Horrific cell coverage in Metro Vancouver?

[McmIll272]

Hey all, my partner and I recently switched to PM from Rogers for the boxing day 5G discount plans but ever since switching we both have had horrible cell coverage throughout Metro Vancouver. Downtown Vancouver is usually fine but large areas of Burnaby, New West and anywhere on skytrain (all above ground areas) gets horrible service with usually no bars or one bar and no/spotty data.

Even in our apartment in New West, I used to have full bars with Rogers and now have 1 bar or no service unless I'm by a window.... We had zero issues in any of these areas with Rogers and so I'm very confused since I assumed being on the Telus network it would get better in Vancouver and not worse! I also used to be a PM customer about 5 years ago and never had an issue like this so I  have no idea what is happening. Does anyone else experience poor or weak coverage in Metro Van? 

For background: we both have newer android phones - Samsung and Pixel. One uses a physical sim and one uses an e-sim but both are equally horrible to the point we will have to switch back to Rogers very soon if it doesn't get better. I have tried setting it to LTE-only and reset APN and network settings and it makes no difference. 

[Shubh2023]

Hey
So, I live in Vancouver too! I live in the Joyce area and I did a speed test yesterday, which I would like to share with all of you! 
But I do not see any way to do it.
I was testing PM with LTE+ and turns out, it was giving me 260Mbps+ on 4G itself. I tried testing it again in Lougeed area and it was slower with speeds going to 60-80 Mbps.
So it feels like it should be something in the Burnaby area right now, I noticed the network goes away in the Columbia area when the train goes underground!
So, maybe it needs to be shared with Customer service people, so they can look into it.
I see that 4G is still better and 5G needs work in some places, other than that, 5G is good in my area as well. I feel that it is a temporary issue! 

[Cheetah24]

I believe this is largely ignored problem that needs to get attention of PM. I have noticed that there's issues around Metrotown as well as UBC as well. Some of my friends experience this as well. They also did the speed tests around these areas as you've mentioned and I've written this to the service agent as well sometime back. 

I would suggest you do the same, writing a private message with the information you gathered in addition to this thread so that they know and can forward that to the technical teams. You can do so via, https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

[McmIll272]

That's interesting to hear, thanks for sharing. And yes thanks to @Meow too for the link. The tower map does help explain my Burnaby issue a bit but still seems like Telus towers are really outnumbering Rogers on Skytrain routes and in New West. Will continue to play with different setting and 4G for a bit more to see what else might work before switching back to Rogers. 

[BKNS27]

@McmIll272 

Strange I have no issues around town except at the lower level of Metrotown but I connect to their free wifi to work.

As @Meow suggested, check the cell tower map.

[will13am]

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@McmIll272 wrote:

Hey thanks for the suggestions! There are certainly times when one bar works fine but the majority of time its horribly slow for a 5G connection. turning it to LTE/4G only does not improve connection unfortunately. I also experience numerous times a day when I have one or two bars but data does not work still or is very very slow. For example, I did a speed test on 5G when standing in an open area outside in Burnaby. Ping was 156ms, download was 6.6mbps and upload was 0.55mbps. Comparatively, my test in same area with Rogers was 22ms ping, 120.0mbps download and 16.1 upload. 

I almost never use talk or standard text so I'm not sure if they are impacted at the same time. Largely a data issues for me. 

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The coverage map seems to suggest that Telus towers outnumber Rogers towers.  It just might be that a Rogers tower is really close by.  Generally, forcing a network connection is not ideal.  Most towers if not all have gear to accommodate 3G/4G/5G connectivity.  

[McmIll272]

Hey thanks for the suggestions! There are certainly times when one bar works fine but the majority of time its horribly slow for a 5G connection. turning it to LTE/4G only does not improve connection unfortunately. I also experience numerous times a day when I have one or two bars but data does not work still or is very very slow. For example, I did a speed test on 5G when standing in an open area outside in Burnaby. Ping was 156ms, download was 6.6mbps and upload was 0.55mbps. Comparatively, my test in same area with Rogers was 22ms ping, 120.0mbps download and 16.1 upload. 

I almost never use talk or standard text so I'm not sure if they are impacted at the same time. Largely a data issues for me. 

[hTideGnow]

HI @McmIll272 

physical sim and esim would not make difference 

and instead of seeing the bars, do you have trouble with voice calls or data being slow?  1 bar can still have solid connection with great speed

instead of leaving the phone with Automatic, try 4G and check if it is good 

[Meow]

Check this regarding coverage:

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