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Recurring issue with Network/Data

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

****EDIT****

I'm on a OnePlus 3 on Public Mobile.

Colleague on Samsung S6 on Koodo.

Both of us are having the same issue.

When in the building we have no data even though the network bar shows full and 4G

When walking out of building data comes back.

**** end of EDIT ****

 

 

I'm on a OnePlus 3.

I have not made any updates to the OS recently.

Friday I noticed this issue when away from the home all day (off wifi):

My data was cut-off.  Text seemed ok.

I looked around these forums and it lead me to review my APN settings which all look correct for public mobile (sp.mb.com).

What fixed it for me on Friday was going to the APN list and changing to one of the other ones like Koodo, then changing back to PM apn.

Now come Monday, an hour after leaving the house, I try out my phone and I'm having the same issue.  I did the same thing as Friday.  Changed APN then changed back.  It worked.

But now after another hour the problem has resurfaced.

I can do the same trick to fix it of course, but something is going on here.  Need to fix this permanently.

25 REPLIES 25

Mary_M
Retraité / Retired
Retraité / Retired

thank you for sharing @oshax, I'm really glad to hear that everything's been fixed for you 🙂

 

Have a great day!

 

Mary

** Please do not post private info such as: phone number, account number, pin etc.. This is a public forum. **

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Well, my problem has magically cleared up today.

Perhaps they fixed the issue at the bell tower right next to me.

 

In any case, thanks to @will13am@vinvin@srlawren for help in diagnosing the issue.

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@vinvin wrote:

it would be to rule out anything you could do personally to fix the problem or blame it on the phone.

if other customers are having same probs then u did ur troubleshooting.

u can blame the carrier but that in itself does not solve the problem as they have no support..... but mind u i doubt any carriers support team would say its the fault of theirs unless they had a high complaint count regarding this specific problem and simply blame the building or phone or even the sim card.....

mind u i resolved a problem of no outgoing sms by replacing the sim card, it was a cheap fix even though it was unlikely that that would fix the problem


So as mentioned before in this thread I have a confirmed 2nd customer on Koodo and Samsung S6 phone with the same exact issue.

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@srlawren wrote:

@oshax have you tried a Network Settings Reset yet?  It's fairly non-invasive, except that you will have to re-pair any Bluetooth accessories you use, and sign back onto your Wi-Fi network(s).  


To do so, go to settings (cog button in the notification shade), then Backup & reset, then Network settings reset.


@oshax I don't think you have responded to this suggestion yet.  Have you tried it?  


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@oshax wrote:

@vinvin.  Thanks for the confirmation.

Location is around Victoria park and Sheppard


I drive along that area from time to time.  I don't recall coverage issues at least not in the car.  Try using the app network cell info lite to track what frequency your phone is connecting to. 

vinvin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

it would be to rule out anything you could do personally to fix the problem or blame it on the phone.

if other customers are having same probs then u did ur troubleshooting.

u can blame the carrier but that in itself does not solve the problem as they have no support..... but mind u i doubt any carriers support team would say its the fault of theirs unless they had a high complaint count regarding this specific problem and simply blame the building or phone or even the sim card.....

mind u i resolved a problem of no outgoing sms by replacing the sim card, it was a cheap fix even though it was unlikely that that would fix the problem

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@vinvin wrote:
cell tower needs to be in line of sight to work the best espicially for lte/4g. ask other telus/koodo/PM/bell customers at problem location if they are having data issues. how many if any obstructions are there between you and tower. test out at another building in same area. trouble shooting is tedious but u have no other options w/pm. most likely a tower issue though, imo

Yeah I will take a walk around the complex and test it.  Not sure what this data will get me since there is no way for me to contact those who can do something about it.

