Good evening,
Disclaimer, I am not a telecoms professional.
With that out of the way I will respond to all 3 remains here.
Meant to reply to @Polarian: I have been in England and tried
multiple operators with appalling reception. I can use either of my
two foreign numbers in the UK—both picking up one of the same
networks as my UK number—and get crystal-clear reception in the same
location. Something is clearly amiss with the UK telco infrastructure.
Which operators? Also this does vary based on where you live. I do
wonder if this is a case of you are used to a higher quality of service
coming from somewhere with superior infrastructure.
Again, I personally never have an issue with call quality, or mobile
data coverage.
So my guess is that the telcos can make more money from your oversea
provider by prioritising the call over newer technology, while their
own contracts are usually already paid for in bundled offers so
doesn't matter what the call quality is.
I do not believe this is the case. If you go with EE pay the ridiculous
pricing for a unlimited speed sim (not necessarily the unlimited data
sim), get credit checked and deal with EE's checks, you do get the best
service.
However, for the average person, virtual mobile providers, such as the
ones you named above, might not get the same speeds, or the same
priority as native customers, but you do not have the checks to deal
with, and it is often much cheaper with a short term contact.
I have used virtual mobile providers for years, and never had an issue
with call quality. I believe I have already pointed it out, so I will
again, telephone calls are not secure, and should be avoided.
Lastly, I have noticed that the UK telcos like WiFi calling as it
saves them infrastructure costs, but they do not seem to make any
allowances for dodgy wifi / Internet connectivity.
WiFi calling is also insecure and shouldn't ever be used.
Another reason a foreign mobile phone might work better is
1) A foreign phone can connect to any of the 3 networks: O2/Virgin,
Vodafone/Three and EE/BT. It can automatically choose the one with the
best signal.
As far as I am aware this is not the case. Mobile providers pay a
specific operator in another country to handle their customers for them
while roaming. The downside of this is when you have multiple sims
(like me) for redundancy, in the UK I have one on EE network and one of
Vodafone network, but when I roam it is an often occurrence that both
providers are using the same provider in that country.
2) Your UK phone can only connect to a specific one of them depending
on your phone contract.
This is the normal thing, you say this like it is abnormal?
There is some providers out there which will provide you multi-network
sims, anvil mobile [1] is one such provider. However these come at a
cost, I have seen these sims go for £50 for 5GB of data per month, I am
not too sure how much Anvil charges, but I do know its a lot.
I think it is very likely that whatever coverage issue you are having
is likely your local area. There is some unfortunate parts of the UK
where signal absolutely sucks.
I would also check your phone, and maybe try something different. Some
phones do not have the best antennas, which might not be a big deal in
countries which have many towers close by (less distance for your
signal to travel), but in general the UK coverage is decent, but towers
are not the closest.
Personally I use a pixel 6 pro, and it seems to beat even the latest
iphones when it comes to connectivity. I have had family members in a
pub get no signal while I have had perfect signal, both phones on the
same network as well.
Hope this helps.
Take care,
