topic Re: Rural coverage in Get Support

Rural coverage

nasmi — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:44:22 GMT

I live in a rural area. Per the coverage map, I should get at least 4/3G at home but I constantly miss calls and fail to receive 2FA texts. When I drive 5 mins from my house, all works well.

My cell phone is obviously compatible because it works when I'm not home so wondering if you might have any ideas I should try before switching to another provider. Would a signal booster help? I'm not so sure.

Thanks.

Re: Rural coverage

slusagm — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:48:35 GMT

What phone do you have? It could be a weak 3G signal on that area and your phone , while is compatible with PM generally, is not on PM's own VoLTE whitelist. Confirm here

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/get-help/articles/volte

But if you are in rural area a lot, it is better to go with Koodo or Telus which offers Wifi Calling

Re: Rural coverage

Socrates8567 — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:58:45 GMT

Hello @nasmi

I just saw this on a post a few before this one. I clicked on the link and it seems well over 2400 people thought this helped them. Worse case, you have 30 days to return it.

Another option is a cellphone booster. Not sure if you've tried one before, but this one I recommend to people as I know of someone who used it and worked very well for them in a very low reception area.

Amazon Booster

Re: Rural coverage

nasmi — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 20:58:27 GMT

Thanks for your responses. My assumption that my phone was obviously compatible was incorrect and I think I finally figured out the reason. Switching providers would not have solved the issue. Posting here in case it helps other Fairphone users:

I have a Fairphone 5. Although it works fine in urban areas and parts of rural areas, there are specific rural network bands that Canadian carriers use that are not supported by the Fairphone.

I couldn't find specific band numbers used by Public Mobile but from other sources, these are the Canadian rural bands used by carriers:

4G/LTE: Band 5 (850 MHz), Band 12, Band 13, Band 17 (700 MHz)
5G: n66, n71, n78

Fairphone 5 supports bands:

4G/LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 18, 19, 20, 28, 32, 38, 40, 41, 42, 48, 66, 71
5G: n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78

I have no issues in 5G coverage areas because the bands used are supported by the Fairphone 5.

My suspicion now is that my house is specifically located in an area that relies on bands 13 or 17 for 4G/LTE, which are the ones not supported by my Fairphone. To confirm this, I tried my SIM card on an iPhone and had no trouble making or receiving calls.

I've now ordered a refurbished Pixel 8 to replace the Fairphone 5 as my main device as it seemed to be the least bad model in terms of sustainability. Information on manufacturers' fair labour practices is hard to find so I'm not completely happy in having to switch but I need a phone that works.

Hope this can help others!

Re: Rural coverage

slusagm — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:08:50 GMT

@nasmi

PM uses these band for 4G and 5G