Issue with Network

[MalinS]

I am seriously over Public Mobile.  All of a sudden my network is on 1 bar and I can barely hear people when they call me and vice versa.  I’m missing important calls that don’t even come through.  I have attended to contact a Customer service agent multiple times and even though I am logged into my account I am being told to verify who I am.  I then verify and the next agent picks up the thread and asks me to do the same thing all over again.  I am all for being all digital but this is a problem! Even now I am trying to ask questions about 4 G vs 5 G and I still can’t get through and the experience is so terrible I’m at the point I’m happy to pay more just so someone can help me solve my problem. You might be cost effective but it’s useless when no one can help you when you have issues. 

[softech]

@sobu  

it would be easy to follow if you open a new thread of your own  🙂

Try these couple tricks

• first try to reboot the phone
• If that does not work, change the Preferred network type or network mode to 3G only or WCDMA only and see if it works
• Try to click Reset All Networks and see if it helps
• and do you have another phone to test the PM sim ? just to make sure it is not a device problem.  Also, that can force a sim card re-provision and it could resolve the problem
• And what brand and model is your phone? VoLTE might or might not be a solution.  Let us know the model of your phone first and will advise further

[sobu]

I have the  same issues. Been with Public Mobile for years and now Network is a problem can't receive any calls was told it goes straight to voicemail and I cannot even listen to voicemail because the error message is "Network cellular not available for voice calls"  the frustration of seeing that all the time now. I cannot call out and if I'm lucky and the phone is able to finally connect it stops working in the middle of the short conversation, the person on the other end hears Static they say,then they cannot hear me, they are just constantly saying hello!hello!. until the call is ended.  The text messages sometimes go through and other time it's waiting for a connection..My phone is fine it's their Network that everyone seems to have an issue. Public Mobile needs to work on that before losing yet another customer.

[dust2dust]

Public is being way too restrictive and seemingly have implemented a non-standard way of enabling volte for certain devices. My phone works perfectly with volte from another provider. The device is capable. But for whatever reason, they just won't enable it.

And where I say that they might be doing something non-standard, someone I spoke to in an escalation department might have enabled it for me to see (so they say) and no it didn't work which is why I wonder about a non-standard implementation of volte.

[MalinS]

Honestly I don’t know if they will.  I’ll be checking back though because no one in my household has it and there are newer phones here too and they don’t have it.  I will deal with it once the plan kicks in.  Thank you for your help 

[dust2dust]

Ridiculous lies. No you don't need a 4G plan to make use of volte. As even said by LitlLdy. But if you're happy with the new plan then great. I'm not holding my breath for it to magically start volte though. Did they say you had to ask again?

[MalinS]

No worries! We all have lives right? They said they could not enable it because I’m on the 3G plan.  Not sure if that’s right now but I updated anyways and the plan is less and I get more gigs because of the promotion.  Once my new plan kicks in, I will have access to Volte 

[LitlLdy]

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@MalinS wrote:

I talked to them and it’s because I’m still on the 3G plan so I updated to the 4G one.  Hopefully this will make it better.  I am not ready for 5G yet.  Thank you for all your help! For now having my phone set as 3G and not LTE fixes the issue temporarily.

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@MalinS , I didn’t realize you responded back! Did you ask them to enable VoLTE (Voice over LTE) on your account?

I’m still on the $15 3G speed data plan.

[MalinS]

I talked to them and it’s because I’m still on the 3G plan so I updated to the 4G one.  Hopefully this will make it better.  I am not ready for 5G yet.  Thank you for all your help! For now having my phone set as 3G and not LTE fixes the issue temporarily.

[LitlLdy]

@MalinS , I wish I had of made notes of what the technical terms were that Telus tier 2 tech support had said about the towers here, along with decommissioning of 3G. Along with VoLTE, 5G upgrades & so on but hoping it’s all worked out soon! I Reboot my iPhone daily & often reset network settings. 3G does have a better signal for me but since getting the latest software update 16.5 the Telus tier 2 tech told me to leave my iPhone on 5G Auto setting! Works great in my apartment now but terrible around town! Signal at home in screenshot below!

[MalinS]

Never thought it could be a case. Mine is not that fancy but hey I’ll take it off and see. My money is on the tower because it was a pretty drastic change all of a sudden.  Thank you so much for all of your help! 

[MalinS]

I sent them a message now so hopefully they can add it on manually.  I don’t really live rural and in a medium size city. My building is older with concrete walls, maybe that’s it but then again, I had no problems for years until the last month or so.  It’s probably a tower.  I will monitor as I’m out of my home vs at home to see.  Thank you for your help, much appreciated!

[dust2dust]

It could be an antenna issue. It could be how the phone is held. It could be a fancy case that blocks the antenna. It could be maintenance on the towers.

[LitlLdy]

@MalinS , I’ve had several issues with getting a decent signal this past year! Now I have a better signal in my apartment then I do all over town! No amount of troubleshooting fixes it for me & I’ve talked several different CS_Agents! We are blaming it on the towers here or lack there of!

Edit: to add I have a new iPhone 14 Pro using VoLTE!

[MalinS]

Thank you! I figured something was not working! I will try this! 

[LitlLdy]

@MalinS , the chatbot is broken!

