Mobile coverage inside house

Kiwi John

I am having a problem with coverage.
Am moving into a new house and have been working in it in the. Last few days when I found that there is no coverage inside the house. Outside is fine front of back and if I open the window there is coverage.
After a long call and being switched to different 'experts ' about 4 times Vodafone said that my SIM card was old and knackered so I got a replacement but it made no difference.
Is there an easy answer to this as I don't want to spend hours on hold at Vodafone for more hot or miss advice.

FluffPiece

The new house is well insulated and blocking out the signal more than your old place.

Mimikyu

WiFi calling could be an option if your phone supports it. Uses your WiFi instead of the mobile network to make and receive calls. Still comes out of your monthly minutes/credit though.

Link

banie01

+1 on Fluff piece
New houses built to B+ BER standards tend to massively interfere with Mobile phone signal on the inside.

Think of the envelope of the house acting as a Faraday cage.
When it's closed, very hard for radio waves to penetrate.
Break that envelope by opening a window, and the signal penetration is far better.
It's not a VF issue and barring you moving to a 2G only service that doesn't exist on any of the operators anymore, one that you will encounter with all operators.

Saz2020

Signal booster is ur answer.we live in an old cottage so walls are very thick and never had coverage.bought a signal booster and wow,the diff,not only have we coverage, but 4G coverage. Hope this helps

Kiwi John

Thanks for the replies I will try the signal booster and we if that helps

FluffPiece

Just research which signal booster is best, I believe there are some out there that can cause issues, although I don't know how common they are to be honest.I'd imagine most reputable sellers in Ireland would have compliant ones but always worth checking fully before you buy.

long_b

If you have decent broadband in the house and have a phone that's compatible with it then I'd definitely go the WiFi Calling option route.

babelfish1990

Kiwi John wrote: »

I am having a problem with coverage.
Am moving into a new house and have been working in it in the. Last few days when I found that there is no coverage inside the house. Outside is fine front of back and if I open the window there is coverage.
After a long call and being switched to different 'experts ' about 4 times Vodafone said that my SIM card was old and knackered so I got a replacement but it made no difference.
Is there an easy answer to this as I don't want to spend hours on hold at Vodafone for more hot or miss advice.

WiFi-calling is the best solution. If it is a new house, you should ensure that you have Ethernet Wiring throughout, and install a few Access Points (eg Ubiquiti Unifi) to ensure that you have seamless WiFi coverage throughout the house. Then you will also have seamless mobile calling using WiFi calling. The only downside is that Vodafone WiFi calling doesn't support text messaging, so you might miss 2-factor authentication messages from banks etc. Eir is the only network that supports full WiFi calling, including SMS and roaming.

I wouldn't recommend signal boosters - they are outdated technology, and most the cheap ones are illegal in Ireland. WiFi calling is a better solution, as it doesn't require any additional hardware, and since you need to provide WiFi inside the house for Broadband use in any case, you might as well use it for mobile calling.

athlone573

Which networks and phones support WiFi calling? I know Eir do, with some handsets, do any others?

That would be the best solution.

You could also look at changing provider:borrow or buy a sim card from the other 2 networks 3 and eir to compare.

Kiwi John

I have eir mobile broadband where I am now as it is in a no broadband area so I will take it to the nee place tomorrow to se if eir works.
Comreg say some repeaters are legal and you can check on there website if the one you choose is ok.

Alun

babelfish1990 wrote: »

The only downside is that Vodafone WiFi calling doesn't support text messaging, so you might miss 2-factor authentication messages from banks etc.

Are you sure? I'm on Vodafone and have WiFi calling enabled on my Pixel 5 and receive text messages no problem. Have just logged in to a website that sends 2FA texts and it worked fine.

EDIT: Scrub that! Turns out that even though I can enable it on my phone it's only actually supported on Bill Pay plans. I'd assumed it would be impossible to enable it if not supported.

babelfish1990

Kiwi John wrote: »

I have eir mobile broadband where I am now as it is in a no broadband area so I will take it to the nee place tomorrow to se if eir works.
Comreg say some repeaters are legal and you can check on there website if the one you choose is ok.

If you don't have fixed-line broadband in your new home, you will likely have to put an external antenna outside the house to get good quality mobile broadband inside an A-Rated home. Run a short antenna cable(<10m) inside your house to your router. Plenty of other threads recommending external antenna types and mobile routers. Then hub your internal wiring back to your router from your distributed access points.

The Cush

Kiwi John wrote: »

Comreg say some repeaters are legal and you can check on there website if the one you choose is ok.

Irish manufacturer of legal mobile repeaters here - https://www.stelladoradus.com/company-info/about-us/

My brother has used one for many years, since before mobile repeaters were made legal here, no issues over the years.

Noxegon

Wouldn't mind something like that, but €1000 for a better signal isn't going to be a runner.

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120601201#Comment_120601201

€1,000 for improved coverage is daylight robbery. Most phones sold in the last 4 years support WiFi calling. Just switch it on, and make sure your operator supports it on your plan, and that your phone also has the necessary firmware to support it. Eir have the best featured WiFi calling, including text and use while roaming to save roaming charges. Vodafone have a more limited version which doesn't include text or roaming.

Noxegon

It's not just the calls – it's also the fact that my phone battery runs down in a few hours in my current home, presumably due to the increased power required to communicate.

I actually changed the battery a few months back, so it should be good. It easily gets through two days when I'm in Dublin.