topic Re: Coverage in Vancouver in Get Support

Coverage in Vancouver

chckn8r — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 15:08:37 GMT

Hey All,

I'm new to Public Mobile, but have been a part of the TELUS branded community for a while. I've been wondering where I can give "feedback" (I.e. complain) about cell phone coverage in my neighborhood.

I live in a populated urban area of Vancouver - near 16th and Dunbar - and I get 1, perhaps 2 bars of coverage. The main neighborhood cell towers appear to be mounted on top of commercial buildings about six blocks away, but they are on the other side of the top of a hill.

This isn't just a TELUS issue. Rogers customers have the same problem.

Does anyone know if there is an organization/body/company contact that I can post this concern to? It's kind of ridiculous being smack-dab in the middle of a fairly densely-populated area of a major city and having to deal with dropped calls due to limited coverage.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Dave

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

geopublic — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 21:50:10 GMT

@chckn8r

To contact Public Mobile for help you have 3 options:

Option 1: Ask Simon for help type your question and follow the prompts.

Option 2: If you are still having a problem then try submitting a ticket directly to the Public Mobile Moderator Team as follows:

Option 3: If you are still having problems contacting Public Mobile then click here. The link sends you to the private message function and adds the moderator team as recipient for a private message. You just have to enter a title and text in the body of the message describing the problem and post. The message will be received by the moderator team and they will respond to it. You will receive the response in your private message inbox.

Please note that account verification may be required when contacting the Moderator Team

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

NDesai — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 21:52:24 GMT

I doubt they will listen to you if you report to them. They would rather do their own tests or pull out reports before doing anything. But all you can do it try and see if you get lucky. I don't know where such request/complain can be reported. May be @sheytoon might know.

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

AE_Collector — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 22:25:53 GMT

Any possibility that your phone doesn't have certain frequency bands that TELUS is deploying more extensively in your area? They spend large amounts of money on their network so it is pretty good in most populated locations.

AE_Collector

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

totalUser — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 23:10:19 GMT

Hi @chckn8r

Is it for both inside and outside 1-2bars

Does it happen with any phone you use?

Can you borrow a different phone to test

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

Ed404 — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 23:34:20 GMT

Personally, I don't care about how many bars I get. The bars aren't very representative of your connection. The way I see it is if your cell service works it's doing it's job. They aren't going to add more cell towers over night, but the placement of that tower seems to be poorly chosen.

Also the connection strength you have with the cell tower depends on your phone. What smartphone do you have?

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

sheytoon — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 23:35:05 GMT

@chckn8r Vancouver is notorious for NIMBYs and difficulty of new site permits. I would blame your neighbours and government for this.

Telus is well aware of the issues and would love to build more macros to serve the population better. For now, they are doing their best with small cell densification in residential areas.

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

darlicious — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 00:16:45 GMT

@chckn8r The best explanation for your issue is @sheytoon answer. I used to have a similar issue with freedom near Broadway and Main at home. As soon as I entered my yard in would lose service and would be spotty as long as I remained within 50 ft of my home. It would do the same entering the kingsgate mall to talk to freedom. They wouldnt be able to troubleshoot the phone because there would be no service...or any on their cellphones either. The west side where you live and the many multi million dollar single family homes is very notorious for NIMBYism. They prevented the Canada line to the airport I'm sure they don't want evil microwave spewing cancer causing cell towers in their neighborhoods either. Not an easily solved issue for you other than moving....that might be harder to solve. You're kind of stuck.

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

AE_Collector — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 00:05:40 GMT

But they are "le Creme de la Creme"... we know because they told us.

I can say this here because let's face it...none of them are on here!

AE_Collector

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

evangeline — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 00:01:14 GMT

As Public Mobile is owned by TELUS and runs on their network, it would be best to contact TELUS about issues with its network - especially as our rates are discounted because Public isn't fully staffed.

I've found it most useful with other similar situations to identify key executives and send them snail mail (with the other relevant team member referenced/cc'ed).

