In boot loop with CS Agent since submitting a ticket on Sunday

[jeffreydrevesjr]

I submitted a ticket on Sunday regarding my service not working since last Friday.
I received a prompt response from a CS agent id'd as Maria_G.
I replied with a thorough and detailed description of the problem.
Agent replied again to say it seemed I had narrowed down the problem. Could they have my email and phone number so they could verify the account and reset the network while they determined next best steps.
I have heard nothing more from Maria_G except asking me twice more for my email and phone so they could 'reset the network' when I've sent another pm asking for an update.
I've provided email and phone every time I've been asked, and then... silence. No answers to my questions. No solutions. No update on those 'next best steps'. No nothing.
I requested the ticket be escalated. More than once. Nothing.
Then yesterday, I get a pm from Maria_G... Hi, just checking in, how's it going? If I don't hear from you in 24hr this ticket will be closed.
I immediately replied. Twice in fact. I still have heard nothing.
Is Maria_G the chatbot?
Am I supposed to create a new ticket and try again?
Is this community support system irreparably broken?
It has worked for me in the past. But this time, frankly, it has been an utter waste of my time.

[jeffreydrevesjr]

I found it by googling 'scadacore'.
Here's a direct link to their cellmapper page -

https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/cell-tower-map-canada/

[slusagm]

Thanks for the informative post 

For tower mapper, scadacore , are they app or just website? But I can't seem to find it

[jeffreydrevesjr]

Here is my final update on this issue, for the benefit of the community.

TL/DR summary:  Skip the community forum and make a complaint directly with CCTS to get anywhere in a timely manner, and to talk to someone with real knowledge.

After 12 days of getting no where in the community forum, I finally followed the advice of community members and made an official complaint with CCTS.

Within 60 minutes of submitting the complaint, and after 12 days and multiple 'tickets' and 'escalations', I was finally contacted by someone from Telus customer support. I asked how long they'd had my issue, and was told 'it just landed on my desk right now, that's why I'm calling you'. (This was not a result of the CCTS complaint, which took several days to be 'approved'.)  While this rep was more knowledgeable than anyone I had been in contact with via the forum, he still didn't have any answers. But, he called me back later to tell me he had reviewed everything, and was transferring my case to the 'frequency team'. 

The frequency team guy called several hours later, and between the two of us, and with all the troubleshooting data I'd amassed on my own the previous two weeks, we narrowed down the problem fairly quickly. 

First, the cellmapper site that is recommended in the forum here is less accurate than another third party tower mapper, scadacore - which Telus - and other providers - use as reference. They are both third party platforms, but scadacore tends to be more accurate and contains more up to date info (according to freq guy). Cellmapper shows towers in the Telus network which are not used by Telus. I thought my nearest tower was around the corner from my home. Not so - it's actually a town away and up the mountain, toward the bay.

First thing freq guy points out is that I am, unfortunately, in a terrible spot for coverage at home, being over 5.5km from the nearest tower. There's going to be another tower going online in '26, but it's not really any closer, so it probably won't make a difference.

I point out that the phone worked 'fine' without noticeable issues at home from the time we signed up (beginning of the year) until sometime around summer, when things got noticeably worse. (dropped calls, garbling, not connecting).  Freq guy says the only change to the network in my area since January was the shutting off of 3G freqencies. When did this happen, I asked. I was told back in early summer the frequencies would have been shut off on that local tower. And that's what caused the problem. When you make a call, the network looks for the best channel to make the connection. After the call is established, it needs less bandwith to maintain the connection, so the network shuffles it to another frequency. Calls from home that lasted longer than a couple minutes were previously being moved to a 3G band (or channel or frequency) at 850Mhz (according to frequency guy). Lower frequencies travel longer distance, so being 'kicked down' to 3G from 4G was the reason we previously had 'good coverage' at home from Public Mobile. Well, freq guy says it still wasn't good coverage - but, it worked the same as 'good coverage', as far as I'm concerned. Being on the 3G frequency, we were able to literally talk for hours and not have any issues. (I think there were six telephone calls involving techs last week and all but one experienced garbling to the point of one or both parties disconnecting.)

