PM voice calls cut off time

[popping]

Earlier today, I called a toll free number with on hold - talk - on hold - cut-off.  I heard a click at 2:30:01 according my usage history.  I am not sure which party terminates the call. With the cut-off at exactly 1 second after 2.5 hours, my guess is PM. 

As I reported before, the minute charge to my plan minutes is also zero minute for this 2.5 hours toll free outgoing call.  Thanks PM as it will cost me 250 add-on minutes if it is not free.

05/04/ 2020 11:03

Outgoing Call

403xxxxxxx

888xxxxxxx

ALBERTA

NANP area

2:30:01

Minutes

$0.00

[Pawprints1986]

So it's possible for the network to know what kind of call your in it seems... I'll agree obviously 911 is most important... It should go 911, support, regular yakking with regular yakking being the first to get cut off should the radios get too busy

But even then who's gonna stay on the phone or have a battery that lasts 24 hours? Lol

[Korth]

@darlicious

911 calls always use a "priority wireless emergency service". They'll force networks to make the call happen, even without active phone subscription, even on foreign (or at least US/CA) networks your device doesn't recognize. Whatever radio resources are needed to maintain the connection are allocated to maintaining it, even if non-emergency traffic has to be suspended or dumped offline. E911 goes further, directing all nearby base stations/towers (and other resources) to assist in estsblishing strong signal and location fix on the device.

First responders have access to phones which use this emergency priority. So do some spoiled politicians, lol.

I suspect that normal network-imposed call limits don't apply when calls use this priority imperative.

Although I agree, something must be seriously wrong if a 911 call ever continues so long.

[popping]

I just notice that this thread was moved from the Lounge to Plans & Add-ons forum.

Sorry about my off-topic posts on COVID-19 and pharmacist/refill.

[hairbag1]

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@popping wrote:

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@darlicious wrote:

@popping  Thanks its good to know that one month refills for most common prescriptions are available from your pharmacist. I needed a couple of prescriptions last week as well....most doctors are doing phone consultations for simple/common visits. Call your doctor's office to see if they are offering this service or online consultations. My doctor also provided a prescription that normally would be written only after a required in office consult.

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My doctor receptionist told me about the pharmacist 1 month refill even during the normal time.  It is not just during COVID-19 pandemic.  I was curious to try it myself instead of asking my doctor to fax my prescription to my pharmacist.

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A pharmacist told me that they're normally permitted to fill only 1 extra "emergency" prescription. That supposed to give you time to make appt with doc to reup your prescription list.

[popping]

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@darlicious wrote:

@popping  Thanks its good to know that one month refills for most common prescriptions are available from your pharmacist. I needed a couple of prescriptions last week as well....most doctors are doing phone consultations for simple/common visits. Call your doctor's office to see if they are offering this service or online consultations. My doctor also provided a prescription that normally would be written only after a required in office consult.

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My doctor receptionist told me about the pharmacist 1 month refill even during the normal time.  It is not just during COVID-19 pandemic.  I was curious to try it myself instead of asking my doctor to fax my prescription to my pharmacist.

[darlicious]

@Pawprints1986   Th as a nice thought but it would be just about impossible to implement. Call cut offs are a network/system measure. Even 911 would likely be cut off....but being on a 911 call/hold for that long is not something that should ever happen.

[Pawprints1986]

I feel like the cut off should be exempt when calling support numbers. It's not the biggest deal to call a friend right back, but losing your place on hold that shouldn't be allowed to happen... It's not right. All carriers, not just PM. Especially now... 

[darlicious]

@popping  Thanks its good to know that one month refills for most common prescriptions are available from your pharmacist. I needed a couple of prescriptions last week as well....most doctors are doing phone consultations for simple/common visits. Call your doctor's office to see if they are offering this service or online consultations. My doctor also provided a prescription that normally would be written only after a required in office consult.

[popping]

@darlicious 

Since you mentioned drugstores.

Last week, I was not able to get a doctor appointment to get my prescription refill.  I did not know that pharmacist will give me 1 month refill without doctor prescription.  A good system as I don't want to see my doctor just to get my refill.

Tomorrow, I will go out to get my refill wearing my home-made mask to stop the asymptomatic transmission.   Although I do not have CVD symptoms, I just make sure that I am not giving it to someone else just in case I am a CVD carrier.

Asymptomatic transmission = the transmission of COVID-19 from the people without any symptoms. But those people are still spreading the virus without knowing it.  Since Canada is not testing every citizen, wearing home-made mask when we go out may save life and we get out of this pandemic early and back to our normal life.

[darlicious]

Long wait times on hold always seem to happen the more important the call is to make or to be received. The issue of being cut off after a couple of hours on hold is not only frustrating but can be health/life threatening (and costly). This was exemplified recently by one members issues getting in touch with the 811* service for COVID-19 symptoms/help. And again today with front line worker @TerriGreene  trying to access bell to unlock her phone for her pm service. @Korth  is correct that telecom providers should not be using this crisis as an excuse to reduce staffing and drastically reduce customer service when it's needed most. What's the point of paying for a premium mobile provider only to recieve sub par customer service when you need it the most. It's in complete contrast to drugstores and grocery industry who are increasing their workforce, giving retroactive pay raises, only slightly reduced opening hours to accommodate seniors and the disabled, restocking and unloading of new inventory, allow for extra cleaning and sanitizing and give overworked staff much needed time off.

The implementation of callback service alone would alleviate much of call volumes that are overburdening the networks. * 811 service hold times are currently averaging 5.3 minutes (bc).

[popping]

I am not complaining about the voice call being cut off at 2.5 hours.  I was expecting my call will be cut-off around 1 hour.  I was working at my computer this morning while waiting and let the call to continue.

The threads in the Lounge, I think, is for chit-chat only and nothing serious or important will be posted here.  This is the reason I put this thread in the Lounge just to report how good PM service is for the price that I pay.  

Even moderator @Oana_S posted a support link for me to get help. Thanks Oana. I do not need any help.

[Korth]

My record staying connected on one call session is exactly 12.5 minutes. After redialing the call a few times because "all circuits are busy".

Google reveals that all carriers implement call cut offs. Apparently they always have but maybe fewer people noticed or maybe the maximum limits were more relaxed in normal conditions.

We all know the covid crisis is placing heavy sustained demand on telecomm and datacomm, more user activity than the system was (cost-effectively) built to handle during normal "peak" demand.

2.5 wasted hours (along with add-on minute costs, if any) sucks. I wouldn't blame PM/Telus as much as whatever service put you on hold for so long. They're all obviously overloaded, too, but it's bad form for them to do nothing about it. Hire more staff. Implement callback. Collect caller contact information before anything else. Whatever.

I would send complaint to them. It'll probably just generate an auto-sorry response and be ignored, but enough complaints from enough unhappy people might force some kind of improvement.

[will13am]

This is a designed feature to prevent people from staying connected on a call 24/7, taking up network capacity.  There was a time that Public Mobile was cutting calls off just short of one hour.  That has since stopped.  So I guess the new cutoff is 2.5 hours.  Not much we can do about it.  Other carriers do similar cutoffs to protect their network.  Wind used to cutoff calls just short of two hours, if you are lucky enough to have the network remain functional for that long.  

[computergeek541]

@popping 

When this happens to me, it's always at 59:02. It could very well be the other end but it doesn't always happen making it all the more difficult to troubleshoot. 

[CS_Agent]

Hey @popping,

Happy to help, but first we need to secure your account! Please click on the link below and follow the steps:

https://bit.ly/3bLzvrs

Oana 🙂