5G coverage improves during power failure??

[MWalsh14]

My Pixel phone on Public Mobile shows 5G coverage in all the areas I normally travel to around Vancouver and Richmond in my weekly routine - except for my home area in central Richmond, which remains stubbornly stuck at LTE. I can go a few blocks in any direction and get 5G, but my home appears to be in a 5G coverage hole. (This in spite of the fact that there are Telus micro-transmitters on the hydro pole in front of my house that the installation crew told me were to improve local high speed cellular data coverage.)

But today we had a 2 hour power failure in central Richmond, and throughout that time my phone showed 5G coverage at home. Power failure ended, back to LTE.

What gives??

I have a theory. My theory is that the local Telus micro-transmitters which predate 5G only handle LTE, but they are so close and powerful that they overwhelm more distant 5G coverage - unless they are knocked out by a power failure.

[MWalsh14]

The coverage map does show a small 5G hole just to the south of my house, but it's inaccurate. I don't get 5G at my house or a block to the north, but if I go south into the middle of the hole area on the map I do get 5G.

Update: It's definitely those darn Telus micro-transmitters to blame. Not only are they uglifying the neighbourhood, they're killing 5G coverage at my house. The supposed 5G coverage hole to the south of me doesn't exist for my Pixel phone - it shows 5G throughout that area. But when I get within about 200 ft. of the micro-transmitters in front of my house, signal reverts to LTE. Thanks Telus.

[sheytoon]

@MWalsh14 I think your theory is correct. The small cells are likely legacy products that don't support 5G. They have no battery backup. During a power outage your phone will find a macro with a weaker LTE signal as an anchor band, and depending on your phone model it may display a 5G icon even if there is no 5G presence. 

@BKNS27 Bell does not operate macros in the Vancouver area.

[BKNS27]

@MWalsh14 

Majority of Richmond has 5G coverage but there are small pockets that only have 4G/LTE.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/coverage 

With the outage, you were probably getting signal from a Bell tower near by while the Telus tower signal was down or vice versa.

[computergeek541]

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@MWalsh14 wrote:

So if the phone is set to prefer 5G, but it detects a stronger LTE signal, it would connect to LTE instead?

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That's certainly possible in some circumstances depending on how the phone's software has been programmed.

[MWalsh14]

So if the phone is set to prefer 5G, but it detects a stronger LTE signal, it would connect to LTE instead?

[computergeek541]

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@MWalsh14 wrote:

My Pixel phone on Public Mobile shows 5G coverage in all the areas I normally travel to around Vancouver and Richmond in my weekly routine - except for my home area in central Richmond, which remains stubbornly stuck at LTE. I can go a few blocks in any direction and get 5G, but my home appears to be in a 5G coverage hole. (This in spite of the fact that there are Telus micro-transmitters on the hydro pole in front of my house that the installation crew told me were to improve local high speed cellular data coverage.)

But today we had a 2 hour power failure in central Richmond, and throughout that time my phone showed 5G coverage at home. Power failure ended, back to LTE.

What gives??

I have a theory. My theory is that the local Telus micro-transmitters which predate 5G only handle LTE, but they are so close and powerful that they overwhelm more distant 5G coverage - unless they are knocked out by a power failure.

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During a power failure, coverage is going to usually be worse.  Any LTE or 5g signals that are on different fequencies would have no effect on the other.  The phone device plays a part in selecting the network.   I suspect that the actual 5g signal during the power failure wasn't actually any stronger than usual but rather that the phone decided not to connect to a weaker LTE signal.   During periods of high demand, a network condition callled cell breathing causes coverage areas to shrink.