For now I solved it by switching to 2G/3G while in the building.  I use macdroid, a macro program.  Hopefully I can construct a macro to change to 2G/3G when I enter the building and go back to 2G/3G/4G when I leave.

vinvin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen
cell tower needs to be in line of sight to work the best espicially for lte/4g. ask other telus/koodo/PM/bell customers at problem location if they are having data issues. how many if any obstructions are there between you and tower. test out at another building in same area. trouble shooting is tedious but u have no other options w/pm. most likely a tower issue though, imo

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@vinvin wrote:

go here https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html and see where the cell towers are located for your location, they are very accurate as to where the towers are physically.

you can zoom in or type in an address in the search field and uncheck all other towers other than bells

 


What info do you want me to give you?

First thing I notice.  Bell tower in the next building maybe 5 min walk.

Maybe this is the problem tower since it's the closest tower by far.

vinvin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

go here https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html and see where the cell towers are located for your location, they are very accurate as to where the towers are physically.

you can zoom in or type in an address in the search field and uncheck all other towers other than bells

 

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@vinvin.  Thanks for the confirmation.

Location is around Victoria park and Sheppard

vinvin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

yes its all over the place, speeds/connectivity are an issue if not on lte band 4. literally a hit and miss.

but your new info that u give is interesting. u didnt mention it was fine for over a year. samsing phones have lte band 4, so that narrows it down to telus, and if its only at a specific location/area then its most def a specific cell tower issue and/or interference.

unless a large number of telus customers complain to telus for data issue from that location and/or telus knows theres a problem but have not fixed it as of yet and/or something new in area(eg. new building bewtween u and tower) causing connection issues,  theres not much u can do with PM. see if other telus/koodo/PM/bell  customers are having data issues. you could  change carriers(rogers, fido)  or wait it out.

resetting network settings wont hurt just make sure apns are correct after the reset.

address of where these problems happening? bell and telus share towers depending on location

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@oshax I still recommend trying network reset.  Please see my last reply.


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oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@vinvin wrote:

like i said in my previous post, its the lte band 4 issue. data connectivity is all over the place. search google using  - koodo telus lte band  4(1700/2100) chinese phones -

u can also check out this site, guaranteed the lte info will not be fully compatible

https://willmyphonework.net/

 


I have worked in this location for a year and a half.  I have never had this issue until last week.  The same issue popped up for a colleague with a Samsung phone, one of the most popular brands out there, only happens inside the building even though full bars.  And you think this is a problem with lte band 4?

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Ok, I have confirmed with the colleague.

Same exact issue with her Samsung S6 on Koodo.

 

vinvin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

like i said in my previous post, its the lte band 4 issue. data connectivity is all over the place. search google using  - koodo telus lte band  4(1700/2100) chinese phones -

u can also check out this site, guaranteed the LTE/4G info will not be fully compatible

https://willmyphonework.net/

 

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@oshax have you tried a Network Settings Reset yet?  It's fairly non-invasive, except that you will have to re-pair any Bluetooth accessories you use, and sign back onto your Wi-Fi network(s).  


To do so, go to settings (cog button in the notification shade), then Backup & reset, then Network settings reset.


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oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Another finding.

Went back to my phone.... back in the situation, no data.

I switched the APN back and forth again.

Connected back and said "4G" up top.  Still did not have data.

Switched APNs again and then it went to H+.  Data back.

 

Again, keep in mind if I just leave things be, walk out of the office data will come back.

Also a colleague reported same issue on her phone on Telus, I will get more info on this when I can (what phone she has, what exactly happened)

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@will13am wrote:

If this problem is persistent in particular areas, I would say it is due to local network congestion.  I have terrible data issues at work from all carriers.  It is the nature of the office location and how no carrier with the exception of Freedom wants to send a signal our way.  I don't get a strong signal, but sufficient.  Due to congestion, I get the "lights on, nobody home" response often.  There could be huge delays before data starts flowing.  Once the data does flow, it seems to work reasonably well. 

Thanks but this theory is not consistant with my findings.

I have found that once I'm in the building data will not flow for hours but when I force the APN off of PM then back on... data flows again.

