Wrong SIM for half of contract

[Nichrome]

Hi,

Last year, about May,  I got myself S20 Ultra 5G with 24GB data. My SIM was swapped for a new one due to 5G compatibility.

I have never seen my phone connect to 5G network even on airports with claimed 5G coverage. I thought maybe because it's first 5G phone it isn't compatible with what Vodafone provises. I've let it be.

This year upon ipad pro 11" release, I took it on contract with data plan, also at Vodafone. And as I found, I have 5G connectivity even at home! My phone still doesn't connect to 5G, although phone is supposedly 5G compatible, and so is my contract.

I have just swapped their SIMs around, and after this I found out my phone works with 5G! Ipad wouldn't connect to 5G anymore, so it became obvious it is the SIM that's at fault.

What can I do about this, apart from getting new SIM? It's over half of my contract I had a faulty/incompatible SIM and I think this is incredibly unfair on me as a customer. Got a 5G phone with incompatible/faulty SIM?

[BandOfBrothers]

First step I would take is to speak with customer services on 191 or Live Chat or the Vodafone Social Media Team's via Twitter DM or Facebook Messenger and ask them to check your account to ensure everything is activated as it should be.

Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

Look in your phone's settings,  Connections, Mobile Network's and then look at Network Mode to ensure 5G has been chosen along with 4G / 3G and 2G 

I agree 5G is good. Its good for faster downloads of large files however 4G and 4G+ are still better in my opinion for general Internet access.

As long as Vodafone are supping an Internet connection whether it be 3G, 4G or 4G+ they are fulfilling their contractual terms.

I wish you all the best with this. 

[Nichrome]

Yep I visited the store just now and they explained everything.

They swapped my SIM for a new one, it is activated already but still not getting 5g anywhere.

I will be going back tomorrow, or maybe contacting via livechat and see where we get.

I find it very weird data plan SIM works as expected but phone plan doesn't.

[BandOfBrothers]

So is 5G chosen in your Connections part of the phone's settings @Nichrome  ?

[Nichrome]

Yes it is.

As I said:

Phone's SIM in phone - no 5G.

iPad's SIM in ipad - 5G

iPad's SIM in phone - 5G

Phone's SIM in ipad - no 5G.

All that without changing settings or anything, just swapping SIMs.

I just spoke to customer service technical team, and supposedly it isn't properly enabled for my account.

While Vodafone app shown that 5G is enabled, and person in store verified it is enabled, from some deeper levels of the system it is supposedly disabled. They tried enabling this to no avail.

They have escalated the issue to some engineers who are meant to enable it for me in the next 2 days.

[Nichrome]

Contacted CS today again asking for an update and escalation.

They promised for 5g to be enabled for my account within 48 hours.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hello again @Nichrome 

Do you get 4G and 3G connections OK on your phone ?

[chistery]

In MyVodafone, is 5G listed under your plan?

[Nichrome]

Yes, yes and yes.

Everything is and was working fine, apart from 5G.

As I've mentioned earlier, there's some issue on Vodafone's system that even though for the store things appeared to be enabled, it's actually disabled.

And yet again I am about to escalate the issue as thing is not resolved yet..

[chistery]

In that case, download cellmapper from the play store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cellmapper.net.cellmapper 

Run it, do you see anything about 5G state being restricted or not? uploading the screenshot of it would be helpful.

This will tell us if you're in a 5G area and if it's an account issue.