Another poor reception complaint

[BeastofRMC]

So moved to an area just north of Sudbury about a year ago where the closest (Bell) tower is ~5k away.  We have a cell booster pointed at the tower, and reception has been ok, not great, but in the past few weeks reception quality has significantly dropped for all three in my household, an iPhone SE2, a Samsung A32(5G), and my Samsung A53.  Garbled conversations, dropping calls.  Even with the booster, getting signal strength -115-120 dBm on LTE and maybe improve to about -105 dBm when I force it to 3G.  How do I escalate this?

[softech]

@BeastofRMC   Telus is hiding the VoLTE option on iPhone. So, the only way to test and confirm VoLTE is being used is to check the network mode while you are making calls. If you see 4G or LTE during calls, good news, you are on VoLTE

Both iPhone S32 and A53 is VoLTE compatible on PM ,   but not  A32 

[BeastofRMC]

@softech All three users are experiencing issues, the iPhone user just doesn't make voice calls over the carrier network much - she uses data apps i.e. imessage or messenger for voice/video calling.  VoLTE is not an option in the iPhone settings, just LTE or 3G.  Network status cycles from LTE to 4G to no service.

iPhone SE2, a Samsung A32(5G), and my Samsung A53(5G)

[BeastofRMC]

@MetaMorpheusMob yes, we noticed in the past that reception was worse at peak times but now it doesn't seem to matter time of day.  I know that the towers will drop the farthest signal as they load up with users so I suspect that either the tower is just fully loaded all the time or Bell is monkeying with the older technology as they roll out 5G.

Directional antenna, WeBoost Connect 4G.  The closest tower is the one 5K away, I used Google Maps to line up the direction using local landmarks.

[softech]

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@BeastofRMC wrote:

 The issue is really for the Samsung users, the iPhone user really doesn't use voice much

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@BeastofRMC   only Samsung and no issue with iPhone?

I wonder if VoLTE is working on iPhone and hence you don't have the issue

What model of iPhone is that? when you make calls on iPhone, do you see the network status on top showing connected to 4G or LTE or 5G?

how about the Samsung, what model is that?

[BeastofRMC]

@softech we don't use data as we have decent Wifi at home, it is garbled/unclear voice and dropped phone calls.  Can't connect to 5G, I think it's too far to the tower.  The issue is really for the Samsung users, the iPhone user really doesn't use voice much

[BeastofRMC]

Thanks @Handy1  yup 3G helps with voice.  I will follow up with CS_Agent

[sheytoon]

The only reason to reduce transmit power is to reduce interference in urban environments. There's no sense in reducing rural coverage where it previously existed.

[softech]

@MetaMorpheusMob curious, what is the purpose of the decreased signal? cost ? 

[sheytoon]

@BeastofRMC 

Not much you can do as it's entirely controlled by Bell.

[softech]

@BeastofRMC but was it mainly a data slowness issue or unclear voice?

did you check data speed on all 3 phones for 3G and LTE? Try connect to 5G network as well, YES, whatever plan you have, you can still connect to 5G

and if voice issue, your iPhone should be able to use VoLTE.  Disable Wifi, check if phone connected to 4G or LTE. Then make a call and see if the network still stay on 4G/LTE 

[Handy1]

@BeastofRMC  So putting your network to 3G dose t help with voice ? Have you tried resetting network settings . But if you want to talk to support about it here’s how to contact them 

message support directly
       

while your already here and logged in the community you can send a private message   To CS_Agents click          

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                          https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437