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@vinvin wrote:

chinese phones have issues with lte bands in north america. ive dealt with these issues b4.

make sure you have proper fw/baseband for north america and it supports lte band 4, thats what telus uses, if not data might work at h+, 3g or not at all, or very very slow as mobile browser will timeout trying to load a page.

 

i purposely bought an asus zenfone 3 zoom because that specific zenfone supported lte band 4 for the telus network and the models fw version was made for the north american market w/the correct fw/baseband, but not all zenfones support the lte band 4 no matter which fw was used

 

the one plus 3 does not seem support lte band 4 as posted here, this is a hardware limitation thats not fixable via software or any tricks.  

https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.php

4G bandsLTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800), 38(2600), 40(2300)

 

 


@vinvin the north american version of the OP3 defintely 100% supports band 4 AWS: https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.php#usa.  Also, I used this model for more than a year on PM and can personally confirm it.  The spec you listed is for the "global" version, not intended for north america, and yes it lacks band 4.  This will not affect many people wanting to use an OP3 with PM, as most will have the North American version.


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@oshax wrote:

I have narrowed down the issue to that of my location.

Somehow, when I'm at work, in the building I can no longer access data, even though the phone still shows full bars for network and 4G or H+.

I followed these steps to run some testing:

1) In building, not receiving data.

2) With open chrome browser, keep trying to refresh page.  As soon as I got close to an exit of the building I started getting data.

3) Walk back into the building and go to the elevators.  Data gone again.

4) Stay where I am and change APN to one of the others listed and then change back to PM APN

5) Watch data come back.

 

Is there a problem with some Telus tower?

@CS_Agent


If this problem is persistent in particular areas, I would say it is due to local network congestion.  I have terrible data issues at work from all carriers.  It is the nature of the office location and how no carrier with the exception of Freedom wants to send a signal our way.  I don't get a strong signal, but sufficient.  Due to congestion, I get the "lights on, nobody home" response often.  There could be huge delays before data starts flowing.  Once the data does flow, it seems to work reasonably well. 

vinvin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

chinese phones have issues with lte bands in north america. ive dealt with these issues b4.

make sure you have proper fw/baseband for north america and it supports lte band 4, thats what telus uses, if not data might work at hspa, h+, 3g or not at all, or very very slow as mobile browser will timeout trying to load a page. it will be all over the place, sometines yes and most times no,  and location dependant where it will work for awhile then not, speeds will be everywhere from good to zero 

 

i purposely bought an asus "zenfone 3 zoom" because that specific zenfone supported lte band 4 for the telus network and that specific phone models fw version was made for the north american market w/the correct fw/baseband, but not all zenfones support the lte band 4 no matter which fw was used

 

the one plus 3 does not seem support lte band 4 as posted here, this is a hardware limitation thats not fixable via software or any tricks.  

https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.php

4G bandsLTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800), 38(2600), 40(2300)

 

 

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I have narrowed down the issue to that of my location.

Somehow, when I'm at work, in the building I can no longer access data, even though the phone still shows full bars for network and 4G or H+.

I followed these steps to run some testing:

1) In building, not receiving data.

2) With open chrome browser, keep trying to refresh page.  As soon as I got close to an exit of the building I started getting data.

3) Walk back into the building and go to the elevators.  Data gone again.

4) Stay where I am and change APN to one of the others listed and then change back to PM APN

5) Watch data come back.

 

Is there a problem with some Telus tower?

@CS_Agent

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response.

I can confirm that

1) Yes, I am using the correct APN public mobile, sp.mb.com

2) APN type is already having "default,supl,mms"

 

One other symptom I noticed when I'm not able to access data, the network symbol is showing 4G.  It usually shows H+

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

@oshax, in the APN type field, please add default,supl,mss instead of leaving it blank.  See if that helps.  Also if there are multiple APNs available to select, make sure the appropriate one is selected.

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