cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Signal Strength

edavis_89
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hey guys, I used to be with Rogers and had fairly strong signal strength.  Now being with Public Mobile, it seems to have gotten quite a bit weaker.  I know everyone says it fully uses the Telus network, but is this really true? My phones signal in LTE usually ranges between -110 to -120dBm, which I think is very weak.  As soon as I switch the phone to 3g, the signal strength is respectable in around the -80dBm range.  See attached images.  Is there a phone setting I have to adjust, or something else to explain this?  Thank you.

 

14875153_10205919624703632_1221536537_n.png.jpg14875196_10205919624503627_1721464911_n.png.jpg

 

 

14874993_10205919642264071_1090723388_n.png.jpg

5 REPLIES 5

edavis_89
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin
OK so it's just a 3g thing potentially if calls are being dropped and nothing to do with the LTE. Thanks for your help.

bryanbreguet
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

It doesn't use LTE for phone calls. Telus does have VoLTE (Voice over LTE) but not everywhere and PM customers don't have access to it. So when you make a call, it drops to 3G. So not sure what happened with your sister. Maybe just a random incident.

 

Yes speed and signal strength are not the same, although they are related (if you have a crappy signal, you won't get good data).

edavis_89
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin
OK. The reason I ask is because my sister just switched 2 days ago from Rogers to Public Mobile, and she already dropped a call (she lives in a high-rise) and was having problems with reception indoors at a different location where she works. She never had these problems before. We both live in mississauga so I think LTE signal is pretty strong all around. Im not super knowledgable on cell phone signal. My question is when you call someone, does it use LTE or is LTE only for data and calls use something else? I also thought speed and signal strength were different things. Thanks again.

bryanbreguet
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

It's perfectly normal, it simply means that the 4G (LTE) signal in your area is weaker. It usually happens because Telus uses high frequency bands for LTE (like 1700/2100Mhz) while 3G is on lower frequencies bands. So for instance in my concrete high rise, because the 4G tower is behind my tower (so not on the right side of my appartment), my LTE signal is about the same as yours. As soon as I go outside, it improves. And if I switch to 3G, it indeed improves.

 

There is really nothing wrong there. Maybe your Rogers tower was closer to you or Rogers was using a lower frequency signal for LTE in your area. It really varies.

 

As long as your speed is fine (it is for me) and it doesn't disconnect, you are fine. If you are at home and have wifi, you could force your phone to be on 3G while at home.

sm2016
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I'm not the best person to respond to the original inquiry, but I can say that despite my phone showing a reception that is weaker than what I had on bell, I have yet to experience any problems in the quality of my calls.

Need Help? Let's chat.