You can send a private message to a CS_Agent: ->   https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

Customer Support Agents are available from:

• Monday to Sunday: 9 AM to 10 PM EST

A CS_Agent will respond back in your Community mailbox at the top right of this page (envelope icon to the left of your community avatar).

[MalinS]

Yup phone is Canadian.  I’ve had so many issues connecting with support in the past.  The link doesn’t seem to work to get to a Customer service agent.  I keep getting a 404 error.  I will try again and ask them to add it for me 

[dust2dust]

I would contact support to get your phone enabled for volte then. Explain to them that your phone is on their list. It should have enabled it on its own. But here you are. Did you get any texts from Public mentioning anything about volte? But again, it may not improve your reception. It would just be more up to date. Is it a fully Canadian model or did it come from elsewhere?

[MalinS]

It’s an iPhone 8. Older but it’s on the list.  When I’m out it’s improved yes.  I’ve been suspecting that where I live has bad reception as I have a few dead spots but it was never this bad. Something changed that made it so bad and it was over night and it’s never been the same since 

[dust2dust]

I'm not implying that having volte will improve your reception. What exact model of iphone is it?

The ideas of trying your sim in another phone or trying another sim in your phone was to narrow down where the problem might be. Do you get acceptable reception out and about?

Adding - A 3G plan is throttled LTE. A 4G plan has its own throttling on LTE. A 5G plan is also throttled to a degree. Those are marketing terms that actually mean speed, not network. With your phone set to 3G you might actually get some better speed for data. But I would leave it on 4G. The phone is talking network. The marketing is talking speed.

[MalinS]

Also im on the 3G plan so would this be why? Do I get access to Volte if I upgrade to 4G.  Is that how it works? Been trying to figure out what it would add if I upgrade 

[MalinS]

I am 100% using the newest iOS software - 16.5. I don’t see anything in General - About that’s sticks out or any changes of any kind. I only see Mobile as my carrier.  I am always connected to WiFi, I even use a WiFi booster so not sure what else to do to get this added 

[dust2dust]

The same place you see those, select 4G. Does a volte option show up below that? If not are you sure you have the latest OS updates? Have you also connected to a wifi and gone in to settings, general, about to see if any kind of update happens?

[MalinS]

I only saw LTE and 3G as an option.  I’ve been looking to see how I can get on Volte but no luck so far.  My phone is on the list so it should be compatible but again, no idea how to get that on my phone.  Any ideas? 

[dust2dust]

This 3G result is showing that there's some problem with your local 4G LTE towers. Selecting 3G might give you more bars but you may still have the same calling problem due to the fact that your phone switches to 3G when it makes a call which probably showed you these same bars on a call. When not on a call then the phone rests on 4G LTE. And it seems you're getting fewer bars.

Unless you have volte enabled on your phone. Then that uses 4G LTE.

All non-5G plans are on 4G LTE. They use 3G UMTS for talk if no volte which is what you set the phone to. When you changed to 3G did you see if you showed 5G as a setting? 4G? When 4G was selected did you see volte?

[MalinS]

Thank you. I don’t think we are ready for 5G as of yet.  I’m not rural but I’m in a smaller city outside a bigger one.  If I upgraded to 4 G will I have an option to select 4 G like I just did with 3G and will it be stronger? At this time I’m trying to figure out the difference between 4G and 5G.  Thanks again.  I also switched my sons phone to 3G and it’s much stronger 

[NDesai]

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@MalinS wrote:

Never mind, I found it and now I have 2 more bars all of a sudden.  Hopefully that is solved now.  Thank you, I have been trying to figure this out for months.  
Let me ask you about 4 G and 5 g.  Will y network be stronger if I am on 4G? Not sure if I want 5 G just yet but I need to upgrade mine and my sons plans 

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Well done, for now until 3G is still around. 

Technically, yes. LTE should be stronger since they have expanded LTE infrastructure for years. Most likely there is an issue near your area or something in between blocking signal similar to when someone is in a basement where signal is weaker. Currently, 5G runs on the same LTE backbone network and it uses more battery since your phone might have to constantly switch between network modes depending in areas you move around to. If you are a bit outside of the main city, I don't recommend 5G at this time. 

[MalinS]

Never mind, I found it and now I have 2 more bars all of a sudden.  Hopefully that is solved now.  Thank you, I have been trying to figure this out for months.  
Let me ask you about 4 G and 5 g.  Will y network be stronger if I am on 4G? Not sure if I want 5 G just yet but I need to upgrade mine and my sons plans 

[NDesai]

@MalinS @ wrote

Which settings are you referring to? I don’t see that in my Public account anywhere

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That's in your iPhone Settings. Not in your Public Mobile account. 

[MalinS]

Which settings are you referring to? I don’t see that in my Public account anywhere

[NDesai]

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@MalinS wrote:

He also has the same problem.  I have been with Public for years and he has for at least 2.  We have done nothing here.  Our phones are all on the newest iOS software and we are compatible.  I’m seeing many other that have been long time customers experiencing same issues. 

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If everything works fine in any other areas around the city, likely an issue is near where you live. If that closest tower is having issues or something in between interfering which is very rare, I am not sure how to complaint about it.