No signal in some areas

[jmak999]

Most of the time, my samsung s5 doesn't get any signal in some areas of the city. Inside a restaurant and no signal at all so I can't make any calls. Tried resetting apn but still the same. Sim is activated and works at home but whenever I'm out somewhere, the signal drops and does not give any signal anymore. I was on the $10 plan and thought switching to $15 would improve, but it is still the same. 

[Master2001]

Check towers in your area

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-started

Click on “Start Checking” to see if your phone is compatible.

Your phone SM-G900F
3G HSPA+ B2(1900), B5(850)
LTE B2 (1900), LTE B5 (850), LTE B7 (2600)

Public Mobile frequency
3G HSPA+ B2(1900), B5(850)
LTE B2 (1900)
LTE B4 (1700/2100 AWS 1)
LTE B5 (850)
LTE B7 (2600)
LTE B12(700)
LTE B13(700)
LTE B17(700)
LTE B29(700)

[sheytoon]

Agree with @computergeek541 on all points. You don't need B4 at all. You just need 3G bands 2 (1900 MHz) and 5 (850 MHz) for voice calls.

Can you dial *#2263# and see which WCDMA bands are enabled?

[computergeek541]

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@jmak999 wrote:

It's just very confusing to me because I see that Telus has Band 5 for 3.5G/HSPA+ which coincides with the SM-900F's bands as well. I believe the phone's settings is set to HSPA+ as well. (it detects Public Mobile/Telus as network btw)

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If your phone truly is set to HSPA-only mode and it sees a Telus network, then your phone is compatible. That your phone was eventually able to connrct to this cofirms this.  Compatibility with this type of network is far more important than LTE ability, at least at Public Mobile.

[computergeek541]

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@jmak999 wrote:

@ computergeek541 Phone calls are currently a priority over data, not sure why because public mobiles site said that the s5 is compatible with the network

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To my knowledge, the compatibility checker only checks for a single match in a list of compatible frequencies and network types. It doesn't understand that LTE cannot be used here for phone calls.

Either way, the information that I have says that your phone is compatible for phone calling (band 2 and 5 over 3g/HSPA network).

There has never been any requirement for any Public Mobile customer to have band 4 on either HSPA or LTE, nor for customers to have any LTE connectivity at all.

[computergeek541]

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@XionBunny wrote:

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@jmak999 wrote:

I've decided to set network to 3G to give it one last try. There is currently signal with 2/4 bars so we'll see after a day if it can continue to hold up. Otherwise, I am probably going to switch back carriers. Thank everyone for the help

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Regardless you need band 4 to be able to make calls on this provider (which your phone lacks), so you might as well switch back I'm sorry to say.

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Sorry, but this isn't correct. It isn't possible to make phone calls on band 4 at Public Mobile. Public Mobile only uses band 4 for LTE.  There is no ability for customers to use VoLTE if subscribed to this brand.

For phone calls, at lesst one of band 2 or band 5 must be present in the phone,  and it also has to be able to do it on the HSPA network.

[XionBunny]

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@jmak999 wrote:

I've decided to set network to 3G to give it one last try. There is currently signal with 2/4 bars so we'll see after a day if it can continue to hold up. Otherwise, I am probably going to switch back carriers. Thank everyone for the help

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Regardless you need band 4 to be able to make calls on this provider (which your phone lacks), so you might as well switch back I'm sorry to say.

[jmak999]

I've decided to set network to 3G to give it one last try. There is currently signal with 2/4 bars so we'll see after a day if it can continue to hold up. Otherwise, I am probably going to switch back carriers. Thank everyone for the help

[jmak999]

It's just very confusing to me because I see that Telus has Band 5 for 3.5G/HSPA+ which coincides with the SM-900F's bands as well. I believe the phone's settings is set to HSPA+ as well. (it detects Public Mobile/Telus as network btw)

[XionBunny]

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@GinYVR wrote:

@jmak999There are many different factors that determine signal strengths. Tower location, building material / depth would vary the signal penetration. It is hard to say A network is better than B network because there are lot of factors involved.

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in this instance, though the original posters phone just simply doesn't have the proper bands to be used properly on this network, and as they've stated they'd rather just switch back to their former carrier over buying a new device, so this is solved for the most part.

[GinYVR]

@jmak999Compatible means it works on the network, but it has not bearing on how the phone will perform in situations where multiple bands might provide varying coverage.

[GinYVR]

@jmak999There are many different factors that determine signal strengths. Tower location, building material / depth would vary the signal penetration. It is hard to say A network is better than B network because there are lot of factors involved.

[XionBunny]

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@jmak999 wrote:

This is weird because it worked flawlessly on Chat-R's network, which is Rogers, where as Public Mobile uses Telus. I thought Telus had more towers in Vancouver?

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that's because rogers uses different bands then the Telus / bell network.

[jmak999]

@GinYVR hmm interesting. May have to end up switching back to Chat-R instead 

[jmak999]

This is weird because it worked flawlessly on Chat-R's network, which is Rogers, where as Public Mobile uses Telus. I thought Telus had more towers in Vancouver?

[computergeek541]

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@GinYVR wrote:

@jmak999The international version doesn't have Band 4. I don't think you can do much other than upgrade to another phone.

If you have a Samsung Store near you. I would take the phone in just to make sure all the antennas are working.. as the phone is a few years old.

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A phone not having band 4 wouldn't really make that much difference if this customer wants phone call ability. As band 4 is only used by Telus for LTE, this would not explain why there is no HSPA network signal. I see this as another example of how the Public Mobile compatibility information in the help pages fails us as it makes no mention of 3g network compatibilty being required for voice services.

If the webpage that I was looking at, the SM-G900F does have both bands 2 and 5 for 3g, so I'm uncertain why this person's phone won't connect to that.

[jmak999]

@ computergeek541 Phone calls are currently a priority over data, not sure why because public mobiles site said that the s5 is compatible with the network

[computergeek541]

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@jmak999 wrote:

@geopublic When I select 3G as a network, I ended up getting emergency calls only. With LTE selected, I atleast am able to have signal

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Unfortunately, doing that really an option unless you only want to use data and text messaging since you would not be able to make or reveive any phone calls.

[XionBunny]

the essential ph-1 is a cheap replacement phone in a pinch and has all the bands for this country.

[GinYVR]

@jmak999The international version doesn't have Band 4. I don't think you can do much other than upgrade to another phone.

If you have a Samsung Store near you. I would take the phone in just to make sure all the antennas are working.. as the phone is a few years old.

[jmak999]

@GinYVR No this is the international version SM-G900F

[jmak999]

@geopublic When I select 3G as a network, I ended up getting emergency calls only. With LTE selected, I atleast am able to have signal

[GinYVR]

@jmak999Is the phone a Canadian model ie a G900W8? or not what model is it? It might be you have a phone that is optimized for other networks eg TMobile from the States.

[geopublic]

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@jmak999 wrote:

Most of the time, my samsung s5 doesn't get any signal in some areas of the city. Inside a restaurant and no signal at all so I can't make any calls. Tried resetting apn but still the same. Sim is activated and works at home but whenever I'm out somewhere, the signal drops and does not give any signal anymore. I was on the $10 plan and thought switching to $15 would improve, but it is still the same. 

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@jmak999  Changing plans will not make a difference. Also note that the APN settings are only used for data and not calling.

Please note that PM uses 3G for calling so maybe that might be the issue.