Weak signal strength

[akuma4u]

hey, i moved from fido to PM 2 days ago

I followed all instructions, did the APN settings ,etc

Im using an LG G3

The problem is i only get 1 or 2 bars... but even when 1 bar i havent experienced a drop call.

So even though the phone is showing weak signal strength, i have not experienced any of the weak signal strength side effects. So i dont know if i am TRULY getting a weak signal or the phone is just showing a false reading?

Anyways,.. for peace of mind, id love to get 3 or 4 or max bars... when i go out it seems to improve, the 1 or 2 bars,.. sometimes NO bars.. only happens inside my house..

its only been 2 days so i cant comment on other locations..

anyone know how to fix this?

thanks

[akuma4u]

I am from ajax ontario

[Psygineer]

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@akuma4u wrote:

Thanks everyone for their replies.

I have no choice but to allow 1 month to pass so i can truly test out this service and see exactly how bad the 1 or 2 bar signal strength affects my calls. So far i havent experienced any dropped calls or anything even at 1 bar. So thats great. 

Im crossing my fingers here. 

I will also try to slip my sim into a diff phone and see what happens. 

Thanks again everyone

---

I know of the phones I tried, the iPhone 5s was the worst for reception issue and dropped calls or had no service more often than not. The LG G Flex and Lumia 650 seem to be on par with each other both with pretty decent reception and minimal drops. All of them only ever have 1 or 2 bars. The phone you use can really make a difference simply because of how good the antenna bands are on it.

Side story: The S8+ I got a couple weeks ago I would love to say if it was good or bad but it refuses to charge over USB (doesn't even detect being plugged in and windows suggests the device attached has failed.) I think the seller may have known it was shot and scammed me. They claim they didn't know because they always used wireless charging and never plugged it in. Once my wireless charger arrives I will be able to use it then and see how the signal goes.

[akuma4u]

Thanks everyone for their replies.

I have no choice but to allow 1 month to pass so i can truly test out this service and see exactly how bad the 1 or 2 bar signal strength affects my calls. So far i havent experienced any dropped calls or anything even at 1 bar. So thats great. 

Im crossing my fingers here. 

I will also try to slip my sim into a diff phone and see what happens. 

Thanks again everyone

[Psygineer]

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@akuma4u wrote:

I wish i knew these things BEFORE moving over and paying for sim and doing all this work...

NO solution for my problem.

At least no dropped calls experienced yet. But if i notice it starts happening..im going back to fido or another more reliable carrier. 

Excellent prices for 4.5gb tho 38 bucks..i will give them that 

I typically always have a week signal. I do have dropped calls on occassion and I do have "No service" periods fairly frequently. I am lucky if I see 2 bars and when I see the mythical third bar I usually wake up. With that said, I am paying about 1/4 that I would be with a "better" carrier. I am in the heart of Rogers country and most of the Bell/Telus towers are quite some distance away in general. With that said, I am happy with what I am getting for what I am paying for it. My parents have home phone service with unlimited province wide calling for $18 per 30 days (plus tax) and for that they have voice mail, caller ID, etc. whereas with their old landline they had local calling only, no other features and it was $30 a month (plus tax). So for about half what they were paying for their old service they get a phone that works about 80-90% of the time. That seems like a fair trade-off to me. As for me, I pay more, but that is because work requires me to have texting and Canada wide calling. Technically I am supposed to have USA wide calling too for work, but so far I have not needed to make a call there and if I ever did I could just buy the add-on. That or I could just pay the $5 extra per 30 days for that.. but hey I am saving roughly $60.85 (plus tax) a year by not bothering with it! 

[lemew07]

Good Morning. My daughter was experiencing week signal at her house. She downloaded a free app from the play store called Phone Signal. She now has the perfect spot in the house 

where her signal is strongest and she no longer drops calls. It is a great app. This may help Cheers Lemew

[will13am]

@akuma4u, I am in the GTA and I have both Rogers and Telus based services.  I can tell you that both offer an excellent user experience.  I would not worry about pure signal strength of one service against the other.  It will change from location to location.  Even with 1 bar you will find that data and calls to be largely unaffected.  Welcome to this service, I am confident you will enjoy the experience.  BTW, there's an ongoing promo that gives you 500 MB bonus for using auto pay.  Just go to the self serve and do a plan change for the next scheduled renewal.

[RobertQc]

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@akuma4u wrote:

How much do those boosters to for roughly?

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Cheapest I have seen is $80.

There are many other variables, such as maybe your phone doesn't work with all of the frequencies supported by telus, maybe your phone hardware has an issue, maybe there is some local interference. If you want to actually see signal strength look into an actual signal strength app. I don't know what kind of phone you have but here is a page you can check out https://www.tested.com/tech/android/557-how-to-measure-cell-signal-strength-on-android-phones/

Another thing you can try is sticking your sim card in another unlocked phone and see what the signal strength is using that phone.

