Making calls

[Lori66]

Wondering why I cannot make calls or receive calls on my android Galaxy A5 when I only have one or two bars of service? Could it be the phone or something else?

I can however make calls when in cities that have towers. Where I live there are not towers but a type of booster installed. Many other people tho can make and receive calls in my area.

[darlicious]

@Nezgar 

Thanks for your expertise.....I recommended fongo for sheer fact it works on mobile data as well as wifi so when travelling in and out of 3G zones the pm incoming will be consistently there and the ability to call out as well albeit with a different number.

@Lori66 

Take some time selecting a phone number with fongo and maybe you can get something close to your regular phone number so your friends and family will get used to recognizing it.

[Nezgar]

Yeah, conditional call forwarding should work - ie setting the "Busy" condition to an alternate number like your home number, or that from a wifi calling app like fongo mobile, textnow, etc. Only calls while the phone is on with LTE but no 3G coverage (at home) will be redirected, and will still automatically come through when your phone is in range of 3G.

When in a 3G area, Set by dialing: *67*10digitnum#

Undo with ##67#

Or set all conditions (including no answer when in coverage, and phone off network entirely):

*004*10digitnum#

Undo with ##004#

Then at least calls to your public mobile number will actually ring somewhere when you are at home, rather than go straight to voicemail that I suspect is the case right now.

[darlicious]

@Lori66 

The issue is pm still using the 3G network for calling as @sheytoon  mentioned pm will eventually get voLTE  and unexpected developments in Winnipeg and Brandon this spring sped up that timeline. @Catherine_T did confirm pm was working on implenting it sooner rather than later but sooner is probably 18 months vs later which was maybe 5 years.

I would be interested if the fongo work around will work for you.....I expect @Nezgar Will weigh in on whether or not call forwarding while in a 3G network zone will work once you get home. I'm not sure if  still being able to connect to the LTE network would interrupt the call forwarding procedure and @sheytoon didn't confirm or deny this possibility but it doesn't cost anything to test the theory out.

[Lori66]

No one told me ..I assume the PM signal here in my particular area is the issue with no prominent tower in my area. I know it is PM as everyone who is with another carrier in my town doesn’t seem to have issue.

[Lori66]

Thanks for all the input.

I do have wifi and internet ..its just the PM low signal.

might switch carriers at a later date.

[sheytoon]

Much easier to piece things together when it's all in one thread!

So it's confirmed, you're in an area with no 3G coverage, but marginal LTE coverage. LTE B12 with MIMO is giving you better cell edge coverage than 3G B5 without MIMO. This is one of the reasons I always advocate for LTE over 3G. It has superior cell edge performance.

In any case, you don't have a lot of options, but here they are...

1) switch to a VoLTE provider (Bell, Virgin, Telus, Koodo) and use a VoLTE approved phone.

2) buy a signal booster that supports B5 (850 MHz), assuming you can install it in a location with some amount of 3G 850 signal.

3) wait for PM to enable VoLTE. This might be years away, but my gut feeling is within the next 18 months.

[darlicious]

@Lori66 

Lol... now that your thread is all in one place I have been able to piece all of the info you have already given. You mention there is already a signal booster used in the area. the two towers much farther south of you have all frequencies whereas the Springdle tower appears to have the 3G frequency you require but perhaps the azimuth Iis not optimal for your residence.

Do you have Wi-Fi at home? I'm wondering with @Nezgar 's suggestion of call forwarding if it was done while in town and connected to the 3G network you could set your call forwarding to a fongo number?

With fongo working on both WiFi and mobile data (0.5mb=1 min) you could continue to recieve your calls to your pm number via fongo when not connecting to the 3G network. You would be able to use fongo to call out while on the 4G LTE network or on WiFi and from your pm number when you are able to connect to the 3G network.

I'm not sure how much data you have but even the $15 plan with 250mb=500 min of calling.

[darlicious]

@Lori66 

You are probably connecting to the tower in Springdale which has 3G frequencies albeit at a fair distance. However you may benefit from a signal booster. @gpixel  had some reasonably priced suggestions from Amazon that you could try and test and fairly easily return if they don't improve your signal. @sheytoon  is our resident expert who could help troubleshoot to fine tune the booster for optimal performance.

[darlicious]

@Lori66 

What is your basic location on the rock?

[CFPartDeux]

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@Lori66 wrote:

Hi there…I have the same issue where i live in Newfoundland. Only one bar shows in my town and only three elsewhere. Because we are with PM, i was told we because of us sharing towers with Bell and Telus, we get lease priority , being with a third carrier. Sounds like that could be,,,we get less band width.

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Maybe have a look at this map, and check out where the towers are in relation to where you live, and which providers have those towers: Canadian Cell Towers Map 

Having quickly perused it, it seems like you're PROBABLY stuck with either Bell/Virgin/Lucky, or Telus/Koodo/PM, due to their tower sharing agreement, because it seems like the vast majority of towers in NF are owned by Bell....

[Lori66]

I am not sure what our area has. I do know that no one else has an issue with calling except those who are with PM.

I am staying with PM regardless as most others are too costly for me right now.

[softech]

She is at Middle Arm in Newfoundland.  I checked Bell Coverage map  and showing only LTE there 

[computergeek541]

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@sheytoon wrote:

@Lori66 might be VoLTE related. Other than that, coverage is the same as Telus.

Are you in an area that has poor 3G coverage but good LTE coverage?

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@Lori66 @sheytoon 

I'm thinking that there could be no HSPA network coverage at all in that area.

[sheytoon]

@Lori66 might be VoLTE related. Other than that, coverage is the same as Telus.

