Public Mobile sharing towers with Bell?

[jtm02]

Hi, 

Been using Public Mobile for a few months now, and I'm just wondering, does Public Mobile also piggyback off of Bell towers for LTE, of is it just for 3G signals?

[sheytoon]

@zoomzoom87

The 19 sites in the GTA are all indoor sites. There are an additional 4 sites at the Telus office in Scarborough.

Your speedtest is simply indicating your operator, which is in fact Telus (using Bell's RAN).

[zoomzoom87]

Really? Check out my @Speedtest result! How fast is your internet? http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2494480984

http://i.imgur.com/cjDtUlT.jpg
I see your point, way more bell towers than telus, but there are still telus towers inside the GTA as seen from this map and that speed test.

[will13am]

It is interesting how with so many "brands" of cell service, there are only two national networks, Bellus and Rogers. 

[sheytoon]

@theoc198
Bell Ottawa sites are mostly CDMA. Other than that, Bell only has a few indoor sites.

@zoomzoom87
All of GTA is Bell, except for a handful of indoor Telus sites.

[zoomzoom87]

Telus in Toronto, bell probably north of Toronto

[theoc198]

@sheytoon I think in Ottawa both Telus and Bell have towers. At least according to this: https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html which gets the tower locations from the government: http://sms-sgs.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/sms-sgs-prod.nsf/eng/h_00010.html

[zhadj030]

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@sheytoon wrote:

@zhadj030

Ottawa is Telus territory. You are likely on the Telus RAN in the National Capital Region.

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You know, riding on either one of those two's network while paying Wind prices just feels good, so I kind of stoped noticing. 

It kind of feels wird, I was on the roof the the building next to theirs downtown, with no obstacles from their towers, but was still getting only 3-4 bars, thats why I was assuming I was piggybacking Bell

But thanks for the info @sheytoon 🙂 

[sheytoon]

@zhadj030

Ottawa is Telus territory. You are likely on the Telus RAN in the National Capital Region.

[zhadj030]

Yes we are piggybacking Bellus network, wether it is 3G or LTE, it is the same. 

Regarding how do you know whate are you connected to, I was curious about this last month and I tried a couple of apps, unfortunetly most would just say Unknown, but I am assuming I am on Bell's towere at least in my region (DownTown Ottawa especially). I know some building downtown have no ervice in P3 with rogers or Wind.. I mean Freedom (pfff) but I still have full LTE bars thanks to Bell boosters all over the place, I enjoy it and don't complain about it. 

In the other hand I am wondering whether we have access to LTE-Advanced.

[sheytoon]

@jtm02

Please refer to this thread for more info:

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Network-sharing-explained/m-p/129092

[JMCD]

@jtm02 you can see what towers are in your area here - https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=302&MNC=610

edit: you may need to check the provider listed as Bell/Telus to find all positibilites.

[gunter]

I'm pretty sure Public Mobile piggybacks off Bell towers as well as I heard Telus and Bell use the same towers, same as Koodo and Virgin Mobile. This is similar to Rogers/Fido/Speak Out/PetroCanada Mobile using the same towers

[ckl]

Not sure what OS you're using (Android, iphone, blackberry, windows os), but for Android there are apps like "Network Cell Info Lite" that gives information on the tower you're connected to. I cannot verify the accuracy of the info tho.

[jtm02]

Is there a way to figure out if i'm connecting to a Telus tower or a Bell tower?

[dohadotahmed]

Yes I think you are right.

[ckl]

From what I understand is that PM uses the Telus network. Telus and Bell share towers. Telus towers are predominantly used in the west whereas Bell towers are predominantly used in the east. That's not to say that Bell towers don't exist in the west or Telus towers don't exist in the east, but if you look at a cell tower map, you will see more Telus towers in the west than the east and vice versa.

So if you live in Toronto, you're likely to connect to a Bell tower for PM and in Vancouver, you are likely to connect to Telus tower.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[dohadotahmed]

Yes it's LTE data But you can use it as 3g if you want by changing the settings.

[NDesai]

Yes they share towers where telus towers are not accessible. Should be on LTE.