topic Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people. in Get Support

My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 22:25:21 GMT

I live in Waterloo and have been on Public about 10 months and have had about 40% of people tell me my voice cuts in and out when speaking or some just say 'what?'. Some don't seem to have a problem. I have the same problem in downtown Ottawa and on the Bruce Peninsula. I have a Sonim XP8 8.1.0. I was warned that Public has lousy coverage, but my son-in-law who lives in small town Tillsonburg has no problem. Our son's carrier is Bell, he has trouble hearing about 40% of what I say when I'm on speakerphone, he hears most everything when I'm not on speakerphone but then I can barely hear him. I called Telus because the phone is from them and he said he could hear every word clearly.When I was with Fido, nobody complained about poor quality. I put my SIM card in another XP8 and an XP7 and same thing on speakerphone. I haven't tried swapping SIMs with another phone yet. Can anyone help me? As far as I know I don't have pixel3.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

softech — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 19:54:57 GMT

@Stefanm wrote:
I live in Waterloo and have been on Public about 10 months and have had about 40% of people tell me my voice cuts in and out when speaking or some just say 'what?'. Some don't seem to have a problem. I have the same problem in downtown Ottawa and on the Bruce Peninsula. I have a Sonim XP8 8.1.0. I was warned that Public has lousy coverage, but my son-in-law who lives in small town Tillsonburg has no problem. Our son's carrier is Bell, he has trouble hearing about 40% of what I say when I'm on speakerphone, he hears most everything when I'm not on speakerphone but then I can barely hear him. I called Telus because the phone is from them and he said he could hear every word clearly.When I was with Fido, nobody complained about poor quality. I put my SIM card in another XP8 and an XP7 and same thing on speakerphone. I haven't tried swapping SIMs with another phone yet. Can anyone help me? As far as I know I don't have pixel3.

Hi, do you want to check if there are any Bell or Telus Towers around the area?

https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html?lat=52.000000&lng=-97.000000&zoom=4&type=Roadmap&layers=a&pid=0

You mentioned: " Our son's carrier is Bell, he has trouble hearing about 40% of what I say when I'm on speakerphone, he hears most everything when I'm not on speakerphone but then I can barely hear him." , It can be Bell issue as Telus is using Bell's tower in Ontario.

Also, is your phone the same as Sonim XP8? XP8 works on Telus, which will work on PM

https://www.telus.com/en/nu/support/mobile-device/xp8/

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

darlicious — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 20:19:26 GMT

@Stefanm

Test another sim card in your phone. If the problem continues then the issue is with your phone. Check for dust or debris in your microphone.

If the problem does not occur with a different sim then perhaps your sim card is degrading or needs reprovisioning. Contact the moderators to reprovision your sim card. If the problem persists then replacing the sim card is in order.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

esjliv — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 00:58:02 GMT

@Stefanm ,

I tend to think this is a phone issue, but maybe not.

Follow @darlicious advice to rule out the phone and maintenance the SIM.

Could it be a SIM going bad??

Do you know another Public Mobile customer that you could use their SIM in your phone?

If all trouble shooting leads to no results, contact the Moderators. Maybe they can send a hit (provision) to your account that could clear up something in the back end.

To contact the Public Mobile Moderator_Team, there are two ways to reach them:

1 - Faster Method - Click the bubble comment circle on the bottom right hand side of your screen, or use this link to: Get Help With SIMon the Public Mobile chatbot

2 – Slower Method - Use this link to:

Private Message to Public Mobile Moderators (PM Customer Service Representatives)

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

BKNS27 — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 01:19:45 GMT

@Stefanm looks like Telus/PM coverage looks good in Waterloo. Were you on the move while talking? You may been in a dead zone while on the move.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

BKNS27 — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 01:24:38 GMT

When I was with Chatr/Mobilicity...there was a lot of dead zones.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Nezgar — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 16:35:14 GMT

@Stefanm

Yeah you definitely need to test your SIM in another phone to see if it is your hardware at fault or not...

