Poor Service in Thunder Bay Ontario (Frequent outages and 1 bar service)

[Psygineer]

I've been on Public Mobile for almost a month now and I am frequently without a signal and when I do have a signal it's typically only 1 bar, 2 if I am lucky. It doesn't matter where in the city I am or even in the outskirts the issues remain. It doesn't matter where I am, at a store, outside, in the office, at home, the issue remains. Clear skies, overcast, night or day, the issue remains the same. At first I thought it was because I was using an old hand-me-down iPhone 5S, however, an S8, Pixel 2, and Lumia 650 all have the same issues. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[smp99]

Yeah. About a year ago my wife had issues. No service when mine was just fine in the same room. Took out the sim, cleaned it, it worked. Then about 2 weeks later it would do the same thing. I had a few extra sims lying around so I changed sims. No issues since. 

It it takes awhile to come around to the sim as the culprit.  Most think service or a faulty phone. 

[Psygineer]

I just went for at least 3 hours (possibly more before I noticed sitting at 0 bars, but not saying No service. When you called my number it went straight to voicemail. Ejecting the sim and reinserting it seemed to clear the issue. I'm wondering if my service outages and wonky service, in general, could possibly be caused by a defective SIM? Since the service issues occur on multiple devices, I think it is safe to assume it isn't a phone issue. Should I buy a new SIM or would that be a waste of time/money?

[sheytoon]

@peetee1974, this will not help in Thunder Bay as I explained. There is no low band 3G in that market.

[peetee1974]

When this happens I switch to WCDMA only in network settings (3G) and watch your bars climb to 4 or 5. Leaving it in auto brings it down to 2 bars max.

[Psygineer]

I don't really use mobile data (wifi is everywhere) so of my 500mb I think I used 6mb basically when in one of the rare no-wifi zones and needing data to check a map. It's the voice that is the issue. Support called me and are looking into it. 

[sheytoon]

@Psygineer, unfortunately Bell doesn't own 850 MHz (B5) spectrum there, so it's a huge handicap.

This is one of the areas where LTE coverage should be better than 3G.

700 MHz (B12/B17) LTE will help if available, but only for data. Voice calls are all on 1900 MHz (B2) until VoLTE is launched.

[Psygineer]

If I am reading those charts right, the Lumia 650 (one of the phones tested) is one of the better options for here and it isn't really working well. I guess there isn't much I can do. Thank you!

[Korth]

It seems there's not much you can do to improve cellular signal reception other than invest in hardware.  Or wait until one of the local networks upgrades the stuff on their side.  Or move elsewhere.

You could get a signal booster (cellular radio repeater/amplifier or "femtocell").  A few minutes of googling suggests that the inexpensive ones are nearly worthless and the good ones can be quite costly ... plus they all rely on external cellular signal strength, and if it's too weak and unreliable then there's just not enough for them to improve to useable levels.

You could get a cellphone which has better radio/antenna hardware.  Google shows this is a question which hasn't been properly answered - this is the best answer I found if you want a starting point, and I've only found one "unbiased" cellphone radio/antenna comparison (a limited selection of popular cellphone brands/models in 2018, 2017, and 2016).

[Psygineer]

I'm only on the 3G service, and I have the Data turned off mostly because it's only 500mb and I am in Wifi 95% of the time. I have to admit I am relatively new to cellphone ownership so not sure if LTE settings is something different, I'll poke around in the settings and see if I can find something. I have seen LTE show up from time to time when I am on data despite being on the 3G plan, so you might be on to something!

Edit: Couldn't really find anything specific in the settings. Fun fact I lost signal twice while poking around!

[smp99]

Try turning off LTE. That may make your connection more stable

[Psygineer]

The Telus coverage map (didn't know about the cell tower map) and the fact there is a Telus store here is what lead me to think there was proper coverage in the area. I lose signal even in the downtown core of the city so if anywhere would have strong/decent coverage you would think there would. TBayTel prices definitely are terrible in comparison to PM and as for Chatr (the Roger equivalent of Public Mobile), it's considerably more expensive too as Thunder Bay isn't in one of their "im-zones." 
For fun starting at 9 am I have been watching my signal availability. As of 9:15 I have lost connection 8 times. Had 3 bars once, the rest of the time was 1 bar. I am currently sitting outside, it's a clear day. 

Edit: I should mention I am not including when it just flickers to no signal and back on again, these are more extended periods.

[will13am]

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@Korth wrote:

The Telus coverage map shows plenty of overlapping coverage in the area, it even extends optimistically offshore.

The Canadian Cellular Towers Map shows the area has no Telus towers, some scattered Bell towers, some clustered Rogers towers, and lots of Tbaytel towers.  (Note that most cell towers don't have an omnidirectional radius of coverage, they're usually directed towards or away from specific areas, but of course many cell towers are better than no cell towers.)

Tbaytel's Coverage map looks pretty good in the area and they seem to partner with Rogers to extend their coverage to adjacent areas.  Their "4G HSPA+" hardware is primarily 850MHz but also uses 800MHz and 1900MHz LTE in a few (small) areas.  Their plan prices don't look very appealing, though, and many Tbaytel customers have complained online about low signal bars (their questions/discussions about "signal boosters" are all over google, lol).

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/blog/9-easy-ways-to-improve-your-cell-phone-signal/

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Tower maps are what you look at when there's no experience.  It's meaningless when we are discussing user experience.  

[Korth]

The Telus coverage map shows plenty of overlapping coverage in the area, it even extends optimistically offshore.

The Canadian Cellular Towers Map shows the area has no Telus towers, some scattered Bell towers, some clustered Rogers towers, and lots of Tbaytel towers.  (Note that most cell towers don't have an omnidirectional radius of coverage, they're usually directed towards or away from specific areas, but of course many cell towers are better than no cell towers.)

Tbaytel's Coverage map looks pretty good in the area and they seem to partner with Rogers to extend their coverage to adjacent areas.  Their "4G HSPA+" hardware is primarily 850MHz but also uses 800MHz and 1900MHz LTE in a few (small) areas.  Their plan prices don't look very appealing, though, and many Tbaytel customers have complained online about low signal bars (their questions/discussions about "signal boosters" are all over google, lol).

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/blog/9-easy-ways-to-improve-your-cell-phone-signal/

[Psygineer]

That's kind of sad to know. I had planned on putting my parents on Public Mobile because it is cheaper than their landline and would give them long distance too. Guess I will either tough it out or skip that notion. Thank you for your feedback!

[will13am]

I have never gone further north, been around Thunder Bay area and along highway 17.  I have always travelled with a Tbaytel SIM.  I don't even bother switching on my Public Mobile service west of Sault Ste. Marie.  Before bell purchased MTS, service would not go back to normal until Steinbach. 

[Psygineer]

I went with Public Mobile over TBaytel because I needed coverage even further north, Pickle Lake, Red Lake, etc. for work and Rogers/Tbaytel has no service at all up there, but Bell/Telus shows coverage in those areas. It's kind of funny, when I am in Pickle Lake I get great coverage my phone showed 4 bars. Back to one 1 if lucky when in Thunder Bay. 

[will13am]

Northern Ontario is not a well covered area for Bellus.  Personally, I find the Tbaytel/Rogers combination to yield the best coverage results in that region.