Often, a well-worded letter, specifically directed to someone who probably doesn't get a lot of postal mail directed at them at work, can be very effective.

My understanding is that the cell companies rent spots on buildings and so along with a willingness to cover your pocket in Vancouver would also need willing property owners willing to rent equipment space to them.

Are there any obvious likely (building) prospects for mounting cell equipment in your neighbourhood? If so, I would mention those locations by address in my letter and may even contact them to see if they are willing, had been approached already, etc.

As others have noted, they are probably eager to fill in holes in their network.

Here is the TELUS upper executive team: https://www.telus.com/en/about/company-overview/executive-team

Their head office address is...

TELUS

510 W. Georgia St.
23rd Floor
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 0M3

If you want to reach out to Public Mobile, as well (so that both are notified about your neighbourhood), you could try Public Mobile's General Manager, David MacLean at

Public Mobile, 1920 Yonge Street, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M4S 3E2

Eva

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

CannonFodder — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 00:17:23 GMT

@AE_Collector wrote:
But they are "le Creme de la Creme"... we know because they told us.

I can say this here because let's face it...none of them are on here!

AE_Collector

Guess you'll be finding out, the hard way, that "they" are actually keeping an eye on any/all dissenters - your cell service will be cut off COMPLETELY by the time you read this! 😉 😆

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

AE_Collector — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 00:19:58 GMT

I will retaliate by taking out their landlines!

AE_Collector

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

darlicious — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 12:56:35 GMT

@evangeline Nice post...thanks I'll be making a note of those contacts. But I think until real change is enacted on the west side of vancouver with zoning, densification, affordable housing initiatives and quite literally the passing of a generation there will be a large swath of vancouver west of Granville underserved by cell tower coverage. People who own $5+, $10+ and $15+to $50+ million dollar homes are not going to allow it....nor any few and far between businesses in their exclusive neighbourhoods. The UBC endowment lands will continue to be well served though.

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

Korth — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 14:48:57 GMT

https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

Last year Telus had three big radio towers spread in a rough triangle around my city (Chilliwack, BC). Huge tall metal-girder antenna tower things covered in spiky hardware and topped with directional dishes, one near Hwy 1, two on local mountaintops.

This year Telus quietly installed a horde of little radio sites. Each one is basically an unobtrusive lamppost next to a couple ordinary metal utility boxes (it appears one is a generator attached to an underground fuel tank). They're literally on every second street corner, three of them within throwing range of my home. And they're spreading, the clusters all start around the neighbourhoods where people actually have homes and jobs (so I guess they can afford phones and data plans), the other parts of Chilliwack still get only the Three Big Towers (and one new radiomast on top of a hotel skyrise) for coverage, lol.

I now have the same signal bars and mobile data speeds on the same phones at the same places on the same network as I did last year. I don't think those little "cell towers" (flagpole masts with tiny radio boxes on top) can have a lot of transmission range or reception sensitivity ... they just blanket the whole area with smaller higher-frequency radio "cells" and higher radio noise floor. They may paint green flags all over the cell sites map but I doubt they're a good indicator of "real" network coverage in the area.

But maybe the Telus flagpole radioswarm will make a difference in real signal strength when they arrive in your Vancouver neighbourhood?

I'm genuinely surprised that nobody seems to have commented about this online or in media. It's very noticeable, most locals (I've met) have no idea what the "eyesores" are but still talk about them quite negatively and quite a lot.

Re: Coverage in Vancouver

AE_Collector — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 15:43:16 GMT

Someone will know more than I do about this but frequencies can only be used where there isn't interfearance by the same frequency at another site close by. Thus many smaller low power sites gives much better use of frequencies and we all know that telcos pay huge $$$ for spectrum. This works well in dense areas to get more bang for their buck but isn't necessary in rural areas that are covered more efficiently with higher power on bigger towers or buildings.

AE_Collector