reducing voice coverage

[Haniehrs1989]

Hello,

I received a text from public mobile that they want to reduce the network in Manitoba and reduced voice coverage. what's it mean? Voice mail volume? or other talk and text?

[darlicious]

@Peggie99 

I think its important for you to understand that telus was caught by surprise by the non-renewal of its licenses. However its mostly just pm customers that are impacted because we use the 3G network for calling (850mhz + 1900mhz) and we are losing the 850mhz so half of its effectiveness vs coverage is affected. Telus customers and koodo postpaid customers are unaffected as they already have voLTE calling.

Telus just has to scramble and roll out voLTE to its affected customers in Brandon and Winnipeg at the very least... a couple of years ahead of schedule. The time frame can be sped up but its not going to happen overnight but it is going to happen a heck of a lot faster than telus had originally planned.

[cellphoneuser1]

@Peggie99 The straight answer is voice coverage will be worse in Brandon and Winnipeg.  

[darlicious]

@Peggie99 

 To get a basic idea how much it will affect you just locate your home and work on the map and any other areas you visit on a regular basis and locate the nearest telus tower. Winnipeg is flat its unlikely you would not be able to connect to a tower in within the city limits while outside.

The bigger concern would be maintaining a connection to the network while inside.......big box stores, concrete buildings, basements, highrises etc..... if you live in the Rise and work at the Richardson Building then you would have reason to be concerned. But if you live in a wood frame house in River Heights or the North End and work at credit union or a bakery then your service may be minimumly affected while pm/telus explores enabling voLTE calling for pm customers.

Having a voip calling app like fongo as a back up during this transition phase would probably suffice for 90% of pm's customers. If a month or so from now you find your service has been substantially impacted and telus/pm still hasnt formalized a plan and addressed affected customers you will be able to change providers with an attractive migration plan or a competitive offer from bell's or rogers' umbrella of providers happy to lure a customer away from the telus family.

[Peggie99]

Ok - so how am I supposed to be able to tell whether my coverage/service will be impacted on/after March 16?

I don't know about you, but I can't afford to be without cel service for even a short period of time. I'm not running some sort of third-party app - nor am I technical enough to hack my phone. Lots of chatter about frequencies or towers, but no links to official information from the service providers themselves about what's going on. Between sitting on hold for hours to talk to Telus salespeople who don't know anything, and spending a few more hours repeatedly checking the forums for answers - I'm at the point where I'm done with it.

I just want a straight answer, well in advance of the date - so that I can plan for a service outage, switching providers if necessary. 

[Nezgar]

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@softech wrote:

yes, it's real.. Telus is getting ready to move to VoLTE and phasing out 3G.. unfortunately, they have no plan what to do with PM. 

I guess you can see whether it impacts you at all before you decide to leave or not.   And in fact if you decide to leave, it's not a bad time.  I see many provider has reduced the price or increased data limit since the pandemic.  It's a good time to shop around if you need to.

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I think more specifically, its that TELUS has been building out their own network in Winnipeg & Brandon MB. Right now Telus/Koodo/PM users get to use both the TELUS towers and the BELL towers. After the change, they will only be using the TELUS towers, which only do 3G/HSPA on 1900Mhz, not 850mhz.

Winnipeg Telus Towers Feb 1, 2021Winnipeg Bell Towers Feb 1, 2021

[softech]

yes, it's real.. Telus is getting ready to move to VoLTE and phasing out 3G.. unfortunately, they have no plan what to do with PM. 

I guess you can see whether it impacts you at all before you decide to leave or not.   And in fact if you decide to leave, it's not a bad time.  I see many provider has reduced the price or increased data limit since the pandemic.  It's a good time to shop around if you need to.

[PMinfo]

There is a thread that has numerous pages regarding the downgrading of service to Winnipeg and Brandon coming March 16.  Voice calling is expected to be impacted.

Supposedly there are migrating options / plans for PM customers in MB to post-paid Koodo but the information at this point is inconsistent across Koodo and Public Mobile.

It is fairly obvious the impacts are going to be relevant but Telus seems to be "hiding" on the issue.  There doesn't seem to be much Loyalty coming from the parent to PM customers left in this situation.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Text-From-PM-About-Changes-To-Mani... 

[HALIMACS]

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@Haniehrs1989 wrote:

Hello,

I received a text from public mobile that they want to reduce the network in Manitoba and reduced voice coverage. what's it mean? Voice mail volume? or other talk and text?

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You might shop around, do some research, with other providers to get a feel for their offerings.

That way, if the upcoming changes to Manitoba services have a detrimental affect on your service, you'll be prepared to take action.

[JK8 · Accepted solution]

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@Haniehrs1989 wrote:

Hello,

I received a text from public mobile that they want to reduce the network in Manitoba and reduced voice coverage. what's it mean? Voice mail volume? or other talk and text?

---

Here is a thread regarding Manitoba.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Text-From-PM-About-Changes-To-Mani...

This is from a PM Manager, Catherine_T

Hey Community, 

Hoping to help clarify some questions around the HSPA changes happening in Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba on March 16, 2021. 

What is the impact?

Only customers in Winnipeg and Brandon will be impacted. Only certain Hz bands will be changing, which will impact the quality of voice calling and service. Data speeds will remain unchanged. 

What should impacted customers do?

This is a TELUS wide change. At this time, Public Mobile does not support VoLTE. We are looking into enabling it; however, this is not an easy solution to turn on and launch timing is unclear. In the meantime, we strongly suggest impacted customers move to Koodo or TELUS postpaid and make sure they have a VoLTE compatible device.

For support on plan changes, please contact 1-866-975-3058

Why is TELUS migrating from HSPA to VoLTE?

With VoLTE customers will get:

• Superior network experience
• Simultaneous use of voice and LTE data
• High definition sound quality when calling another VoLTE-enabled device
• Faster call setup time

For more information on what VoLTE is, you can visit the following article from our friends at TELUS.