Ancaster, Ontario: Phone signal is getting progressively worse. Calls dropping/can't be placed. Why?

[neman]

Subject line says it all. For some reason I've never had great phone service (understatement) in the area of my home, but I can maybe excuse that for technical reasons - 1950s construction, that sort of thing - even though I sit right next to a window on the ground floor of a bungalow where there are no high rises for miles around. (No signal at all - ever - in the basement. ) This was true with Public Mobile on my previous phone (BlackBerry PRIV) and my current one (Umidigi F1). Prior to Public Mobile, I was on Rogers and had no issues with signal strength.

For the last week+, I've been experiencing worse and worse signal, to the point where if I see one or two bars (normal signal strength for me) it's a pleasant surprise. Usually it's just no signal. Calls either can't get placed, or they drop during discussion and I have to keep calling back. To be clear, I'm not always without signal - but it's starting to be more often than not, and that's troubling.

At the moment of this writing, my signal strength is bouncing between -134 and -111 dBm (3G UMTS), tending toward the -111 strength.

[neman]

My phone had a Bell SIM in it. It worked fine. Upon starting with a new employer, I switched to Rogers. It was fine. When leaving that employer, I switched to Public Mobile. It was terrible. I switched to Chatr. It is fine. 

It's not just the network, and it's not just the phone. It's not just proximity to the tower. It's not just tower capacity in the compatible bands. It's all of that together, multiplied by the leaves on the nearby trees. This stuff is insanely complex. Only Marketing will say otherwise.

If you find a solution that works for your unique combination of circumstances, go for it. The physics of cellular signal quality doesn't care at all about loyalty to a particular brand. 

[sheytoon]

@CDubbs41 I'm just a customer who happens to work in the telecom industry (not for PM). You can take / leave the information however you like 😉

[CDubbs41]

Then why sell me a plan with my phone id and claiming it is compatible on your network?

Another former PM customer who posted a whole thread about his service issues with PM in Ancaster simply switched to a Chatr with the same phone and the issue was resolved.

I can see because of you being Mayor here, you have PM's reputation to protect. Trust me, I'm disappointed, I have had no issues as a Public mobile customer otherwise however it's 2020. Having poor cell phone reception 5 blocks from the tower is ridiculous. It cost PM the other guy as a customer and it will for me as well if not resolved.

[sheytoon]

@CDubbs41 the difference is due to your phone vs your neighbour's phone. It's not PM vs Bell. The coverage is identical.

It's very easy to prove it. Put your SIM in your neighbour's phone temporarily and you will see.

More info: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Network-sharing-explained/m-p/129092

[CDubbs41]

Good to hear, I think you and I may be in similar areas, the 2 cell towers near me are over at Firestone.

Yes I find it ridiculous being this close to a Bell cell tower and having such constant low to no bars. My neighbour just let me test his phone in my home and he is on Bell (PM supposedly also using Bell) and it was 5 bars consistent in here. So something is wrong with PM and what they're getting from the Bell tower here.

[neman]

I gave up and went to Chatr. It just wasn't worth the effort. Be warned Chatr -incredibly stupidly -  doesn't let you buy daily roaming packages (not that anyone is going anywhere anytime soon), but other than that it's been exactly what I'm expecting from the service, same price point, etc. on the Rogers network. Good luck! 

[CDubbs41]

Yes aware of that, it's ridiculous though. There is a Bell and a Rogers tower like 5 blocks away.

In 2020 to not be able to get a cell reception under those conditions, crazy.

[computergeek541]

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@CDubbs41 wrote:

If you're still around how did you make out with the new provider and who was it?

I came across your thread as I am talking to PM right now about the same issue in Ancaster.

I just got an on-call job and need to be getting reliable phone reception as if I miss the calls, I don't get the work. I'm getting between 2 and 0 bars constantly fluctuating. This is ridiculous considering the cost of living in Ancaster and the cost of property taxes here. It's 2020, how we're getting drop zones still in this town is unbelievable. I have 2 towers nearby me as well. So frustrating! My family member is with Virgin and seems to have the same problem here.

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If you're have signal problems, the only things that you could really do to try to improve this situation would be to try a different device (some are a little better than others) or to try either Rogers or Freedom.

[CDubbs41]

If you're still around how did you make out with the new provider and who was it?

I came across your thread as I am talking to PM right now about the same issue in Ancaster.

I just got an on-call job and need to be getting reliable phone reception as if I miss the calls, I don't get the work. I'm getting between 2 and 0 bars constantly fluctuating. This is ridiculous considering the cost of living in Ancaster and the cost of property taxes here. It's 2020, how we're getting drop zones still in this town is unbelievable. I have 2 towers nearby me as well. So frustrating! My family member is with Virgin and seems to have the same problem here.

[neman]

Thanks @GinYVR! I'm not as familiar with Chatr, but will be looking into it as part of this move. The only plus with SpeakOut for me is that my wife's used it for years, therefore we're familiar with its behaviours. The devil you know, and all that. 🙂

[GinYVR]

@neman I would consider Chatr over Speakout if you are not using the phone just for emergencies.

Speakout is a reseller of Rogers signal.. Chatr is a low cost flanker brand of Rogers.. I would say Chatr is closer to PM. They also have standalone stores AND voice customer respresenative (not free though).

