Spoke to customer retentions today to tell them I was leaving. They offered a better deal but I told them signal at home was one of the reasons I was going.

Salesman says, “I’ll send you a new sim card, it’s 100% better signal, that will sort the issue.”

I asked him how that works. I’m not expert but I thought the handset communicated with the cell tower and the sim card just tells the handset what network, numbers and features etc to use.

He couldn’t explain so I called BS.

So, those who know more than me, can a sim card improve signal?

it’s 100% better signal

100% better than zero is still zero 🙂

The only thing a new sim card could do is give you access to a service or network that you’re not currently subscribed to.

Technically yes. My phone is unlocked so it is only the SIM card that gives me access to a specific network. Change my SIM card to a provider on another network and my phone would work fine. Not sure how the commercial arrangements work such that you get a better signal with one provider and not with another – they must buy a certain amount of access and divvy it up across the regions, so maybe they have some control over how they distribute the access via SIM cards.

This was Vodafone telling me that replacing my old Vodafone SIM with a new Vodafone SIM would give me 100% better signal.

a new Vodafone SIM would give me 100% better signal.

They deliver the sim by strapping it to a brick and throwing it through your window, thus allowing more airwaves to circulate

They paint over an EE SIM with a red pen?

Deffo BS. How does your postcode look on their coverage map ?

Presuming you’re on a 4G contract and you already have a 4G sim, there is little a new sim card can do to improve signal strength.
Vodafone said the same to my wife when she said she was leaving (due to crappy signal and shocking customer service), I told here to ignore and move over to EE (the ads are true!) and not mess around with VF anymore.

Thought that might be the case. Yes, I’m on 4g. If I wasn’t, I’d have gone to virgin as a cheaper way (3g only) of getting on ee.

Yep, utter bs. They could maybe supply a signal booster but why mess about? You owe them nothing. If another network has much better coverage where you live/work why would you not take advantage of that? Poor buggers in retentions are sometimes quite desperate. Can’t blame them as they only have the tools provided by the telco but just making stuff up isn’t on.

I told them signal at home was one of the reasons I was going.

It’s Vodafone, that’s a standard feature. What do you expect from a telecommunications company that can’t even spell “phone” correctly?

Onza do you have home wifi, most providers these days allow yoir home wifi to relay calls (never use it myself but was told that)

We have a sure signal. It doesn’t work properly.

Onzadog, can I ask a favour?

I work for VF, not on the mobile side, but on the fixed. Would you mind if I asked the mobile customer teams why they’re telling people this?

If thats ok with you, can you tell me what number you rang, and did you end up onshore or offshore?

thanks….I’ll be discreet and report back. Approx time of day would be good too.

Drop me an email and I’ll even send you a screen dump of a bit of the conversation if that helps. I took a snapshot for a record of the offer they made.

We have a sure signal. It doesn’t work properly.

Just for a bit of VF loving from me… At our last house we had no mobile signal (on any network) but an old 2nd hand Sure Signal worked perfectly.

Cheers Onzadog- done. I will be discreet, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.

How old is the sim card? Sounds very daft but after 4g got rolled out across the nation (apparently), Vodafone (and other providers) started sending new sim cards to customers…apparently it did something to make them work with the 4g thing.

I didn’t really have a problem before, always had a strong signal with Vodafone, but I got a ‘free upgrade’ to 4g…I was getting 4g signal but it wasn’t consistent like the previous strong 3g signal.

Got a new sim and popped it in the phone and it suddenly gave me proper strong 4g signal every where in my surrounding residential area and work place.

I suspect, the new sim card might actually make a small difference, but might not be 100% better (although anything more than zero will be better).

Mmmm interesting one this.
Mrs J and I are on the same Three contract. For the past 5 years, I’ve always had a significantly better signal than her at home. She inherits my phones, so I tried swapping them over and her signal was poorer (fewer bars) in my phone.
It’s not bad enough for me to complain – although I probably would if it was me with the crappy end of the deal, but I’ve always wondered if there were different classes of sim/customer with differing levels of signal throttling.

It’s Vodafone, that’s a standard feature. What do you expect from a telecommunications company that can’t even spell “phone” correctly?

Vodafone or Vodaphone?

Advertising gurus Saatchi and Saatchi were convinced the famous Vodafone ‘f’ would become an iconic part of the company’s brand – but not many of the original directors agreed with them. The name originated from the combination of voice and data services the network would offer – as in voice-data-phone – but CEO Gerry Whent particularly objected to the ‘f’ until Saatchi and Saatchi begged him to reconsider.

“In for a penny, in for a pound – and you can have your flippin’ ‘f’ as well!”

Gerry Whent gave way, and the name Vodafone was launched on March 22nd 1984 in a press release that predicted the new service would be very popular with people on the move, including businessmen, doctors and even “veterinary surgeons”.