Improving cell reception by resetting network???

[jim43bob]

Hi!

My cell reception in my house is very spotty, I can walk several feet and my reception  changes drastically to the point where I drop the call. My next door neighbour which is on Telus ( Public is owned by Telus) had a similar problem.

He called Telus and between both ends they reset his network settings and it impoved his reception. Can I do the same with my Public phone, and if so how???

Regards

Jim

[darlicious]

@jim43bob 

Your welcome! I haven't had a chance to check the cell tower map yet but going by both of your signal strength for 3G and 4G it sounds like you are on the edge of coverage between towers. Call forwarding to your text now phone # in the meantime will help with missed calls going to voicemail.

To contact customer support : Submit a support ticket via SIMon the chat bot Click here 

Or if you cannot submit a ticket via SIMon then Click here   ....for additional member supplied info.

[jim43bob]

Hi Darlicious!

Thanks for the quick reply.

Flipped it over to HSPA only and signal went up marginally.

Front went to -107, midway -101 and back -97.

It did not make a difference whether I was inside or outside.

And not that it would matter, have Galaxy S9's  not 8's OOPS!

In the meantime I have installed textnow to see how it works out.

Many thanks.

[darlicious]

@jim43bob 

Great info! Indeed your LTE signal strength is terrible. If you put your phone setting to 3G only and test what is your signal strength? 3G being the network that you recieved voice calls on....which would be the larger issue at home than data service as you can use WiFi while home. See below for a workaround if you are having major issues with voice calling especially incoming going to voicemail.

On the surface you would benefit from a signal booster but running further tests with the app....? (Once I remember or look up the name....cellmapper I think?) When you have some time to help you  troubleshoot by running some tests with the app to determine the best remedy for your issue. But your tests show that because your signal is so poor depending switch side of the house you are on will change your band connection. I will put your GPS coordinates in the cell tower map and have a look at what towers you are connecting to see what kind network connections and towers you have in your area.

If you have an issue with voice calls especially if they go straight to voicemail then install a voip app like textnow or fongo on your phone. Then call forward your pm phone number to your voip number so when the incoming call cannot connect to your phone instead of diverting automatically to voicemail it will ring thru to your voip phone # that will use WiFi instead (or mobile data if away from wifi).

To contact customer support : Submit a support ticket via SIMon the chat bot Click here 

Or if you cannot submit a ticket via SIMon then Click here   ....for additional member supplied info.

[jim43bob]

Hi Sorry for not replying earlier, had surgery and just getting back into things.

Ok here goes both my wife and myself are on Public, both using a Galaxy S8.

Have tried rebooting and toggling airplane mode but not resetting network settings ( unless restart cell radio in LTE Discovery app is the same)

Live in Simcoe Ontario in a house that is open to the east with an elevated treed area to the west (approx elevating 30 feet above living area level)

My Lat is 42.828986 and long -80.322090

The home is open with no walls from east to west in the area I'm measuring my reception.

My readings are as follows:

Inside on the west side by  patio door (290 degrees North West) 113 dbm

Outside on the west side on a deck  -106 dbm

Inside on the east side by front door (110 degrees South East)  -117 dbm

Outside on the east by front door -114 dbm

Inside at the midpoint -115 dbm

Approx 50 feet between the east and west readings.

I am getting readings that when by the patio door and midpoint I am on LTE B7 but when I'm at the front door in the east I'm on LTE B2.

Any help appreciated!

[darlicious]

@jim43bob 

Sounds like you have always sort of had this issue and your neighbour had a similar issue that with some troubleshooting with telus they were able to resolve. If your neighbour's issue was with voice calls it's likely their fix won't fix your issue since telus customers enjoy voLTE and WiFi calling. Neither of these features are offered by public mobile and all voice calls are on the 3G network.

Do you also miss calls and/or they go straight to voicemail? You mentioned just moving around your house can cause you to drop a call so this indicates either you have a poor connection to the network or poor 3G signal strength or a little of both. If you also have issues with sending texts, delays in recieving texts and/orvtrouble connecting to mobile data with long page loads or timing out then it's leaning towards a poor connection. This is easier to fix as its usually device related.

Try these already mentioned suggestions in order....you can try a test call in the area where you often lose a call to see how effective they are and help if it turns out to be poor signal issue instead.

