Phone problems, again

[LadyG]

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

[Stilllearning]

8 minutes ago, LadyG said:

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

If it’s anything  like my mobile, try turning it off and back on again. “The lights are on, but there’s no one home”.

[Arthur Marshall]

39 minutes ago, LadyG said:

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

Mobile network isn't the internet, two entirely different things. Mobile signals depend on where you are relative to the mast, and also if there's a lot of traffic. If it's a text, it should try again automatically. What signal level is showing?

If you're trying to send an email or something via the net, you tend to need a better mobile connection than just for calls.

[Alan de Enfield]

44 minutes ago, LadyG said:

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

 

It doesn't use the internet to send phone calls, it uses the phone signals.

If there is no signal it cannot send anything.

[Wittenham]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It doesn't use the internet to send phone calls, it uses the phone signals.

If there is no signal it cannot send anything.

 

It depends on how the phone is making calls... it using an app [say, Whatsapp] it does use the internet [well, a data connection].  For bog standard calls using the touchpad, it would use the phone signal.

 

Advice above on turning it on and off fixes most phone problems.  Bonus points for taking out the battery for 15 seconds or so.

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, Wittenham said:

Bonus points for taking out the battery for 15 seconds or so.

 

There seems to be a very small number of phones these days with that option.

[M_JG]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

 

If this an android phone go into settings > apps > phone > data usage > clear cache

[IanD]

47 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Mobile network isn't the internet, two entirely different things. Mobile signals depend on where you are relative to the mast, and also if there's a lot of traffic. If it's a text, it should try again automatically. What signal level is showing?

If you're trying to send an email or something via the net, you tend to need a better mobile connection than just for calls.

All signals to your phone -- voice calls, SMS, internet data, email -- are just packets of data nowadays, they get separated out in the phone. The only difference is what data rate and how reliable a connection is required -- calls are probably the worst for this, SMS the easiest. If you want a reasonable speed data connection to make the internet usable for things like web browsing (what most people call "internet") then this needs higher data rate than calls, email doesn't -- so long as you can get a connection, it'll get sent sooner or later (like SMS).

 

If there's no signal from your mobile network (e.g. Three) then nothing will work. Except possibly 999 calls if there's another network with signal where you are (e.g. EE, O2...) because these can go via any network...

Edited December 14, 2022 by IanD

[Tony Brooks]

All the old style mobiles I have had displayed the signal strength and if the phone had connected to my particular operator (EE). Do not smart phones have a similar system. It sounds to me as if the phone has not found a mast used by her phone company.

[M_JG]

Just now, Tony Brooks said:

All the old style mobiles I have had displayed the signal strength and if the phone had connected to my particular operator (EE). Do not smart phones have a similar system. It sounds to me as if the phone has not found a mast used by her phone company.

 

Yes they do. Signal strength is on the home screen and network operator sometimes is depending on Android version/Phone. If network operator is not on the home screen it can usually be found in the settings > network (or similar).

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, M_JG said:

 

Yes they do. Signal strength is on the home screen and network operator sometimes is depending on Android version/Phone. If network operator is not on the home screen it can usually be found in the settings > network (or similar).

 

 

Remember who it is that has the problem !

[M_JG]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Remember who it is that has the problem !

 

I know, and I think she has me on ignore too but I thought I'd try.

[Tony Brooks]

1 minute ago, M_JG said:

 

Yes they do. Signal strength is on the home screen and network operator sometimes is depending on Android version/Phone. If network operator is not on the home screen it can usually be found in the settings > network (or similar).

 

 

So the question for @LadyG is what does that display show. It is not unknown for masts to go down or even seem to reduce their power.

[Dr Bob]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

If you ever get it connected to the internet again, check the 'Three' site for its coverage map. I fine 'three' nowhere near as good as EE in our travels round the network with a number of areas with poor connectivity. I use both networks to make sure I can usually get a signal which usually works but not always.

[M_JG]

Just now, Dr Bob said:

If you ever get it connected to the internet again, check the 'Three' site for its coverage map. I fine 'three' nowhere near as good as EE in our travels round the network with a number of areas with poor connectivity. I use both networks to make sure I can usually get a signal which usually works but not always.