You can do an echo test by calling one of two Canadian "The Test Call" numbers:

+1 416 342 9562

+1 250 412 5922

Test on earpiece, speakerphone, headset via 3.5mm jack, bluetooth. Walk around your house, test in basement etc.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

darlicious — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 23:34:47 GMT

@Nezgar

What exactly do test call numbers do?

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Nezgar — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 23:56:55 GMT

@darlicious wrote:
What exactly do test call numbers do?

Give one a call using your "canada-wide" minutes 🙂 They're pretty self explanatory when you dial in. A free service provided by generous enthusiasts in the VoIP community. According to the web page :

"These numbers connect to a useful IVR script to help with audio quality, DTMF testing, and a simple conference bridge. I use this test script almost daily when I'm working with phones, WiFi, smartphones, soft clients and trying to figure out why calls sound awful.

Menu options include:

Record and playback, the most requested feature, use the # key to stop the recording
DTMF testing - Enter a long string of DTMF keys and press # to get a read out
Real time Echo test
Playback Music on Hold
Test conference bridge
0-4Khz audio sweep
Caller ID readback
Real time DTMF test (instant readback of key pressed)
Asterisk Milliwatt tone

Use option 0 to leave any comments, complaints or suggestions for additional features!"

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 01:57:06 GMT

I tried both test numbers and they are identical in operation. The recording came out fine the instant reply was probably okay. Everything else seemed fine also. When I spoke with a salesman from Telus he had no problem hearing me. When I talk to my son whose carrier is Bell he has problems with hearing a ¼ to a ⅓ of my words being dropped. In conclusion I would say that everything seemed to test okay by these phone numbers.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

cavemantoronto — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 02:50:14 GMT

@Stefanm wrote:
I tried both test numbers and they are identical in operation. The recording came out fine the instant reply was probably okay. Everything else seemed fine also. When I spoke with a salesman from Telus he had no problem hearing me. When I talk to my son whose carrier is Bell he has problems with hearing a ¼ to a ⅓ of my words being dropped. In conclusion I would say that everything seemed to test okay by these phone numbers.

All the variables could means the problems might be at Public, your phone, Bell or his phone. If it's only your son, it's probably his end.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Nezgar — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 05:37:22 GMT

@Stefanm wrote:
I tried both test numbers and they are identical in operation. The recording came out fine the instant reply was probably okay. Everything else seemed fine also. When I spoke with a salesman from Telus he had no problem hearing me. When I talk to my son whose carrier is Bell he has problems with hearing a ¼ to a ⅓ of my words being dropped. In conclusion I would say that everything seemed to test okay by these phone numbers.

Both numbers go to the same server, hence why I suggested calling "one of two" numbers. 😉

Anyhow... maybe get your son to call and test as well?

A few more test calls at various times throughout the day might be good too...

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 09:37:45 GMT

My phone is a Sonim XP8 as mentioned in my original post..Yes the phone was supplied by Telus and that is who the warranty is through. Yes there are towers close by. I live in Waterloo which is in the region of Waterloo which has a population of about 700,000. I had the same problem when I was in downtown Ottawa. It does not seem to be a lack of towers

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 09:56:38 GMT

My son and I swapped SIM cards. He installed my public mobility card and I installed his Bell SIM card in my Sonim XP 8 cell phone. My son still had the same problem hearing me when I was on speaker phone. When I took my phone off of speakerphone my voice did not cut in and out. In conclusion, it does not seem to be a problem with my SIM card because my voice still cuts in anf out when I have his Bell SIM card in my xp8 and I have the speaker phone on. If I turn the speakerphone off my voice is not cut in and out. It would seem that there may be two problems. One problem seems to be the connection between public mobility and Bell and the other problem seems to be my microphone when I use speakerphone. Does anybody know if there are two separate microphones? One for normal talking and one for speaker phone?