You may also find your phone jumps to full bars once you actually make a call. You may have interesting / high power battery savings mode enabled that drop TX to save your battery during idle / no phone calls.

Doing all the operating system updates and a factory reset is always a good option, rules out software issues.

Or maybe as @ShawnC13 says, you could just be located farther away from a Telus tower, than a Rogers tower.

But at the end of the day if your phone has no dropped calls / network loss doesn't say "Emergency calls only / No Service", I wouldn't worry about it.

P.S. there are a lot of people that complain about how crappy LG G3 is regarding signal strength and poor reception.

[akuma4u]

How much do those boosters to for roughly?

[akuma4u]

Im in the GTA ..

I am set to gsm hspa lte setting on my phone..should i downgrade that to gsm hspa only? Would that increase signal strength?

I was able to get lte when away from wifi .. I never got that with fido..so thats a plus. 

[RobertQc]

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@akuma4u wrote:

I wish i knew these things BEFORE moving over and paying for sim and doing all this work...

NO solution for my problem.

At least no dropped calls experienced yet. But if i notice it starts happening..im going back to fido or another more reliable carrier. 

Excellent prices for 4.5gb tho 38 bucks..i will give them that

---

@akuma4uThis is a solution, buy a booster. https://www.surecall.com/CA/signal-booster/cat/telus/

Not sure where you are from, but here in Ontario, Public mobile (Bell/Telus) Actually beats Rogers/Fido coverage by 10%. While there may be some places fido/rogers is better than bell/telus, in total bell/telus has better coverage.

A couple kilometers away from your house you may have no service with bell, but full service with Fido... Maybe a couple kilometers in the other direction you will have no service with Fido but full service with PM but, in terms of the average Bell/Telus has the best coverage.

https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones/Guides/Best-Cell-Phone-Coverage-in-Ontario

Geographic Area Covered in Ontario

Network Percentage Geographic Area Covered (km2)

Bell	22.53%	228,035
Rogers	20.59%	203,641
Freedom	1.72%	19,229
Telus	22.53%	228,035

Coverage data generated November 2018 from carrier maps

Ontario is covered by both 3G and 4G LTE technology. 3G is the network that some older phones run on, and the one newer 4G LTE-capable devices fall back to when unable to reach a primary network. Here's how much territory the top carriers cover:

Coverage in Ontario, Canada (383,732 m2) by 3G/4G LTE

  Bell Rogers Freedom Telus

3G	86,467	78,999	6,584	86,467
4G LTE	85,064	57,936	2,848	85,064

[akuma4u]

I wish i knew these things BEFORE moving over and paying for sim and doing all this work...

NO solution for my problem.

At least no dropped calls experienced yet. But if i notice it starts happening..im going back to fido or another more reliable carrier. 

Excellent prices for 4.5gb tho 38 bucks..i will give them that

[RobertQc]

---

@akuma4u wrote:

hey, i moved from fido to PM 2 days ago

I followed all instructions, did the APN settings ,etc

Im using an LG G3

The problem is i only get 1 or 2 bars... but even when 1 bar i havent experienced a drop call.

So even though the phone is showing weak signal strength, i have not experienced any of the weak signal strength side effects. So i dont know if i am TRULY getting a weak signal or the phone is just showing a false reading?

Anyways,.. for peace of mind, id love to get 3 or 4 or max bars... when i go out it seems to improve, the 1 or 2 bars,.. sometimes NO bars.. only happens inside my house..

its only been 2 days so i cant comment on other locations..

anyone know how to fix this?

thanks

---

@akuma4u

"How to fix?" Step 1 download this app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.telus.tneapp&hl=en_CA

Report the low signal strength there, maybe they will improve it in the future.

https://blog.telus.com/our-customers/ready-set-download-our-network-experience-app-is-ready/

For some reason the andriod link is not working, but its correct even on the telus.com website.

Step 2 - Put one of these in your house. https://www.surecall.com/CA/signal-booster/cat/telus/

But I wouldn't do step2 unless you have lots of money or lost your service. Low signal strength does not always equal loss of service.

Low signal strength > no signal strength and is usually adequate.

[ShawnC13]

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@akuma4u wrote:

hey, i moved from fido to PM 2 days ago

I followed all instructions, did the APN settings ,etc

Im using an LG G3

The problem is i only get 1 or 2 bars... but even when 1 bar i havent experienced a drop call.

So even though the phone is showing weak signal strength, i have not experienced any of the weak signal strength side effects. So i dont know if i am TRULY getting a weak signal or the phone is just showing a false reading?

Anyways,.. for peace of mind, id love to get 3 or 4 or max bars... when i go out it seems to improve, the 1 or 2 bars,.. sometimes NO bars.. only happens inside my house..

its only been 2 days so i cant comment on other locations..

anyone know how to fix this?

thanks

---

You could be closer to a Rogers tower and that is why it was better "strength" with FIDO.  Check out this website and it will show cell towers near you.  Remember PM uses Telus and Bell towers.

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