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InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

I noticed that upon switching to a 4G/LTE phone plan with Public that my service reception has been consistently 1-2 bars compared the signal strength prior to the plan change of average 3-4 bars. I have screenshots showing signal strength taken from my home in the same location before and after as proof (2 of which are shown below).

Image 1: 3G Plan Signal Strength

Image 2: 4G/LTE Plan Signal Strength

I looked at other posts in the community forum, but none were similar to my problem. I tried taking my sim card out and trying to place it better on the tray and restarting my phone, but I haven't noticed much improvement at all. Is it possible my old sim card needs to be replaced? I've had the current one for about 3 years now from before Public Mobile offered 4G plans (old art and everything). Not sure what else might be the problem. Maybe there are more towers with 3G support in my area than 4G/LTE? If that's the case then I guess I should be thankful I didn't purchase a 5G plan since I bet the signal strength is terrible. I don't think the problem is my phone since what else would explain this discrepancy?

Edit: As suggested in the comments I reset Network Settings, manually selected Public Mobile's Network and restarted my phone. It only worked temporarily raising my bars up to 3, but ultimately dropped back down to 2. I may have to get help from Public Mobile Support to fix this problem. Thanks anyway.

gpixel · ‎10-13-2023

@InternM010

a new sim card can possibly make a difference

on 4G LTE devices, the PRL(preferred roaming list) is updated with your SIM card. To ensure you have the latest PRL, you can power your phone off and remove/reinsert the SIM card once a month or so.

when you reinsert your sim, you are in essence deleting your old sim from the 'system' this in turn forces your carriers network to force an update to the network, making cell towers 'aware' of the new sim, this can improve reception as any new agreements between carriers and their cell towers and any new cell towers since your last sim will be 'aware' of the new sim, allowing it to access them.
in turn 'improving' your reception, in areas you previously had bad reception

there is also the potential the account created issues when upgrading to the new plan. you can ask customer support to reset the network on their end

InternM010 · ‎09-04-2023

@will13am wrote:
@InternM010 , your troubleshooting of whether to connect to Public Mobile automatically or manually does not affect signal strength. As already mentioned the 3G/4G/5G labeling of plans is not indicative of which network you connect to, it is just simply a marketing label for speed limit of the chosen plan. All accounts have access to 5G/4G/3G networks. I am not familiar with iPhones nomenclature, on android it is the preferred network type setting that determined which network the phone will connect to. Normally the setting should be left at the setting with (preferred) in the label, usually 5G for newer phones and 4G for older devices. As for troubleshooting signal strength, I like to use the following app which provides all sorts of geeky stats on the network connection including cell tower location. No recommendations for iPhone equivalent app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wilysis.cellinfolite&hl=en_CA&gl=US
In general, 2 bars of signal strength is still very good and sufficient for reliable service. I live in a residential area where the nearest cell tower is quite far away. I see as little as 1 bar in the basement but service will works fine.

So I was doing some digging and found a video on YouTube called 'See your TRUE signal strength on iPhone' which shows how to activate the iPhone's hidden field test app. Apparently the signal bars aren't reliable since the standards of what determines them are not uniform (vary between phone models and such).

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uPEEznQxtA&ab_channel=Macworld

The video is a bit out of date being from 2019 so the menus have changed, but I think I found the important stats which do show that objectively/quantitatively, my connection is poor/weak.

2 important stats mentioned are rsrp (range of about -40 to -140 with higher value being desired) and rsrq (-5 to -10 are good values, while -15 and less are bad). My rsrp was -117 (bad) at my house while rsrq was -20 (bad). I may force my phone into 3G and see if there's just different standards depending on whether I choose 3G or LTE for comparison.

On a side note, I've noticed that even when I go to places like downtown Toronto, the signal seems to be consistently 2 bars. I don't think this is just an issue of cell tower coverage since some places are obviously given greater priority of cell coverage than others. If I find anything new I'll post it to the discussion.

DennyCrane · ‎09-02-2023

@InternM010 Ah okay. Just so you know you don't have to use the network associated with your plan speed. They are separate things that often get confused. If you find you get better signal on the 3G network, you may want the force your phone onto 3G. Just know that max speeds on the 3G network are much less.

That said, I wouldn't use your signal meter as the end all, be all. If you get good performance, that's really all that matters. And keep in mind that plan speeds are maximums, not guarantees. I personally find I get the best results on the 4G/LTE network, even with my 5G plan.

