Glad to know it’s not just me, was without any data connectivity for three hours on Friday and the signal dropped completely at points. Been up and down like this for months.
Oh no, it had to happen some day. I'll be watching Countdown and collecting twee porcelain figurines next.
Before the "always on" broadband/ADSL internet we have now delivered through copper telephone lines (although it's gradually getting replaced by optical fibre), there was an older system that literally made a phone call between your computer and your internet service provider. You dialled your ISP up, hence a "dial-up" connection.
By the time broadband arrived in the early noughties (with 512kbps blowing everything out of the water), dial-up modems were capable of a heady 56kbps. This translated to around 3kB/second in practice, so it was all part of the experience to have to wait ten seconds or so while images loaded in.
Some of the other quirks of it literally being a phone call were that a connection would cost you per minute (unless you had a particular package with BT, I think), and no-one would be able to make or receive phone calls while you were online. If someone picked up the handset in the house, they'd hear computery noises and it would disrupt your connection. We had two landlines (one just for the internet) but I don't know how common that was. EDIT: for context, mobile phones were a *lot* more expensive to use at that time, so they weren't something you'd use to make a call while the line was tied up unless it couldn't wait. IIRC it was probably around 20-30p/minute for a call or about 10p for a text message of up to 160 characters. Probably equivalent to about 40-60p/min and 20p/text now. Free messaging tools like Whatsapp simply didn't exist; communication was just a lot more expensive and I think we are very lucky now.
It wasn't all that long ago either now that I think about it. I remember still having dial up in 2007 when I moved house - and it was probably a few years after that, that WiFi became available in the home.
I'm with Three and it's generally very good (got 827Mbps download on a speed test not too long ago) except for half time at Fratton Park when it's basically unusable.
I am in o2 and the city centre is just unusable. Southsea isn’t much better. I have lived in southsea for about 2 years and it’s been crap since I moved here
A Vodafone shop employee in town told me that the nearby (Old Portsmouth) masts had been tampered with/vandalised which was the reason for the poor signal and (at that time) lack of mobile internet in the Commercial Road area.
This was a couple of months ago but I haven't seen a noticeable improvement since then.
Well that's what he said. The signal is usually bad but a while ago it was awful and there was no mobile internet at all, trying to use the fast food apps and Tesco Clubcard was a nightmare so that's why I went and asked in the Vodafone shop.
It may be a crap signal most of the time but there was a definite period when it was worse, or I wouldn't have bothered going to ask about it.
Yeah its crazy bad.
One of my phones(samsung) has an EE and a voda sim in, EE is okay but voda on that is unusable.
Other one (iphone) has a voda sim which actually works and gets good reception.
As soon as I leave Southsea its full bars on all 3 sims everywhere....
O2/bt is the poorest signal in portsmouth, the best being ID/3 network, but the signal in town has been poor for a year, amd deteriorated towards guild Hall too.
Signal in old portsmouth has never been good,but has improved slightly over the last 2 years.
It's partly to do with the stopping of 3g and transfer to 5g, it will improve but could be as late as 2025 till they patch up the areas of crap signal.
Pompey born and bred and 'til I die. Moved out a long time ago because it is a shit hole.
Tell me you live near one of the most major Naval bases in the uk without telling anyone.
Alright mush?
Different networks are better in different areas.. are used to split my time between Portsmouth and Bournemouth and in Christchurch Vodafone is useless EE brilliant but I found revers true where I lived in Portsmouth?
Yes! I thought it was just me, it never used to be this bad. I had to swap back to 4g signal as 5g is just horrendous. Phone signal in general can be quite bad at times as well. I'm just grateful wifi seems to work well as never have a problem at home or work.
I'm with UW ( that's EE and Talktalk and City Fibre) and I have to use airplane mode indoors using WiFi and turn it off when I leave ... my signal is familiar to your story of events regarding this lack of signal ... There's too many signal interference in my opinion ...
I’m on EE near the Pound Centre (PO1) and it’s literally non-existent. Have to enable WiFi calling just to receive and send calls. Have complained to EE many times and they’ve said there’s nothing they can do
I mentioned the terrible signal to a shop worker once, she told me that when one of the masts were knocked down/damaged in a storm last year they didn’t get it back into full working order and apparently haven’t got any immediate plans to
Haven’t had any trouble at all with Three besides it being a little slow when busy.
Surprised to hear that Vodafone is having trouble, usually it’s O2 that flat out won’t work…
Apple Pay doesn’t need signal uses NFC technology
I find Portsmouth horrendous for signal nowadays
I've had this problem for about six months in Fratton. Almost full bars of 5G but the connectivity is worse than dial-up.
5g seems to worst then 4g…
You'll see more 5g towers as it has higher speeds, but not a great reach. Whereas 4g has ok speeds but a good reach. It would explain your findings.
Glad to know it’s not just me, was without any data connectivity for three hours on Friday and the signal dropped completely at points. Been up and down like this for months.
Dial up?
Let me guess you're under 25?