Are you in an area that has poor 3G coverage but good LTE coverage?

[Korth]

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@Lori66 wrote:

I am finding the signal of PM in my area very low and others who have Bell / Telus can make calls and have better signal. I can text in my town but no calling or receiving calls. Was told might be PM service being it shares with other carriers ...

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Who told you this information? And what would they gain by keeping you away from PM?

[Lori66]

Yes,,I totally agree

[softech]

@Lori66   i think your issue is not that PM has least priority,  it is that your area does not have 3G signal but just LTE.  PM voice is using 3G only and PM does not offer voice over LTE.  You would not have the issue if you switch to Telus .

[Lori66]

Thanks anyway, but I have done everything technical to change the signal status and nothing worked. I do believe as i said because of the carrier and sharing towers with bell/telus makes a difference as there are times when I get booted off completely and have no signal.

I am okay with it for now cause the price is right. And when i do go travelling I get good signal.

guess when you want a lower price and live in the boonies,,you have to put up with a few things…lol

[esjliv]

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@Lori66 wrote:

Nope my bars are one only, always. Cannot make or accept calls,,,only text.

I am okay with that for now as there is no tower close by. Nearest tower is about 70 miles away.I can make and receive calls when I go to town.

thanks anyway

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@Lori66 

Oh, you can't make any calls?

Can you try going into your Settings and finding Mobile Connections.

From there manually select 3G, see if calling works better this way.

[Lori66]

Nope my bars are one only, always. Cannot make or accept calls,,,only text.

I am okay with that for now as there is no tower close by. Nearest tower is about 70 miles away.I can make and receive calls when I go to town.

thanks anyway

[Lori66]

I am finding the signal of PM in my area very low and others who have Bell / Telus can make calls and have better signal. I can text in my town but no calling or receiving calls. Was told might be PM service being it shares with other carriers. My daughter and family are with PM

as well and have the same issue.

[esjliv]

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@Lori66 wrote:

Hi there…I have the same issue where i live in Newfoundland. Only one bar shows in my town and only three elsewhere. Because we are with PM, i was told we because of us sharing towers with Bell and Telus, we get lease priority , being with a third carrier. Sounds like that could be,,,we get less band width.

I tried many of the suggestions given to me and nothing worked in the technical part with my phone so  I assumed the above has been the reason.

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@Lori66 

You really only need to be concerned if you have Zero bars.

One bar is fine, and as soon as you receive or make a call you should see the bars increase.

[Lori66]

Hi there…I have the same issue where i live in Newfoundland. Only one bar shows in my town and only three elsewhere. Because we are with PM, i was told we because of us sharing towers with Bell and Telus, we get lease priority , being with a third carrier. Sounds like that could be,,,we get less band width.

I tried many of the suggestions given to me and nothing worked in the technical part with my phone so  I assumed the above has been the reason.

[Nezgar]

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@softech wrote:

@Lori66   if you are staying with PM .. since you might not be able to get calls at home, you might want to setup Call Forward when No Reply  to your home landline (if you have one)

Here are the different Call forward options

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/call-forwarding

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This is a good idea - although I think in this particular case the *67 "Busy" condition might apply since the network knows the phone is "on the network" but a call will fail "busy" due to the lack of 3G handoff...  I also believe that the 3G network is required to even set any call forwarding options. Doing my own testing, even a query command *#21# causes my phone to temporarily switch to 3G.

[softech]

@Lori66   if you are staying with PM .. since you might not be able to get calls at home, you might want to setup Call Forward when No Reply  to your home landline (if you have one)

Here are the different Call forward options

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/call-forwarding

[Lori66]

Thanks all for the tips ! 
As long as I can continue to text and then make calls etc in bigger centres I will stay with PM for now. The price is right for me...

thanks again for all the input and suggestions 

[Nezgar]

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@Lori66 wrote:

So tho I do have lte on my network its not sufficient?

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Correct. LTE only works for data and texting on Public Mobile. Public Mobile requires a 3G network (aka HSPA or WCDMA) for voice calls. Unfortunately, it looks like there is no 3G network in your area.

As others mentioned, unfortunately, you'll have to look at an alternate service that can use LTE for voice calls -- ie Koodo. You might also need to confirm with Koodo that your existing phone will work with voice over LTE as well - not all LTE capable phones can.

[softech]

other network like Koodo or Telus allows to transport the voice calls via VoLTE on the LTE network .. but not PM, PM only use LTE for Data but needs 3G network for voice calls

so, your family just joined PM?  or since when you notice the voice calls issue?

Please open a ticket to confirm your network coverage with mod:

(After you open a ticket with mod, please monitor your Community inbox, envelope on the top right.  Mod will communicate with you via messaging within Community)

1. For faster response (2 to 48 hours), Click on the bubble in the lower right corner and request moderator assistance, or you can also use this direct link instead https://publicmobile.ca/chatbot. Start with typing "Submit a ticket", click on "Contact Us", click on "Other" from the choices, click "Click here to submit a ticket" then Follow the prompts to submit a ticket.

2. Or you can Send a private message to the moderator here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

[Lori66]

So tho I do have lte on my network its not sufficient?

[softech · Accepted solution]

Telus uses Bell towers in NF...According to Bell, there is only LTE coverage in Middle Arm and it might be the reason of the voice call issue, you cannot receiving or make calls.

https://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Our_network_coverage

**Available coverage: LTE Advanced (LTE-A) and LTE.

you might want to open a ticket with mod to confirm.  I have a feeling you have to go with Koodo or Telus as they have VoLTE.