1. Reboot your device. Just like humans when we don't get enough sleep we start to make dumb mistakes. If its been awhile since you have rebooted or if we stay up for 3 days in a row things get really stupid! Thankfully your phone does well with a power nap whereas we need a week to recover.
2. Toggle airplane mode on/off. This completely disconnects your device from the network. Once you toggle airplane mode off you get a brand new connection to the network. You may want to do this on 3G only and/or before making a call or each day.
3. Reset your network settings. This is usually more for a data or MMS issue. If losing wifi passwords that cannot be recovered or it involves re-entering many passwords you may want to skip this suggestion and use it as a last resort since it may not work in your case.

The above suggestions may have improved your connection but you could still have poor signal reception exasperated more lately by cell tower equipment upgrades, new construction or home renovation or other environmental factors such as topography, large buildings such as condo or office towers o even a large stand of trees. If you walk past your fridge and/or your chimney stack when you drop your call they can be contributing factors as well.

Poor signal reception can be overcome with you providing us with more information on where you are located and spending some time with us helping you troubleshoot and test your 3G reception issue to come up with a resolution or a workaround for the problem. Voice calls use the 3G network only while texts and mobile data can use both the 4G LTE network and the 3G network. The signal (bars) that you see on your phone screen except during a voice call is the 4G LTE network. You need to see what your 3G network signal is like because that's where your issue is stemming from.

Go into your settings. Go to mobile networks. Advanced. Preferred network type. Change it to 3G only. Now the signal strength (bars) will show the 3G network that's used for voice calls. A better reading can be accessed by going to About phone>>SIM card status>>Signal strength>> -60dBm to -90dBm is what you want to see.... -90dbm to -100dBm is poor -101dBm and lower is not a good sign for reception but there are ways to find a solution.

So your location so we can look at the cell tower map and your 3G network signal strength will really help us help you. Customer support is unlikely to help unless it's a SIM provisioning issue which it does not sound like you have by the description you have given so far.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include in your private messaging only your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #

[JL9]

You can look up telus outages and issues via a map to confirm that. It may be a tough fix if it is happening for PM, Telus and Koodo (and other providers for that matter)

[Spudster]

@jim43bob 

There are stories abound here of folks who contacted the Public Mobile Customer Support Agents and they 'reprovisioned their SIM card/account'

Apparently, this helped many through similar types of issues such as the one you're describing.

Customer Support Agents can help.  There are 2 ways to reach them:

1. Create a support ticket by clicking  here , then type Support Ticket, then select Contact Us, then select the topic that more closely matches your request.  Then click  Click here to submit a ticket , or,
2. Send a private message to them by clicking here  

You’ll see their reply in your Community private mailbox in the envelope to the left of your avatar.

Let us know if it helped, please.

Good Luck!!!

[Meow]

Do you ever turn your phone off? Sometimes reboot might help. Resetting network (Android) is easy. Go to settings, search 'reset network settings' and it will take you to the right place.

Try changing Network mode from Auto to 3G.

[hTideGnow]

HI @jim43bob   It doesn't hurt to try.  But remember this will reset your Wifi connection and you will need to re-join them

But this is not a very useful trick unless you are not connecting at all.  

if your Telus friend has the same problem, it is very much a tower issue in your area.

[esjliv · Accepted solution]

@jim43bob  - sometimes toggling your phone into airplane mode, then going back to regular mode helps with reconnecting / refreshing your network as well.

To perform a Reset of your device's Network Settings see below.

This also resets Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings that you've used before.

Iphone:

To Reset Network Settings, begin by opening the Settings app. Next, tap General -> Transfer or Reset iPhone -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings. and enter your passcode.

Your iPhone will reset network settings and restart itself.

android:

Find and tap Settings > System > Advanced > Reset options > Reset network settings.

[computergeek541]

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@jim43bob wrote:

My cell reception in my house is very spotty, I can walk several feet and my reception  changes drastically to the point where I drop the call. My next door neighbour which is on Telus ( Public is owned by Telus) had a similar problem.

He called Telus and between both ends they reset his network settings and it impoved his reception. Can I do the same with my Public phone, and if so how???

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In some cases, they're only disconnecting your phone from the network for a brief moment and then allowing it to reconnect.  The same could be done by restarting your device.