So turning off the 3G frequencies has resulted in our phone no longer being able to make calls lasting longer than 60 seconds reliably when we are at home. I could always get in the car and drive closer to the tower when I want to make a call from home....yeah, right. Who's paying for the gas, Public Mobile?

Telus freq guy says 'you gotta do what's best for you and your family' - basically telling me if I can get a similar rate with the provider that owns the tower around the corner, I should do it. Offers financial compensation of a month, with the caveat that it doesn't fix the service. I ask for five months, roughly the time the issue has persisted. We agree on 90 days of credit (3 months) to allow me to explore other options, try other carriers, find the best fit.

CCTS complaint was accepted this past Wed, Nov 7. Different Telus rep calls shortly after the acceptance email is received from CCTS. I basically state what I know from previous tech calls. We reconfirm the three months of credit applied to account, and that there is essentially 'no fix to the problem'. Turning the 3G freqs back on isn't an option - 'it's old hardware and we're moving away from that'. I point out that they're selling 5G subs where there are no 5G frequencies even available - why not keep the 3G 'on' to beef up coverage for folks who are subscribed to 5G plans and only getting substandard 4G service? Same response - it's old hardware, etc.

So there we are. I guess keeping my issue kicking around here in the community forum for two weeks before it actually got escalated (according to first Telus tech) helped somebody's workload.

Lastly, regarding the Community Support Agents here - if they are not bots, then they are humans pushing buttons that feed out identical canned responses. I believe if you are a human working with bots, you are a no different than a bot, plain and simple. Community Support Agents in the community forum are a big waste of your time. Unless your issue is something like 'where is the 'pay now' button on the page? They're probably just fine with trivial issues, but anything requiring technical knowledge is way beyond their capabilities.

I hope this is helpful to someone else. I have spent way more time and effort trying to fix this problem on my own than 3 months of credit could ever make up for. Thankfully, I finally found the answer, even if there is no solution - except for going with another carrier.

[jeffreydrevesjr]

It's now DAY 11 since I contacted PubMo about this issue. 
I am still waiting for the 'resolution to my issue' that I was told on Friday that 'the team' would provide within 24-72 business hours. 72 hours is up later today.
Yesterday and today, though, I've received a messsage from yet another CSA under the original ticket that I was told was closed - and not to use anymore - by the CSA on Friday. Am I supposed to start all over again with that one?
Meanwhile, old provider Rogers has been hammering me with an 'ambassador' offer since Saturday that is essentially identical to the one I have with PubMo...no contract, guaranteed not to increase if I make no changes. I know they have a tech team that I would be in contact with on DAY 1 - not chasing my tail for two weeks, getting nowhere as I've been here. 
I had truly hoped to achieve some resolution here. I believe in the self-serve model. But self-serve with ZERO  support? And if the full-service model is now going to be the same price, why remain with PubMo?

I'm beginning to think I should have started with a CCTS complaint as multiple community members suggested.
Which is really disappointing.
@CSA_PM   @CS_Agent  

[CSA_PM]

Hi @ jeffreydrevesjr,

I completely understand your frustration, and I’m really sorry for the experience you’ve had so far. I’ve checked your case, and the agent is currently waiting for the information they requested from you in order to continue assisting.

Please make sure to reply directly to their last message so they can move forward with resolving your issue as quickly as possible. Your cooperation will help ensure the matter is handled smoothly.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[jeffreydrevesjr]

@CSA_PM  Are you thanking me or someone else?
If 'the customer' you are referring to is me - yes, I was in private conversation with an agent that went nowhere after four days. I asked that agent to escalate it. They did not. So I made this forum post.
Another agent replied in private to say they were going to help.
Then, you replied on here, and via pm.
I replied to both of you. Haven't heard a peep from either of you until this message I'm replying to.
Original agent starts messaging me again after all that, sends three messages. I asked why they neglected to reply to my multiple requests for an update - no response. 
The protocol, as I have learned from the forum is reach out to a CS_Agent. If the result is unsatisfactory, as for an escalation. I have done both of those things. I am not going to go back to talking to the agent I asked for an escalation that failed to do it, and that I doubt spent more than the time it took to reply to my initial message trying to fix my issue.
Respectfully yours.