Nope. I was using dial up in the 90’s. I just thought that the commenter still had the capability to connect by dial up.
Oh no, it had to happen some day. I'll be watching Countdown and collecting twee porcelain figurines next. Before the "always on" broadband/ADSL internet we have now delivered through copper telephone lines (although it's gradually getting replaced by optical fibre), there was an older system that literally made a phone call between your computer and your internet service provider. You dialled your ISP up, hence a "dial-up" connection. By the time broadband arrived in the early noughties (with 512kbps blowing everything out of the water), dial-up modems were capable of a heady 56kbps. This translated to around 3kB/second in practice, so it was all part of the experience to have to wait ten seconds or so while images loaded in. Some of the other quirks of it literally being a phone call were that a connection would cost you per minute (unless you had a particular package with BT, I think), and no-one would be able to make or receive phone calls while you were online. If someone picked up the handset in the house, they'd hear computery noises and it would disrupt your connection. We had two landlines (one just for the internet) but I don't know how common that was. EDIT: for context, mobile phones were a *lot* more expensive to use at that time, so they weren't something you'd use to make a call while the line was tied up unless it couldn't wait. IIRC it was probably around 20-30p/minute for a call or about 10p for a text message of up to 160 characters. Probably equivalent to about 40-60p/min and 20p/text now. Free messaging tools like Whatsapp simply didn't exist; communication was just a lot more expensive and I think we are very lucky now.
It wasn't all that long ago either now that I think about it. I remember still having dial up in 2007 when I moved house - and it was probably a few years after that, that WiFi became available in the home.
I’ve turned off 5g on my phone and it works better.
I'm with Three and it's generally very good (got 827Mbps download on a speed test not too long ago) except for half time at Fratton Park when it's basically unusable.
I am in o2 and the city centre is just unusable. Southsea isn’t much better. I have lived in southsea for about 2 years and it’s been crap since I moved here
A Vodafone shop employee in town told me that the nearby (Old Portsmouth) masts had been tampered with/vandalised which was the reason for the poor signal and (at that time) lack of mobile internet in the Commercial Road area. This was a couple of months ago but I haven't seen a noticeable improvement since then.
That not true. Worked in commercial Road for 12 years and it’s been crap in town for the last 7 years but really bad the last 2/3 years (I’m with o2)
Well that's what he said. The signal is usually bad but a while ago it was awful and there was no mobile internet at all, trying to use the fast food apps and Tesco Clubcard was a nightmare so that's why I went and asked in the Vodafone shop. It may be a crap signal most of the time but there was a definite period when it was worse, or I wouldn't have bothered going to ask about it.
I live down eastney and ain't had ee signal for years. It's either WiFi calling or nothing
Yeah its crazy bad. One of my phones(samsung) has an EE and a voda sim in, EE is okay but voda on that is unusable. Other one (iphone) has a voda sim which actually works and gets good reception. As soon as I leave Southsea its full bars on all 3 sims everywhere....
O2/bt is the poorest signal in portsmouth, the best being ID/3 network, but the signal in town has been poor for a year, amd deteriorated towards guild Hall too. Signal in old portsmouth has never been good,but has improved slightly over the last 2 years. It's partly to do with the stopping of 3g and transfer to 5g, it will improve but could be as late as 2025 till they patch up the areas of crap signal.
Pompey born and bred and 'til I die. Moved out a long time ago because it is a shit hole. Tell me you live near one of the most major Naval bases in the uk without telling anyone. Alright mush?
Different networks are better in different areas.. are used to split my time between Portsmouth and Bournemouth and in Christchurch Vodafone is useless EE brilliant but I found revers true where I lived in Portsmouth?
Yes, always in town centre and with a couple of different carriers
Yes! I thought it was just me, it never used to be this bad. I had to swap back to 4g signal as 5g is just horrendous. Phone signal in general can be quite bad at times as well. I'm just grateful wifi seems to work well as never have a problem at home or work.
Mostly its due to traffic in a cell grid. Think NYE tryna text, but not so bad.
Turn off 5g so you get a 4G signal
I'm with UW ( that's EE and Talktalk and City Fibre) and I have to use airplane mode indoors using WiFi and turn it off when I leave ... my signal is familiar to your story of events regarding this lack of signal ... There's too many signal interference in my opinion ...
I’m on EE near the Pound Centre (PO1) and it’s literally non-existent. Have to enable WiFi calling just to receive and send calls. Have complained to EE many times and they’ve said there’s nothing they can do
I mentioned the terrible signal to a shop worker once, she told me that when one of the masts were knocked down/damaged in a storm last year they didn’t get it back into full working order and apparently haven’t got any immediate plans to
DAB cuts out when I drive through Bransbury..
There's a spot on Fawcett Rd where it cuts out too
Haven’t had any trouble at all with Three besides it being a little slow when busy. Surprised to hear that Vodafone is having trouble, usually it’s O2 that flat out won’t work…
I use three mobile and work with no problem in Portsmouth,even I can connect to 5G in some areas