Dropped calls after moving

[jrm]

Hello,

About a month ago, we moved a few kilometers within urban Halifax.  Before the move, the quality of the service was fine, but since then, most calls from home end with the call dropping.  I see there are others now describing issues with dropped calls.

Our old location was near St. Mary's university. https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Mary's+University+Student+Union+Building,+Halifax,+NS+B3H+1K8/@...

Our new location is near Dartmouth South Academy (Prince Arthur Junior High): https://www.google.ca/maps/place/9+Lynn+Dr,+Dartmouth,+NS+B2Y+3V8/@44.6650551,-63.5440362,18z/data=!...

I can see from cell tower maps (https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html ), that Telus/PM does not have towers in our area.  I am going to guess that PM uses Bell towers here.  The tower density was higher in our old location, but there still seems to be many nearby towers.  The signal quality (bars on our phones) often fluctuates, so maybe the signal is simply not good enough here for reliable service?  This would surprise me, since we are in the urban core of the city.

Is there a way to determine the cause of our dropped calls?  We would like to stay with the nice plans PM has, but if we can't make calls from home, we have no choice but to switch. 😞

Regards,

Joseph

[jrm]

I don't doubt that it is reliable for most, but he is pretty adament that it was not reliable for him despite the same towers, phone, and location.  And I have had a taste of the dropped calls in the past and again the other day.  It would be helpful to have some technical details or some logs to more clearly understand what is going on.

[stonechucker]

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@jrm wrote:

I have had a few dropped calls recently, but a friend who I referred told me over the weekend that he had to switch providers because his calls dropped so frequently.

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Bad news buddy. You're going to lose your dollar discount. I'm switching to Lucky Mobile. I've had at least 100 dropped calls since switching over to Public Mobile.

Three important points:

1. This friend said that he had no problems in the past using the same phone from the same location on the Bell network.
2. He spends up to a few hours per day on his phone for work.
3. He also lives in Halifax (Bedford).

Joseph

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If he’s using the same phone in the same area, then the service should be the same, as Telus and Bell ise a shared network.  There have been problems for some in recent months (new activations), but generally, the service is very reliable.

[jrm]

I have had a few dropped calls recently, but a friend who I referred told me over the weekend that he had to switch providers because his calls dropped so frequently.

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Bad news buddy. You're going to lose your dollar discount. I'm switching to Lucky Mobile. I've had at least 100 dropped calls since switching over to Public Mobile.

Three important points:

1. This friend said that he had no problems in the past using the same phone from the same location on the Bell network.
2. He spends up to a few hours per day on his phone for work.
3. He also lives in Halifax (Bedford).

Joseph

[jrm]

Apologies for the very late reply.  I haven't had any drops calls since your post; all is well.

[GR]

@jrm how's it working today?  It says they fixed it last night and I've been monitoring the community all day and nobody has complained of dropped calls so far today!  Hope yours is fixed also

[jrm]

Thanks. I already sent them a private message with a link to this thread.  The moderator, in short, said that they have identified the root cause of the problem, pointed me to the annoucment, asked me to reboot the phone, and asked me to contact the moderators again if the problem persists.

[hairbag1 · Accepted solution]

Did a real quick look-around and couldn't find any problems with those phones that would explain your dropped call issue.

You are very likely one of the customers that Public Mobile says are experiencing this problem of dropped calls. They say they have it mostly fixed but they recommend that you send a message to them to see if you're still experiencing the problem.

You can send a message to the moderators and they'll give you instruction on a fix for the dropped call problem....Click this to message them

Please allow up to 48 hours for them to respond....usually a lot less.

Good luck.

[jrm]

@hairbag1, I am using a Pixel XL and my wife has a Pixel.

[hairbag1]

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@jrm wrote:

The signal strengh looks the same whether inside or outside the home.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, maybe I will be on a longer call while outside, so I will be able to confirm the house materials is not an issue.  I will also try speaking with some neighbours.

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Just outta curiosity @jrm , what brand and model cell phone are you using ? Thanks

[jrm]

The signal strengh looks the same whether inside or outside the home.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, maybe I will be on a longer call while outside, so I will be able to confirm the house materials is not an issue.  I will also try speaking with some neighbours.

