topic Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G? in Get Support

Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

cpearce — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 17:48:42 GMT

We are house sitters and just moved to a home (near Victoria, BC) where the owner has Telus mobile and gets cell service. We have Public 3G and are not getting service. I checked the coverage map by address and it shows that we should have service. We get periodic messages telling us that we don't have Roaming on or welcoming us to the US, though we're most definitely in Canada, on Vancouver Island.

Would switching to 4G for a cycle expand our coverage area? Thoughts on what to do?

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

0PX9O4 — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 17:50:57 GMT

@cpearce

3G and 4G networks are overlapping, and in some areas one may have better coverage over the other. PM does allow you to use the 4G/LTE network, but your data speeds are throttled to 3Mbps (3G speed).

Please make sure your phone is capable of both 3G as well as 4G frequencies on the Telus network.

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

0PX9O4 — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 17:52:53 GMT

@cpearce

What phone do you have? And where did you buy it?

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 17:53:41 GMT

@cpearce : I would suggest turning off automatic for networks and scanning for and finding Public Mobile and choose it. Then when you're done housesitting turn it back to automatic. Usually phones would be set to have LTE available. You could try 3G only but the LTE should be fine. It's all Telus here. Maybe the owners have Telus with volte. In either situation your phone should be fine with Telus present.

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

VIP_Tech — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 17:57:56 GMT

Hi @cpearce

go to your setting and manually selecting carrier public mobile,

also manually selecting network "3G only" or WCDMA only,
and Rebooting device..test it.

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

ShawnC13 — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:12:07 GMT

@cpearce, I am also in Victoria (Colwood) and there are many areas where you will get the message of you don not have roaming with Public Mobile. It seems there are a lot of areas that the signal form the US gets to us better. When you say you aren't getting coverage are you not getting any data as well?

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

cpearce — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:16:38 GMT

Thank you for all responses! I tried selecting the network manually but Public Mobile does not show. I tried switching to 3G only and rebooting. Still can't select manually on one phone (no Public Mobile on Samsung S9) but Network Operators shows as Public Mobile and I just received a few stale text messages so I have a wee bit of service (one bar). I'll see how this goes. Other phone (Samsung S8) does show Public Mobile IF I leave it at LTE/WCDMA/GSM (auto-connect) and allow the network to be selected automatically. But it constantly (4 this morning so far) receives 611 messages, "Sorry your plan does not include sending texts while in the US. Incoming texts are included ... blah blah."

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

cpearce — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:19:45 GMT

Correct - I had the dreaded no data crossed circle. Now, with switching to 3G only I have 1 bar. If I switch to roaming on, am I at risk of US connection/charges, etc.? Would Roaming on help?

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

softech — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:27:19 GMT

@cpearce wrote:
Correct - I had the dreaded no data crossed circle. Now, with switching to 3G only I have 1 bar. If I switch to roaming on, am I at risk of US connection/charges, etc.? Would Roaming on help?

PM policy is no surprise billing. You have to buy roaming add-on before you can use it. So, no worry, switching roaming would get you any extra charge. But you won't connect to US network to use the service either (since you didn't buy the add-on)

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:22:53 GMT

@cpearce : The phone is having success connecting to US towers across the water on automatic. Seems maybe you're in a bit of weak area for service. Maybe go to somewhere with better service and then do the manual connect. Then come back and see if it holds on to a Telus connection.

Re: Is coverage area different for 3G and 4G?

cpearce — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:31:08 GMT

Thank you, I'll give that a try, too.