All Telus towers but reception better on Speakout

[Athos]

I just switched from Speakout to Public Mobile and noticed at home the reception bars on my phone went from 3-4 with Speakout to 1-2 with PM. Looking on the cell tower map that might explain this curiosity, I notice that there are NO Rogers (Speakout) towers anywhere near my home, yet many, many Telus towers. According to this map, there's a tower less than one or two houses away. What's up with this?

[Anonymous]

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@Athos wrote:

Thanks for the quick replies. I did assume that the bars were not entirely reliable and I have yet to experience and call problems from home. Though, I've only tried 3 calls so far.

With that said, indeed as I do commence a phone call, the phone switches from LTE to 3G and the bars went from 1 to 3. Call seemed fine so looks like all is working as it should. I'm new to having data on a phone so thanks for the help and info!

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I found rather different tower results on cellmapper.net. I was rather curious of the thicket of "towers" that ertyu.org showed in your area. Colour me skeptical.

[Athos]

Thanks for the quick replies. I did assume that the bars were not entirely reliable and I have yet to experience and call problems from home. Though, I've only tried 3 calls so far.

With that said, indeed as I do commence a phone call, the phone switches from LTE to 3G and the bars went from 1 to 3. Call seemed fine so looks like all is working as it should. I'm new to having data on a phone so thanks for the help and info!

[cavemantoronto · Accepted solution]

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@Athos wrote:

I just switched from Speakout to Public Mobile and noticed at home the reception bars on my phone went from 3-4 with Speakout to 1-2 with PM. Looking on the cell tower map that might explain this curiosity, I notice that there are NO Rogers (Speakout) towers anywhere near my home, yet many, many Telus towers. According to this map, there's a tower less than one or two houses away. What's up with this?

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Bars aren't everything.  A network that shows less bars can be better, but not always.  If you compare 850 and 1900mhz, being on 1900 can mean less bars.  If Public has less bars, it could mean you are on 1900.  Speakout 1900 could be too weak so it switches to 850 3g and that can mean more bars but network is really worse.

When on LTE, you could be on 2600 which is weaker.  Phone will switch to lower frequency when needed.  

Phone calls are all on 3g network.

[Triguy]

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones/Guides/telus-coverage-map/amp

[Athos]

iPhone 5S.

[ShawnC13]

@Athos, what type of phone are you using?  

[Anonymous]

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@Athos wrote:

I just switched from Speakout to Public Mobile and noticed at home the reception bars on my phone went from 3-4 with Speakout to 1-2 with PM. Looking on the cell tower map that might explain this curiosity, I notice that there are NO Rogers (Speakout) towers anywhere near my home, yet many, many Telus towers. According to this map, there's a tower less than one or two houses away. What's up with this?

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You might be able to switch your phone to HSPA rather than LTE. You'll also notice that when you're in call mode that you'll get a bunch of bars. This is due to the phone switching to "3G" for voice.

Try it and see.