@Neil11 @omasoon @Colbydog
I received several private messages from a PM customer agent and an extended telephone call from Telus tech support last Friday dealing with the issue of dropped calls and slow mobile data speeds at my home location
In my particular case, poor coverage and increased congestion due to population growth was identified as causes.
On the coverage map, our location is in a 5G dead zone, with weak LTE signal. We have always had a weak signal for the last 30 years, but dropped calls have been on the rise. More housing is being built and more people are moving into the area. The long term solution requires infrastructure upgrade. Telus will escalate my case further but I was advised that approval for upgrades take time and not to get my hopes up too high.
Telus tech support provided me with several tips on how to reduce (not eliminate) dropped calls. The main one is to switch the "preferred network" in the phone settings from 5G (recommended) down to LTE (or even 3G) to increase the stability of voice calls. The downside is that you have to remember to switch back to 5G if you want to take advantage of the high-speed mobile data that you are paying for, when you do have a good 5G signal.
The other tip is to turn off the "automatic select network" and manually select Public mobile. These tips will help but will not eliminate dropped calls.
Another alternative is to use Wi-Fi calling, which would mean changing to Telus or Koodo.
Poor coverage and/or increased congestion are the main causes of the increased drop calls. (Think about how many thousands of people have switched over to PM over the last month to take advantage of the new activation deals and how many new activation problems that have been created at the same time). Is it any wonder that drop calls have increased. The ultimate solution is update the infrastructure in areas with Port coverage or heavy congestion. If you do a search of Telus, Roger, Fido, Freedom and "dropped calls", you will find many similar complaints. This is a common problem for many people.
The best solution is to buy a house 50 meters from from a high powered 5G Telus tower and may be risk possible brain cancer for your kids. I'm sure somebody is going to say that they actually do live close to a tower and still experience dropped calls. My response would be: what is the location of the caller on the other end of the line? Which carrier are they using and how is their coverage/signal at their particular location? It takes two to tango, and maybe you are not the problem.
Good luck.
