No Service at Home

[micheallaraine]

Earlier today my phone lost service while I was at home and I still don't have service. My house usually has no problem connecting. I have recieved a couple of incoming messages (long after they were sent) but I am not able to reply to anything. What should I do?

[computergeek541]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

I have been with PM for well over a year and this is the first time I've had this issue. Nothing around the house has changed. I checked the coverage maps before I joined and the area I am in was fully covered. I get some reception a little way down the road, so I don't know what to make of it.

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I am thinking that perhaps nothing has change on your end, but that usage has possible increased. When more people use a site, the actual area that it can cover shrinks.

[CannonFodder]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

Thanks for the insight. I haven't dropped my phone recently, I'm pretty careful with it. I reached out to Telus and I'll get my work phone back on Tuesday so should be able to try the sim card in there and see what happens. Hopefully one of those two things solves the problem.

Yeah, if the work phone works fine at home, using your PM SIM, that would point to your personal phone as being the culprit.

That's similar to my phone vs. my wife's phone, i.e. she's on Chatr(Rogers network), and my phone works fine with her SIM, and her phone works better than mine with my SIM, so the only conclusions I can come to, is that the antenna in my wife's phone is somewhat better than the one in my phone, AND the Rogers signal in our area is stronger.

I just hope this doesn't mean that I have to switch carriers!

Well, if you haven't already, have a peek at that cell tower map I linked to earlier - it might be somewhat revealing, as it was for me, i.e. I'm pretty darn sure I found the reason that the Rogers signal is better than the Telus signal, in our area.

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[micheallaraine]

Thanks for the insight. I haven't dropped my phone recently, I'm pretty careful with it. I reached out to Telus and I'll get my work phone back on Tuesday so should be able to try the sim card in there and see what happens. Hopefully one of those two things solves the problem. I just hope this doesn't mean that I have to switch carriers!

[CannonFodder]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

I have been with PM for well over a year and this is the first time I've had this issue. Nothing around the house has changed.

Seems like there must be SOMETHING going on with the signal strength at the nearest tower.

I checked the coverage maps before I joined and the area I am in was fully covered.

Well, that's not exactly written in stone, because the coverage map has our location "fully covered" too, but reception here is sketchy, and although it's better now than it used to be years ago, reception via Telus, at our location, has always been somewhat poor.

I get some reception a little way down the road, so I don't know what to make of it.

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If you had good reception for about a year, and the phone works fine elsewhere, it can really only be one of two things - the antenna in the phone has somehow become poor, or the hardware at the closest Telus/Bell tower has an issue..... unless that phone has hit the floor one too many times, I'd tend to lean towards the hardware on the cell tower being the issue. 🤔 

[micheallaraine]

Just did that, thanks!

[micheallaraine]

I have been with PM for well over a year and this is the first time I've had this issue. Nothing around the house has changed. I checked the coverage maps before I joined and the area I am in was fully covered. I get some reception a little way down the road, so I don't know what to make of it.

[JoyLuck]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

That could be. I'm on a property that is pretty far from the main cities. If that were the case is there a way I should report it? Or should I just try to wait it out?

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You can try reporting to Telus (since PM belongs to Telus) here:

Choose "Report a Problem"

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/mobility/network/coverage-map?INTCMP=VAN_coverage

[CannonFodder]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

That could be. I'm on a property that is pretty far from the main cities.

And, I speculated that MIGHT be the issue, in my post at the top of page 2, but you kept insisting that, as you said in the 1st post, "My house usually has no problem connecting"..... now I'm wondering how long you've been with PM, such that you've had no problem connecting at home 'til now?

If that were the case is there a way I should report it? Or should I just try to wait it out?

Kind of a tough call.... I don't know if cell companies have anything in place that lets them know if there's an issue with individual cell towers/equipment, or not.

A small experiment might be helpful, i.e. take a short walk from your place, towards wherever you know you get good reception, and within reason, see how far you have to go. That, and maybe have a peek at this map, and see which companies have cell towers closest to you, and where they are, relative to your location: Canadian Cell Towers Map 

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[micheallaraine]

That could be. I'm on a property that is pretty far from the main cities. If that were the case is there a way I should report it? Or should I just try to wait it out?

[AE_Collector]

Cell site issue near you? How rural of an area are you in... possibility of just one site covering your home area?

AE_Collector

[micheallaraine]

I went out today and everything was working fine, but now that I am back home I dont have service again. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my phone.

[gblackma]

@micheallaraine  Log into your self service account, check your usage history, and see if your calls since this occured are being forwarded to your voicemail. If that is happening, unless their is an outage in your area, its probably a hardware problem.

To further test this, use the voip apps TextNow or Google hangouts and Google dialer combined to call your voicemail from your own phone over wifi/ data. Simply dial your PM phone number - reject the call when it rings (this sends the call to voicemail) - press the * key to allow you to enter your password. - enter - and viola you are in your voicemail account - Hang up when you are finished. Thank you.

[JoyLuck]

Also try googling some documents and you maybe able to find a solution:

eg. https://thedroidguy.com/how-to-fix-a-galaxy-s8-that-keeps-losing-network-coverage-or-signal-disappea...