[CSA_PM]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention! The customer was already in a private conversation with one of our agents when the post was escalated. The agent will continue assisting them directly.

[jeffreydrevesjr]

It is now six hours since my original post.
I have heard from two CS_Agents and one CSA_PM.
I have been verified by all three, I have replied to all three, and here I sit once more, waiting, not having received anything back from anyone since my last messages to each, 3, 4 and 5 hours ago, respectively.
Is anyone working on a solution? Has the tech team been consulted? (The first agent to reply this morning said that was who the additional information she requested from me would be provided to.)
Who knows. This is beginning to look a lot like the response to Sunday's ticket - a strong initial 2-way correspondence, and then three days of nada. I hope I'm wrong. 
I have been very happy with Public Mobile, and have recommended them, since we switched over all our phones nearly a year ago. Unfortunately, call quality has decreased noticeably as of late, and I come here to find support has obviously suffered, too. The first pop-up when I open the app is a reminder that if I'm not satisfied with my service to please contact the CCTS. Really? That's the forward face of Public Mobile now? Is making a formal complaint how you contact customer service these days? Or were they required by the CRTC to put that notice somewhere prominent because so many customers have registered complaints? Who Knows.
I am still hopeful that someone will at least give me an update before end of business today.

Hey, at least I've ranked up in the community five times now....ughh.

@gigi16 My understanding is that if you cancel your service with a telecomm, they have to provide a refund for the days remaining in your billing cycle. 

  

[gigi16]

If I could cancel and get my money back as I haven't been able to set it up and use it I would - i have spent days trying to get help and in the community you can see you and I are not the only ones having this issue 
but they have taken my money and won't give support to get it working. The most frustrating. Their chatbot is useless and their customer service is worse and there is no other option. 

[jeffreydrevesjr]

Sigh. Alright....I guess I'll do it all again....again.

[hTideGnow]

hi @jeffreydrevesjr 

if you want quick service from @CSA_PM , you have to reply their questions even it was asked before.

[jeffreydrevesjr]

I did reply to @CSA_PM  asking if they were somehow different than Michelle, because I had just verified and sent a long explanation to Michelle. They have not replied.

[hTideGnow]

hi @jeffreydrevesjr 

yes, then please reply the @CSA_PM  message.  I think that is the escalation and you will get speedy support out of it

[jeffreydrevesjr]

Two are - one is CSA_PM, as seen in this thread.

[hTideGnow]

hi @jeffreydrevesjr 

they all using @CS_agent account to message you , weren't they?

[jeffreydrevesjr]

I've been replying to Maria since Sunday and my issue didn't get sorted. That's why I made this post.
Now, I have three CSA's pm'ing.
Am I suppose to reply to them all individually?
Or copy paste replies to one to the other two? 
I'm not continually giving agent after agent all my verification info.

[hTideGnow]

HI @jeffreydrevesjr 

both Maria and Michelle are real person.  But please reply Michelle  / @CS_Agent  / @CSA_PM  message and your issue will be sorted out within hours

[jeffreydrevesjr]

@softech Well, looking back at the whole thread with Maria_G, it sure looks chatbotty

@CSA_PM How do you differ from CS Agent Michelle, who has already sent me a pm asking me to verify?

@Chalupa_Batman That's what I'll be doing if I don't get a satisfactory response and see movement on this issue today. As far as I can see, Maria_G basically wasted my time for three days.

[CSA_PM]

Hello @ jeffreydrevesjr,

I sent you a private message. You can view and reply to it by accessing this link: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/privatenotespage 

[Chalupa_Batman · Accepted solution]

If this is not resolved within 24 hours, I would suggest reaching out to the CCTS and filing a complaint. They will force Public Mobile to resolve this issue.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/ccts

I would also ask for a credit to your account as you've paid for a service that has not worked.

[softech]

@jeffreydrevesjr 

you were not talking to Chatbot but an actual agent.  With PM, any available agent will be helping with your case and not just follow by a single assigned agent. 

I have escalated your ticket on your behalf.  PM support will reach out to your via Community inbox.  Please monitor here for their reply:
https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/privatenotespage