have spectrum in the 800MHz range which is used for 4G and can travel even further than 900MHz.. Vodafone and O2, the only two that hold 900MHz spectrum, have switched most of this to 4G while leaving a small amount of bandwidth for 2G/3G to support older devices.

[stevegs]

Further update (September 2022): I've recently been in France. When I tried to connect there on the Dash 4G, it simply wouldn't - in manual or automatic search. Fortunately, I had the trusty Nokia 3330 as a backup (with its Tesco SIM) - and swapped SIMs. With the Virgin SIM in the Nokia, a 'Virgin Extras' option page is available, in which I can set 'Roaming' to be International or National. On selecting 'International', it sparked into life - and was fine everywhere in the Nokia. So I tried it in the Dash 4G - when it then worked - but only while I was still in France. On returning to the UK - zilch. I had to put the SIM back into the Nokia to get at 'Virgin Extras' to switch it back to 'National'. Whilst it might be (yet another) failing of the IMO phone that it cannot access the 'Virgin Extras' page, why do I have to change Roaming to International when abroad and back to National when home? This isn't necessary with the Tesco SIM, nor is it for my partner's Utility Warehouse SIM - so it shouldn't be so with Virgin. Why does Virgin have to be different from other providers??? My original red SIM (from 1999) never had any of these problems.

Quite apart from being a pain to have to faff about with National/International, it's made even worse by having to put the SIM into the Nokia to do so - and then put it back because it won't work in the Nokia in the UK - because Virgin/Vodafone is killing off 2G (whereas the French providers don't seem to be doing so). Additionally, the IMO uses the ridiculously small 'nano SIM', so I had to put it back in a standard SIM carrier to use it in the Nokia. It's been in and out that number of times, it now falls out too easily. Plus, being so small, I nearly lost it.

[Chris_W1]

Hi stevegs, thanks for the message and welcome back to the forums.

I am sorry to hear about the issues when using the phone, 2G will begin to be phased out and over the next several years all providers will no longer use the 2G service and 4/5G will b as standard.

Have you looked at upgrading the handset so that you get the best possible service?

Chris.