InternM010 · ‎09-02-2023

I'm going to have to wait and see if any issues emerge with perceived slowness and dropped/choppy calls. I just renewed to this new plan on August 31st so I haven't used much data or made many mobile calls yet.

InternM010 · ‎09-02-2023

Thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do based on your advice.

InternM010 · ‎09-02-2023

@DennyCrane wrote:
Changing plans should have no impact on your signal. 3G plans also have access to the 4G and 5G networks, and your 4G plan also has access to the 3G and 5G networks. Unless you forced your phone on the 3G network until now? The plan speed just indicates speed, not what network you can use. And I can't see from your first screenshot what network you're connected to (if you turn wifi off it should show you).

I did force 3G before when I was under the 3G plan. I have another screenshot (below) from when I was out using my 3G plan where I have full bars, but its not in the same location. I took the screenshot because of a potential glitch with iOS I was going to bring up on Apple forums. I typically use Wifi when I'm at home so I don't have many screenshots from home where I'm just connected to mobile data.

3G screenshot: It's a bit hard to see because of the glitch, but this was taken about 6 km from my home.

InternM010 · ‎09-02-2023

@softech wrote:
@InternM010
yours is an iPhone? which version is that?
what iOS you have?
What version of your Carrier Profile?
You have only 2 bars, but do you see any dropped calls issue or do you see any data slowness?
did you try a speed test when you just have 2 bars? What download speed you got with the 2 bars?

iPhone SE 2022 on iOS 16.6 with Carrier Public Mobile 54.0.1

Latest speed test even with 2 bars was 88 Mbps download and 6.93 Mbps upload which is fast. I haven't done much downloading using my data yet so I'll have to get back to you on perceived slowness. Also, I haven't had many phone conversations so far under this 4G plan yet so I'll have to get back to you on that as well. From prior experience under my 3G plan, 1-2 bars resulted in the person I was talking to saying that I was cutting in and out. So overall, when it comes to perceived slowness and dropped calls I'll have to get back to you on that.

maple_leaf · ‎09-02-2023

Hello @InternM010 ,

Depends on how phones display signal (they probably show RSSI, loosely full received power, for 3G and usually RSRP for LTE, loosely average power). Furthermore, 3G is only 1.23 MHz wide with much higher power spectral density than LTE. However, LTE will outperform 3G in terms of data rates if coming from the same site and same frequency.

Have you had any issues on LTE with data speed or voice calls/text? Have you noticed that the signal strength increases whilst on a call or actively using data (vs. idle)? I would recommend leaving the phone set to 'Automatic'.

will13am · ‎09-02-2023

@InternM010 , your troubleshooting of whether to connect to Public Mobile automatically or manually does not affect signal strength. As already mentioned the 3G/4G/5G labeling of plans is not indicative of which network you connect to, it is just simply a marketing label for speed limit of the chosen plan. All accounts have access to 5G/4G/3G networks. I am not familiar with iPhones nomenclature, on android it is the preferred network type setting that determined which network the phone will connect to. Normally the setting should be left at the setting with (preferred) in the label, usually 5G for newer phones and 4G for older devices. As for troubleshooting signal strength, I like to use the following app which provides all sorts of geeky stats on the network connection including cell tower location. No recommendations for iPhone equivalent app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wilysis.cellinfolite&hl=en_CA&gl=US

In general, 2 bars of signal strength is still very good and sufficient for reliable service. I live in a residential area where the nearest cell tower is quite far away. I see as little as 1 bar in the basement but service will works fine.

DennyCrane · ‎09-01-2023

Changing plans should have no impact on your signal. 3G plans also have access to the 4G and 5G networks, and your 4G plan also has access to the 3G and 5G networks. Unless you forced your phone on the 3G network until now? The plan speed just indicates speed, not what network you can use. And I can't see from your first screenshot what network you're connected to (if you turn wifi off it should show you).

softech · ‎09-01-2023

@InternM010

yours is an iPhone? which version is that?
what iOS you have?
What version of your Carrier Profile?

You have only 2 bars, but do you see any dropped calls issue or do you see any data slowness?

did you try a speed test when you just have 2 bars? What download speed you got with the 2 bars?

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

@LitlLdy wrote:
@InternM010 wrote:
@LitlLdy wrote:
@InternM010 , have you tried resetting your network settings on your phone then rebooting it to see if it helps?
Edit: @Chalupa_Batman , I forgot about that part, thank you ! It has also been suggested by CS_Agents to manually set Cellular Network to Public Mobile & not on Automatic!
Ok reset network settings and turned off the automatic button then selected Public Mobile. I think there's some improvement since now its at 3 bars at least.
@InternM010 , my signal fluctuates also at time. I have great signal in my apartment but in town 2 bars! Sometimes simple reboot helps or turning on airplane mode & back off.