 

Ditto, not with the canal system for us but in our travels around the UK we rarely have an issue with EE coverage. I dumped Three years ago.

[LadyG]

9 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

If you ever get it connected to the internet again, check the 'Three' site for its coverage map. I fine 'three' nowhere near as good as EE in our travels round the network with a number of areas with poor connectivity. I use both networks to make sure I can usually get a signal which usually works but not always.

I have a tablet which is also with Three. So I assumed if I got internet, which is pretty much 99% of the time, I should also get three mobile via my android phone.

I have turned phone off and on.

THe signal is not in bars but in a kind of graph, showing about level two of five. Needles to say it work yesterday, from the same place.

update, it is now working!

Edited December 14, 2022 by LadyG

[M_JG]

12 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I have a tablet which is also with Three. So I assumed if I got internet, which is pretty much 99% of the time, I should also get three mobile via my android phone.

I have turned phone off and on.

THe signal is not in bars but in a kind of graph, showing about level two of five. Needles to say it work yesterday, from the same place.

update, it is now working!

 

As smart phones are effectively really small computers switching them off and back on again will often cure a problem.

 

My wife's iPhone sometimes loses its signal and doing just that brings the signal back up.

[Tony Brooks]

15 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I have a tablet which is also with Three. So I assumed if I got internet, which is pretty much 99% of the time, I should also get three mobile via my android phone.

I have turned phone off and on.

THe signal is not in bars but in a kind of graph, showing about level two of five. Needles to say it work yesterday, from the same place.

update, it is now working!

 

I suspect a very heavy load on the mast when you tried to send.

[Arthur Marshall]

2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I suspect a very heavy load on the mast when you tried to send.

And if only two bars out of the usual five, the signal could easily drop to zero for a few minutes.

[matty40s]

5 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

 “The lights are on, but there’s no one home”.

That's not very kind...😉

 

You may well find a local wifi signal is blasting your signal out..i.e, the pub wifi. If your phone has wifi turned on, turn it off unless you know the local passwords. This often gets a result.

I was in a MacDs (🤢) yesterday in the middle of Luton, and couldnt get my internet to work until I turned wifi off.

(I was waiting for a flight to arrive and needed a pee as the flight was delayed due to overlong de-icing procedure in Scotland)

[Stilllearning]

1 minute ago, matty40s said:

That's not very kind...😉

 

You may well find a local wifi signal is blasting your signal out..i.e, the pub wifi. If your phone has wifi turned on, turn it off unless you know the local passwords. This often gets a result.

I was in a MacDs (🤢) yesterday in the middle of Luton, and couldnt get my internet to work until I turned wifi off.

(I was waiting for a flight to arrive and needed a pee as the flight was delayed due to overlong de-icing procedure in Scotland)

I might agree with you, except that this lack of actual phoneability can last a few days, unless I think about checking my phone. As you may realise, I don’t use it much.

[Stroudwater1]

Getting my Shell points the other day had no download speed at all, so couldn't bring up my barcode points generator. The cashier advised me to switch to aeroplane mode, which I did and the scanner worked with the barcode coming up instantly. I found it hard to understand that one 

[M_JG]

7 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Getting my Shell points the other day had no download speed at all, so couldn't bring up my barcode points generator. The cashier advised me to switch to aeroplane mode, which I did and the scanner worked with the barcode coming up instantly. I found it hard to understand that one 

 

Just my guess,

 

The barcode is in the app. so doesnt need wi fi or telephony to display.

 

The app. was probably initially trying to connect to the Shell servers but failing and not opening. Once you stopped it trying to connect it displayed.

 

(Somebody who actually knows what they are talking about will be along shortly).

[David Mack]

On 14/12/2022 at 10:52, LadyG said:

So I have a mobile phone which is with Three.

I notice that it seems to use the mobile network which I assumed is the internet. Anyways, it just says "call not sent" .I've had this before, I'm near a pub, and not far from a town. Why is this phone not connecting?

Are you still in Hebden Bridge? I got this text message from Three a couple of days ago.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by David Mack

[LadyG]

5 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Are you still in Hebden Bridge? I got this text message from Three a couple of days ago.

 

Tx for that, I'm not registered in HX, so missed the notification, glad to know it just a blip. 

One is so dependant on communications these days, the pace of life, sigh.