QoS for Public Mobile call traffic???

[will13am]

@sheytoon , we have had a number of past discussions on whether there was QoS being applied to network traffic, in particular whether Public Mobile gets sloppy seconds when it comes to data performance.  In this recent dropped call issue, the announcement suggests that congestion may be a root cause/contributing factor.  Never mind priority, I cannot imagine that Public Mobile has been given a certain slice of bandwidth to handle call traffic.  The characterization of the situation doesn't seem to make sense.  Care to weigh in with your thoughts?  Thanks.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Important-Service-Update/m-p/363962

[sheytoon]

---

@will13am wrote:

I am not sure how selecting 3G only or LTE preferred would matter as the phone should have been in 3G mode to support the call.

---

It's a more complex procedure for phones on LTE to switch to 3G for calls. The core networks of LTE and 3G must communicate with each other and track users correctly to instruct phones to switch technologies at the right moment.

In LTE, the core network has a Tracking Area Code (TAC). 3G has Location Area Code (LAC) and Routing Area Code (RAC), and these must be linked to TACs.

Staying on 3G the entire time is much simpler and everything is handled by the 3G network.

[will13am]

---

@sheytoon wrote:

Hey @will13am, I'm an LTE engineer for the RAN, and as you know, PM voice calls use the 3G network. In addition, it seems Bell users were not affected. This leads me to believe it was a mistake on the Telus core network. It's not clear if Telus or Koodo's non-VoLTE subscribers were impacted. I don't think they were?

To narrow things down a bit, we'd need more info. Was this happening with incoming and outgoing calls? Was it happening to users who had their phones forced to "3G only" mode, as well as auto LTE/3G devices?

Right now I don't have a good idea of what could have caused these issues, especially since peak times are stated as a factor. Next time I see a Telus core engineer, I will ask.

---

Thanks, it would be nice to know even if after the fact when the problem has been resolved.  Judging from the feedback, it seems like both incoming and outgoing calls are affected.  I am not sure how selecting 3G only or LTE preferred would matter as the phone should have been in 3G mode to support the call.  I have Koodo service as well, can't say that there's impact.  But then again, my Public Mobile service hasn't been affected also.  

It just seems odd that calls are affected as if there's allocation of resources and those resources are being overwhelmed.  Public Mobile customer base must be scant compared to the more established Telus and Koodo brands.  It's easy to come to a conspiracy theory that not only do we get low priority, but also minimum slice of the network pie.  

[sheytoon]

Hey @will13am, I'm an LTE engineer for the RAN, and as you know, PM voice calls use the 3G network. In addition, it seems Bell users were not affected. This leads me to believe it was a mistake on the Telus core network. It's not clear if Telus or Koodo's non-VoLTE subscribers were impacted. I don't think they were?

To narrow things down a bit, we'd need more info. Was this happening with incoming and outgoing calls? Was it happening to users who had their phones forced to "3G only" mode, as well as auto LTE/3G devices?

Right now I don't have a good idea of what could have caused these issues, especially since peak times are stated as a factor. Next time I see a Telus core engineer, I will ask.