Airplane mode seemed to jump the bars back up to 3, but then it falls again like all the other things I've tried 😕

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

@LitlLdy wrote:
@InternM010 wrote:
@InternM010 wrote:
It says both sort of. Under 'Cellular' on settings it says Public Mobile for 'Network Selection'. Then when I tap on it to go further it has the 'Automatic' switched on.
I did. It only worked temporarily. Not sure what else to do.
@InternM010 , now I am at a loss! 😞 I wish I had more experience with this to make better suggestions. You could send private message to CS_Agent to ask for help to get it working better. Or someone here may have better advice.

Thanks for the help to both you and @Chalupa_Batman. It helped a bit for a while. I may have to make a ticket to take up the issue with Public Mobile.

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

@Chalupa_Batman wrote:
After choosing it, reboot the phone.

I did. I tried doing the process again but for some reason now my phone won't let me take 'Network Selection' off of Automatic. Just shows a loading circle that never end. When I leave and go back it has Automatic selected again. Any gains made to 3 bars disappears after a few minutes when it goes back to 2 bars and stays there.

Edit: I finally was able to switch off Automatic and select Public Mobile after several repeated attempts for it to load. I restarted the phone and the temporary rise to 3 bars fell once again to 2 bars.

LitlLdy · ‎09-01-2023

@InternM010 wrote:
@InternM010 wrote:
It says both sort of. Under 'Cellular' on settings it says Public Mobile for 'Network Selection'. Then when I tap on it to go further it has the 'Automatic' switched on.
I did. It only worked temporarily. Not sure what else to do.

@InternM010 , now I am at a loss! 😞 I wish I had more experience with this to make better suggestions. You could send private message to CS_Agent to ask for help to get it working better. Or someone here may have better advice.

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

@InternM010 wrote:
It says both sort of. Under 'Cellular' on settings it says Public Mobile for 'Network Selection'. Then when I tap on it to go further it has the 'Automatic' switched on.

I did. It only worked temporarily. Not sure what else to do.

Chalupa_Batman · ‎09-01-2023

After choosing it, reboot the phone.

LitlLdy · ‎09-01-2023

@InternM010 wrote:
@LitlLdy wrote:
@InternM010 , have you tried resetting your network settings on your phone then rebooting it to see if it helps?
Edit: @Chalupa_Batman , I forgot about that part, thank you ! It has also been suggested by CS_Agents to manually set Cellular Network to Public Mobile & not on Automatic!
Ok reset network settings and turned off the automatic button then selected Public Mobile. I think there's some improvement since now its at 3 bars at least.

@InternM010 , my signal fluctuates also at time. I have great signal in my apartment but in town 2 bars! Sometimes simple reboot helps or turning on airplane mode & back off.

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

@LitlLdy wrote:
@InternM010 , have you tried resetting your network settings on your phone then rebooting it to see if it helps?
Edit: @Chalupa_Batman , I forgot about that part, thank you ! It has also been suggested by CS_Agents to manually set Cellular Network to Public Mobile & not on Automatic!

Ok reset network settings and turned off the automatic button then selected Public Mobile. I think there's some improvement since now its at 3 bars at least.

Edit: Nevermind its back down to 2. Each step I tried only worked temporarily.

LitlLdy · ‎09-01-2023

@InternM010 wrote:
It says both sort of. Under 'Cellular' on settings it says Public Mobile for 'Network Selection'. Then when I tap on it to go further it has the 'Automatic' switched on.

@InternM010 , manual select Public Mobile & reboot your phone. See if it helps.

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

It says both sort of. Under 'Cellular' on settings it says Public Mobile for 'Network Selection'. Then when I tap on it to go further it has the 'Automatic' switched on.

LitlLdy · ‎09-01-2023

@InternM010 , have you tried resetting your network settings on your phone then rebooting it to see if it helps?

Edit: @Chalupa_Batman , I forgot about that part, thank you ! It has also been suggested by CS_Agents to manually set Cellular Network to Public Mobile & not on Automatic!

InternM010 · ‎09-01-2023

I know that, but why is my signal worse? This doesn't answer my question.

Chalupa_Batman · ‎09-01-2023

Just wondering. If you go into network settings, is set to automatic or is public mobile selected?

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