EE sells both mobile and home broadband, and the two run on completely separate networks. Checking the wrong one is the most common reason people conclude there is no fault when there is. Work out which service you are having trouble with first.

Check EE service status

EE publishes network status information in the help section of ee.co.uk/help, with separate checks for the mobile network and for home broadband.

  • Mobile. EE's network status checker reports mast faults and planned maintenance by postcode. If a mast near you is being worked on, this is where it appears. EE's coverage checker is a different tool: it shows expected signal at an address rather than current faults, so use the status checker when something has stopped working and the coverage checker when you are deciding whether to sign up.
  • Home broadband. Checked against your line, and it is worth signing in so it tests your address rather than a general area.

Test your EE broadband

Your postcode is used to compare speeds in your area. We store the postcode district, not your address. Test not working? Get help.

Use an ethernet cable for a result that means something. If you are on EE's 4G or 5G home broadband rather than a fixed line, expect results to move around considerably more, because the connection depends on mast load and signal in the same way a phone does. Testing at several times of day gives a truer picture than a single reading.

EE broadband runs on Openreach

EE is owned by BT and its fixed broadband uses the same Openreach lines. The practical effect is the same as with BT or Sky: if neighbours on other providers are also down, the fault is in shared infrastructure, and EE is chasing an Openreach repair rather than fixing it directly.

This is also why an EE broadband fault and an EE mobile fault at the same address are almost certainly unrelated. Different networks, different faults, different teams.

Mobile signal problems that are not outages

If your EE mobile signal has dropped, the status checker is only one possibility. Three others are worth ruling out before you report anything:

  • Wi-Fi Calling masking the problem. If your phone has been holding calls together over Wi-Fi, you may only notice weak signal when you leave the house. The signal was poor the whole time.
  • A single handset. If another EE phone in the house is fine, the problem is your device or SIM, not the network. Restart it and reseat the SIM before calling.
  • Building materials. Foil-backed insulation and modern coated glass block mobile signal effectively. Signal that dies indoors and returns outside is a building problem, and no network fix will change it.

Work out where the problem is before you call

Most people ring their provider first and spend twenty minutes being walked through steps they could have done themselves. Four checks will tell you which of three very different problems you have, and they take about five minutes.

  1. Check on mobile data. Turn Wi-Fi off on your phone and load a website. If the page loads on mobile data but nothing works on Wi-Fi, the internet is fine and the problem is between your router and your devices.
  2. Look at the router lights. A router that has lost its connection to the network almost always says so. A red or flashing light usually means the line itself is down. A normal light with no internet usually means the line is up and something else is wrong.
  3. Try a cable. Plug a laptop straight into the router with an ethernet cable. If the wired connection works and Wi-Fi does not, you have a Wi-Fi problem, not a broadband problem, and no amount of waiting for an outage to clear will fix it.
  4. Run a speed test. If you are connected but everything is slow, a test tells you whether you are getting a fraction of your normal speed or none at all. That difference matters when you report the fault.

Compensation when your service is down

Under Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, most large providers pay you for a total loss of service that is not fixed within two full working days of you reporting it. It also covers engineer appointments that are missed or cancelled at short notice, and new connections that start later than promised.

Three things are worth knowing:

  • The clock starts when you report it. An outage you never told your provider about does not count, however long it lasted. Report a fault the day you notice it, even if you expect it to fix itself.
  • It should be automatic. The payment is meant to appear as a bill credit without you asking. In practice it is worth checking your next bill and chasing it if nothing arrives.
  • It covers total loss, not slow speeds. A connection that is working but poor is handled under your provider's speed guarantee instead, which is a separate process.

The daily rates are set by Ofcom and reviewed each year, so check the current figures on Ofcom's automatic compensation page rather than relying on a number quoted elsewhere.

Not every provider is in the scheme. The largest ones are, and several smaller full fibre networks have joined voluntarily, but if yours is not a member you are relying on their own goodwill policy.

Note that the automatic compensation scheme covers landline and broadband rather than mobile. Mobile problems are handled under EE's own complaints process, and if that does not resolve things you can escalate to the ombudsman EE belongs to.

If EE cannot fix it

Our EE Broadband review covers how EE performs on complaints and service alongside its pricing and contract terms. If you are out of contract, check what else reaches your address, since EE's fixed broadband uses the same Openreach line as most competitors and switching to another Openreach provider will not change the physical line the fault sits on.