Ongoing Network Issues in SE13/SE4 — Can We Get a Real Update?

We’ve been using a SMARTY unlimited data SIM in a Nokia Fastmile 5G router since summer 2024. It replaced our Virgin wired broadband, and for most of that time the 5G service has been excellent — fast, stable, and easily good enough for streaming and work.

However, since the start of 2026 things have changed noticeably. Streaming is no longer consistently smooth, and work-related connections sometimes struggle. The SMARTY Network Checker has been showing the same message since January:

“We’re working on improving the network in this area at the moment. We’re sorry for any disruption this may cause. We’ll add any further updates here.”

Four months later, that message hasn’t changed, and neither has the performance.

Signal readings we’re seeing now.

I’ve been monitoring the router’s signal strength and quality (I only started doing this once problems began, so I can’t compare to the “good” period). Typical values now look like this:

5G: around –85 dB with SNR ~15 dB (acceptable)

LTE fallback: around –95 dB with SNR ~6 dB (borderline/poor)

Today’s readings were worse:

5G: –102 dB, SNR 8 dB , LTE: –95 dB, SNR 3 dB

Both of these are poor enough to explain the drop in quality.

The issue

The “we’re working on it” message was fine for a short-term disruption, but after four months it’s reasonable to expect more clarity. If this is planned work, capacity upgrades, mast issues, or anything else, we’d really appreciate a proper update.

What we need to know

What exactly is being worked on in this area?

Is there an estimated completion date?

Is this a temporary degradation or a longer-term capacity issue?

We’ve been very happy with SMARTY overall, but at this point we need a clearer understanding of when the service will return to the level it had throughout 2024–2025.