Calls not coming through

[Danath]

For the last 2-3 weeks, I've been experiencing issues with cell phone reception. People from various networks (Bell, LuckyMobile, Rogers) would have trouble calling me, I would not even see the call (or missed call) in my phone history. I also notice the cell signal indicator not showing up as "LTE" or "4G" even though I would see full signal bars. I've tried restarting my phone and still get the same issues.Things were fine before this period so not sure what is going on.  I have been with PM for a long time, but I need to be reachable so if this continues I'm going to have to consider alternatives.

[softech]

@Danath   Glad 3G Only trick work

Yes, 3G is WCDMA.  PM uses ONLY 3G for voice, whether you are on 3G speed plan or 4G

Usually phones are set to Automatic and it will use LTE, but when calls come phone will switch from LTE to 3G, which takes time

What you have done, leave it in WCDMA, allows the phone to stay on 3G network and hence saved the time from switching from 4G to 3G when calls come and hence less chance to miss calls.

You can try to switch back to 4G or LTE after a week or two and see if the network is better

[Danath]

A quick update on my end:

For the last couple days I made a single change which was to set the phone to use "WCDMA Only" and it seems to have held up well, no one has complained yet about not being able to reach me, and I was able to dial out without having to retry for network service.

I suppose if this continues to hold, then is it safe to assume the Public Mobile network did in fact recently change, at least for the cell tower in my area such that service beyond 3G is somehow just not well supported?  I hope not, that is kinda going backwards.

[softech]

@Danath   don't use Fongo to test.  Fongo is not very reliable.

Even TextNow is a bit more reliable... but VoIP apps have their own problem

[Danath]

Ok I will try "WCDMA only" (3G) for tomorrow and see how it goes throughout the day. I'll also try the sim swap out for a few hours to see. Will post back results later tomorrow.

I was just testing some more and had called my number 3 times using Fongo on my tablet+Wifi.  First call didn't make it through like the issue I've described, and the 2nd and 3rd calls did ring through.

[softech · Accepted solution]

@Danath   3G only is WCDMA Only

So, try to connect to WCDMA Only and see if the phone connects at all

I still suggest you to try your sim in another phone , that could reprovision your sim/account

Also, try another active sim card on your phone, just to make sure it is not a device issue

[WCDMA  ✔️ ....... Luddite ]

[Danath]

For the most part it is "connected to the PM network" because I can see it either says LTE or 4G with full bars.  Sometimes I do see it has nothing but just the bars.  So it's not like 100% I cannot receive/make calls, it is more like it's flaky.  I used to be able to receive all calls 100% of the time, like it would ring my phone.  But now, some calls just don't even come through and get put to voicemail, even when I am "connected" with LTE/4G.

I was looking into someone's suggestion to force 3G but I don't see any option for that.  I only see these options:

"LTE/WCDMA/GSM (auto connect)"

"WCDMA/GSM (auto connect)"

"WCDMA only"

"GSM only"

That's it, no 3G or 4G or even 5G.

[softech]

@Danath   

you phone is connected to PM network now? or showing "No network"?

check if your phone is blacklisted first, just in case:

https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/

Also, put your sim card in another phone and test.  This an also force a sim reprovision and could resolve the issue 

No worry about APN, APN would not affect calls, it will only affect Mobile data

[Danath]

Thanks for all these suggestions everyone.  I have a Samsung S20 FE 5G (SM-G781W).  I am in the Markham Ontario area.  I'm comparing my experience from when it was "working perfectly fine" to "having an issue with receiving/making phone calls now".  Nothing's changed on my end, same physical location, same room in my home, same phone, same plan, same sim card, same phone settings, same everything that I can think of, but suddenly calls are just not coming through and I'm also not able to make a calls due to "no network" even when I have full bars.  I've never had to take out my sim card, or do "pony tricks" before (I will try it however, just to rule it out).  I suspect there is something wrong upstream but how can I get the "next level" of appropriate help?

I was googling for some answers and I found my phone's existing APN settings are not the same as documented at this page: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/set-up-data-on-an-android-phone

But reading the information it seems that is more related to data, not phone calls.

[Community_QA]

@Danath   where you are ? i heard  with some 5G upgrade, they actually took down some 3G network, so , our 3G voice suffers

When will we get VoLTE? 

[softech]

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@K_GL wrote:

Me and my wife Same issue start this year here,We are 6yrs with pm,I changed to 3g only to fixed problem,anyway we pay for 4g,but 3g service we got 

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@K_GL  most the time, changing to 3G is just temporary .  You can try to change it back to 4G and test in different area to see if your voice calls are working again

[K_GL]

Me and my wife Same issue start this year here,We are 6yrs with pm,I changed to 3g only to fixed problem,anyway we pay for 4g,but 3g service we got 

[softech]

@Danath    PM is using 3G for voice, so, your voice calls really depend on the 3G signal , not LTE or 4G

First, try to reseat your sim card.  (Power off the phone, take sim out for a minute before putting it back and power up)

Also, try to change your phone to 3G only and see if you get better for receiving calls.

You might also want to try putting your sim card in another phone.  By doing this, it forces a reprovision of your sim card/account and it could resolve your issue

Let us know how it goes