Population increase for people moving out of TO probably have something to do with signal congestion in your area.

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@neman wrote:

My options are:

1. Leave PM and go to another carrier. My wife uses SpeakOut (Rogers) and gets good signal throughout the house and area.

I'm going with option 1, unless there's an easy-to-follow Instructable out there. 🙂

Thanks everyone, for your support and ideas!

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[neman]

Had a call with support today. Short answer: There are certainly functional HSPA towers in my area. No one is going to spend money to improve the HSPA capacity for voice, and I can't wait for PM to provide LTE in my area. In either case, PM doesn't support VoLTE or Wi-Fi calling.

My options are:

1. Leave PM and go to another carrier. My wife uses SpeakOut (Rogers) and gets good signal throughout the house and area.
2. Buy a booster. This would be only be smart if I had a very good reason to stick with PM. The cost of boosters far exceeds the savings from PM vs. other carriers.
3. Continue to not be able to use voice/SMS with any trust and hope one day PM gets around to deploying LTE in my area.

I'm going with option 1, unless there's an easy-to-follow Instructable out there. 🙂

Thanks everyone, for your support and ideas!

[neman]

Thanks @computergeek541. Yup, lots of Bell towers. Not lots of signal juice. I'm most confused as to why this has gotten worse. Consistent I can understand; degradation I cannot.

[neman]

Making this all the more confusing... 

[computergeek541]

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@neman wrote:

Thanks @ShawnC13. According to that map, the nearest Telus towers to Ancaster are in the heart of Mississauga and the heart of St. Catherines, both over 60 km away. That seems... unlikely. (Not impossible, just unlikely.) There must be some sort of error, given there are 20+ of the All Others category within 15 km of me. Same with Rogers and Bell.

It's also not impossible that it's the dreary weather, but we don't have dense cloud or any meaningful electrical activity. That doesn't feel right to me.

I think I'll message a moderator. Perhaps they can shed some light. The help and link is much appreciated!

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You'll want to check off  Bell for the tower type that you want to look for. You have Bell cell sites in Ancaster.

[neman]

Thanks @geopublic. I'll connect with a moderator. I'd rather not switch providers just because of hassle, but if they have a decent deal and I get a decent signal where I spend most of my time, that just might be worth it.

[neman]

Thanks @Triguy. I'm well within the coverage map, as expected. Reception's decent when I'm moving about town - I'd expect that from Telus (and Bell) coverage.

[geopublic]

@neman  Please note that Telus and Bell have a sharing agreement and they use each others towers so on the map if you see a Bell tower then more than likely PM will be using that tower.

[neman]

Thanks @ShawnC13. According to that map, the nearest Telus towers to Ancaster are in the heart of Mississauga and the heart of St. Catherines, both over 60 km away. That seems... unlikely. (Not impossible, just unlikely.) There must be some sort of error, given there are 20+ of the All Others category within 15 km of me. Same with Rogers and Bell.

It's also not impossible that it's the dreary weather, but we don't have dense cloud or any meaningful electrical activity. That doesn't feel right to me.

I think I'll message a moderator. Perhaps they can shed some light. The help and link is much appreciated!

[ShawnC13]

@neman, it could be that you have a Rogers tower close to you and a Telus or Bell tower isn't as close.  Check out this site and zoom in on your area and you will be able to see what towers are close to you in your area Canadian Cell Tower sites

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[Triguy]

PM uses Bell and Telus towers so coverage tends to be very good.

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

[geopublic]

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@neman wrote:

Subject line says it all. For some reason I've never had great phone service (understatement) in the area of my home, but I can maybe excuse that for technical reasons - 1950s construction, that sort of thing - even though I sit right next to a window on the ground floor of a bungalow where there are no high rises for miles around. (No signal at all - ever - in the basement. ) This was true with Public Mobile on my previous phone (BlackBerry PRIV) and my current one (Umidigi F1). Prior to Public Mobile, I was on Rogers and had no issues with signal strength.

For the last week+, I've been experiencing worse and worse signal, to the point where if I see one or two bars (normal signal strength for me) it's a pleasant surprise. Usually it's just no signal. Calls either can't get placed, or they drop during discussion and I have to keep calling back. To be clear, I'm not always without signal - but it's starting to be more often than not, and that's troubling.

At the moment of this writing, my signal strength is bouncing between -134 and -111 dBm (3G UMTS), tending toward the -111 strength.

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@neman  Wow that's a weak signal. Not sure what else to say it's definitely not a device issue since it occurs in multiple devices. My son has the F1 and he gets full bars and very clear reception. Maybe Rogers (Chatr) in your case would be the way to go. You might also want to bring this to Public Mobile's attention they might be able to make some suggestions on how you might be able to improve your signal.

To contact Public Mobile click here. The link sends you to the private message function and adds the moderator team as recipient for a private message. You just have to enter a title and text in the body of the message describing the problem and post. The message will be received by the moderator team and they will respond to it. You will receive the response in your private message inbox.

Moderator Hours: Monday-Friday 8 am(Eastern) to 12 am (Eastern) and Saturday, and Sunday from 8 am(Eastern) to 10 pm (Eastern).

Good Luck.