[CannonFodder]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

I just reset my network settings and it came back long enough to finish sending a text and then dropped out again. Tried the sim card as well and no dice. I am really hoping not to do a hard reset so am going to wait and continue trying to troubleshoot. It would be such a pain to backup everything on my phone.

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I assume by that you mean, "factory reset"? I doubt it will make a difference, but you COULD try putting your phone into "Safe Mode", and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

 @micheallaraine 

I vote hardware problem. Try inserting your SIM into a friend or family phone. If it works then it's your phone.

Try the other SIM slot if present too.

[CannonFodder]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

I did restart my phone, and then did a full shut down and started it back up and that did not help. 

I have double checked all of my settings and they are normal.

Well, you didn't answer my question about signal strength, but from the other stuff you've said here, I kind of doubt that's the issue.

I've been with PM for over a year and have never had issues with reception while I'm at home. This issue came up suddenly this afternoon, I was in the middle of a phone call and it shut off and hasn't come back since.

Now I'm starting to think it may be a hardware issue..... have you dropped the phone recently?

I am going to see what happens when I go out tomorrow, but it is still very strange that I'm not able to connect at home.

That should at least help in the diagnosis.... and if the reception is the same elsewhere, HOPEFULLY you can borrow someone else's phone to try your SIM in.

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[computergeek541]

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@LurganIeUk wrote:

Is your Do Not Disturb on or off?

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DND wouldn't be able to cause signal to disappear and re-appear.

[micheallaraine]

I just reset my network settings and it came back long enough to finish sending a text and then dropped out again. Tried the sim card as well and no dice. I am really hoping not to do a hard reset so am going to wait and continue trying to troubleshoot. It would be such a pain to backup everything on my phone.

[micheallaraine]

I did restart my phone, and then did a full shut down and started it back up and that did not help. 

I have double checked all of my settings and they are normal. I've been with PM for over a year and have never had issues with reception while I'm at home. This issue came up suddenly this afternoon, I was in the middle of a phone call and it shut off and hasn't come back since.

I am going to see what happens when I go out tomorrow, but it is still very strange that I'm not able to connect at home.

[rhbcc]

You might wanna try exhausting all possible options?? -- Have you tried hard resetting your phone, removing the sim and putting it back again? You might wanna reset your network settings and go from there.

[CannonFodder]

@micheallaraine  Did you simply restart the phone, as was suggested in the 2nd post in this thread?

Given the mention of "having 1 or 2 bars, and then disappearing", it sounds like where we live, i.e. in an area with intermittently sketchy reception. Does the phone show "Public Mobile" on the screen, or if you go into the settings, and check the "About Phone" section, does it show Public Mobile anywhere in there? Or better yet, if you go into "Settings/More/AboutDevice/Status"(that's the location on my S3, so it'll be different on yours, but SOMEWHERE in that neighbourhood is where it'll be), what does it say for "Signal Strength"? In my case, it shows I'm connected, but my signal reads:   -113dBm 27asu which, from what I've read on some sites on the 'net, is RIGHT on the edge of usability. That, and if I move to other rooms in our place, I get better, or worse connectivity, so maybe try that, and see if the phone connects, and/or the signal improves. And BTW, that 1st number I mentioned..... -113 is bad, whereas -85 is very good.

If you see the phone is connected to the Public Mobile network, and the signal strength is reasonably good, THEN try text and/or calling..... let us know what you find out.

[LurganIeUk]

Is your Do Not Disturb on or off?

[Anonymous]

Maybe check your Network mode under Settings/Connections/Mobile Networks. My S7 is set to LTE/WCDMA/GSM. Look for things like LTE or 4G and UMTS/HSDPA/WCDMA or 3G.

Does anyone else have access or inadvertent/unknown access to the phone? Maybe they changed something unknowingly.

[micheallaraine]

My phone is not set to LTE. Every once in  a while I pick it up and I have a bar or two but then it disappears pretty quickly. Thanks!

[micheallaraine]

I don't have another phone to check the SIM card with right now, unfortunately. My account is active and my last payment went through. I have unlimited call and text so that shouldn't be the issue. Thanks!

[micheallaraine]

I have a Galaxy S8 and I'm not able to call or text. All of my settings are normal, I went through them. Thanks!

[Daps]

Which phone are you using?

Is the problem specifically with texting only? Does calling work?

If you are using imessage or sending mms, then you'll need to have mobile data or wifi enabled.

Also check your settings to make sure you haven't inadvertently enabled airplane mode.

[popping]

@micheallaraine 

Test your SIM card with another phone.  This will determine the issue if PM related or hardware related.

Is your account status still active?

If you have the $10 50/50 plan, you may used all 50 texts for your current cycle.

[computergeek541]

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@micheallaraine wrote:

Earlier today my phone lost service while I was at home and I still don't have service. My house usually has no problem connecting. I have recieved a couple of incoming messages (long after they were sent) but I am not able to reply to anything. What should I do?

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If you've received text messages, then you must have had service at the time that they were received. Do you usually use data at all? If your phone has been accidentally been set to use only the LTE network (not all phones havce the option easily selectable), only data and text messages would work but calls wouldn't.

[Daps]

Hi, have you tried restarting your phone?