[jrm]

I estimate the Bell tower to the northwest is within 0.5 km with no elevation changes in between, the cluster of Bell towers to the east and southeast are likely within 1 km, but there is a 20m hill between us, and there are Bell towers to the south that aren't much further than 1 km and at a slightly lower elevation than our home.

When I check the signal strength icon on the phone, it's generally at 1, but sometimes 2 levels below full bars when not on a call. I just watched it during a short call and it was mostly at full bars. I have noticed that the icon has been different lately. Before, there was a subscript that would say one of LTE, LTE+, H+ and H, but now there is no subscript.

I'm going to guess that our problem is not signal strength, but a technical issue with PM.

[stonechucker]

It could also be the materials used to build your home.  You can try testing this by going to windows facing the direction to the towers. If the signal is stronger at the window, the walls may be the interference.

[sp1826]

read this artical

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Resolution-In-Progress-Dropped-calls-is...

[hycm53]

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@jrm wrote:

Hello,

About a month ago, we moved a few kilometers within urban Halifax.  Before the move, the quality of the service was fine, but since then, most calls from home end with the call dropping.  I see there are others now describing issues with dropped calls, but it is unlcear to me if this new technical issue or our change in location is the cause of our problems.

Our old location was near St. Mary's university. https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Mary's+University+Student+Union+Building,+Halifax,+NS+B3H+1K8/@...

Our new location is near Dartmouth South Academy (Prince Arthur Junior High): https://www.google.ca/maps/place/9+Lynn+Dr,+Dartmouth,+NS+B2Y+3V8/@44.6650551,-63.5440362,18z/data=!...

I can see from cell tower maps (https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html ), that Telus/PM does not have towers in our area.  I am going to guess that PM uses Bell towers here.  There tower density was higher in our old location, but there still seems to be many nearby towers.  The signal quality (bars on our phones) often fluctuates, so maybe the signal is simply not good enough here for reliable service?  This would surprise me, since we are in the urban core of the city.

Is there a way to determine the cause of our dropped calls?  We would like to stay with the nice plans PM has, but if we can't make calls from home, we have no choice but to switch. 😞

Regards,

Joseph

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According your link, there are only two towers(Eastlink) in your current location and they seem far away. But I'm not sure it will affect your call.

https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

[Alex888]

@jrm If there are no towers close to you then it's going to limit where you can get a signal. Try looking at your signal strength before making a call and immediately after a dropped call, if the signal is good when the call drops then it could be another cause.

[geopublic]

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@jrm wrote:

Hello,

About a month ago, we moved a few kilometers within urban Halifax.  Before the move, the quality of the service was fine, but since then, most calls from home end with the call dropping.  I see there are others now describing issues with dropped calls, but it is unlcear to me if this new technical issue or our change in location is the cause of our problems.

Our old location was near St. Mary's university. https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Mary's+University+Student+Union+Building,+Halifax,+NS+B3H+1K8/@...

Our new location is near Dartmouth South Academy (Prince Arthur Junior High): https://www.google.ca/maps/place/9+Lynn+Dr,+Dartmouth,+NS+B2Y+3V8/@44.6650551,-63.5440362,18z/data=!...

I can see from cell tower maps (https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html ), that Telus/PM does not have towers in our area.  I am going to guess that PM uses Bell towers here.  There tower density was higher in our old location, but there still seems to be many nearby towers.  The signal quality (bars on our phones) often fluctuates, so maybe the signal is simply not good enough here for reliable service?  This would surprise me, since we are in the urban core of the city.

Is there a way to determine the cause of our dropped calls?  We would like to stay with the nice plans PM has, but if we can't make calls from home, we have no choice but to switch. 😞

Regards,

Joseph

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@jrm  Kudos to your post and the due diligence that you have done regarding this issue. My guess is that the dropped calls is a PM network issue and is not related to location. From what I have gathered from some of the experts that have commented  in this forum troubleshooting dropped call issues are very difficult to identify and correct because of the large variables involved when trying to isolate the problem. Hopefully they will be able to figure out what is causing the issue and fix it soon.

[computergeek541]

@jrm , it's possible that the signal is weak where you are now trying to use it.  However, I wouldn't conclude that yet.  Public Mobile has been issues with calls dropping all around the country.  You could be caught up in some of that.  Some information about that: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Resolution-In-Progress-Dropped-calls-is...