4G phone switching to 2G in an area where 3G has been switched off

[forkboy123]

Post Title: Between EH4 and G4 - phone switches to 2G 

1) Does the issue happen in just one location? If so, how far do you have to travel to regain service?

 Good mobile network coverage (assume 4G) in Edinburgh. Phone switches to very poor coverage (assume 2G) as I travel to Glasgow. Change usually occurs roughly Shotts/Harthill area.

2) What is the full postcode (e.g. ST1 1AA) of where the issue occurs? If you don't want this showing on the Community, add it to your profile here.

 Not specific to one postcode area. See above for locations.

3) Does the issue occur if you try your SIM card in a different phone?

 Not tried this.

4) What errors are seen or heard when the issue occurs?

 No error messages, just very slow mobile data.

5) Does this happen on 2G, 3G, 4G or all?

    Seems my phone (which is 4G capable, and set to 2G/3G/4G Auto, is switching to 2G in the Glasgow area, where the 3G coverage has now been switched off.

6) When did you first notice this issue?

 Not too sure, but I think around 6-8 weeks ago (?)

7) Is the issue permanent or intermittent? If intermittent, are there certain times of the day when it occurs?

Permanent.

[Gersmad77]

I'm having the same issue. Started in the last week. Travelling from cumbernauld to the south side of glasgow.  I've checked my data speeds and it's showing 750kbs. I have a phone capable of 5G but the connection speeds are atrocious.

[forkboy123]

Still not working for me. Vodafone adviser said they'd now switched on 'data bridging' for me, and to restart the phone after waiting for a while. Bit confused as they said the time limit was 2 hrs to 24 hrs.

Been over 24 hours now and still no joy.

I know realise my phone never connects to 4G - as the sign over bars is normally H+ best case scenario. Was starting to think it was my SIM, but surely the 4G option wouldn't appear on my phone if the SIM wasn't capable of supporting it (?).

[Gersmad77]

Mine has, in the last hour picked up 5G but from 1pm this afternoon all I was getting was a poor reception. I have an esim and thought that might be the issue but I'll need to keep an eye on it. 

[Pipefish]

@Janey @CallumR @forkboy123 @Gersmad77 

I believe this might be the solution - I just posted it on another thread:

It took me ages to figure this out, trawling through Reddit and various forums. It's due to the signal thresholds that Vodafone have set. For example if a 5G signal is very weak the phone will switch down to 4G if the 4G signal is stronger. If a 4G signal is below a certain level then the phone will switch to 3G - but now there's no 3G... So it goes to 2G as there is usually a strong (stronger) 2G signal around.

On an Android phone, go to settings -> Network & Internet -> SIMs -> Vodafone. Scroll to the bottom of the page and turn off the, 'Allow 2G' option. Now your phone won't have 2G as an option and will therefore cling onto 4G for longer.

I did this and all my signal problems are gone. It's not Vodafone's coverage that's the problem, it's Vodafone not updating the device profiles - they could literally fix this overnight but they haven't even acknowledged it.