My voice also cuts in and out when I talk to somebody on Wind mobile when I'm on speaker phone. So far in conversations with people on Telus I haven't had this problem.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Dunkman — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:44:53 GMT

@Stefanm

@Stefanm wrote:
My son and I swapped SIM cards. He installed my public mobility card and I installed his Bell SIM card in my Sonim XP 8 cell phone. My son still had the same problem hearing me when I was on speaker phone. When I took my phone off of speakerphone my voice did not cut in and out. In conclusion, it does not seem to be a problem with my SIM card because my voice still cuts in anf out when I have his Bell SIM card in my xp8 and I have the speaker phone on. If I turn the speakerphone off my voice is not cut in and out. It would seem that there may be two problems. One problem seems to be the connection between public mobility and Bell and the other problem seems to be my microphone when I use speakerphone. Does anybody know if there are two separate microphones? One for normal talking and one for speaker phone?
My voice also cuts in and out when I talk to somebody on Wind mobile when I'm on speaker phone. So far in conversations with people on Telus I haven't had this problem.

I checked your phone specs. Your phone does have 3 microphones. One at the bottom of the front side, back of the phone near camera.

https://www.sonimtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/XP8_BELL_EN_UG_260518.pdf

Not sure whether your phone uses different microphones for different type of calling.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 04:13:59 GMT

I want to thank everybody who offered me help to solve the problem of my voice cutting in and out when using speakerphone on my Sonim XP8. Dunkman got me on the right track when he mentioned that I had 3 microphones that may be used for different types of calling.

I called a techie at Sonim and after about 20 minutes of conversation he told me the same front mic is used for speakerphone and non speakerphone. I asked why if it's the same mic being used do my words get dropped on speakerphone but not dropped when speakerphone is off. He said it must be improper communication. Below is what we did and so far it seems to have worked. My son (Bell carrier) and I talked for about 15 minutes and he said only a word or two was lost in that time compared with about 25% being dropped earlier.

The Sonim techie had me tap on the Settings gear, then scroll down to tap on Systems then tap on Reset Options, tap on Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth then tap on RESET SETTINGS (This worked for me!)

The Sonim instructions say to do it differently, I have them listed below as an alternative way.

NETWORK SETTINGS RESET
1. From Notifications or Apps menu, tap on Settings (gear).
2. Select Wireless & Networks > More > Network settings reset.
3. Select RESET SETTINGS.
It resets all the network settings including Wi-Fi, Cellular data, Bluetooth, and NFC.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

BKNS27 — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 05:26:27 GMT

@Stefanm Wow, that was a lot of work trying to track down the problem.
Great job @Dunkman,

I guess you can close this post and solution solved.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

darlicious — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 05:29:41 GMT

@Stefanm

Wow thanks for this....the bf has had a similar problem where the caller can here staticy mumbo jumbo when callin but the bf has no issues. Every other type of calling is fine. I'm going to look up if it works similarily for his samsung S6.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 15:45:56 GMT

I'm replying to this post after the problem has been solved because it may help others understand what swapping SIM cards accomplishes.

When my son (Bell) and I (PM/Telus) swapped SIM cards he still said I was cutting in and out on speakerphone only.Since he now had my PM card and I had his Bell card and there was no change in the problem what this indicated is:

(1) This is not a SIM card problem nor is it a carrier problem

(2) Towers were illuminated earlier because I had problems in downtown Ottawa, Waterloo and many other places.

(3) The problem is on my end, probably my phone

(4) Because the problem occurred with Bell and Wind/Shaw but not with Telus, this indicated that it was not hardware related but must be in communicationing between carriers and it must be a problem on my end, with my phone and software related.

Conclusion: It was then determined by my phone manufacturer that my system, network, mobile data settings needed to be reset or changed which solved the problem.

One of the Red Herrings that was thrown in was that the Telus techie first put the blame on Bell because Telus and PM conversations were good. He said he would call back after 10 days and I should record information all information regarding the problem to help him out. The Sonim techie was suggesting towers, carriers, and diagnostic utilities. I kept pressing the Sonim guy, what do I do if this or that doesn't work and so he gave me a flow chart of alternatives so to speak and one of them worked.

Persistence paid off, the techies want to help but they will take the easy way out if we let them. I hope this helps somebody.

Re: My voice cutting in and out on Public phone calls to some people.

Stefanm — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 15:59:00 GMT

Yes, this helped me eliminate my hardware as being the problem. Thank you for those phone numbers.