Home Broadband and 2 x Mobiles all on 3 Network

[MS6]

Hi, be interested in relevant comments!  We have two iPhone SE's running on 3's network via Smarty.  We also have Three Home Broadband running on the 3 mobile network.   For some time, prob a good few months, we have random problems with making and receiving calls.  We call someone and the phone says we are calling them but there is no ringing sound and the recipient is not receiving any call.  Several retries and still no outgoing connection, then randomly the call goes through.  Also, we get text messages to say we have missed calls but the phones are not receiving the calls, they are silent.   The phones are fine, it is not the phones, it must be the network.   Even having wifi calling enabled doesn't help, calls do not connect out or in.  My wfi speeds through the 3 modem are very good.   My question is, would having  both broadband and 2 phones using the 3 signal cause network signal capability issues?  The modem and the phones are in close proximity so distance isn't a problem.

[JonathanB]

Hi @MS6,

Sorry to hear about these issues with calling recently. You may be best to engage with Smarty's support on these questions too, as I know they have some differing configurations on call support, but I do have a few ideas.

If your Broadband is 5G, the data speeds are likely not related, currently only 4G calling is supported, so you may have a strong 5G connection which is perhaps dropping to a weaker 4G signal when a call is initiated. Otherwise I'm not aware of routers particularly interfering with call signals though.

There's a few tips of settings to check that 4G calling is properly enabled since the 3G switch off here: How to ensure your phone is ready for the 3G switch off 

It may also be worth checking your area in our Network Status Checker. This should confirm if there's any problems we're working on locally.

Hope these suggestions help, if not, I'd recommend to engage with Smarty directly, they'll be able to check your specific lines out in more detail, as we can only give very general info and advice about Smarty and other MVNOs here.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[MS6]

Thank you for the input.  Tbh the Smarty support function is rubbish, the support chat line seems  manned by AI bots and are no use at all - never understand your question let alone provide an answer!  I contacted them in early Jan and got no sensible response. The Smarty service gives you inexpensive packages but it lacks in other areas.  I have put much the same post on the Smarty Forum and gor no response at all.   The 3 router is a 5G router and, works fine, withe good speeds,  it is the signal to both of  the phones that are problematic and intermittent.  One iPhone is an SE that is 4G and  the other is a later SE that is 5G.  The network coverage tool says te signal is great both indoor and out but my phones don't seem to agree, question really is whether any other network signal would be better, because they all say great for my location!   Thanks for taking the time to respond, I will look at my options!  

[JonathanB]

Thanks for getting back to me @MS6.

I've been thinking about other possible workarounds, and it's occurred that Wi-Fi calling only kicks in when the signal is at a very low threshhold. Out of interest, if you try enabling flight mode, then activating Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi calling, do the calls go through on Wi-Fi calling, and if so, are they working more consistently than directly on the mobile signal?

Also how does the signal look in general on your phones, are you seeing 4G with multiple bars?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[MS6]

Hi Jonathan, really appreciate your interest.  I have wi-calling switched on for both phones all the time because when this intermittent failure to connect a call occurs, I hope that wifi calling facility will do the trick, but tbh, it seems to make no difference.  It is an unpredictable occurrence but next time I will try your suggestion, (although I always thought flight mode stops wifi signals?) The bar signals on the phones are up and down constantly, sometimes as low as 2 varying up to 4 bars. Next time, I have a 'situation' I will record the bars and see if there is a pattern, but I am pretty sure that we have had 'situations' even on 4 bars.  I'm always confused with low bars on the phones, yet getting good speed on the internet - both using the 3 signal!  Seems incongruous!!    Someone did suggest that using two phones on the same network means sharing the bandwidth but as person of senior years I am not au fait with this technology any more don't know if that has merit.   It's been a few days since we had a call connect failure so I will see what happens next time.  Again, thanks for your help.  regards  Martin

[JonathanB]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for the update, and sorry if the flight mode explanation wasn't too clear. On most devices when you activate flight mode it does disable Wi-Fi, however you usually can switch Wi-Fi back on without deactivating flight mode, which will leave your mobile signal switched off.

This trick can help force calls to use Wi-Fi calling for testing or as a workaround. Remember to turn flight mode back off when you're done though.

You're quite right, bars aren't a completely reliable indicator of connection quality, they give an indicator of signal strength, but it's entirely possible to have a great connection with one bar, and/or a bad connection with full bars. Other factors like congestion at an oversubscribed mast don't necessarily have any bearing on the strength of the signal your phone is picking up. The fluctuating signal could be relevant though, if you do take the issue up with Smarty, I'd definitely mention that to them if they investigate.

I don't think having those three devices in one home is very likely to be choking up bandwidth though, when we talk about congestion that's usually a case of very high numbers of customers in a post code area contributing rather than one household.

Hope this info helps.

Thanks,
Jonathan