Forum Discussion

TruffleShuffle's avatar
TruffleShuffle
SMARTY Rookie
02-06-2023

I'm with Smarty, hubby is with 3. I have consistently poor signal, he has consistently good signal.

I have been with Smarty for a good year now but have always had terrible signal indoors and out. I also have a dual sim phone, both Smarty, a sim for personal use and one for work. I pretty much just get 1 or 2 bars of signal if I'm lucky. 

I really wanted to stick with them mainly due to tariff price and inclusion of MMS messaging. However, I can't understand how me and my hubby are on the same network but have completely opposite level of signal. And I have tried everything!

We moved last year. Nothing changed, ie my signal is still bad and hubby's is still good. I have tried several different phones, nothing has changed. I ended up buying a Samsung S23 this year and neither sim still barely ever have signal.

I think I will have to change networks as phonecalls are becoming painful. I know Smarty is piggybacking off 3 and I know there shouldn't be a difference in signal, whether you are with Smarty or 3 but there clearly is. Baffled and frustrated! 

8 Replies

  • PPSD's avatar
    PPSD
    SMARTY Pioneer
    12-06-2023

    I recently moved from 3 to Smarty. I never had a significant signal problem in 23 years with 3. Since I have been with smarty I have seldom had more than 1-2 bars. Same phone(s) same locations. Checked the apn entries all 'OK' (according to smarty). The only difference is the sim card.

    As I type this I have zero signal (a common occurrence) in a location where with 3 I always had more than 3 bars.

    It is patently obvious that Smarty customers get a degraded service on the 3 network. In my opinion this amounts to false advertising even though their wording may not be an actual outright lie it is obviously designed to give a very false impression.

     

    • KevinBu_1727867's avatar
      KevinBu_1727867
      SMARTY Maverick
      28-04-2024

      Research I have conducted and other comments online are suggesting that certain 4g frequencies are not supported on smarty. These are the backbone frequencies that are long reaching and good speeds. This shows as nearly always at 4gplus with half mb to 10mb been a familiar occurrence on smarty.

    • FarmanA_2535212's avatar
      FarmanA_2535212
      SMARTY Rookie
      25-06-2025

      Seems you are right and your post has given me answers of many questions. The only option is to use 2 phones at same time to check coverage and signals. I am facing much problem with signals on motorway. Smarty uses 3 network but I believe, wavelength or strength is different. I have checked Vodafone website, even they sell different strengths of signals at different prices it means service providers have options to change quality of signals. Indeed if we are paying less we are not getting good quality.

      • cnw_1336216's avatar
        cnw_1336216
        SMARTY Maverick
        26-06-2025

        Some of Vodafone's unlimited tariffs are speed capped but Smarty/Three do not offer this. 

        Smarty have access to Three's entire range of spectrum (Band 1, 3, 20, 28, 32 for 4G and N78 for 5G). There is no spectrum that is only available to Three customers so the 'wavelengths' used are identical.

        Also worth mentioning that the bars on screen are only a very crude indicator of signal strength and do not indicate the signal quality or speed in any way. A phone connected to Band 20 (800MHz) may show 4 or 5 bars but have very poor data speeds due to the limited bandwidth available on Band 20, whereas a phone connected to Band 1 in the same location may only show 1-2 bars but be much faster as more bandwidth is available. 

  • MSF's avatar
    MSF
    SMARTY Guru
    02-06-2023

    TruffleShuffle Unfortunately, a number of other Samsung dual sim phone-owners have reported something similar.

    I do not recall seeing any definitive solution or reason here.

    • KevinBu_1727867's avatar
      KevinBu_1727867
      SMARTY Maverick
      28-04-2024

      Strange I haven't, could your provide links. I see plenty regarding this problem mostly a mix iPhone and Samsung excellent on three terrible on smarty.

  • TruffleShuffle's avatar
    TruffleShuffle
    SMARTY Rookie
    02-06-2023

    I haven't had the dual sim long but was using a single sim phone for the majority of the time before that and had exactly the same issues. I don't feel it is a dual sim issue for me but just an overall Smarty issue! Strange...

    • MSF's avatar
      MSF
      SMARTY Guru
      02-06-2023

      TruffleShuffle Oh dear! From comments we see here, I'm not sure that the 3 signal and smarty signal are exactly identical.

      It may well be that 3 get preferential treatment on the network . To be fair, they probably pay a lot more for that privilege.

      I think with all mobile networks there is no 'one-size fits all'. I consider myself lucky that smarty meets my needs at a great price.